The BFCM playbook: what to do from October to Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the busiest days of the year for most of the brands we work with. The brands that do well rarely improvise on the day: their promotions, budgets and product data were settled weeks before. This is the timeline our team runs every year.

Beginning of October: decide what you're doing

• Decide whether you're running a BFCM promotion at all, and if so which one: a sitewide discount, a tiered offer, a gift with purchase, or a code.
• Decide whether you'll raise ad budgets for the period, and by how much.
• If an agency runs your ads, tell them now. Promotions and budgets drive everything that follows.

Mid October: plan the promotion and the budget

• Settle the type of promotion and what it costs you in margin.
• Plan the budget day by day, not as one monthly number, so the extra spend lands on the days that convert.

Early November: lock it in

• Confirm the promotion details and the budget increase.
• If you use promo codes, set their start date two days before Black Friday, so they are live and approved in the ad platforms before demand starts.

November 15: last checks before the week

• Add the promotions to Google Merchant Center and Microsoft Merchant Center, so they can show on Shopping ads.
• Turn on email notifications in Google Merchant Center, so you hear about product or promotion disapprovals straight away.
• Test checkout on every device and every payment method you offer. A broken payment option on Black Friday costs more than any ad optimisation can make back.

Black Friday morning

• Raise daily budgets to the levels you planned.
• Raise bids in line with the spend target for the day.
• Check that products are active in Merchant Center and in the Meta catalog.
• Check that promotional prices are showing in ads, not the old prices.
• Check ads for disapprovals.
• Check Google Merchant promotions are approved and running.

Black Friday afternoon (around 4pm)

Look at delivery and results so far. Remember conversion lag: sales from morning clicks are still being reported, so don't cut a campaign on numbers that are a few hours old.

Black Friday early evening (around 6pm)

Check how much of each day's budget is already used. If a profitable campaign is close to capping out, raise its daily budget so the ads keep running instead of stopping for the rest of the day.

Saturday and Sunday

Check results, adjust bids and budgets, and keep an eye on inboxes: stock issues and promotion questions don't wait for Monday.

Cyber Monday

Review Friday to Sunday, apply what you learned to Monday's bids and budgets, and share the numbers with everyone involved.

Tuesday: wind down

• Bring bids and budgets back to pre-BFCM levels.
• Replace promotional ads with your standard ones.
• Check that product prices are back to normal everywhere, including the feeds.

Wednesday: confirm

Check that spend is back to normal levels. It's easy to miss one campaign, and a budget left at Black Friday levels gets expensive fast.