This is a screenshot from our biggest client’s Shopify analytics dashboard, showing their revenue of 3.094.300 DKK ($450.000) on November 24, 2023, Black Friday.

This client typically generate 150.000 DKK per day in revenue, meaning they achieved 20x that on Black Friday, which is why we call it the 20x BF strategy.

The 20x Black Friday Strategy

1. Pre-Black Friday Build-Up (Starting November 1-10)

During this period, you should launch email sign-up ads to grow your email list. Run ads featuring giveaways and competitions where people seeing the ad must provide their email to enter. Be sure not to target people who are already on your email list, and ensure the competition or giveaway is highly relevant to your target audience to attract high-quality potential customers

2. Prepare Your 20x BF Offer:  (November 10-12)

What offer will you provide? How much can customers save, and on which products?
You should finalize your exact offer by November 12, so you can begin preparing your marketing strategy.

Here’s what we recommend for your offer:

Minimum 20% off
Include some products with 50-80% off if possible (these can be items that are difficult to sell or have high margins). The "50-80% off" messaging can be used to drive revenue and create urgency by saying "Save up to 80%!".

Optional (but highly effective) recommendations:
This approach will significantly boost performance, though it may not be possible for everyone. Email lists are key on Black Friday, as ads are expensive due to high competition (email marketing costs remain the same). Emails also have a high conversion rate—we saw up to a 40% conversion rate through email on Black Friday last year.

To achieve an extremely high conversion rate and great results from email, you need to offer something exclusive that the general public doesn’t have access to. Here’s what we did last year (different tactics used across various clients):

- Closed the webshop and sent out a password to the email list, giving them exclusive access.

- Offered an additional discount to the email list with a special discount code.

- Gave the email list pre-access to the sale a few hours before it was open to the public.

- Offered a "FREE SECRET CHRISTMAS GIFT" for the first 100 orders.
(This works extremely well. You don’t need to give out an iPhone—just use products you can’t sell or something that doesn’t cost much. Customers won’t be disappointed because it’s a free gift, and who doesn’t love free stuff?)

3. Prepare Ads and Emails:  (November 13-18)

Create video and image ads featuring the Black Friday offer you’ve finalized, and write the accompanying copy. If you're running a full Black Week offer, everything should be ready by November 18. If you're focusing only on Black Friday/Black Weekend, you have until November 22.

During this period, also prepare the different email campaigns and flows to ensure everything is set for the sale.

4. Countdown to Sale Emails  (Starting 1 week before your sale. If your sale is on Black Friday, November 29, then these emails should start on November 22.)

Send emails to your list teasing the upcoming Black Friday sale that’s just 7 days away. You don’t need to share many details(yet)—just build excitement. After 2 days, send another email with a little more information, followed by another email 2 days later. Continue with a new email 1 day after that, and send a final reminder the day before the sale.

This might temporarily lower your email list revenue during the 7-day lead-up, but trust me—it will significantly increase your overall revenue.


5. Launch The Sale And Ads 

If you’ve prepared everything properly, all you need to do is press "turn on" for the sale and ads, and your orders will start to go crazy. Set a budget for your ads, but closely monitor all the data throughout the day to adjust budgets based on the real-time results you’re seeing in the backend. Keep a close eye on stock levels and be ready to decrease ad spending if stock runs low.

PS: Don’t forget to use Seasonal Bid Adjustments!