SMS Strategy for Black Friday / Cyber Monday 2026

Black Friday 2025 broke all records!

Danes spent DKK 1.21 billion on Black Friday 2025, a 2% increase on 2024, and the whole week leading up to it was packed with online activity, gift shopping and mobile shopping.

This year, Black Friday falls on 27 November 2026. Is your marketing strategy ready?

SMS marketing and RCS marketing are about sending personalised, valuable messages to customers' mobile phones. The mobile phone is one of the most effective channels for securing your place in customers' minds before, during and after Black Friday.

In this article, you'll get a concrete plan for how to use SMS and RCS to elevate your Black Friday campaigns in 2026.

Why use SMS and RCS for Black Friday?

Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year – and the mobile phone is the preferred device when Danes are looking for and buying deals.

Black Friday's growing popularity means it has become a much noisier week to be a consumer. We are bombarded with emails, push notifications and ads. A message sent directly to a mobile phone, however, cuts through the noise — and with open rates of up to 98% and average click rates of over 36%, SMS and RCS give you direct access to customers' attention on one of the busiest days of the year.

Danes shop on their mobile phones

The trend has been steadily increasing for a long time, and in 2025, the figures were very clear: Danes prefer to shop on their mobile phones.

According to the Ecommerce Tracker 2025, the mobile phone is now the most important online channel, accounting for almost half (49%) of Danes' online purchases — an increase of four percentage points on 2024. At the same time, PC usage has fallen to 32%.

In other words, there's no getting around mobile if you're a Danish e-commerce business.

Figures from MobilePay underline Danes' appetite for online shopping. On Black Friday 2025 there were 1.82 million swipes via MobilePay, resulting in a turnover of DKK 1.21 billion for online retailers.

This corresponds to an increase of approximately 2% in both the number of transactions and turnover compared to Black Friday 2024.

Across Black Week, Danes spent DKK 3.86 billion via MobilePay, compared with DKK 3.66 billion the previous year – an increase of 5%.

Activity peaked on Black Friday between 9pm and 10pm, reaching 36 payments per second; in that hour alone more than DKK 86 million was spent.

Everything suggests that Black Friday and Black Week remain a hit with Danish consumers.

The clear recommendation here is to include SMS and RCS in your Black Friday strategy if you want to cut through the vast number of offers and reach your customers directly on their mobile phones.

When is Black Friday 2026?

In 2026, Black Friday falls on 27 November – the same day as the first Sunday of Advent.

But Black Friday isn't just one day. It has evolved into an entire month — Black Month. Most online stores start campaigns as early as week 47, continue with Black Friday and Black Weekend, and conclude with Cyber Monday and Cyber Week. After that, Christmas sales take over.

Your strategy should therefore not focus solely on the single day of Black Friday. Instead, it should take the entire period—from Black Month through to the Christmas season—into account. It can therefore be beneficial to develop an integrated SMS strategy for Q4, in which Black Friday works in tandem with the rest of the year’s major sales periods.

Get an overview of Black Month 2026 below.

Many businesses launch their offers as early as the week leading up to Black Friday (week 47), although the best deals are usually on Black Friday itself. In recent years there has also been a tendency to continue offers throughout the weekend.

Retailers with webshops should follow up Black Week with online campaigns on Cyber Monday — a concept that has surged in popularity since it first appeared in 2005.

The latest addition is Cyber Week, which, like Black Week, is an extension of Cyber Monday. Cyber Week is a full week of offers on retailers' webshops.

Collectively, these days are typically referred to as BFCM (Black Friday–Cyber Monday) — or simply Black Month.

Whether you plan to run deals every day or only on Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday, your strategy should cover the entire period. You'll find help to put your plan together below.

Permissions are the foundation of a successful Black Friday strategy

You can plan the world's best deals, but if you have no one to send them to, you probably won't sell much.

Start by ensuring you have an active, permissions-based list of phone numbers. Consumers who have given permission to hear from you are already warm leads — your best chance of converting.

It has rarely been more important to utilise the permissions you have. At a time when many e-commerce businesses are facing increased competition, it's crucial to activate the customers who have already shown interest in your company.

This is particularly important in the run-up to Black Friday. Figures from DI Handel show that only 9% of Black Friday purchases in 2024 were made at stores the customer had not shopped at before — markedly lower than in 2023 and the rest of the year, where the figure typically sits at 11–13%.

These figures underscore an important point: consumers prefer to spend their Black Friday spend with brands they already know and trust.

You should use your mobile list strategically — not just to attract new customers, but primarily to activate your existing subscribers. A targeted campaign with exclusive offers for previous Black Friday shoppers, loyal customers or members of your loyalty programme can make a significant difference, particularly when combined with early access or personalised discounts that reward loyalty and make the decision to buy even easier.

Simply put: the better you activate your existing permissions, the more value you will get from your Black Friday efforts.

Read also: Why your SMS strategy should focus on customer loyalty – and how to do it.

And no matter how long (or short) your list of SMS permissions is right now, this is the time to act. The more permissions you collect in the run-up to Black Friday, the greater the volume and impact your campaigns will have during the year's busiest shopping period.

Get inspiration from our article: How to collect SMS permissions.

How to use your mobile lists effectively

Naturally, your SMS/RCS list shouldn't simply grow and then be forgotten until Black Friday.

It's important to start now — or, at the latest, in the weeks leading up to Black Friday — by sending a few mobile messages and beginning to build a relationship with your recipients on this channel.

When you establish a relationship with recipients from the moment you collect their permissions, you increase the chance that they will remember you and your product for Black Friday. It's also a good opportunity to create buzz around your Black Friday campaign before it actually kicks off.

You can use automations to ensure that everyone on your list receives a warm welcome from your business via an automated welcome flow.

In addition to setting up a welcome flow, you should also consider implementing an abandoned-cart flow and a cross-sell flow. These will not only boost your everyday marketing but also help increase conversions when the Black Friday rush hits your webshop.

Read also: 10 Message Examples for Abandoned Cart SMS

Moreover, the more you know about your recipients and how they engage with your webshop and mobile messages, the more personalised and targeted your campaigns can be.

In other words: the better you know the consumers on your SMS and RCS lists before Black Friday, the more you can tailor your campaigns to specific customers, and the greater the chance of high conversion rates.

How to Collect Mobile Permissions

There are three things you can do right now (yes, right now!) to start collecting permissions.

1. Sign-up at checkout

If you have a webshop, you can benefit from inviting your customers to sign up for SMS and RCS when they are at checkout. A customer who has come this far is genuinely interested in you and your product, so their interest in receiving good offers should be high.

‍2. Phone Number in sign-up Forms

If you're already collecting email permissions for your newsletter or other purposes via a form, consider adding a field where recipients can enter their mobile number.

Remember that a mobile number is far more personal than an email address, so you should offer a clear incentive for providing it — for example, early access to your Black Friday offers a day before everyone else.

3. From email to your mobile list

If you already have a strong following on your email list, invite them to join your mobile list. This will only interest consumers if they can expect exclusive offers or invitations sent only to your mobile lists.

It is crucial to offer a strong incentive if you want your email contacts to subscribe to SMS and RCS as well.

One way to convert email permissions into mobile permissions is to create a landing page for SMS and RCS sign-ups. Share it in your newsletter with persuasive copy explaining why recipients should join your mobile list. For example, offer a DKK 500 gift card that the lucky winner can spend on Black Friday.

You can also include a form directly in your email, enabling followers to enter their mobile number and consent to SMS and RCS marketing.

Create your SMS strategy for Black Friday 2026

You're now collecting permissions — great! It's time to strategise how to convert those permissions into Black Friday customers.

Is this your first time developing an SMS or RCS strategy for Black Friday? Here are the four most important questions you should ask yourself:

1. Who should I send SMS messages to?
2. How often should I send them messages?
3. When should I send them messages?
4. How do I strategically combine SMS, RCS, and email to increase my conversions on Black Friday?

1. Which segments should I send SMS messages to?

One prerequisite for a successful BFCM campaign is that you segment your lists of SMS and RCS recipients. This ensures the right people receive the right messages at the right time.

In inMobile, you can organise all your contacts into SMS lists, making it easy to keep track of who you send which messages to.

But which segments (lists) are important to have?

This naturally varies from business to business, but below you'll find five typical segments to inspire you.

#1 VIP Customers

Your VIP customers are those who buy frequently or spend significant amounts, and who actively engage with your mobile messages. In other words, they read, click and purchase regularly. This group must not be overlooked, as they are vital to your business.

Special VIP offers or VIP events can help ensure these customers remain loyal for many years to come — possibly for life.

#2 Engaged followers

These are the followers who actively engage. They read, click and occasionally make purchases from your business, but they are not as loyal as VIP customers. A tailored offer for this segment can help move engaged followers into your VIP customers — or at least extend their interest in your business.

#3 Those who shopped with you on Black Friday last year

This segment shopped with you last year and is therefore already aware of the value of buying from you on Black Friday. It's therefore a good idea to re-establish contact with this group — whether they have shopped with you since or not. They often only need a small nudge to return and purchase again this year.

#4 Local customers (geographical)

If you have a physical store, it makes sense to have a segment for customers who live close to your store(s) or who have shopped there before.

For this segment, link your mobile campaign to the local store — for example, by inviting customers to in-store events, offering free in-store collection, or highlighting special offers valid only in-store.

See how this strategy can be used effectively in our case study on the retail chain Message.

#5 Those who have browsed but not yet purchased

Most businesses are familiar with so-called window shoppers. These are consumers who browse, for example from your SMS list, but have not yet made a purchase from your business.

This is an important segment for your Black Friday strategy, because they have shown genuine interest in your business and the right offer is likely to convert them into paying customers.

2. How often should you send mobile messages?

As a general rule, you should send no more than one to two SMS or RCS messages per week. For some businesses, even fewer are appropriate, as sending more may risk annoying your followers.

During Black Friday and Cyber Week you may relax that rule slightly and send a few more messages, as most consumers expect increased activity during this peak period. As a guideline, we still recommend no more than one to two messages per day, and only when they are relevant to the recipient.

If you need to convey more than a single SMS or RCS message can describe, consider incorporating email into your Black Friday strategy. Email is an excellent supplement to your mobile messages, as it offers more space for text and images. We'll cover this in point 4.

3. When should you send messages?

It matters whether you send messages before, during or after Black Friday. Your timing must be right and the message should reach recipients at the right moment if you want to maximise the impact of your BFCM strategy.

In recent years, Black Friday has tended to extend into Black Week — a whole week of great offers. Data from Black Friday Denmark however, shows that Black Friday itself remains the single biggest revenue day: 47.2% of total Black Week 2024 revenue occurred on Friday.

However, consumers were most ready to buy on Sunday — the conversion rate (the percentage of visitors who made a purchase) was highest on Sunday in 2024.

So, even though Friday is the biggest day by revenue, you shouldn't avoid running campaigns on the other days of Black Week.

Below you'll learn how to schedule your messaging for the days before, during and after Black Friday.

#1 The Week Leading Up to Black Friday

Some businesses start their offers in the days leading up to Black Friday. Generally, the week before the big shopping day is used to prepare your customers for Black Friday and to build excitement about the fantastic offers they can expect from your business.

Avoid sending too many messages this week, as the main activity doesn't start until Friday. Send one or two SMS or RCS messages at most, and make sure they're relevant. For example, inform customers when the offers begin or run a competition where the winner is announced on Black Friday.

During this period you can also give your VIP customers early access to offers. For example, provide this segment with a special code or a dedicated link that gives them access to your Black Friday offers before everyone else.

#2 Black Friday

Black Friday is the day that really counts — everyone should have access to your offers.

Today, all your relevant SMS lists should be notified that the sale has started. Also remember to tell your subscribers when the deals will end — do they run all weekend, for one day, or perhaps only a few hours? Putting a time limit on your offers creates a sense of exclusivity and urgency.

#3 The Weekend Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday is over, but Cyber Monday is just around the corner. Use the weekend to analyse your data. Was there a message or an offer that performed exceptionally well? Was there anything that didn't work at all? Use that data to prepare for Cyber Monday.

If you use link tracking in inMobile, you can, among other things, examine your click‑through rates to see whether a campaign achieved the desired result.

Some businesses also continue their offers over the weekend. That can make sense for some, but it risks diluting the hype around your Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers.

On Sunday afternoon, you can send your VIP customers a message with early access to your Cyber Monday offers.

#4 Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day of the year. If you operate an online‑only store, this is your moment!

Use your SMS and RCS lists to let your followers know about the fantastic Cyber Monday deals available in your online store. It's also worth highlighting that today may be their last chance to grab these offers — otherwise they'll have to wait another year until next November to find similar deals (if that's the case).

This can give those last window shoppers the final nudge to make a purchase.

4. Email in Your BFCM Strategy

Email, SMS and RCS aren't rivals; they complement each other and should all be part of your Black Friday strategy.

SMS works best for short, concise messages that your followers can act on immediately. Sometimes a visual element can help clarify your message, and RCS is ideal for that. Other times you might want to say a bit more, and that's where email can help.

In the week leading up to Black Friday, you can send one or more emails to your followers to tease your upcoming deals and showcase some of your bestsellers.

Now your followers know what to expect. When the deals drop, you can send them a specific SMS or RCS message with your chosen content — for example, a discount code, a video, or other information announcing that your offers have started. Likewise, your audience will know exactly what your message is and why they are receiving it.

By creating synergy between longer email messages, visual and personalised RCS messages, and shorter SMS messages, you leave the consumer with a positive overall impression, thereby increasing the likelihood of more purchases. This is especially true on days like Black Friday.

More tips for your Black Friday strategy

You've now reached the end of this article on Black Friday strategy. I hope you've gained plenty of inspiration and motivation to start creating your own strategy.

Here are a few final tips.

#1 Make your mobile messages personal

A successful SMS and RCS strategy consists of messages that are relevant to the recipient. That means sending the right message at the right time.

You can ensure this by using the data you have about your customers' purchasing behaviour — for example, how far a consumer has progressed on your website. Did they abandon their cart without paying? Have they viewed a particular product more than three times? Do they typically shop after 8pm?

With such data you can create automated messages that ensure the right message reaches the right recipient at the optimal time, depending on user behaviour. Naturally, you should also consider this when developing your Black Friday campaign

Examples of how you can personalise your messages:

• Use the recipient's first name.
• Tailor the message to the recipient's geographical location (e.g., if you run physical events or have special offers in stores).
• Tailor offers and send personalised recommendations based on previous purchases.
• Respect the recipient's time zone and any content preferences (if you have collected this data).
• Treat your loyal customers especially well with exclusive offers and events.

#2 Respect your recipients


When a consumer opts in to receive SMS and RCS from your company, it is a sign of trust and genuine interest. You should honour that trust by sending only messages that are genuinely relevant and of interest to the recipient.

Remember that messages sent directly to mobile phones reach a far more personal channel than most others. That's why they are so effective — but it also means you should avoid sending too many or 'irrelevant' messages. That can create frustration for recipients rather than interest, and may ultimately lead them to unsubscribe from your mobile list.

As a rule of thumb, avoid sending messages before 8am or after 9pm in your recipients' time zone, unless they are very important. Black Friday, for example, might be an exception — but proceed with caution.

#3 Consider whether emojis and links enrich your message

Whether to use emojis in SMS messages is often debated. The answer depends on who you ask.

Read our take on the issue in the post about emojis in SMS.

Because emojis have not been shown to increase conversion and can be costly to send, we generally recommend using links in your Black Friday SMS messages instead. A link can take your recipient to the part of your website you want — for example, a landing page created specifically for your Black Friday offers.

If you'd like to use more visual elements such as images and emojis, send RCS messages instead, as these support them.

#4 Be specific in your messages and include a clear CTA

An SMS message is limited in the number of characters you can use, so it can be a challenge to convey value. When developing your Black Friday SMS strategy, make your messages as concise as possible. This also applies to RCS messages, although you are not as restricted in the number of characters there. Both message types arrive in recipients' mobile inboxes and should therefore be kept relatively short with a clear, easy‑to‑read message.

Also remember to include a clear CTA (call to action) so your recipients know what to do after reading your message. When recipients know which products and offers are available, and where and when to get them, it increases the likelihood that they will make a purchase.

#5 Ask for feedback after Black Friday

Thank your customers for shopping with you during Black Week, and ask them for feedback. Are they satisfied with their purchase? Did they have any problems shopping on Black Friday, or did everything run smoothly?

Such data are essential for your business and future marketing strategy. For example, you can enable SMS replies and ask recipients to rate their experience on a scale of 1–10. You can also send a link to a short survey or start a conversation via RCS. There are many ways to request feedback.

All that's left is to wish you the best of luck with your Black Friday strategy!