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A free guide by Mariah Brunner ↗ INSTAGRAM ↗ TIKTOK

My Full Black Friday
Email Strategy

The Cyber Week plan I'd run for any ecommerce brand, from the popups that fill your list to every send, dated.

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After 7 years running ecommerce brands, my rule is simple. Grow the list in October and early November, while traffic is cheaper, then email it well. This is the plan I'm running for my brand Bamboo Ave this year, with Alia on our popups.

The Five Phases
  1. Capture (now to Nov 1). Popups live, flows checked, list cleaned.
  2. Warm (Nov 2 to Nov 22). Ramp from 2 sends a week to 4. Helpful emails, no discounts. Open the early access list Nov 9.
  3. Early access (Nov 23 to Nov 25). VIPs and the early list shop first.
  4. Cyber Week (Nov 26 to Dec 1). One or two sends a day by segment. Cyber Monday gets a new angle, never a resend.
  5. Follow-through (Dec 2 to January). Gifting, shipping cutoffs, then the second purchase.
Capture Before Traffic Gets Expensive

Most stores show every visitor the same 15% off. That hands your biggest discount to people who were going to buy anyway, and it's too weak for people about to leave. Alia fixes that three ways:

  1. Smart Offers predicts buying intent the moment someone lands and picks the discount for them, so you protect margin on likely buyers.
  2. Smart Triggering shows the popup when a visitor is most engaged, and can show it again when intent rises.
  3. Smart Testing picks winners by revenue and orders, not form fills.

It's built for Shopify, has 24 Black Friday and holiday templates, and Alia says setup takes about 30 minutes. Here's my popup plan:

Copy Into Your Alia Setup
BLACK FRIDAY 2026 POPUP PLAN (set this up in Alia) Judge every popup on revenue per visitor and orders, not signups. OFFER TIERS (build these in Smart Offers) High intent: returning visitors viewing products or holding a cart. No discount, or your smallest. Lead with a perk: "Get first access to Black Friday" Middle intent: first or second visit, browsing. Your welcome offer plus early access: "[X]% off your first order + early access to Black Friday" Low intent: cold traffic that looks ready to leave. Your strongest offer your margin allows: "[Bigger X]% off, today only" Already subscribed: skip the email form, ask for a phone number. "Get Black Friday by text first" Add one question: "Who are you shopping for?" Me / A gift / Both SWAP THE OFFER BY DATE Now to Nov 8: welcome offers. Start testing now. Nov 9 to Nov 22: "Black Friday starts early for the list." Welcome codes can't stack with the sale. Nov 23 to Dec 1: "Black Friday is live. Text me the code." Add an exit-intent cart saver. Dec 2 to your shipping cutoff: gift guide + shipping deadlines. After the cutoff: gift cards. RULES - Let Smart Triggering pick the moment. One popup per session, one re-trigger max. - Never on cart or checkout, except the cart saver. - Hide it from people who arrived from an email or text. - Lock in your test winners by Nov 22. TEST, IN THIS ORDER 1. % off vs free shipping vs free gift 2. Early access vs a discount 3. Email only vs email, then phone 4. Straight form vs a short quiz
Segment Before You Send

Match how often you email someone to how engaged they are. Mailing everyone daily in Cyber Week is how good brands land in spam.

  1. VIPs (2+ orders) hear first and get the most texts.
  2. One-time buyers get early access, then a reason to buy item two.
  3. Engaged, never bought (opened or clicked in 60 days) are your biggest upside.
  4. New this fall get tagged by the popup offer they got.
  5. Browsers (carted or viewed in 14 days) see the exact product, if it's on sale.
  6. Cold (90+ days) get one re-engagement email, then one small slice of the sale.
The Send Calendar

Every key send, dated, with its segment. Swap in your offer.

Your Dated Send Plan
BLACK FRIDAY / CYBER WEEK 2026 SEND CALENDAR NOW TO NOV 1: CAPTURE Popups live. Welcome, abandoned cart, browse and post-purchase flows checked. Clean the list. Send COLD one "Should we keep emailing you?" email and keep the clickers. 2 sends a week to ENGAGED. No discounts. NOV 2 TO NOV 22: WARM (ramp from 2 to 4 sends a week) Tue Nov 3 ENGAGED Gift guide by person Mon Nov 9 ENGAGED Early access list is open. One button: join. Thu Nov 12 ENGAGED Gift guide by price Tue Nov 17 ENGAGED Founder story. Name the sale date. Sun Nov 22 NOT EARLY Last call for early access NOV 23 TO NOV 25: EARLY ACCESS Mon Nov 23 VIP + EARLY Early access is open. Email AM, text at lunch. Wed Nov 25 ENGAGED Sale opens to the engaged list. NOV 26 TO DEC 1: CYBER WEEK Thu Nov 26 ENGAGED Short thank-you + the sale Fri Nov 27 ENGAGED AM: Black Friday is here. PM: clickers who didn't buy. Sat Nov 28 ENGAGED Small business angle. Small slice of the 90-180 day list. Watch complaints. Sun Nov 29 CART Check abandoned cart is firing. It's your best email today. Mon Nov 30 ENGAGED AM: Cyber Monday with a NEW angle, like a bundle or a gift. PM: final hours. DEC 2 TO JAN: FOLLOW-THROUGH Wed Dec 2 BUYERS Thank you. No offer. Dec 3-cutoff GIFTERS Full-price gift guides, then the shipping countdown. Dec 26-31 NEW BUYERS Second purchase: how to use it + what pairs with it. Early Jan NEW, NO OPENS Sunset. Stop mailing them. RULES - Buyers drop out of sale reminders right away. - One offer, one button, one deadline per email. - Send at odd minutes (9:07, not 9:00).

One offer per email. Change the angle daily so Friday's skippers get a new reason to open Monday.

Swap In Your Brand And Offer
BLACK FRIDAY SUBJECT LINE BANK Swap the [brackets]. Pair each one with preview text that finishes the thought. Early access: You're in early. [Brand] Black Friday starts now Early access: Your early access link (it's not public yet) Tease: Mark Monday on your calendar The sale: [Offer] starts now. Your code is inside The sale: Your cart is still saved (and now [X]% off) Cyber Monday: New today: the [bundle name] Cyber Monday: Final hours of [offer] Gifting: Order by [date] to get it by Christmas After: The thing that goes with what you bought
Protect Your Inbox
  1. Authenticate. SPF, DKIM, DMARC and one-click unsubscribe. Gmail and Yahoo require them for bulk senders.
  2. Keep complaints under 0.1%. Cold sends are where they come from.
  3. Raise volume slowly. Weekly to twice a day overnight looks like spam.
Build Your Own Plan

Paste this into the AI assistant you already use. It interviews you one question at a time, then writes your segments, popup tiers, calendar, emails and texts.

Black Friday Plan Builder
You are my ecommerce email strategist. Help me build my Black Friday / Cyber Week 2026 email and SMS plan. Black Friday is Fri Nov 27, Cyber Monday is Mon Nov 30. HOW TO RUN THIS - Interview me ONE question at a time. Before each one, guess from what you know (or from my website) and let me correct it. - I may talk my answers out loud and ramble. Pull out what matters. - Never invent my numbers. Use a sensible default and mark it [CHECK]. ASK ME ABOUT 1. My store, what I sell and my average order value 2. My email and SMS list sizes, and how many opened or clicked in 60 days 3. One-time vs repeat buyers 4. My offer, my sale dates and my margin floor 5. Which products I have deep stock in 6. My popup offers and which flows are running 7. My voice (I'll paste 1-2 emails that did well) 8. My carrier's last ground ship date before Christmas THEN BUILD A. My segments, with who gets the most and fewest sends B. Popup offer tiers by visitor intent, with date swaps on Nov 9, Nov 23 and Dec 2 C. A dated send calendar through Jan 10: date, segment, goal, subject, preview, offer D. Five full emails in my voice: early list launch, early access open, Black Friday AM, Cyber Monday, buyer thank-you E. Six texts under 160 characters F. A deliverability checklist sized to my volume G. The 6 numbers I check every Monday, with targets RULES - No fake urgency. "Low stock" only when it's true. - Plain, warm, specific. No hype words. No em dashes. - If something hurts my margin or deliverability, tell me straight and give me the fix. Start with question 1.

Start with the popups. Your emails can only reach the people you captured.

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