BFCM Email Calendar 2026:
13 Emails, Dated From Nov 18 to Dec 4

A BFCM email calendar for 2026 runs 13 sends from Nov 18 to Dec 4. A teaser and gift guide come first, VIPs get early access on Nov 24, Black Friday (Nov 27) and Cyber Monday (Nov 30) get two emails each, and Dec 1 extends the sale. Smaller teams can run 4 or 6.

This is the plan we use as the default. Every date below is set for 2026. Thanksgiving is Thursday Nov 26, Black Friday is Friday Nov 27, Small Business Saturday is Nov 28, Cyber Monday is Nov 30 and Giving Tuesday is Dec 1. Email is one part of the plan; the BFCM 2026 playbook covers offers, ads and store prep around it.

What does the full 2026 BFCM email calendar look like?

Here is the full calendar. "Core" marks the sends we would keep if you cut the plan down.

Lean is sends 4, 5, 8 and 9. Essential adds 3 and 11. Full is all 13.

Why start on Nov 18 instead of Black Friday week?

Inboxes fill early. Klaviyo's own data shows that by the Monday before Thanksgiving in 2024, over 40% of email campaigns already contained Black Friday discounts. If your first email lands on Nov 27, you are competing with brands that have been in the inbox for a week.

Starting on Nov 18 does not mean discounting on Nov 18. Sends 1 and 2 carry no offer. They tell people a sale is coming and help them pick what to buy. That way the Black Friday email converts a decision already made.

The volume is also up. Klaviyo reports it delivered more than 22.7B messages over BFCM 2025, up 25% YoY. More mail in the same inbox means your early sends do real work. For a week-by-week view that starts 30 days out, see our BFCM email strategy playbook.

What goes in each send from Nov 18 to Nov 24?

1. Sale teaser (Wed Nov 18)

This email sets the date. Say when the sale starts, what it covers and how to get in early. Use one clear call to action: join the waitlist or the VIP list. Do not show the discount yet if you want the reveal on Black Friday. Subject line idea: "Mark Nov 27. Our biggest sale starts then." Segment: subscribers engaged in the last 90 days.

2. Gift guide (Fri Nov 20)

This email helps people shortlist. Group 6 to 12 products by recipient or price point ("under $50", "for him", "for the host"). Add a line saying these items will be in the sale. Subject line idea: "12 gifts they will actually use" Segment: engaged subscribers. Exclude anyone who bought in the last 14 days.

3. VIP early access (Tue Nov 24)

This is the first send with the offer. Give your best customers 24 to 72 hours before everyone else. Use a private link or a code tied to the segment. Klaviyo's guidance is to email VIPs between Tuesday and Thursday before Black Friday, and Tuesday sits inside that window. Subject line idea: "You are in early. The sale is open." Segment: VIPs (we define them in our VIP segmentation guide), repeat buyers and waitlist signups from send 1.

What should you send on Black Friday and the weekend?

4. Black Friday launch (Fri Nov 27, morning)

The most important email in the plan. Lead with the offer in the first screen. One headline, one discount, one button. Add a short product grid below the fold. Subject line idea: "Black Friday is live: 30% off everything" Segment: full sendable list, minus anyone suppressed for low engagement.

5. Bestsellers at sale price (Fri Nov 27, evening)

The second Black Friday send shows product instead of the offer. Pick your top 4 to 6 sellers and show the sale price next to the full price. Subject line idea: "Our 6 bestsellers, all on sale until Monday" Segment: people who did not buy today. Klaviyo's Smart Sending skips profiles that got an email within the last 16 hours by default, so turn it off for this campaign or the evening send will skip most of your list.

6. Weekend push (Sat Nov 28)

This email answers objections. Shipping times, free returns, a few short reviews. Small Business Saturday is a good angle if you are an independent brand. Subject line idea: "Free returns until Jan 15. Shop the sale." Segment: engaged non-buyers.

7. Last weekend day, Cyber Monday tease (Sun Nov 29)

Remind people the weekend pricing ends and hint at Monday. If Cyber Monday has a new offer, say a new deal drops tomorrow. Subject line idea: "Last day of weekend pricing. Monday has a surprise." Segment: engaged non-buyers.

What should you send on Cyber Monday?

8. Cyber Monday launch (Mon Nov 30, morning)

Treat this as a second launch. A new angle works better than repeating Friday: a deeper tier, a bundle, free shipping or a gift with purchase. In Klaviyo's 2025 data, Cyber Monday grew 11% YoY against 10% for Black Friday, so do not treat Monday as a leftover day. Subject line idea: "Cyber Monday: the deal we saved for today" Segment: full sendable list, excluding anyone who bought since Friday if the offer is the same.

9. Cyber Monday last call (Mon Nov 30, evening)

Short and plain. Name the end time with a time zone. Show the offer again and one button. Subject line idea: "Ends at midnight ET" Segment: today's non-buyers, with Smart Sending off. For layouts, see our Cyber Monday email templates.

How do Giving Tuesday and the extended sale fit on Dec 1?

Two sends share Dec 1, so split them by audience. Send Giving Tuesday (send 10) in the morning to engaged subscribers. Send the extension (send 11) to people who opened or clicked during the sale but did not buy.

10. Giving Tuesday (Tue Dec 1)

Only send this if you have a real cause: a donation per order, a partner charity or a product line that funds something. State the number ("$5 from every order to...") and the end date. If you have no cause, skip it. Subject line idea: "Today, every order gives $5 to [charity]" Segment: engaged subscribers.

11. Sale extended (Tue Dec 1)

A short extension, 24 to 48 hours, recovers people who meant to buy. Be honest: say why it is extended and when it ends. Subject line idea: "We extended the sale until Wednesday night" Segment: openers and clickers from Nov 24 to Nov 30 who did not order.

How do you close the sale in December?

12. Final hours (Wed Dec 2)

The last discount email. Give a firm end time. After this, prices go back. Keep it to one screen. Subject line idea: "Final hours. Prices go back at 11:59 PM ET." Segment: openers or clickers who still have not bought.

13. Thank you + holiday shipping cutoff (Fri Dec 4)

Two jobs. Thank buyers with no ask. Then give everyone the last order date for delivery before Christmas, based on your carrier's published holiday dates. This bridges into December gifting. Subject line idea: "Thank you. Here is your last day to order for Christmas." Segment: all BFCM buyers, plus engaged subscribers.

For what comes next, read what to send after Cyber Monday.

Should you send 4, 6 or 13 BFCM emails?

Pick the plan your list can carry. Sending more emails to a list that is not used to it raises complaints faster than revenue. Our full sizing guide is in how many Black Friday emails to send.

The Lean plan covers the two peak days. Essential adds the VIP open and a recovery send. Full adds build-up, weekend coverage and a clean close.

Segmentation matters more than send count. Klaviyo puts it simply: "More engaged means more sends; less engaged means less sends." Even on a Full 13 plan, the low-engagement part of your list should only get sends 4 and 8.

What time of day should each BFCM email go out?

Klaviyo reports that during BFCM the most active marketing hour for its customers was between 9 and 10 a.m. ET, with orders peaking soon after. That makes a strong case for early morning launches.

Our recommendation for the dated sends:

Klaviyo can send campaigns in each recipient's local time zone. If your list is over 12,000 people, Smart Send Time can test for your best hour, but it needs several exploratory sends, so run those in October, not during BFCM week.

Where does Thanksgiving fit on Nov 26?

We leave Thanksgiving Day without a dedicated send in this calendar. People are with family, and your VIP email from Tuesday is still working.

Two exceptions. If you open the public sale on Thursday night, send send 4 on Nov 26 in the evening and move send 5 to Friday morning. And if you run SMS, a short Thanksgiving thank-you text to VIPs can replace an email. Our Klaviyo SMS marketing guide covers channel splits. In Klaviyo's 2025 BFCM data, email and text drove 42% of total revenue, so coordinating the two is part of the calendar.

Giving Tuesday on Dec 1 works the other way. It is a real reason to email, but only with a real cause attached.

How do you set up this calendar in Klaviyo before Nov 18?

Most of the work is done before the first send. Build segments in October, then schedule campaigns in batches. Our Klaviyo Black Friday setup guide walks through the build in order.

The short version:

1. Build 4 segments: VIPs, engaged 90 days, engaged non-buyers, and BFCM buyers (placed order since Nov 24).
2. Schedule sends 1 to 3 by Nov 13. Draft 4 to 13 by Nov 20.
3. Turn off Smart Sending on sends 5, 9 and 11, and use segment exclusions instead.
4. Set every campaign to send in the recipient's local time zone.
5. Add your sale pages and discount codes, then test every link.

If you already plan campaigns around a calendar, our Klaviyo campaign calendar guide shows how to run the same structure year round.

How do you build all 13 emails fast?

Thirteen emails is a lot of design work. Most teams lose time on layout, not strategy. Three ways to cut it:

• Reuse 3 templates. One offer template (sends 3, 4, 8, 11, 12), one product grid template (2, 5, 6, 7) and one plain-text style template (9, 10, 13). Change copy and imagery, not structure.
• Write subject lines in one sitting. Draft all 13 together so they read as a sequence. Our list of Black Friday email subject lines has 60 to start from.
• Use a tool that already knows the calendar. Sorted Studio is our Figma plugin with these 13 sends built in. Paste your store URL, it reads your colors, fonts, logo and products, then plans, writes and builds each email in your brand. You bring your own Claude API key. The first email is free, and the BFCM 2026 plan is $29.

Our team sent 40M+ emails in BFCM week 2025. The pattern holds every year: the brands that finish building by Nov 20 spend BFCM week watching numbers instead of fixing links.