Black Friday 2026 is on 27 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November. Teams that plan 6 to 8 weeks ahead spend the sale week watching results. Teams that start late spend it fixing broken links.
Use this week-by-week plan to prepare your campaign.
Timeline at a glance
| When | Focus |
|---|---|
| 6 to 8 weeks before | Offer, goals and dates |
| 3 to 4 weeks before | Build emails, ads and landing pages |
| 1 week before | Test and schedule everything |
| Sale week | Monitor and send reminders |
| After the sale | Onboard new customers and review |
6 to 8 weeks before
- Choose your offer: a discount, a bundle, a bonus or a longer free trial.
- Set clear goals, such as revenue, new customers or email sign-ups.
- Agree on dates for early access, the main sale and Cyber Monday.
- Check your website and checkout can handle extra traffic.
3 to 4 weeks before
- Build an early-access sign-up page to grow your list before the sale.
- Write and design your emails, ads and social posts.
- Clean your email list and warm up your sending domain if volume will rise. Our email deliverability checklist covers the details.
- Build landing pages and test them on phones.
1 week before
- Schedule emails and social posts.
- Test every link, discount code and checkout step.
- Brief your support team on the offer and likely questions.
- Set up tracking so you can measure results by channel.
Sale week
- Check sales, site speed and support tickets every day.
- Send a reminder to people who clicked but did not buy.
- Use honest “last chance” emails near the end. Fake countdowns damage trust, and in the UK misleading pricing can break consumer protection law.
After the sale
- Send new customers a thank-you and onboarding sequence. See our guide to email automation flows.
- Move new subscribers into your welcome series.
- Write down what worked and what didn’t for next year.
Planning to buy tools for your own team as well? Check our Black Friday 2026 software deals tracker.
