The short answer
- A Black Friday checklist runs in five blocks: offer and tracking (Nov 9-15), creative and ads (Nov 16-22), store prep and early access (Nov 23-26), the sale (Nov 27-30) and wind-down (Dec 1).
- Black Friday is Friday, November 27, 2026. Cyber Monday is Monday, November 30. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26.
- Submit sale ads for review by November 20. Ads rejected on Black Friday morning lose the most valuable hours of the year.
- Freeze theme and app changes from November 24 until December 1.
This is a dated checklist for an online store running paid ads into Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2026. Each block lists what to finish, who usually owns it, and the check that proves it is done. Print it, assign names, and tick it off.
The BFCM 2026 calendar
| Date | Day | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 9-15 | Mon-Sun | Offer, margin and tracking locked |
| Nov 16-22 | Mon-Sun | Creative made, campaigns built paused, ads submitted |
| Nov 23-24 | Mon-Tue | Early access opens for email and SMS lists |
| Nov 26 | Thu | Thanksgiving. Many stores open the sale in the evening |
| Nov 27 | Fri | Black Friday |
| Nov 28 | Sat | Small Business Saturday |
| Nov 30 | Mon | Cyber Monday |
| Dec 1 | Tue | Giving Tuesday. Sale ends, prices restore |
Week 1 (Nov 9-15): offer and tracking
Week of November 9: lock the offer and the tracking
Everything downstream depends on one decision: what the offer is. Make it now and write it in one sentence.
- Pick one headline offer. Sitewide percentage, tiered spend (spend $100, save $20), bundle, or gift with purchase. One clear offer beats three stacked ones.
- Set the margin floor. Work out break-even ROAS at the sale price: 1 divided by the gross margin after discount. A product with a 60% margin sold at 25% off keeps about 47% margin, so break-even ROAS is about 2.1. Check the math with the ROAS calculator.
- Write the exact start and end times, with time zone. Ads, emails, banners and discount settings all copy from this line.
- List the hero products. Five to ten SKUs you have deep stock in. These lead every ad.
- Place a real test order and confirm it appears in Meta Events Manager, Google Ads conversions and GA4 with the right value. If one is missing, fix it this week, not on Friday.
- Check carrier holiday deadlines. UPS, FedEx and USPS each publish holiday ship-by dates in November. Copy them into a single table for the site and support team.
Done when: the offer sentence is signed off, break-even ROAS is written down, and one test order shows up in every ad platform.
Week 2 (Nov 16-22): creative and ads
Week of November 16: build the creative and the ads
- Write the copy first. Headlines for Google, primary text for Meta, hooks for TikTok. Use the formulas and character limits in Black Friday ad copy.
- Make three creative sets: teaser (no price), sale (price and deadline on screen), and Cyber Monday (new angle, same offer or a final upgrade).
- Look at what worked last year. The Black Friday ad examples library shows real BFCM ads by platform and industry.
- Build campaigns paused. Duplicate proven campaigns rather than starting cold ones; a new campaign on Black Friday starts in learning on the most expensive day.
- Submit for review by November 20. Review queues lengthen in the last week. Leave the approved ads paused, or scheduled to start at the sale time.
- Add Google promotion assets. Google Ads offers Black Friday and Cyber Monday as promotion occasions, eligible from October 15 to December 15, and shows the occasion name as a bold label next to the offer in Search ads.
- Grow audiences now. Run teaser posts and a waitlist signup so retargeting and email lists are full before prices drop. Ready-made lines are in Black Friday captions.
Done when: every sale ad is approved and paused or scheduled, and each platform has a teaser, sale and Cyber Monday variant.
Week 3 (Nov 23-26): store prep and early access
Thanksgiving week: load the store and pre-launch
- Create the discounts and test them in a real checkout, on mobile, with the hero products and with a mixed cart. Shopify's specifics are in the Shopify Black Friday setup guide.
- Load stock. Set low-stock alerts on hero SKUs and decide now what replaces each one in ads if it sells out.
- Publish shipping cutoffs on the product page, the cart and the FAQ.
- Freeze the site from November 24. No theme edits, new apps or checkout changes until December 1.
- Load-test the pages ads point to. A slow product page on mobile wastes paid clicks at peak prices.
- Open early access for email and SMS subscribers on November 23 or 24 with a code or hidden collection. Subject lines are in Black Friday email subject lines.
- Raise budgets in steps through the week, not in one jump on Friday. Large overnight jumps can push campaigns back into learning.
Done when: a test order with the sale discount completes on a phone, stock alerts are on, and the freeze is announced to the team.
Black Friday to Cyber Monday (Nov 27-30)
Black Friday to Cyber Monday: run, watch and pace
- Switch creative at the start time. Teasers off, sale ads on. Banners, emails and the discount all go live together.
- Check every three to four hours: spend vs plan, ROAS vs break-even, checkout errors, out-of-stock hero products and ad rejections.
- Move budget to what is working. If a campaign holds above break-even ROAS and is capped by budget, raise it 20-30% at a time.
- Pull ads for sold-out products within the hour.
- Swap to Cyber Monday creative on the night of November 29. Plan it with Cyber Monday ads.
Done when: the sale ran to the stated end time with no ads pointing at sold-out pages.
Wind-down (Dec 1)
December 1: wind down and keep the buyers
- End discounts and sale ads at the time you promised. Extending a "final" sale teaches buyers to wait next year.
- Restore regular prices and remove sale banners.
- Exclude recent buyers from prospecting for 30 days and move them to a post-purchase sequence.
- Record spend, revenue, ROAS, new customers and top creatives by platform while the numbers are fresh.
The tracking checklist
| Check | Where | Pass |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase event fires with value | Meta Events Manager | Test order shows with the right amount |
| Server events deduplicate | Meta Conversions API | One purchase per order, not two |
| Purchase conversion is primary | Google Ads | Status recording, value matches order |
| Sale traffic is tagged | GA4 and UTMs | Each email and ad has its own campaign tag |
| Discount codes are tracked | Store admin | Code usage report shows test redemptions |
If the pixel is not recording purchases, fix it with pixel not tracking purchases before any budget goes up.
Where Sprites fits
Sprites runs the ads side of this list in your Google and Meta accounts: it audits tracking, writes and builds the sale campaigns, and paces budgets through the weekend. Every change arrives as an approval card and nothing goes live until you approve it. Build is $99 a month for one of Google or Meta, and Launch at $495 covers both.
Black Friday checklist FAQ
When should I start preparing for Black Friday?
Start at least three weeks out. For Black Friday on November 27, 2026, lock the offer and tracking in the week of November 9, build creative the week of November 16, and finish store setup by November 24. Anything later leaves no buffer for ad review delays.
When should Black Friday ads be submitted?
Submit them by about November 20, one week before Black Friday. Review times lengthen in the final week, and an ad still in review on Friday morning misses the peak hours. Keep approved ads paused or scheduled until the sale starts.
What should a BFCM checklist include?
It should cover the offer and margin, tracking, ad creative, campaign setup, discounts, stock, shipping cutoffs, site performance and a wind-down plan. Each item needs an owner and a test that proves it is done, such as a real order recorded in every ad platform.
Should I freeze my website before Black Friday?
Yes. Stop theme edits, new apps and checkout changes from about November 24 until December 1. A small change that breaks checkout during the sale costs more than any feature it adds.
How do I know my Black Friday ads are profitable?
Compare ROAS to break-even ROAS at the sale price, which is 1 divided by your gross margin after the discount. A 60% margin product at 25% off keeps about 47% margin, so it needs a ROAS above about 2.1 to make money on the first order.