Are you looking for a BFCM email calendar that tells you exactly what to send between now and Cyber Monday? Here it is: a dated plan for 2026 that runs from the volume ramp in early November, through your Black Friday email campaign on November 27, to the last Cyber Monday reminder on November 30.
Guessing gets expensive here. Spike your volume to people who stopped opening months ago, and inbox providers can throttle you or send you to spam on the five days that matter most.
The prize is worth the planning. Adobe counted $44.2 billion in US online spending over Cyber Week 2025, and Klaviyo reports that email and text drove 42% of its brands' revenue over those same five days.
I build and run Klaviyo accounts for ecommerce brands at Inbox Connect, and this is the calendar I'd hand your team (dates, audiences, and all).
Below, I'll show you the 2026 dates, a six-week calendar, the peak week day by day, which flows to change, how deep to discount, and where SMS fits. By the end, you'll have a send plan you can load into Klaviyo this week, so your biggest weekend of the year actually lands in the inbox.
Let's start with the 2026 dates.
In this article
- The 2026 BFCM dates to plan around
- The 6-week BFCM email calendar
- What to send on each day of BFCM week
- Should you change your flows for BFCM?
- How much should you discount for Black Friday?
- Where SMS fits in your BFCM calendar
- FAQ
- Final Thoughts
The 2026 BFCM Dates to Plan Around
Black Friday 2026 is Friday, November 27, and Cyber Monday is Monday, November 30. Thanksgiving lands on Thursday, November 26, so your peak window runs five days, with Giving Tuesday right behind it on December 1.
Here's what each of those days did last year, using Adobe's US online spending figures and Klaviyo's BFCM recap:
| 2026 date | Day | What happened on this day in 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Thu, Nov 26 | Thanksgiving | $6.4 billion spent online, up 5.3% (Adobe) |
| Fri, Nov 27 | Black Friday | $11.8 billion, up 9.1%, the faster-growing of the two big days (Adobe) |
| Sat, Nov 28 | Small Business Saturday | The deepest average discounts of the weekend, around 28% (Klaviyo) |
| Sun, Nov 29 | Cyber Sunday | The fastest-growing day of the weekend, up nearly 14% (Klaviyo) |
| Mon, Nov 30 | Cyber Monday | $14.25 billion, up 7.1%, still the biggest online day (Adobe) |
| Tue, Dec 1 | Giving Tuesday | No sales benchmark; a natural day for a thank-you or cause email |
Two things stand out. Cyber Monday is still the biggest day, but in Adobe's data Black Friday has grown faster for two seasons running, so a calendar that saves its best email for Monday leaves money on the table.
Pro tip: Adobe found the busiest hours on Cyber Monday 2025 were 8 to 10 pm, when shoppers spent $16 million every minute. Schedule a last-call email for early evening in your biggest time zone instead of relying on one morning send.
The 6-Week BFCM Email Calendar
A BFCM email calendar has four phases: build your sending volume, tease the sale and collect early-access sign-ups, send hard through the five peak days, then switch to thank-you and shipping emails. Klaviyo's BFCM inbox guide wants that ramp finished by the first week of November, leaving roughly two weeks to fix problems before peak sending.
The reason is reputation. Gmail's sender guidelines warn that suddenly doubling your volume can trigger rate limiting or a reputation drop, and they ask you to keep spam complaints below 0.1%.
If you're reading this after November 2, start at the Nov 2 to 8 row with the 50% step from the Pro tip below the table.
Here's the week-by-week plan I'd run, counting back from Black Friday on November 27:
| Week (2026) | Goal | Campaign emails | Who gets them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 19 to 25 | Clean the list and add one extra campaign a week | Your usual cadence plus 1 | Engaged (30 Days) |
| Oct 26 to Nov 1 | Grow each send by no more than 30% | Usual plus 1 | Add samples of 60-day engaged profiles |
| Nov 2 to 8 | Reach your planned BFCM audience size | 3 to 4 | Up to Engaged (90 Days) |
| Nov 9 to 15 | Gift guide and early-access sign-up | 3 | Engaged (90 Days) |
| Nov 16 to 22 | Tease the sale, edit flows, then pull back | 3 to 4 | Engaged (90 Days), then Engaged (30 Days) for the last few days |
| Nov 23 to 30 | Early access, launch, reminders, last calls | 2 to 3 a day on peak days | Early-access list first, then your full emailable list once |
| Dec 1 to 7 | Giving Tuesday, thank-you, shipping cutoffs | 2 to 3 | Buyers and non-buyers split |
The 30% cap comes straight from Klaviyo's guide, and its full-list send playbook adds a hard ceiling: never more than double your average volume in one send. That same playbook says to email your full list only once or twice a year, and BFCM is the occasion it has in mind.
Engaged (30 Days) and Engaged (90 Days) are default Klaviyo segments for most stores. My Klaviyo segmentation guide shows how to check them and build an Unengaged exclusion before the ramp starts.
Weak vs strong: the warm-up send
Weak: Your first email in six weeks goes out on November 20 to all 80,000 profiles, subject line "BLACK FRIDAY IS COMING." Half the list hasn't opened since spring, so complaints jump the week before your biggest sends.
Strong: On November 2 a gift guide goes to Engaged (30 Days), and each later send adds people who engaged within 60, then 90 days, growing by about a third each time. By November 20 inbox providers have seen your peak-sized audience already, and you pull back to the most engaged group for a few days before Black Friday.
Pro tip: Reading this in November with no ramp done? Compress it by growing each daily send by 50%, the step Klaviyo's volume-building lesson uses, and stop expanding the moment bounces or complaints rise.
The same step-by-step logic applies to a brand-new sending domain, which my email warmup guide covers in detail.
What to Send on Each Day of BFCM Week
Send two to three emails a day on the peak days and one on the quieter days around them. Klaviyo's omnichannel BFCM guide suggests about two to three emails a day during BFCM week, so the real work is giving every send its own job.
This is the day-by-day plan I'd run for 2026:
| Date | Text (SMS) | Audience | The send's job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, Nov 23 | VIP early-access announcement | None | VIP Customers and Repeat Buyers | Make your best buyers feel first |
| Tue, Nov 24 | Early access opens (morning), reminder (evening) | 1 to VIP text subscribers | Early-access list | Bank revenue before the noise |
| Wed, Nov 25 | Sale preview or gift guide | None | Engaged (90 Days) | Set expectations and dates |
| Thu, Nov 26 | Sale opens for everyone | Optional | Engaged (90 Days) | Catch early shoppers |
| Fri, Nov 27 | Launch, bestsellers at midday, evening reminder | 1 launch text | Full emailable list once, then non-buyers | Your biggest reach of the year |
| Sat, Nov 28 | Bundles or small-business story | None | Engaged non-buyers | Keep the sale visible without repeating Friday |
| Sun, Nov 29 | Cyber Monday early access | None | Engaged non-buyers | Ride the fastest-growing day |
| Mon, Nov 30 | Launch, midday reminder, last call early evening | 1 last-call text before quiet hours | Non-buyers | Close the sale |
| Tue, Dec 1 | Thank-you or Giving Tuesday email | None | Buyers and engaged non-buyers | End on goodwill, not another discount |
Notice that every reminder goes to non-buyers. Someone who bought on Friday morning shouldn't get Friday night's "hurry" email, so add Placed Order zero times since the sale started to each reminder segment.
My promotional emails guide covers how to build each of these sends, and you'll find email campaign examples from big brands if you want layouts to borrow.
Weak vs strong: BFCM subject lines
Your subject line competes with every other store's sale that morning, so it has to say something specific. Here's what I'd change:
- Weak: "BLACK FRIDAY SALE!!!" Strong: "Your early access starts now (24 hours before everyone)." The strong version tells a VIP why this email is different from every other sale email that morning.
- Weak: "Don't miss out." Strong: "Last call: 25% off ends at midnight ET." A real deadline and a real number beat vague urgency.
- Weak: "Cyber Monday deals inside." Strong: "Cyber Monday: the boots you viewed are 25% off." Personal beats generic when you have the browse data.
Pro tip: Keep the urgency in the subject line and out of your sender name. Gmail's sender guidelines specifically call out display names like "Last Chance" or "TIME IS RUNNING OUT (SALE)" as ones to avoid, so your From name should stay your brand.
My email subject line best practices guide has more pairs if you're writing a full week of them.
Should You Change Your Flows for BFCM?
Yes, but leave them running. Edit the discounts and copy so your flows don't contradict your campaigns, because a cart reminder offering 10% off looks odd to someone who got 25% off in an email that morning.
Klaviyo's omnichannel guide makes the same point: revisit the discount in each flow message so it doesn't conflict with your BFCM promotion, then change it back afterward. Here's how I'd handle the four flows that matter most:
| Flow | What to change for BFCM | When to change it back |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome series | Swap the usual sign-up code for the sale if the sale is bigger, and mention the end date | December 1 |
| Abandoned cart | Remove any flow discount smaller than the sale, add the sale's end time, and filter out anyone who has placed an order | December 1 |
| Browse abandonment | Show sale prices and point to the sale collection | December 1 |
| Post-purchase | Add shipping cutoffs and gift notes, and hold the cross-sell until after delivery | Keep the cutoffs live until your last shipping date |
My abandoned cart sequence and post-purchase sequence guides walk through each message if you're rebuilding rather than editing. For the full set of store automations, start with my ecommerce email marketing automation guide.
The send mix I'd run
Flows keep working in the background, but campaigns carry BFCM. Here's how I'd weight the sends:
- Use Most: Campaigns to engaged segments. These are the bulk of your calendar, from the ramp through Cyber Monday.
- Use Sometimes: Text messages, for early access, the Black Friday launch, and the Cyber Monday last call. Each one should have a clock attached.
- Use Sparingly: Full-list email sends. Klaviyo's playbook allows one or two a year, so spend yours on Black Friday morning.
If you'd rather hand the calendar and flow edits to someone, my team plans and runs BFCM sends like this as part of our Klaviyo agency work. Either way, put a calendar reminder on December 1 to undo every flow change.
How Much Should You Discount for Black Friday?
Probably less than you think. Klaviyo's 2025 discount analysis found average ecommerce discounts fell from 29.6% to 26.2%, and its newsroom recap says the brands offering the smallest discounts grew fastest, at 14% year over year.
The right depth also depends on your price point. In Klaviyo's subject line analysis, lower-AOV brands earned their best open rates at 20 to 29% off, while mid- and high-AOV brands did best at 30 to 39%.
What did work was loyalty. Revenue from repeat customers grew 13.5% over BFCM 2025, which is why early access for past buyers sits at the top of my calendar.
| Offer type | Who gets it | Where it goes in the calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Early access, same discount | VIP Customers and Repeat Buyers | Nov 23 to 25 |
| Sitewide percentage off | Everyone you email | Nov 26 to 30 |
| Spend thresholds or bundles | Engaged non-buyers | Small Business Saturday and Cyber Sunday |
| Text-only extra or early alert | Text subscribers | Black Friday launch, Cyber Monday last call |
| Gift with purchase or free shipping | Buyers who already ordered | Post-purchase and Dec 1 to 7 |
Weak vs strong: the offer email
Weak: "Up to 70% off everything*", with the fine print explaining that three clearance items hit 70%. Shoppers click, see 10% off on what they wanted, and leave annoyed.
Strong: "25% off sitewide. VIPs shop 24 hours early." One number, one perk, and a reason for your best customers to open the next email too.
Pro tip: Keep your Cyber Monday offer the same as Black Friday's, or add something non-price like free shipping. A bigger Monday discount teaches your Friday buyers to wait next year.
Where SMS Fits in Your BFCM Calendar
Use text for the moments with a clock on them, and let email carry everything else. Klaviyo's omnichannel guide recommends sending most messages by email, using text for exclusive or time-sensitive deals, and excluding people from receiving the same promotion on both channels.
Mixing channels pays when you do it carefully. Klaviyo says shoppers who received both email and text from a brand over BFCM 2025 placed 11% more orders than single-channel shoppers.
Timing is where text gets tricky. Klaviyo's text message settings guide notes the TCPA bars texts before 8 am or after 9 pm, Florida narrows that to 8 am to 8 pm, and Klaviyo's standard quiet hours run from 8 pm to 11 am.
That clashes with Adobe's 8 to 10 pm Cyber Monday peak. So I'd send the last-call text mid-afternoon and let the evening email cover the peak hours.
Pro tip: Klaviyo's text Smart Sending window defaults to 24 hours and runs separately from email's. If you plan a morning text and an evening text on Black Friday, check that setting first, or the second one won't go out.
If you're still choosing a text tool for next season, my Klaviyo vs Postscript comparison covers when a separate SMS platform is worth it.
FAQ
When should I start sending Black Friday emails?
Start ramping your volume six or more weeks out, and Klaviyo's guide recommends starting as early as September. Sale emails themselves can wait until early access on the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
How many emails should I send on Black Friday?
Two to three, each with a different job: launch, bestsellers, and an evening reminder to people who haven't bought. Klaviyo's BFCM guide suggests about two to three emails a day during BFCM week.
Should I email my whole list on Black Friday?
Only if you've ramped up to that volume first. Klaviyo's playbook treats a full-list send as a once- or twice-a-year event, and Black Friday morning is where I'd spend it.
Do I need a separate Cyber Monday campaign?
Yes. Cyber Monday was still the biggest online spending day in 2025, at $14.25 billion according to Adobe, so it deserves its own launch, reminder, and last call.
What should I send after Cyber Monday?
Send a thank-you, your shipping cutoff dates, and a post-purchase series that holds the cross-sell until orders arrive. Then pull your sends back to engaged segments, since the full-list window is over.
Final Thoughts
You came here for a BFCM email calendar, and you now have the 2026 dates, a six-week plan, a day-by-day schedule for November 23 to December 1, the flow edits to make, a discount strategy, and a place for SMS. The short version: ramp before you peak, send each reminder only to people who haven't bought, and use text only where there's a deadline.
My recommendation for this week is specific. Pull the size of your Engaged (30 Days) and Engaged (90 Days) segments today, then schedule your first ramp campaign to the 30-day group and plan each send after it at no more than 30% larger.
Once that's running, write your early-access email for November 23 and make the four flow edits above. If you want a second pair of eyes on the calendar before Black Friday, my Klaviyo agency team can review it with you.
Russ