Black Friday is on Friday 27 November 2026 and Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November. That sounds like plenty of time in mid-October. It isn't. Most of what decides how it goes happens before a sale email is built: sending reputation, offers, and room for approvals and translations.
This plan works back from Cyber Monday, week by week, for teams sending in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The key dates
- Thursday 26 November: US Thanksgiving.
- Friday 27 November: Black Friday.
- Saturday 28 November: Small Business Saturday in the US (the Saturday after Thanksgiving). The UK's Small Business Saturday is a different day: Saturday 5 December 2026.
- Monday 30 November: Cyber Monday.
- Tuesday 1 December: GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after US Thanksgiving. It's late this year because Thanksgiving is late.
- November, dates to be announced: Click Frenzy in Australia.
Week by week
Week of 12 October: decide what you're doing
- Agree the offer for each market, and whether it runs a day, a weekend or a week.
- List every email with its audience and date.
- Name an approver and a backup for each market. Ask now who is on leave in late November.
Week of 19 October: segments and briefs
- Build your segments (see below) and check the counts.
- Brief each email: audience, offer, send date, market, languages.
- Book translators now; they're busy in November too.
Week of 26 October: build the templates
- Build your sale template once, then reuse it.
- Send copy to translators as soon as the English is approved, not when the email is built.
- Check your sending domain with the DMARC checker.
Week of 2 November: start the warm-up
- Start the send volume ramp (see below).
- First round of sign-off on the early emails: teasers, early access and VIP emails.
- Read returned translations in the template, not just a spreadsheet. Longer French words break buttons.
Week of 9 November: early access goes out
- Early access and "save the date" emails to your best customers.
- In Australia, Click Frenzy may fall around here. Check the dates.
- Sign-off round on the Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails themselves.
Week of 16 November: everything signed off
- Aim to have every Black Friday and Cyber Monday email approved by Friday 20 November, in every language.
- Run each email through the pre-send checker.
Week of 23 November: send week
- Most of your sends happen between Thursday 26 and Monday 30 November.
- Agree who can fix a broken link or pull an email.
- Watch bounces and complaints after each send.
Week of 30 November: Cyber Monday and after
- Cyber Monday, then any "last chance" or extension email.
- Give non-buyers a rest before Christmas starts.
- Note what worked while it's fresh.
Warm-up and deliverability
One of the most common Black Friday mistakes is a sudden jump in volume: a brand that sends 50,000 emails a week all year sends 400,000 in one day. Inbox providers notice.
Google's sender guidelines say to increase sending volume slowly, to send at a consistent rate rather than in bursts, and to start with your most engaged recipients. Sudden spikes can lead to rate limiting or a drop in reputation. You can read the full guidance on Google's email sender guidelines.
A sensible ramp:
- Early November: send to your engaged segment (opened or clicked in the last 90 days) a little more often than usual.
- Mid-November: widen to people engaged in the last six months.
- Black Friday week: your full mailable list, but only if you've built up to it. Leave out people who haven't opened or clicked in a year or more.
Gmail and Yahoo sender rules
Since 2024, Gmail and Yahoo have set firm rules for bulk senders. Google's apply to anyone sending 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts. In short:
- Authenticate: SPF and DKIM, plus a DMARC record. A policy of
p=noneis accepted. Your From domain must align with SPF or DKIM. - One-click unsubscribe: a List-Unsubscribe header that supports one-click, plus a clear unsubscribe link in the body. Yahoo says to honour unsubscribes within two days (Yahoo sender best practices).
- Keep complaints low: Google asks you to keep the spam rate in Postmaster Tools below 0.10% and never reach 0.30%. Yahoo's limit is 0.3%.
Microsoft has similar SPF, DKIM and DMARC requirements for senders of more than 5,000 emails a day to Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live addresses. Your ESP handles the headers; the DNS records are yours to check.
Campaign ideas
- Early access for subscribers or loyalty members, a day or two before the public sale.
- Category emails by what each person has bought or browsed before.
- Gift guides by price or by person. These do double duty into December.
- Cyber Monday as its own email, not a resend of Black Friday.
- Not discounting? A GivingTuesday email, or a plain note on why you don't do Black Friday, can work if it fits the brand.
The offer in the email must match the site. Price mistakes are what approvers catch most.
Subject lines
Every inbox is full of "BLACK FRIDAY SALE". Plain and specific beats loud.
- Lead with the offer: "30% off everything until Monday".
- Use the end time when it's real: "Last few hours: 30% off ends at midnight".
- Write a preheader that adds something new, not a repeat of the subject.
- Watch length in other languages. A French or German subject can run a lot longer than the English.
Segmentation
Five segments are enough for most teams:
- Engaged recent buyers. Early access, fewer reminders.
- Engaged non-buyers. The main sale emails.
- Lapsed (6–12 months). One or two emails, the strongest offer.
- Unengaged (12 months plus). Leave them out, or send one email once engaged sends have gone well.
- By market and language. Separate sends so each one goes at a sensible local time with the right prices and currency.
Suppress people who bought in the sale from "last chance" emails.
Leave time for sign-off and translation
Approvals are where Black Friday plans slip. Legal wants to check the terms, a market manager wants a new hero image, and the French comes back the day before send.
- Build in two rounds of changes for every email. You'll use them.
- Set a reply-by date for each approver, a few working days before send.
- Send the translation brief early, with the character limits for subject lines and buttons.
- Approve each language version, not just the English master.
- Keep a record of who approved which version.
Market notes
UK
Many UK retailers now run Black Friday as a week or more rather than a single day, so decide early whether you will too. Small Business Saturday UK is 5 December 2026, a week after the US one. Check any "was" price or reference price with whoever owns pricing. A misleading price claim is a bigger problem than a weak subject line.
US
Thanksgiving is Thursday 26 November. Many people are with family that day, so consider a short preview rather than the main sale. Small Business Saturday is 28 November. GivingTuesday is 1 December (GivingTuesday), so charities and brands with a giving angle should plan a separate send for it.
Canada
Black Friday is now the biggest shopping day of the holiday season in Canada. Moneris payment data for 2025, reported by Retail Insider, had Black Friday top of the November–December list, with Boxing Day at less than half its volume. Canadian shoppers still expect Boxing Week deals, so plan both.
If you sell to customers in Quebec, your emails to them should be in French. The Charter of the French Language covers commercial publications, and other languages can't be given more prominence than French. Allow time for French translation and a French-speaking approver. Éducaloi has a plain-English summary.
Australia
Black Friday is now the biggest sale event of the year for many Australian retailers. The Australian Retailers Association said in 2022 that it had overtaken Boxing Day. For 2025, the ARA and Roy Morgan forecast $6.8 billion of spending over the four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday (Roy Morgan).
Click Frenzy runs in November too. Its dates are announced by Click Frenzy itself, and at the time of writing the 2026 dates hadn't been confirmed. Check Click Frenzy before you lock in your plan, because it means two sale peaks in one month for your list.
Black Friday starts in Australia and New Zealand while it's still Thursday in the US.
New Zealand
Many New Zealand shoppers will also see Australian and US offers in their inbox, so be clear which prices and delivery terms apply to them. Plan sends on New Zealand time, not Sydney time. NZ is two hours ahead of Sydney in late November. If you send to both from one account, split the sends.
Plan it in Mailfois
If you're running several markets, put each one in the planner as its own line: build-by date, sign-off date and send date, so you can see which market is behind. Send each email for sign-off by private link, so approvers outside your team can comment and approve without an account. Mailfois works alongside whatever ESP you send from. When it's over, carry the dates into next year with the email marketing calendar for 2027.
Frequently asked questions
When should I start sending Black Friday emails?
Teasers and early access usually start in early to mid-November, with the warm-up before that. The main sale emails go out from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.
How many emails should I send over Black Friday weekend?
Fewer than you think. Your most engaged customers may welcome one a day; lapsed subscribers should get one or two. Ease off if unsubscribes or complaints climb.
Do Gmail's sender rules apply to small senders?
The strictest rules are for senders of 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts. But they're good practice at any size, and Black Friday may push you over the threshold.
How early should Black Friday emails be approved?
Aim for a week before send. In 2026 that means everything signed off by around 20 November, including every translated version.
