6 Black Friday Email Templates and a Free BFCM 2026 Kit

These six Black Friday email templates cover a whole BFCM sale for a small online store. They start with early access on 25 November and end with a thank-you email after Cyber Monday. Below, you can copy the subject lines, the words, and a short SMS version of each email. All six are also in our free BFCM 2026 kit, with five more guides for your sale. New to the name BFCM? Here is what BFCM means.

When to Send Each Black Friday Email

Send the six emails in this order, from a few days before Black Friday to a few days after Cyber Monday. Black Friday 2026 is on Friday 27 November, the day after Thanksgiving on the official US holiday calendar. Cyber Monday follows on Monday 30 November.

Email	When to send	Who gets it
1. Early access	Wednesday 25 November, 2 or 3 days before Black Friday	Your email subscribers
2. The sale starts	Friday 27 November, early in the morning	All your subscribers
3. The last day	Monday 30 November, a few hours before the sale ends	All your subscribers
4. Order by a date for Christmas	A few days before your last order date, and again on that day	All your subscribers
5. A problem with an order	As soon as you know an order is late	The customers of that order only
6. Thank you	1 to 3 days after Cyber Monday	The customers who bought in the sale

Emails 1 to 4 bring in orders. Emails 5 and 6 look after the customers who already bought, and give them a reason to come back.

6 Black Friday Email Templates You Can Copy

Each template starts with its purpose and when to send it. Then come two subject lines to test, a preview text, the words of the email, and an SMS version. Replace the words in [brackets] with your own: your discount, your products, and your dates. Email is worth this work. In BFCM 2025, email and text drove 42% of total revenue for Klaviyo customers, according to Klaviyo's report on BFCM.

Under most templates, you'll find a real email from a brand that did the same job, with a link to the source.

1. Early Access for Your Subscribers

An early access email opens your Black Friday sale to your subscribers before everyone else.

• Purpose: Thank the people on your list. They see your prices first and can buy before the busy weekend.
• When to send: 2 or 3 days before Black Friday, for example on Wednesday 25 November.

To keep the offer for your subscribers, give early access with a discount code that you send only in this email.

2. Your Black Friday Sale Starts Now

The sale email tells your whole list that your Black Friday sale has started.

• Purpose: Say in one clear email what is on sale and when the sale ends.
• When to send: Friday 27 November, early in the morning.

To choose the offer first, read how to choose your Black Friday offer.

Before you send, check the price rules of the EU and the UK in the section "Check These Before You Send" below.

3. Last Day: The Sale Ends Tonight

The last-day email is a reminder, sent a few hours before your sale ends.

• Purpose: Reach the people who meant to buy and haven't yet.
• When to send: Monday 30 November, a few hours before the sale ends. Send it only if the sale really ends that night.

If you decide to keep the sale on, don't send this email. Send one that gives the new end date.

4. Order by Your Last Date for Christmas

This email gives gift buyers your last order date for delivery before Christmas.

• Purpose: Help gift buyers order in time, so their gifts arrive before 25 December.
• When to send: A few days before your last order date for Christmas, and again on that day.

Take the dates from your carrier, one row for each area you ship to. Then put the same dates on your store pages, so the email and the store match.

5. Sorry, We Have a Problem With Your Order

This email tells a customer that their order is late or has a problem.

• Purpose: Keep the customer's trust with a short, honest message, before they have to ask.
• When to send: As soon as you know an order will be late. Keep it plain, with no sale and no products, because the email is about their order.

Send it only to the customers of that order. Your whole list doesn't need it.

6. Thank You: Here Is What Comes Next

The thank-you email goes to the customers who bought in your sale.

• Purpose: Answer their next questions and give them a reason to come back. In BFCM 2025, revenue from repeat customers grew 13.5% for Klaviyo customers, faster than revenue from new buyers.
• When to send: 1 to 3 days after Cyber Monday.

Leave the sale out of this email. Its job is the next order, so it doesn't offer a bigger discount.

Make Your Emails Look and Sound Like Your Brand

Pick one design style that suits your products, then keep it for every email of the season. In the kit, template 2 is drawn in 21 styles, each with four colors and a free Google Font.

Here is what these six styles look like, and which stores they suit:

Style	What it looks like	Good for
Simple	One column, one button, small round corners, one clear product photo	Any store, a first BFCM email
Minimal	Lots of white space, thin lines, text links, one photo on a plain background	Skincare, design, small collections
Functional	A product list with prices, a full-width button, small product photos	Stores with many products, electronics, repeat buyers
Cute	Big round corners, pill buttons, products on soft pastel colors	Gifts, beauty, kids, stationery
Cozy	Soft corners, warm cream blocks, photos of rooms at home	Home, wool clothing, candles, coffee
Playful	Thick black lines, photos at an angle, a bright color behind each product	Toys, snacks, socks, gifts

Keep the same style in your store banner and your social posts, so customers know the sale is yours.

Keep One Voice in All Six Emails

Your six emails should sound like one person from your store, from the first email to the last. Before you write, decide on your words and your voice, then use them in every email and SMS.

Check These Before You Send

Before each email goes out, send yourself a test and open it on a phone. Check the links, the prices, and every [bracket] you had to replace. Then go through these five points:

• Keep a clear unsubscribe link. If you send 5,000 or more messages a day to Gmail, your emails must support one-click unsubscribe. They also need a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the message.
• In the EU, show the lowest earlier price. When you announce a discount, show the lowest price of the 30 days before it. This is the EU rule on discounts.
• In the UK, use a real "was" price. The UK competition authority asks for a genuine and realistic selling price as the higher price.
• Say "ends tonight" only when it does. A countdown is misleading if the sale price goes on after the end you announced.
• Plan a second way to reach customers. On 30 November 2024, one store owner wrote that their emails were "stuck on sending for 7 hours". If an email fails on the day, use texts, social posts, or a banner on your store.

For the other tasks before the sale, use our Black Friday checklist.

Other Black Friday Emails You Can Send

The six templates are the core emails of a BFCM sale for a small store, from before the sale to after it. You can send other emails too, when you have the time and the right customers for them:

• Abandoned cart email. It reminds shoppers who left items in their cart. During Black Friday, Klaviyo suggests adding your Black Friday discount to these emails.
• Small Business Saturday email. Small Business Saturday falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Compartés sent a personal note for that day, with a soft Black Friday offer.
• Daily deal email. Spotlight Oral Care sent a short flash sale and a new daily deal on one product, as Klaviyo shows. New offers give subscribers a reason to watch their inbox for the next one.
• Sale extended email. If you keep the sale on after Cyber Monday, send one email with the new end date. A real extension has a real end date and a reason, such as the stock you have left.
• Follow-up for people who didn't buy. After its sale, Spotlight Oral Care sent a plain text email to the customers who didn't buy.

Short on time? Send the six templates first. They cover the days before, during, and after the sale.

What Else Is in the Free BFCM 2026 Kit

The email templates are one of six free guides in the BFCM 2026 kit. Each guide is a PDF file, with examples for different kinds of stores.

Store Checklist: 55 Tasks Before, During, and After the Sale

The Store Checklist has 55 tasks in three stages: before Black Friday, during the sale, and after Cyber Monday. In the PDF, you can mark each task as done and add a note. For the steps in your Shopify admin, read how to prepare your store for Black Friday.

Free Gift Ideas: 24 Ideas by Store Type

This guide gives 24 free gift ideas for 8 kinds of stores, such as fashion, beauty, home, and pets. The ideas come in three levels of average order value, with the cost of each gift worked out. It also shows how to set up a gift in AOV.ai Free Gifts. In a Gift with Cart Value campaign, the app gives a free gift once the cart reaches a set value.

Brand and Campaign Workbook: 15 Steps to Plan Your Sale

The workbook has two parts: branding in 6 steps, then your marketing campaign in 9 steps. You type your answers in the PDF, from your main customer to your offer, your channels, and your budget.

AI Prompts: 15 Prompts for ChatGPT and Sidekick

The 15 prompts help you plan the sale, check the numbers of your offer, and write posts, banners, and answers to customers. Sidekick is the AI assistant in your Shopify admin. One prompt changes these email templates to the voice of your brand.

Popups and Games: 9 Games for Your Store

This guide shows 9 games for your store, such as spin the wheel, scratch to reveal, and pick a mystery gift. Each game says what it is best for and comes with a prompt for Sidekick. It also explains how to build a popup without an app.

Get the Free Kit

The full kit has six PDF guides, and you get them by email. It is free, with no card and nothing to install. On our BFCM 2026 page, you can also check your store with our free Shopify store audit.