Are You Ready For Black Friday? Start Now

A friendly September checklist to set you up for a huge Q4

Black Friday is no longer a single day. It is a season that creeps earlier every year, with many brands pulling a big slice of their annual profit between 1 October and Christmas. If you wait until November, you are late. The good news - a little planning in September pays off fast.

In this post we will set clear goals, outline a simple offer strategy, prep your systems and team, and build a light calendar you can stick to. Next up we will deep dive email and SMS so you can turn that plan into revenue without guesswork.

TL;DR: Decide your numbers now, get your offer ladder and ops locked, warm up your audiences, and keep a clean execution calendar. You will go into November calm, not scrambling.

1) Set the goal and the rules

Start by writing down a realistic revenue target for the season and the guardrails that will keep you honest while chasing it. A simple MER or ROAS floor tells you what “good” looks like when the weekend gets noisy. Next, map your contribution margin by category so you know where you can afford to discount and where you are better off bundling or adding a gift to protect profit. Be explicit about inventory constraints now; if stock is tight on a hero item, plan your creative and offers around that reality so you do not over promise. Finally, lock a refund and credit policy that supports your offers and publish it in plain English. Clear rules today mean fewer tickets and arguments later.

2) Build your offer ladder

Think in steps, not one mega discount. Customers respond well when the path is simple and predictable. Start with a modest sitewide or category offer, then ladder to stronger thresholds as you get closer to the peak. Use bundles and gifts-with-purchase to lift average order value without destroying margin, and earmark a VIP early-access window so your best customers get first pick before the main event. Whatever you choose, write down the stacking rules - what combines and what does not - and keep the math easy for both customers and support.

3) Warm up audiences and lists

Deliverability and intent are built in October. Clean your list by removing hard bounces, suppressing chronic non-openers, and reconfirming shaky contacts so inbox providers keep trusting you. Add a lightweight preference capture - a two-question quiz or a simple preference center - to learn budgets, categories, and sizes. That zero-party data becomes powerful when you segment offers later. If you need to grow the list, run an early-access or giveaway that is crystal clear about the value and quick to complete on mobile.

4) Prep your site and tracking

Make sure the experience is fast and obvious on a real phone, not just your laptop. Compress heavy images, limit third-party scripts, and keep checkout simple with guest checkout and familiar payment options surfaced early. At the same time, standardise UTMs, test your GA4 events, and confirm pixels and conversion APIs are firing. Clean data during the rush lets you steer spend and creative with confidence instead of guessing.

5) Creative and landing pages

Create once, use everywhere. Build a small promo kit - hero image, badges, banners, social tiles, and a couple of ad variants - so you can stay consistent without scrambling. Point everything to a single landing-page hub at an evergreen URL, then swap the content behind it as offers change so you never break links. On the page, pair your headline offer with social proof, best sellers, and real cutoffs. Keep the copy benefit-led and easy to scan on mobile.

6) Paid and organic warm up

Do not wait until Black Friday to spend. Ramp budgets gradually in October and let the algorithms learn on evergreen offers and best sellers so they are warmed up for the spike. Ship enough creative variants to avoid fatigue, with product and benefit clearly visible in the first second on mobile. On the organic side, map two useful posts per week - gift guides, how-to-choose content, behind the scenes - so customers hear from you for value, not just promos.

7) Email and SMS high level plan

Keep your sending simple and steady. Warm the list with regular value emails and light promos through October so engagement is healthy before the surge. Plan a short VIP early-access window with a clear code or private link, then use your flows - browse, cart, back-in-stock, and shipping cutoffs - as the safety net that converts quietly in the background. These automated backstops often drive outsized revenue while you sleep.

8) Inventory and operations

Check lead times now and build a small buffer wherever possible. If you need packaging or inserts, order them today. Simplify picking and packing by locking kit options and making sure barcodes, labels, and packing slips are obvious. Publish your shipping cutoffs by region and put them on the landing page and in the footer so customers know exactly what to expect.

9) Support and comms

Prepare your frontline. Write a tiny support pack that answers the most common questions (offers, delivery, returns) and set up a simple status-page section for delivery updates. Tell customers what your response times will be during peak week and post those SLAs somewhere visible. Consider adding gift receipts and a straightforward returns flow to reduce friction and confusion.

10) Team, roles, and on call

Put names against roles so decisions happen fast. Use a RACI-lite: one owner, one approver, and a short consulted list per campaign. Create a simple on-call plan that says who covers which days, with clear handover notes so nothing falls between the cracks. Lastly, keep a “war room” doc that holds the calendar, links, live codes, and backups - the single page anyone can open to get up to speed.

Your September calendar

• Week of 1 Sep: Set goals and guardrails. Pick the offer ladder. Start list hygiene. Draft the landing page hub.

• Week of 8 Sep: Finalize creative kit and ads. Build preference capture. Write support doc. Confirm inventory orders.

• Week of 15 Sep: QA tracking and speed. Launch lead capture or VIP list. Publish shipping cutoffs.

• Week of 22 Sep: Ramp spend slowly. Start soft value emails. Build gift guides. Lock the on call plan.

• Week of 29 Sep: Final QA and dry run. Schedule early access. Load the calendar for the first two weeks of October.

What's next

In the next post we will go deep on Black Friday email and SMS - deliverability prep, a dead simple calendar, smart segments, and copy you can paste and ship. Ready to make your list your highest ROI channel this season? Let’s do it.