For CRM teams across the country, Black Friday represents the high watermark of activity over the course of the year, so many will rightly be coming up for air after a frenetic few weeks.

It’s noteworthy that the 2024 event has been a record-breaker, with various datasets released over the past fortnight showing significant year-on-year increases in retailer sales, revenues, visits and website interactions. Nationwide reported that by 5pm on Black Friday its customers had made 7.39 million transactions (+11% higher than in 2023), while Amazon described the discounting event as its biggest to date.

It's true that Black Friday fell later this November than previous years, and therefore aligned with payday. But the numbers for the week as a whole demonstrate the significance of this event within the world of ecommerce, and email marketers have a massive part to play.

We’ve taken a dive beneath the headlines and tumbling records to pick out five underlying trends and key learnings that CRM strategists should consider when shaping their strategy for Black Friday 2025.

1) Is Black Friday still the day?

Well, digital marketing platform Constant Contact revealed there were over 11,000 email campaigns sent to nearly 150 million contacts in the UK on Black Friday itself (plus more than 30,000 campaigns/300 million contacts in the days leading up to it). By contrast, retailers sent only 7,000 campaigns to 100 million contacts on Cyber Monday.

Yet a separate piece of data from Scurri showed that online order volumes on Cyber Monday outperformed those on Black Friday by a whopping 78%, while Saturday 30th November reported the biggest YoY sales growth. To top it off, activity peaked at 08:01 on the morning of Sunday 1st December.

All of which suggests that our job as email marketers is by no means done when we log off on Black Friday, and that there is a strong case for spreading campaigns out more evenly over the entire weekend.

2) The momentum of mobile shopping appears to be unstoppable...

Emphasised by Bazaarvoice reporting a 3.91% annual increase in mobile orders across EMEA. And according to a study by Salesforce, 80% of global traffic and 69% of orders on Black Friday were generated by mobile devices. All of which underlines the importance of ensuring email campaigns are optimised for mobile.

We were also interested to note that Klaviyo reported a 20% YoY increase in ecommerce revenue among customers who incorporated SMS into their marketing strategy during Black Friday week – providing another layer of value when targeting customers on their mobile devices.

3) The importance of a multi-channel approach…

Was encapsulated by a stat regarding the number of QR code scans leading directly to online purchases. Year-on-year uplift rocketed by 74% compared with 2023, according to QR Codes Unlimited. This data underpins a growing trend of consumers engaging with products in-store but completing purchases online.

For CRMers, it’s part of an evolving retail landscape that needs to be embraced. It’s vital to ensure your touchpoints reflect this holistic purchase journey, with co-ordinated multi-channel comms at the right times, and segmenting audiences to reflect their interactions and preferences.

4) A chance to build relationships…

Is becoming a feature of Black Friday season, especially through loyalty programmes. Data from LoyaltyLion showed a 119% rise in new loyalty programme members and a 746% jump in referral activity compared to other weekends throughout the year.

From a CRM perspective, this illustrates that – in addition to delivering a sugar rush of revenue – Black Friday also offers a golden opportunity to turn transient shoppers into long-term customers.

5) AI continues to be the talk of the town...

And this isn’t going to change anytime soon. Planning ahead means listening to your customers, and AI can play a pivotal role in providing them with tailored experiences. Competition in busy inboxes over Black Friday is fierce, and while it’s great to have attention-grabbing discounts, or jazzily-designed emails, research increasingly shows the extent to which consumers value personalised engagement.

“AI should be a cornerstone of your strategy for Black Friday 2025”

Predictive analytics can help you with segmentation and reporting, whilst machine learning can extract valuable customer insights. Various tools are available to personalise the timing of sends based on previous user interactions or where they are in the purchase journey, whilst automation can help with creating effective campaigns and drip sequences to drive higher ROI.

We can’t know precisely at this stage how much progress will be made over the next 11 months, but given how much ESPs are investing into AI, we’re confident that its importance will continue to grow exponentially. As a result, leveraging AI should be a cornerstone of your strategy for Black Friday 2025.