BFCM Blueprint: Plan in Q3, Win in Q4

It’s getting close to that time of year again, the critical shopping period that can make or break a business’s annual success. We’re talking about Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM), the year’s biggest shopping extravaganza. With shoppers looking to spend, you don’t want to miss the chance to connect with customers and boost your sales.

The key to a successful BFCM is proper planning and compelling offers that drive volume and profit. Below, we’ll get into all that and more.

What Is Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM)?

The biggest eCommerce moment of the year, BFCM spans the Friday after Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday and beyond. BFCM sales are increasingly beginning well before the traditional Friday and extending long past the following Monday. It’s also the same time period people are going into stores, so it’s not just online. During this high-volume, highly competitive period, shoppers expect deep discounts, and brands fight for attention across every channel.

This year, BFCM falls on Friday, November 28, and runs through Monday, December 1st; however, many sales will start weeks before. We’ve all noticed pre-Black Friday sales offers hitting our inboxes or targeting us on our socials as early as October or November 1^st.

For marketers and businesses, this means BFCM planning begins even earlier. It’s time to crack knuckles and limber up for the season ahead.

Why Black Friday/Cyber Monday Matters in 2025

BFCM remains the peak days of U.S. online holiday commerce, with new records set annually. Performance during this stretch often outweighs the rest of Q4 combined—impacting revenue, retention, and inventory strategy. And trendlines show that 2025 holiday sales are expected to grow at a healthy pace. For reporting and planning, retailers and marketers should prepare for record-breaking traffic and volume, with Cyber Monday retaining its crown as the largest U.S. online shopping day.

And although many businesses depend on these sales to improve their annual sales, their significance reaches beyond the balance sheet. It’s also a pivotal moment for consumer behavior and brand engagement: a chance to win new customers, reactivate lapsed ones, and stand out when it matters most.

Our Black Friday/Cyber Monday Success Framework

The adage “Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance” rings true at this time of year. And with the dates shifting and expanding, proper planning is more critical than ever. Below is our proactive BFCM success framework.

Plan Early to Beat the Noise

Start prospecting in Q3 when CPMs are 30% lower than in November. This means building and segmenting audiences in advance. It also helps you build trust in your brand and interest in your product. And while you’re building your audiences early, secure premium CTV and retail media inventory – often the earlier you source your inventory, the less costly it is.

And lastly, create a phased promotional calendar: (Teaser → Early Access → Full Sale → Final Push). Your Q3 prospecting lets you send out teasers as you build awareness and trust. As you grow your email list, you can offer early access, then open the sale to everyone, and make a final push as the sale wraps up.

Develop Scroll-Stopping Creative

If it’s eyes (and sales) you want, it’s scroll-stopping creative you need. BFCM is the most competitive ad environment of the year, so top-tier creative is what earns the click. Strong creative assets increase ad quality scores and CTRs, lowering your CPAs and maximizing return on spend.

When imagery and messaging align, you get impactful performance creative. For BFCM, include seasonal cues and urgency or FOMO messaging, such as countdowns or “lowest price in 30 days.” And then stick to it. For example, although Apple offers discounts during BFCM, they rarely offer them at other times of the year, and their audience knows this.

Leveraging any UGC content and reviews you have in your ads will make them feel relatable. Authentic reactions build trust with your audience and humanize the content.

Review your internal data for insights about what worked last year, what didn’t, and where you might want to change things. This can give you a head start, so you don’t have to start from scratch. For instance, begin with top-performing creative formats based on historic ROAS. Apply festive design layers, holiday CTAs, and sound effects. Test variables such as them, offer, style, and duration to determine the most impactful.

Planning early will ensure you have all your creative buttoned up and ready to go.

Spend Smarter

Sometimes, how you spend your money is more important than how much you spend. And just like holiday shoppers, you don’t want to spend more than you have to. Spending smarter is not a set-it-and-forget-it deal. Monitoring spend and reallocating it when necessary will help you get more advertising bang for your buck. This can mean monitoring daily or even hourly and reallocating budget in real time.

Budget Reallocation: Fuel What’s Working: Move spend dynamically toward top-performing audiences, channels, and creatives. This is where we gain efficiency and maximize ROAS during high-cost moments.

Real-Time Monitoring = Real-Time Wins: Performance shifts fast — hourly data checks are often needed during peak days. Be ready to pull back, push forward, or pivot based on live signals.

Preparing Your Campaign: A Phased Approach

Before BFCM: When you’re expecting guests, you prepare your home before they arrive. When you’re expecting BFCM, you prepare your website, check your inventory, get your offers ready, and fine-tune your messaging and content. In addition, ensure your feeds are optimized, CRMs are connected, and everything is ready to go.

During BFCM: Implement urgency tactics, FOMO-driven messaging, and real-time optimization utilizing four steps:

The goal of the teaser phase is to build anticipation. You can use email signups, early landing page traffic, soft launches, coming soon messages, and other tactics to prime your audience.

Reward your VIPs – past customers and people who signed up for alerts – with early access to exclusive offers. This tactic creates urgency and starts building momentum.

Lastly, BFCM has arrived, and you are in the full sale phase with a wide launch across all channels with full force.

And lastly, the final push. These are the final hours of the sale, where urgency is everything. During this phase, update your messaging to last chance or ending soon. These psychological drivers help close sales.

After Cyber Monday: As part of your final push, consider extending deals into the next week or beyond to capture intentional shoppers. These shoppers do a lot of research before purchasing and often wait to make their purchases.

Once the flurry of BFCM shopping is over, be sure to thank your new customers, send surveys to encourage engagement, and invite them into loyalty programs. Now that you have them, launch Q1 campaigns targeting BFCM buyers for repeat purchases.

Consider All Customer Touchpoints

Your customer engages with your brand in many ways outside of just advertisements during BFCM. Consider all channels as you develop your plan:

Prep Your Website

• Site Speed: Page speed directly correlates with conversion rate. Many shoppers will bail if they have to wait too long for your site to load. A two-second load time can yield up to 30% higher conversions in peak season.
• SEO/Keyword Optimization: Place seasonal keywords on landing pages and product descriptions. Create BFCM-specific category pages.
• Add CTAs: Website pop-ups and banners help guide the user through the site and encourage action.
• UX & Checkout: Mobile optimization, streamlined checkout, and ensure your webpage can handle traffic surges.

Develop Your Social Media Plan

• Early Awareness: Consider countdowns, early-access CTAs, interactive polls, and countdowns to drum up excitement.
• Real-Time Engagement: Community management helps drive conversation and elevate the customer experience. Many people go to social media for customer service or complaints. Monitor platforms more frequently on these days to ensure all inquiries are responded to quickly.
• UGC & Trust Signals: Monitor for content from people shopping your brand in real time. Share with your audience to reinforce trust signals.

Leverage Your Email List

• Build Your List Early: Launch list-building campaigns in Q3 with lead magnets like early access, exclusive discounts, or gift guides.
• Segmentation: Create segments for VIPs, past purchasers, inactive subscribers, and high-intent browsers.
• Align emails with your four-phased approach:
  • Teaser (1–2 weeks out): “It’s coming…” + early access signup
  • Early Access: VIP-only deals or pre-sale
  • Launch Day: All-in with your strongest offer
  • Mid-Sale: Reminder with urgency (“2 days left”)
  • Final Push: Last chance / expiring soon
  • Post-BFCM: “Thanks for shopping” + upsell or loyalty program invite

How To Leverage AI

To thrive in the hyper-competitive BFCM environment, businesses must be faster, smarter, and more customer-centric than their competition. AI can supercharge your BFCM strategy, giving you an edge in ensuring your creative is on point, boosting customer loyalty, and maximizing sales.

1. Personalization: Use AI segmentation to tailor messaging by audience intent, demographics, or purchase history.
2. Ad Variations: Use AI-powered design tools to generate multiple ad versions you can test and find which has the highest ROI.
3. Multi-variant Testing: Leverage AI tools to help forecast which ad assets are most likely to perform.
4. Optimize Copy: Use AI copy generators to A/B test headlines, CTAs, and urgency messaging.

Mistakes to Avoid When Preparing Your Campaign

BFCM moves at a fast pace, and things don’t always go as planned. Knowing what to look out for will help you avoid common pitfalls. Having a plan B helps mitigate the effects of catastrophes.

1. Waiting Too Long to Plan: Late planning means missed opportunities for audience building, creative testing, and securing premium ad placements.
2. Overlooking Mobile Optimization: Slow load times and bad UX kill conversions. Audit mobile checkout flow, image loading, and payment methods before your deal goes live.
3. Overlooking Inventory: If promos sell out early or stock isn’t synced across channels, your customer will get frustrated, potentially going elsewhere for purchase.
4. Not Participating: Skipping BFCM entirely or offering something too minimal means losing visibility.
5. Weak or Uncompetitive Offers: If you’re brand isn’t a “deals” brand, consider offering something aligned with your brand values, like a discount paired with a perk like free shipping, or a gift with a minimum purchase to add perceived value.

Black Friday Cyber Monday Strategies to Leverage in 2025

• Spin Wheel Offers: Discounts, coupons, or free gifts for email/SMS opt-ins.
• Gift with Purchase: Keep luxury appeal without deep discounts.
• Bundles & Mystery Boxes: Increase average order value and clear older inventory.
• Cross-sell/Upsell Offers: Related product suggestions at checkout.
• Gift Guides: Create guides for different audience segments, e.g., “under $50,” “hard-to-buy-for,” “co-workers.”

As BFCM 2025 approaches, one thing is clear: success won’t come from last-minute discounts or one-size-fits-all campaigns. The brands that prepare early, personalize every touchpoint, and stay agile when the data shifts in real time will win the day. With U.S. BFCM sales forecasted to surpass $75 billion, this weekend remains the single most important driver of holiday commerce—and the competition has never been fiercer. By aligning your strategy across creative, media, site experience, and customer engagement, you can turn seasonal shoppers into loyal customers, maximize profitability, and finish the year stronger than ever.