Black Friday week is when sale emails drift. The teaser gets a new colour, the launch borrows last year's layout, and the last chance goes out at 10pm in whatever the builder had open. Readers see three different brands in a crowded inbox. Good Black Friday email design starts with the set. Plan three emails that share one brand kit and give each a single job: the teaser says what's coming and when, the launch states the offer, and the last chance only goes out when the deadline is real. Put the offer, the dates and the terms in live text. In Milo Email Studio, build each one on the drag-and-drop canvas from your brand kit (the AI designer can draft a first pass), and leave with export-ready HTML or MJML or a Zoho Campaigns draft.
Black Friday is the day after US Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday is the Monday after that. This year that's Friday 27 November and Monday 30 November (Thanksgiving date from the US Office of Personnel Management).
Three emails, three jobs
A Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) set works best when every email has one clear job. Here's how we'd split it:
| Its job | Must be in live text | Leave out | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teaser | Say what's coming, when it starts and who it's for | Start day, what's on sale, any early access you're really offering | A discount code that doesn't exist yet |
| Launch | State the offer plainly | Offer headline, what's included, end date and time with time zone, key terms | A second competing offer |
| Last chance | Remind people the same offer is about to end | The same offer, the real end time | Anything that isn't true about the deadline |
Send the teaser a few days before the sale starts, the launch when it opens, and the last chance on its final day. If your sale runs through Cyber Monday, that's usually the last-chance email. If Cyber Monday has its own offer, treat it as a separate launch with its own end time.
There's no magic number of emails. Plan around the jobs, and add an email only when it has a job of its own.
Make the set look like one campaign
When all three emails share fonts, buttons, logo and layout, people recognise you before they read a word. You also stop designing from scratch three times in one week.
Keep your brand kit as it is and add one sale accent at most, such as a hero band or a button colour. Use that same accent on every email in the set, so the teaser, launch and last chance look like chapters of one story.
The quickest way to keep the layout is to build the launch email first, then duplicate it. In Milo the copy keeps the blocks, the preview text, the brand kit and the subject, so you only rewrite the words for the teaser and the last chance. It doesn't carry over the due date or status, so set those again on each copy.
On Free you get one brand kit, so keep it and change the accent on a block in each email. Each copy also counts towards Free's 20-email limit. On Pro or Team you can make a separate sale kit and apply it to all three. Either way, leave your main kit alone for the week. Changing a kit doesn't restyle emails you've already made, and you'd only change it back on Tuesday. There's more on how kits behave in brand kits for on-brand email templates, and on keeping AI-drafted blocks in line in keep AI-drafted email blocks on-brand.
Put the offer and the deadline in live text
Sale emails get read in rough conditions: images off, a GIF stuck on its first frame, or an inbox summary instead of your design. If the offer lives only in the hero image, those readers miss it.
Write the offer, the percentage or price, the end date and time (with the time zone) and the key terms as text. Let the image set the mood. Give it alt text that says what it's doing, like "Gift box of coffee beans, 20% off until 11.59pm Monday", rather than "bf-hero-final.png".
The HTML email checklist covers images being off in more detail, and designing for Apple Mail and Gmail AI summaries explains why the top of the email matters more than it used to.
Urgency people can trust
An honest deadline still works. It also keeps you on the right side of UK guidance.
The guidance says falsely stating that an offer is only available for a limited time, to rush people into a decision, is one of the practices banned outright under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The CMA's own example is an offer said to end when a countdown clock runs out, which then carries on while the clock restarts (CMA, unfair commercial practices guidance). The CMA has also warned that urgency claims are likely to mislead if the same price comes back very soon, for example next week (CMA blog on urgency and price reduction claims).
The ASA's advice on promotions says anyone using "last chance" or similar should make the meaning clear and shouldn't re-advertise the promotion (ASA advice on "last chance" claims).
In practice, that means:
- The last-chance email says when the offer ends, and the offer ends then.
- If you extend the sale, say "extended" rather than sending another "last chance".
- Don't bring the same offer straight back the following week.
- If your ESP or another tool adds a countdown, the time it shows has to be the real end.
Keep "Last chance" in the subject line or the email itself, not in your sender name. Gmail's sender guidelines list "Last chance" as an example of a display name not to use.
This isn't legal advice. Check the current guidance for your market, and take advice if you're unsure.
Subject lines and preview text for each email
Name the offer and the date in the subject, then let the preview text finish the thought rather than repeat it.
Three pairs to adapt, one per email. We made these up for this read, so treat them as starting points, not tested winners:
- Teaser. Subject: Our Black Friday sale starts Friday. Preview: 20% off everything, and early access for subscribers on Thursday evening.
- Launch. Subject: 20% off everything until Monday night. Preview: Beans, grinders and gift boxes. Ends 11.59pm Cyber Monday, UK time.
- Last chance. Subject: Last chance: 20% off ends tonight. Preview: The sale closes at 11.59pm UK time, then prices go back to normal.
You can ask the AI designer to set the subject and preview line for each email, or write them yourself in the email's settings.
Checks before each email goes to your ESP
Sale emails tend to fail the same few checks. Send yourself a Test of each one and look for these:
- Images off. The offer, the end time and the button still make sense. The checklist has the details.
- Dark mode. Your logo sits on a solid background and the text keeps its contrast. The Halloween email design read covers dark palettes.
- Classic Outlook. A GIF usually shows only its first frame, so make frame one carry the offer. More in Outlook email fallbacks.
- Unsubscribe link. Keep a clearly visible one in the footer of every email in the set.
- Weight. A long sale email with lots of products is more likely to get clipped in Gmail.
That unsubscribe link matters more in a busy week. Gmail and Yahoo both ask bulk senders for a clearly visible unsubscribe link in the body, alongside one-click unsubscribe (Gmail email sender guidelines, Yahoo sender best practices). Authentication and the one-click unsubscribe header are set up in your ESP and on your domain, not in the design. Yahoo also asks senders to honour the frequency people signed up for, which is a good reason not to turn a weekly list into a daily one for Black Friday.
If someone else signs off the offer, a preview link lets them see each email before it leaves.
Build the set in Milo
Three on-brand emails in an afternoon, without fighting your ESP's builder. Your time goes on the offer and the words, while the kit handles the look.
There's no Black Friday template in Milo, and you don't need one. Start the launch email from the Promo starter (an offer headline, supporting copy and a shop button) or a blank canvas. Running a gift-led sale into December? The Christmas gifts starter gives you a gift hero, product cards and a last-order-date strip to start from, and our Christmas email template guide shows how to make it yours. Either way, build it on the canvas or describe it to the AI designer the way you'd explain it to a colleague. For example: "Black Friday launch for our coffee roastery. 20% off everything from Friday until 11.59pm on Cyber Monday, UK time. Keep our fonts and buttons, one deep red band behind the hero, one button: Shop the sale. Set a subject and preview line that name the offer and the end time."
What comes back is on-brand blocks you can edit on the canvas. Swap in your own image and check its alt text. The AI designer places images you upload or pick from your media library, but it doesn't make them. Then duplicate the launch for the teaser and the last chance, and rewrite the words for each job.
If other people need to see the plan, give each email a due date. The whole set then sits on your Planner, and anyone who subscribes to the content calendar feed sees it in their own Google, Apple or Outlook calendar. The due date is there for planning.
When each email passes its Test, take export-ready HTML or MJML into your ESP (here's how to import the file) or connect Zoho Campaigns and push each email as a draft.
New to describing an email? The AI email designer read shows how it works and what to do with the blocks that come back.
Questions
What emails should I send for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Plan a small set with clear jobs: a teaser that says what's coming and when, a launch that states the offer, and a last-chance email before the offer ends. If Cyber Monday has its own offer, give it its own email.
How many Black Friday emails should I send?
There's no single right number. Plan around jobs, which usually means a teaser, a launch and a last chance, plus a Cyber Monday email if it has a separate offer.
When are Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year?
Black Friday is the day after US Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday is the Monday after it. This year they fall on Friday 27 November and Monday 30 November.
How do I keep Black Friday emails on brand?
Use one brand kit across the whole set and add at most one sale accent, the same on every email. Build the launch email first and duplicate it, so the layout carries over and only the words change.
Should the Black Friday offer be in the image or in text?
In text. Write the offer, the dates and the key terms as live text so they still read with images off, in a GIF's first frame and in inbox summaries.
When can I send a "last chance" email?
When the offer really ends at the time you state. UK guidance from the CMA and the ASA warns against urgency that isn't true, such as a deadline that rolls on or an offer that comes straight back.
Do countdown timers work in email?
Milo doesn't add countdown timers. If you use one from your ESP or another tool, make sure the time it shows is the real end of the offer.
Will my Black Friday GIF work in Outlook?
Classic Outlook on Windows usually shows only the first frame. Put the offer in that frame so the email still makes sense if the animation never plays.
Is there a Black Friday email template in Milo?
Not a Black Friday one. Start from the Promo starter, or the Halloween sale or Christmas gifts starters if your offer is seasonal, and describe the Black Friday version to the AI designer. Your brand kit keeps it looking like you.
Can the AI designer make the Black Friday images?
No. It drafts on-brand blocks and can set the subject, preview line and alt text, but it doesn't generate images. Upload your own or use a placeholder.
How do I get the emails into my ESP or Zoho Campaigns?
Take export-ready HTML or MJML and import it into your ESP, or connect Zoho Campaigns and push each email as a draft. You pick the list and the send time in your ESP.