This year Black Friday falls on 27 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November. That sounds like plenty of time. In practice, the stores that get the most out of that weekend finish preparing in early November. The final week is just about making sure nothing breaks.

Here is a plan you can actually deliver if you start in October.

Why October, not November

  • Ads need time to learn. A campaign launched the Thursday before Black Friday will not have time to learn who to target. Google and Meta algorithms usually need 1-2 weeks of data to perform sensibly.
  • Clicks get more expensive every day. Black Friday week is the most competitive ad week of the year. Traffic built earlier is cheaper.
  • Website changes need testing. A checkout change pushed on Friday morning is asking for trouble at peak sales.

Your website: handle the traffic, keep the customer

The most expensive thing that can happen on Black Friday is a store that slows down or goes down when the most people arrive.

  • Check speed and hosting. Ask your host how much traffic your plan can take and consider temporarily scaling up. Every second of loading costs sales - we covered this in why a slow website costs you customers.
  • Walk through a purchase on your phone. From landing on the site to the order confirmation. If something annoys you, it annoys your customers too.
  • Guest checkout. Forced registration is one of the most common reasons for abandoned carts.
  • Popular payment methods. Cards, wallets, instant transfers, buy now pay later. A customer who cannot find their method will not look for a workaround.
  • Stock levels. Nothing is more irritating than a deal on a product that is already sold out. Make sure stock on the site is up to date.
  • A dedicated sale page. One page with your Black Friday offers that ads and newsletters point to. Not the homepage, where the sale gets lost among banners.
  • Delivery dates before Christmas. State clearly the last day to order for delivery before Christmas. It is an argument that sells.

Prices: mind the 30-day rule

Under the EU Omnibus rules, every price reduction must show the lowest price from the 30 days before the reduction. In practice that means two things:

  • The "was" price has to come from your real price history, not from a price you set briefly before the sale.
  • Do not raise prices in October just to "cut" them back to the previous level in November. Customers notice, price comparison sites notice, and consumer protection authorities pay close attention around Black Friday.

Check that your store automatically displays the lowest 30-day price on discounted products. Most platforms have a ready-made feature for this, but it needs to be switched on and configured.

Black Friday is not won on Friday. It is won in October, while competitors still think there is time.

Ads: start earlier than you think

By the end of October

  • Check conversion tracking. Before you spend more, make sure you see sales from every campaign, not just clicks. Without it you cannot optimise your budget in the most important week. More in How do you know your website is making money?
  • Build remarketing audiences. People who visit your store in October and early November are your cheapest Black Friday customers. Run campaigns that bring traffic now, so there is someone to come back to later.
  • Collect email addresses. A sign-up for "early access to Black Friday deals" is a simple way to build a list of people waiting for your offer.

In early November

  • Prepare ad creatives and copy in advance: images, headlines, variants for each channel. There will be no time for it during sale week.
  • Launch sale campaigns a few days early so they can gather data. Some stores start their offers a week before Black Friday and win customers before it gets crowded.
  • Plan the budget for the whole week, not just Friday. Traffic starts climbing a few days earlier and lasts until Cyber Monday.

During Black Friday week

  • Do not rebuild campaigns mid-flight. Big changes reset the algorithm's learning exactly when you need it most. Increase budgets gradually on campaigns that work.
  • Use seasonality adjustments in Google Ads. This setting tells the system to expect a higher conversion rate for a few days, so it does not react too cautiously.
  • Watch your landing pages. An ad that leads to a sold-out product is wasted budget. We covered how not to lose clicks along the way in They click the ad but never call.

After Black Friday: a second chance

The weekend ends, but sales do not have to:

  • Cyber Monday (30 November) is an extra day for people who missed out.
  • Abandoned cart remarketing - remind people who added a product but did not finish checking out.
  • Your Christmas campaign can use the audiences built in November. Black Friday customers are the best group for your next offer.

October checklist

  • Hosting checked for higher traffic, purchase tested on a phone.
  • Guest checkout, popular payment methods, accurate stock levels.
  • The lowest 30-day price shows on deals, prices are not artificially raised.
  • A dedicated Black Friday offers page.
  • Sales tracking from ads works.
  • Traffic and remarketing campaigns are already running.
  • Creatives and the budget for the whole week are planned.

Where to start

Pick one item from the checklist that does not work for you today and deal with it this week. If there are several, start with conversion tracking and store speed - without them nothing else has a foundation.

Want to get your store and campaigns ready for Black Friday with us? See how we work on e-commerce stores and online advertising, or start with a free audit.