Black friday marketing playbook: the data-backed strategy roadmap to record-breaking ROAS (2025 edition)
Brands that reap the biggest rewards on Black Friday aren't waiting around. They're already testing creatives, booking creators, and building audiences before the ad auctions explode in cost.
Starting early doesn’t just give you more time. It gives you better insights, more control, and a far stronger chance of hitting your ROAS goals, especially if your decisions are powered by real performance data you can build on.
The 2025 edition of the guide breaks down a phased Black Friday strategy designed for eCommerce brands in wellness, beauty, fitness, fashion, and beyond. You'll learn what to launch when, which ad formats are working now, and how to build performance-first campaigns from the ground up.
This updated edition also includes fresh insights pulled from 150,000 creator ads, giving you a step-by-step plan that’s fully tuned for this year’s market.
The essential stages of Black Friday marketing campaigns
The best way to structure your Black Friday and Cyber Monday strategy is to execute it in phases.
Starting around three months before, you should target potential customers with enticing messages, gradually building interest and capturing leads to generate excitement around your upcoming offers.
Let’s explore each stage of the process below.
Three months before Black Friday
Advertising on social media platforms can become as much as 19% more expensive in November due to increased demand from businesses targeting holiday shoppers.
Starting your Black Friday campaigns three months before the event allows you to reach your audience while ad costs are still relatively low. This gives you a head start in building awareness and capturing leads before the competition heats up.
Key goals
Maximize your reach and budget: Lower ad costs mean you can broaden the reach of your prospecting campaigns, build brand awareness, and introduce more people to your best offers.
Build a retargeting audience: High prospecting costs in November mean retargeting should be central to your strategy. But you can’t retarget without first building the audience, which is why this early stage matters.
Test and optimize: It takes time to find high-performing creatives. Starting early gives you the freedom to test different creators, formats, and messages, so you know what works by the time competition peaks.
Ad strategy
At this stage, run prospecting campaigns focused on driving sales and engagement. Prioritize video formats that help you assess creative performance based on concrete data like Hook Rate and CTR. Early success can guide your creator selection and messaging for Black Friday week.
Recommended formats include storytelling journeys that go from skepticism to results, charismatic testimonials with strong product benefits, and voiceless beauty-style demos for skincare or wellness. These styles have consistently ranked among the highest ROAS performers across eCom categories.
For example, honest-story style hooks like ‘I’ve never shared this before’ have consistently produced hook rates over 30%, with some reaching ROAS 5+. As a performance benchmark, a 30% Hook Rate is a good number to aim for. Based on analysis, creatives that hit this threshold deliver up to 2.2x higher ROAS.
Avoid polished, influencer-style intros at this stage. Instead, focus on relatable, emotionally intriguing openings that pull viewers in fast.
Creatives
Creatives
This stage is all about volume and variation. Run as many different video ads as possible to uncover what works. Mix and match hooks, product angles, ad length, tone, CTAs, and visual styles to test a wide range of creative combinations. Your goal is see what resonates best early in the funnel.
Don't just test scripts or offers. Test creators as well. Use a diverse lineup across age, tone, energy, and appearance to learn what connects with your audience. Track performance across variables like gender, delivery style, niche alignment, and visual presence. Creators who show early promise are the ones you’ll want to invest in later.
Creative formats should include problem–solution setups, storytelling that fits naturally into a creator’s routine, dialogue-driven scenes, and product demos that clearly show how it solves a need. Focus on familiarity and value, not aggressive selling.
CTAs like "Try it out" work better than "Buy now." In early funnel stages, soft CTAs lead to stronger engagement and better ROAS according to our performance data analysis.
The main goal: Discover what truly resonates with your audience. The performance signals you gather now, both in content and in creator selection, will be essential when you're planning your November campaigns. If one creator consistently drives stronger results, prioritize them. The more closely you align your casting and messaging with what performs, the better positioned you'll be to scale during the peak buying period.
One month before Black Friday
Another key period to consider in your Black Friday strategy is one month before the date. It’s when most people start looking forward to Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, which means they are less likely to buy now, often waiting for those deep savings.
This makes it the perfect time to engage potential buyers with lighter-touch campaigns, especially while ad auction prices are still lower.
Key goals
Capture people looking for deals early: Most audiences expect significant Black Friday discounts. Many postpone purchases, waiting for a better price, while others are more open to impulse buys when the value is compelling enough.
Build a Black Friday audience: Collect leads now so you can remarket to them the moment your big offers drop. Early list building ensures your Black Friday messages hit warm, deal-hungry prospects.
Take advantage of cheaper ad costs: Lead generation and list-building are still cost-efficient at this stage, especially if you already have momentum from prospecting campaigns earlier in the fall.
Ad strategy
Lead generation should be your primary objective here. Capture emails from shoppers looking for deals and use this time to tease what’s coming without giving everything away. Create urgency around limited availability or early access without relying on hard-sell tactics.
This is also a great window to test urgency-based copy, emotional tension, and visual pacing. By running variations now, you can learn what drives the highest engagement, without overexposing your main offer before Black Friday begins.
Creatives
Creatives
Your ads should shift from education or storytelling to building anticipation. Use mood-setting formats like voiceless, melancholic product-in-use visuals to emotionally prime your audience. ASMR-style unboxings also work well at this stage, tapping into sensory curiosity.
Keep your ads short and focused on the feeling of what’s coming. Avoid direct product selling. Instead, anchor your message in anticipation and value. Lighter CTAs like “Sign up for early access” or “Get the first look” consistently outperform aggressive pushes to buy.
Suggested angles:
- One version can preview the offer directly, positioning it as something limited, exclusive, and highly valuable. Keep it clear and concise. Product-showcase hooks such as ‘If you have a boring garden/living room/etc…’ pulled 4.42 ROAS and a 33.55% Hook Rate when the ad led with the deal upfront.
- Another version can build intrigue by withholding details while hinting at something big. Lines like “Trust me, this deal is ridiculous” or “You're going to want early access” help stir curiosity without triggering ad fatigue. A viral-teaser opener like ‘I finally got my hands on the viral…’ hit 3.6 ROAS because curiosity carried the first three seconds.
Templates and smart briefing tools in Billo can help you rapidly test these creative directions. By aligning with formats that are already converting across verticals, you can fine-tune your offers without starting from scratch.
A week before Black Friday
The week before Black Friday marks the start of your high-conversion phase. This is when you launch your strongest offers, either as early-bird specials or as the full Black Friday discount, and turn attention into sales. With warm audiences already primed, your goal now is to capitalize.
Key goals
Maximize your revenue: Shoppers are in decision mode and scanning for deals. Launching early lets you tap into that urgency before the peak competition sets in.
Convert warm leads: Many prospects have already seen your ads. Now is the time to bring them back with value-packed offers and focused retargeting.
Leave time for optimization: Starting early gives the algorithm more time to optimize your ads, increasing the likelihood of it serving the right ads to the right people when Black Friday actually comes.
Ad strategy
Start by reaching your warmest leads — email subscribers, site visitors, and past engagers. Supplement with lookalike audiences based on high-intent behaviors like purchases or deep video views. Promote early-bird deals that create urgency without leaning entirely on discounts.
Begin rotating messaging angles to stay fresh. Use your top-performing creatives from earlier testing, but swap intros, overlays, or CTAs to maintain engagement.
Creatives
Creatives
This is where identity-aligned ads come into play. For retargeting audiences that are already familiar with your brand, now is the time to speak directly to their personal stakes and highlight the benefit with no fluff.
For new prospecting audiences, keep videos short and sharp, but ensure you’re clearly explaining the product’s value. Whether familiar or new, this week is all about fast, benefit-first creative that connects instantly.
Try intros like the “Man Up” format, which is trending in 2025, that tap into quiet frustrations around confidence, posture, or appearance. You can also use direct benefit-first hooks right away. For example: “This adds 2 inches to my height without anyone noticing.” Don’t bury the value behind a long story.
Focus on short, sharp videos that spotlight your offer. Mention price, scarcity, or exclusivity within the first few seconds.
Rotate creators and formats often. Based on recent performance trends, switching between proven creator faces and fresh hook variations helps prevent ad fatigue during this high-frequency window.
If you’ve been testing with Billo creators, now’s the time to lean into the best-performing combinations. Use Billo’s briefing tools to adapt those concepts quickly and scale what works.
Whether you’re launching your Black Friday deal now or just teasing it, keep the urgency clear: “Only a few left at this price,” “Black Friday starts now,” or “Biggest sale of the year. Don’t miss it.”
During Black Friday
If you’ve followed the early strategy, Black Friday weekend is when everything comes together. With purchase intent at its peak and ad competition at an all-time high, your warm audiences are primed and ready to buy. This is your most critical window for conversion, when high-performing creative, tested messaging, and urgency-led strategy need to deliver results..
Your ad costs will be higher, and attention spans shorter. That means every second, frame, and CTA must work harder. Use what you've learned from earlier phases to make smarter, faster creative decisions.
Key goals
Maximize sales window: These four days are where months of preparation should pay off. Your buyers are ready. You need to meet them with urgency, clarity, and your sharpest offer.
Get in front of people who are ready to buy: This is the moment for impulse buys, bulk orders, and final pushes. People are scanning for deals — your job is to get their attention and close fast.
Ad strategy
This is the time to lead with retargeting. Focus first on the audiences who already know your brand or have interacted with your ads — these are the most likely to convert. Push urgency in every touchpoint: time limits, limited quantities, and "don’t miss it" language.
Continue prospecting if performance holds, but keep it lean and benefit-first. Introduce the offer fast, and don’t assume viewers will stick around.
Rotate creative elements aggressively. Change up hooks, visuals, and CTAs throughout the weekend to combat fatigue, especially on platforms like Meta where frequency spikes. Even small tweaks (e.g., new opening shot or rephrased value prop) can reset attention and boost CTR.
Finally, stack your creator assets wisely. Use top performers from earlier tests and build lookalike audiences based on your best converters. Schedule ads with proven winners to go live during peak shopping hours.
Creatives
Creatives
Black Friday is the time to double down on formats that are proven to convert:
- Fast-cut product showcases: High-energy edits that show the value fast. Lead with product, price, and payoff.
- Charismatic testimonials with urgency: Confident creators, bold callouts. Add countdowns or text overlays to drive urgency.
- On-screen discount callouts: Show pricing drops, time-limited savings, and bundles clearly and early.
Reminder: creatives with a Hook Rate above 30% deliver 2.2x higher ROAS. That’s your benchmark. Keep testing variations rapidly — new intros, angles, or CTAs can revive a fatigued ad.
Use multiple CTAs per ad. Don’t wait until the end. Include clear, direct CTAs like "Shop now," "Claim your deal," or "Offer ends tonight" early and often, both in voiceover and on-screen text. Avoid soft storytelling or long intros. This is not the time to build trust, it’s time to close. Focus on the what, the how much, and the why now.
Sample lines:
- "Only a few hours left to grab this deal"
- "Prices drop until midnight — then it’s gone"
- "Our biggest sale of the year is now live. Don’t miss out"
This is your peak moment. Make every second of your ads count.
During Cyber Monday
Even though the Black Friday weekend is over, Cyber Monday still holds major value, especially for shoppers who skipped the frenzy or hesitated on purchases.
It’s your last major window to convert high-intent users, offload inventory, and capture those who are primed to act now that the pressure is on. But to succeed, your strategy must evolve: it’s not Black Friday part two.
Key goals
Extend your sales window: Many brands cut off momentum too early. Keeping your promotions live through Cyber Monday and the days that follow helps recapture users from the weekend, especially those who opened emails or clicked ads but didn’t convert. Stay visible while intent is still high.
Clear out your stock: Cyber Monday is ideal for deep bundle deals, clearance-style pricing, and tiered discounts. Use urgency to move remaining inventory quickly. Don’t be afraid to get aggressive — shoppers expect the lowest prices today.
Ad strategy
This is the final push, and your messaging needs to reflect that. Lead with language like “If you missed Black Friday…” or “Last chance to get our best deal of the year.” These lines speak directly to hesitant users still on the fence.
Update your top-performing creatives with fresh CTAs in the first three seconds. For example, if an ad worked well on Black Friday, switch up the opening line and urgency signals.
Lean into creators who drove high hook rates and strong CTRs earlier in the season. This is not the moment to test new talent. Use what’s proven, but tweak the angle to match the Cyber Monday mindset: final call, deeper savings, or limited inventory.
Segment your retargeting carefully. Target:
- Users who visited product pages but didn’t buy
- Shoppers who clicked into offers over the weekend
- Email openers and site abandoners with strong interest signals
Push urgency, not education. These users already know your product. Now they need a reason to act.
Creatives
Creatives
Cyber Monday ads should feel sharp, fresh, and time-sensitive. Rotate formats, faces, and tones to beat fatigue. Use:
- Short, relatable problem-solution hooks: ‘Seriously, nobody wants to…’ hook landed a 54.63% Hook Rate by empathizing before the price reveal.
- High-urgency product spotlights: Open with the deal, show the value, and drive action fast.
- Cyber-specific overlays and countdowns: Visual timers, "Today only," and "Ends at midnight" cues help seal the deal.
- Reworked BF winners: Update voiceovers, intros, and offers to reflect CM positioning. Small tweaks go a long way.
- Charismatic testimonials with urgency layers: Pair confident creator delivery with price overlays and “last chance” cues.
Avoid soft storytelling, slow builds, or recycled hooks. This is a time for speed and action. Make sure your CTAs are immediate, both on-screen and in voice. Example: "Tap to claim," "Only a few hours left," or "Final chance to save."
Cyber Monday is where strong performance systems pay off. If you've tested, tracked, and iterated, this is your clean-up phase — one last sprint to convert, clear out, and close the year strong.
After Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday may mark the end of peak deal season, but it’s not the end of opportunity. In fact, the final weeks leading up to Christmas unlock a powerful window for thoughtful, emotional selling.
Buyers are shifting from deal-chasing to gift-finding. This is where you pivot from urgency to empathy, guiding shoppers who still need to check off their lists and want something that feels personal, fast, and stress-free.
Key goals
Target late Christmas shoppers: Black Friday and Cyber Monday may drive volume, but the post-CM period captures those who waited. These are often higher-intent, gift-focused buyers looking for something meaningful and fast.
Leverage retargeting audiences: Don’t let your high-intent audiences go cold. Continue retargeting users who clicked but didn’t convert during the earlier sales. Shift the messaging from "biggest deal" to "perfect gift."
Ad strategy
This period is less about urgency and more about emotional resonance. People are no longer deal hunting. They’re gift solving. Position your product as the answer to holiday stress. Messaging should center around "still time to find the perfect gift" and "arrives before Christmas."
Use emotional and voiceless beauty-style ads to cut through fatigue. Think soft lighting, slow motion, and soothing sound design. ASMR unboxing and gentle, minimal dialogue can also feel refreshing after weeks of aggressive CTAs.
Tap into relatable moments: the overwhelm of holiday shopping, the relief of checking off the list, or the joy of giving something thoughtful. These emotional triggers are perfect for gift-focused storytelling.
If you offer fast shipping, now is the time to highlight it. "Guaranteed delivery by Christmas" or "Ships in 24 hours" can be the deciding factor for hesitant buyers.
Use the Billo Brief Generator to align your creatives with top-performing emotional formats. It’s built on thousands of tested ads, helping you generate ideas that resonate without guesswork, especially when shifting tone from urgency to empathy.
Creatives
Creatives
After Cyber Monday, you can move away from high-energy urgency and into softer, story-led formats.
- Niche twist: ‘Golf cart owners…’ hook blended a direct call-out with product features for a 32.67% Hook Rate. Use a similar callout to instantly get attention.
- Voiceless beauty ads: Show the product in elegant, moody settings. Make it feel premium and gift-worthy.
- Slow-motion gift unboxings: Capture the tactile joy of opening the gift. Add gentle music or ASMR effects.
- Relatable holiday stress relief angles: Showcase your product as the solution to last-minute shopping panic.
- Gift guide formats: Instead of hard-selling, inspire. Position your product in a curated gift list with subtle product showcases.
Beauty-led creatives during Q4 consistently hold viewer attention up to 40% longer. That gives you an edge when retargeting fatigued audiences late in the season. Use gift guides and slow-motion unboxings for retargeting. Voiceless beauty ads work well for upper-funnel reach.
Recommended CTA shifts:
- “Find the perfect gift”
- “Ships on time for Christmas”
- “Still in stock, but not for long”
Use creators who can strike a warm, trustworthy tone. People are looking for authenticity and care, not hype. If you have creator data from earlier phases, focus on those with high engagement or emotional resonance.
This phase is quieter, but still powerful. Get the tone right and you can turn procrastinators into loyal customers while helping clear year-end inventory on a strong, empathetic note.
How to prepare your Black Friday campaigns
The framework above is designed to help you get the most out of every stage of the Q4 season. But the real edge comes from how fast you can create, test, and optimize high-performing ads. That’s where Billo gives you more than just content. It gives you a creative performance engine.
With access to over 5,000 vetted creators and real performance insights behind them, Billo helps you cast the right people, generate data-backed briefs, and continuously refine your approach based on what’s actually working. That’s just one of the reasons why 68% of top-performing Billo creators consistently beat industry median ROAS.
New features like smart brief generation and ad variation tools make it even easier to scale fast, without the guesswork. You’ll get performance-driven suggestions grounded in actual ad data, so your creative strategy isn’t just fast. It’s informed.
Whether you’re looking to warm up your audience early or hit the highest ROAS windows in late November, Billo equips you with the insights, tools, and creator firepower to execute every stage with clarity and confidence.
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