Black Friday Email Examples: A 5-Email Sequence You Can Copy

Five emails cover Black Friday for a small business: a teaser, early access for your best customers, the launch, a weekend reminder and a last call on Cyber Monday. In 2026, Black Friday is Friday, November 27, and Cyber Monday is Monday, November 30, so the first email goes out about ten days before. Below is the whole sequence, with a subject line, preview text and body for each email, so you can copy it and swap in your own offer. Want a practice run first? See how to run a flash sale.

The emails are made up, written for a small online coffee shop. They show the shape of each email, not results from a real business.

Most Black Friday email advice is a pile of subject lines. Subject lines matter, but the order of the emails is what sells. Each one has a single job, and the next one picks up where it left off.

// 01Which emails should you send for Black Friday?

Five, each with its own recipients and send date.

You'll see plans with ten or twenty emails. For a small shop, five emails you'd read yourself beat twenty you'd delete. These dates are my suggestion, not a tested rule. Pick a send time, keep it the same all week, and look at what happened afterward.

// 02How do you pick the offer?

Before you write a word, decide what you're offering and for how long. What you sell and what you charge is your job, not the AI's. A discount your margins can't take is a bad Black Friday, no matter how good the emails are.

Write the offer down in one line, with the code and the end time: "25% off everything, code BF25, ends Monday, November 30 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern." Every email below repeats that line, so it has to be true.

// 03Email 1: The teaser (Monday, November 16)

This email isn't selling yet. It gives people the start date and a reason to keep opening your emails.

Two other subject lines that fit: "Save the date: Friday, November 27" and "Something's coming on Nov 27." Only promise "our best offer of the year" if it's true.

// 04Email 2: Early access (Wednesday, November 25)

This one goes to people who've already bought from you. They get the sale first, and the email says why.

I'll say it again: repeat customers are everything. Black Friday is the easiest day of the year to thank them in a way they can feel. If you only have time to do one thing well, do this email.

// 05Email 3: The launch (Friday, November 27)

Most people read this one, so make it the clearest. Put the offer, the code and the deadline in the first two lines.

If you only finish one email before November 27, make it this one, and build the other four around it.

// 06Email 4: The reminder (Sunday, November 29)

Send this to people who haven't ordered yet. It should read like a note from a person who knows the weekend got busy, not like a fire alarm.

Use your actual three best sellers from your own sales numbers. Don't guess.

// 07Email 5: The last call (Monday, November 30)

Say when it ends and stop. This is the shortest email in the set.

Only write "last day" if it's the last day. A deadline that quietly resets tomorrow trains your list to ignore you, and the FTC's email guide notes that misleading claims can also run into its deceptive advertising rules. If you want a sixth send, make it two lines on Monday evening, to people who haven't clicked, and only when the deadline is real.

// 08What makes a Black Friday subject line work?

Put the offer and the deadline in plain words, and put the most important word first. Three quick checks help.

Does it say what's inside the email? It has to, and the law agrees (more on that below). Does it still make sense when your phone cuts it off? Read it on your phone, and if the offer is hidden behind the cutoff, move the offer to the front. And does it sound like you? Skip the ALL CAPS and the string of emoji. A lot of the inbox is shouting on that Friday, and a calm, specific line stands out.

If your list is big enough to split in half, test two subject lines on the launch email. If it's small, pick the clearer one and send it.

// 09Who gets which email?

Past buyers get the first look, which is why email 2 goes only to them. After the launch, emails 4 and 5 go only to people who haven't ordered. That takes an email tool that knows who bought. If yours can't do that, send them to everyone and add one line near the top: "Already ordered? Thank you. Nothing to do here."

If your list is still small, grow it before the sale. Lead magnet ideas walks through how to pick a free thing people will sign up for.

// 10What do the rules say about sale emails?

In the US, the FTC's CAN-SPAM rules cover every commercial email, including emails to people who've bought from you. The FTC's compliance guide says your From line must be accurate, your subject line must match what's in the email, and the message has to be identified as an ad. It also needs your valid physical postal address and a clear way to opt out, and you have to honor opt-outs within 10 business days. Check that your email tool puts both in all five emails.

That's a summary of the FTC's guide for US businesses, not legal advice. Other countries have their own rules.

// 11What should you do before November 16?

1. Write your offer in one line, with the code and the end time.
2. Create the discount code in your store and test it.
3. Write the launch email first, then the last call, then the other three.
4. Build a list of past buyers for email 2, and a way to leave buyers out of emails 4 and 5.
5. Schedule all five, so a busy week can't make you miss one.
6. Open each email on your phone and click every link.

// 12How SAM handles this

SAM is SAM + 5 AI specialists, an AI marketing team built by the team at SamCart. Going by SAM's own website, it learns your brand and offer from your website, and your customers and sales from the accounts you connect, and it works inside your tools. The five specialists include Promotions, one example playbook is called Email Your List, and the site says nothing goes live without your yes. SAM connects with tools including Meta, Google, Mailchimp and WordPress. This describes the product, not results. The playbooks on the site are examples, and what's available to you is shown when you get access.

Writing five emails like these from your own site and brand is the kind of job that fits those pieces. Your part stays the same: you pick the offer and the dates. For the ad side of a sale, read can AI actually run your Facebook ads, and see what's shipped lately on the changelog.

// 13Your one thing this week

Write your offer in one line, with the code and the end time, and then write the launch email. That's about thirty minutes, and it makes the other four emails easy.

// FAQBlack Friday email FAQ