Updated: 9 November 2026
Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping periods of the year, bringing opportunities for retailers to attract customers and drive sales. But with inboxes flooded with promotions and shoppers comparing countless offers, standing out takes more than an attractive discount.
Drawing on Black Friday email performance data from 2024 and 2025, we share ten practical ways to make your marketing more relevant, effective and valuable beyond the sale.
How can South African businesses improve their Black Friday email marketing?
Successful Black Friday email marketing starts with a clean, permission-based database and relevant customer segmentation. South African businesses should plan communication before, during and after the sale, combine email with other channels where appropriate, automate timely follow-ups and measure results beyond opens and clicks.
Before Black Friday: Prepare for Success
1. Get your customer database in order
Effective campaigns start with accurate customer information. Review your contact lists, remove invalid email addresses, update outdated details and ensure unsubscribe requests have been processed.
Make sure your marketing activities comply with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). A healthy, permission-based database helps you reach the right people while protecting your sender reputation and customer trust.
2. Segment your audience for more relevant offers
Not every customer wants the same Black Friday deal. Use purchase histories, interests and engagement data to create targeted campaigns. For example, reward loyal customers with early access, recommend complementary products to previous buyers or introduce new subscribers to your bestselling ranges.
3. Plan the entire customer journey
Your Black Friday strategy shouldn’t revolve around a single promotional email. Build anticipation with early previews, introduce relevant offers as Black Friday approaches and prepare timely follow-ups. Coordinate with your operations team to confirm stock availability, website readiness and delivery arrangements. Remember to purchase sufficient email and SMS credits before your campaigns begin.
Everlytic’s Black Friday campaign data reinforces the value of planning beyond a single day. Email clicks increased by 77% on Black Friday 2025 compared with Black Friday 2024, while Cyber Monday recorded a 65% increase in clicks year on year.
These findings highlight the engagement opportunities across the broader promotional period. Plan your communication around the full shopping journey, rather than focusing all your efforts on Black Friday itself.
4. Make your offers clear and compelling
When everyone is promoting discounts, clarity can help your message stand out. Use descriptive subject lines, informative preview text and prominent calls to action (CTAs). Highlight a few relevant products rather than overwhelming customers with your entire catalogue.
Create urgency through clear deadlines and stock limitations, not exaggerated claims. Customers should understand the offer and how to take advantage of it without unnecessary effort.
As AI increasingly helps consumers navigate their inboxes, clear communication becomes even more important. In a recent Bizcommunity article on Black Friday email marketing, Everlytic explores why businesses need to make their offers easy to understand and act on.
During Black Friday: Turn Interest into Action
5. Make mobile shopping effortless
An engaging email won’t generate sales if customers struggle to complete their purchases. Ensure your emails display correctly on mobile devices, links work and landing pages match your promotions. Simplify checkout forms, provide convenient payment options and make delivery information easy to find.
Test the complete purchasing journey before your campaigns launch. Small obstacles can create unnecessary reasons for customers to abandon their baskets.
6. Use different channels strategically
Email is ideal for detailed promotions, while SMS can support concise, time-sensitive reminders. WhatsApp can also facilitate customer engagement and support where the appropriate permissions and functionality are available. However, using multiple channels shouldn’t mean repeating the same promotion everywhere.
Consider which channel best serves each communication and how frequently customers should hear from you. A coordinated approach keeps messaging relevant without overwhelming your audience.
7. Automate communication based on customer behaviour
Customers don’t always purchase immediately. Some browse, compare prices or abandon their shopping baskets before checking out.
Marketing automation can help you respond to these actions with relevant follow-ups. For example, a customer who abandons their basket could receive an automated reminder. If they complete their purchase, the workflow should stop promotional reminders and allow relevant order communications to take over.
Related reading: Explore how workflow automation can support personalised customer journeys.
8. Protect your email deliverability
Even your best Black Friday promotion won’t deliver results if it doesn’t reach your customers. Ensure your sending domain is correctly authenticated using SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Monitor engagement, avoid unnecessary sending spikes and provide clear unsubscribe options.
Follow relevant mailbox provider requirements and pay attention to spam complaints. Maintaining responsible sending practices helps protect your reputation during Black Friday and beyond.
After Black Friday: Build Lasting Relationships
9. Keep customers informed after checkout
A completed purchase isn’t the end of the customer journey. Order confirmations, dispatch notifications and delivery updates help customers understand what’s happening and reduce unnecessary support enquiries. Once orders arrive, consider sending feedback requests, helpful product information or relevant future offers where customers have agreed to receive marketing.
Thoughtful post-purchase communication can encourage confidence in your business and give customers a reason to return.
10. Measure more than email engagement
Open and click-through rates provide useful insights, but they don’t reveal the complete value of your Black Friday campaigns.
Where your systems allow, examine conversions, purchase values, abandoned-basket recoveries and repeat purchases. Compare performance across customer segments and identify which communications contributed to meaningful results.
Everlytic’s Black Friday performance data offers an interesting perspective. During the 2025 Black Friday period, total email sends decreased by 7.1% compared with 2024, yet total clicks increased by 54.5%.
While these figures don’t establish what caused the increase, they demonstrate why sending volume shouldn’t be viewed in isolation. Evaluating clicks alongside campaign reach, conversions and customer behaviour provides a more complete picture of marketing performance.
Use these insights to refine your approach for Cyber Monday, festive promotions and future campaigns.
Make Every Customer Interaction Count This Black Friday
Black Friday creates opportunities to attract customers and generate sales, but lasting value comes from the experience surrounding those purchases.
Relevant promotions, timely communication and automated follow-ups can help customers make confident purchasing decisions while reducing unnecessary manual effort for your team.
This Black Friday, look beyond the number of messages you send. Focus on creating customer experiences that encourage people to return long after the discounts end.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should South African businesses start their Black Friday email campaigns?
Start planning before the peak shopping period. Use early emails to build anticipation, introduce relevant offers as Black Friday approaches and prepare follow-up communication for customers who engage or purchase.
Should businesses use email, SMS or WhatsApp for Black Friday promotions?
Each channel serves a different purpose. Email works well for detailed offers and product information, while SMS is useful for concise, time-sensitive reminders. WhatsApp can support customer engagement where the appropriate permissions and functionality are available. Choose channels according to customer needs rather than repeating every promotion.
How can businesses improve Black Friday email deliverability?
Start with a clean, permission-based database and authenticated sending domain. Ensure SPF, DKIM and DMARC are correctly configured, monitor engagement and spam complaints, avoid unnecessary sending spikes and make unsubscribing straightforward.
Put Your Black Friday Strategy into Action with Everlytic
From database segmentation and personalised campaigns to SMS messaging and workflow automation, Everlytic helps you deliver relevant communication throughout the customer journey. Discover how you can automate timely follow-ups, reduce manual effort and make customer engagement more effective by exploring our workflow automations.
Source: Everlytic platform email performance data, Black Friday 2024 and 2025. Figures reflect activity recorded during the respective reporting periods.
