It’s fair to say that Black Friday 2024 was big. But beyond the blockbuster sales, which strategies were most effective in capturing customer attention in one of the most important weeks in the retail calendar? 

At Ometria, we only work with businesses from the retail sector, meaning we have an unparalleled window into what works—and what doesn't—at Black Friday. To help you prepare for Black Friday 2025, we analyzed our data from last year to surface the key trends and identified seven actionable lessons to take forward to drive even better results this time around.

Check out our favorite 2025 Black Friday marketing campaigns for more inspiration.

1) Start early

With 61% of shoppers beginning the hunt for deals as early as October, retail businesses in 2024 wised up to this shifting behavior. According to Ometria’s data, email send volumes in the 8 weeks leading up to Black Friday 2024 were up by 9% on the same period in 2023, indicating a clear push from retailers to capture early demand.

What this means for retailers

Beginning your Black Friday promotions early will continue to be key in 2025 to captialize on this demand. Tactics that work well include:

• Encouraging shoppers to start building their wishlist ahead of time, streamlining the path to purchase when the sale does start
• Taking this one step further with a ‘win your wishlist’ CTA, further incentivizing customers to browse your site with intent
• Using paid social channels to acquire new leads before your sale begins, for example by offering early sale access for those that sign up

Astrid & Miyu gave their customers a handy checklist to get Black Friday ready, including building their wishlist and joining their loyalty program.

2) Communicate your offers openly

As cost-of-living concerns linger, price-conscious consumers are responding to longer and earlier Black Friday sales by not taking the first deal they come across, instead holding out until they find the best possible price and timing. 

What this means for retailers

In 2025, your focus should be on banishing any ambiguity for shoppers and creating as straightforward a shopping experience as possible. You could try:

• Sharing what will be on sale and when in advance so shoppers know what to expect
• Creating a sales calendar to help customers plan their shopping
• Clearly signposting shipping cut-offs and return policies wherever relevant
• Auto-applying discount codes at check-out

Even if your brand opts out of Black Friday, now’s still a great time to engage. Use the opportunity to share your reasons and connect with customers who share your values. For example, Finisterre’s “Blue Friday” campaign saw them partner with a charity close to their mission, donating £2 from every order to support ocean conservation.

3) Reward your loyal customers

Our data shows that 56.4% of orders made over Cyber Week 2024 were repeat purchases, highlighting a clear trend: Consumers are spending with brands they already know and trust, meaning brands that invested in cultivating direct relationships with their customers saw significant returns.

What this means for retailers

Use Black Friday as an opportunity to reward your most loyal customers, offering something that will make them feel special and ultimately deepen their connection to your brand. Start by identifying your VIP or high-value shoppers, then target them by offering perks that are likely to activate them around the Black Friday period. Early sale access continues to perform well, as does passcode-protected access to sales to up the exclusivity factor. Everyone’s favorite, free delivery, is also a great way to reward your VIPs without having to offer a discount.

Papier rewarded their VIPs with an exclusive, limited time deal.

4) Think omnichannel

Consumers in 2024 continued to blur the lines between digital and physical shopping. Shoppers browsed on mobile, researched on desktop, and completed purchases in-store—or vice versa. Retailers that delivered a consistent, connected experience across channels stood out.

What this means for retailers

To deliver the seamless omnichannel experiences shoppers have come to expect, getting a full and accurate picture of your customer data across online and physical stores is crucial. Once unified, this data opens up a world of opportunities to use your physical presence to its fullest potential. For example, with Ometria’s geo-targeting functionality, you could create an email with a ‘Nearest Store’ block, prompting online shoppers to shop the sale at their nearest store.

5) Lean into AI-driven personalization

With promotions starting earlier and lasting longer, you’ll have to work harder than ever in 2025 to grab the attention of your customers. To cut through the noise, the winners of Black Friday 2024 embraced next-generation personalization strategies powered by AI, leveraging data and machine learning to deliver messaging that truly resonated.

What this means for retailers

In this hyper-competitive landscape where discount fatigue has made consumers increasingly harder to convert, AI-driven initiatives have evolved beyond nice-to-haves into essentials, and will remain a top priority for brands looking to stand out in 2025. Some of our favorites include:

• Personalized Product Recommendations: Tailors suggestions based on browsing and purchase behavior to match individual preferences.
• Dynamic Content: Automatically adjusts to highlight categories or brands each customer is most likely to engage with. For example, you could enhance a broadcast send by adding a dynamic content block which shows the sale products that a customer is most likely to buy next based on their most recent browsing habits. 
• AI Audiences: Identifies which customer groups have the greatest chance of conversion so you can concentrate your efforts on them.
• Send Time Optimization: Delivers messages at the optimal time for each recipient to boost engagement.

How to use AI to deliver the right message, on the right channel, at the right time

6) Take a cross-channel approach

Email may be a Black Friday mainstay, but some of the strongest campaigns we saw last year were multichannel ones. With competition for customer attention sky-high around Black Friday, savvy retailers diversified beyond email and met their audience where they were—from SMS to push notifications to paid social and beyond.

What this means for retailers

In 2025, don’t rely on a single channel to carry your message. Build coordinated campaigns that span email, SMS, push, and social, reinforcing key offers across touchpoints. Use each channel’s strengths strategically to drive urgency, re-engage browsers, and guide customers toward purchase. For example, SMS, with its higher click and conversion rates, can be used for driving a quick response. Don’t have enough people opted in to SMS? Why not incentivize sign-ups with SMS-only deals or early-bird access to the sale.

Brooklinen incentivized SMS sign-ups through offering first access to the sale

Plus, with AI you can make your cross-channel efforts that much more effective. Using Ometria’s AI channel optimization tool, you can create campaign journeys that adapt to each customer's channel affinity, targeting them wherever they’re most likely to engage and convert.

Take your Black Friday to the next level

In 2024, shoppers started early, hunted deals fiercely, and moved between online and offline spaces freely. And the businesses that performed best in Black Friday last year were the ones that catered to these evolving behaviors, meeting customers where they are to secure their business.

If you’re gearing up for an even bigger and better Black Friday in 2026, we’ve got your back. Discover practical tactics, best-in-class campaign examples, and more in our Ultimate Black Friday Guide.