Black Friday and Cyber Monday.What Worked, and What Works Now.
Agency 6B × consumer brands · Holiday campaigns since 2015
Agency 6B is a growth partner for founder-led businesses, and we've run holiday campaigns for e-commerce brands since 2015. Three things have made the biggest difference, and you can't miss them this year.
Fix the Store First.
Same traffic, twice the orders.
See the proofEmail Your Customers First.
A welcome email left unfinished for three years made a sale two days after it went live.
See the proofCount Every Order.
Their analytics saw 36% of their orders. Every budget decision was a guess.
See the proof
Presence and VisibilityDemand GenerationPipeline ArchitectureNurture and RetentionConversion InfrastructureRevenue Intelligence
The biggest week of the year is also where a store's gaps cost the most. A checkout that drops shoppers or tracking that can't see half the orders gets louder when the traffic arrives.
We've run holiday campaigns since 2015. The results below are grouped by what they teach. Each group shows what worked and why, then what we'd do with it this year.
Figures come from each brand's own reports for the period named. Brand names are withheld except where the brand's case study is published on this site.
Fix the Store Before You Buy More Traffic.
Same traffic, twice the orders. The new store went live three weeks after The Build started.
What didn't work
Too few full carts became orders. In week one 35% did, and shoppers on computers bought at 1.1%, less often than shoppers on phones.
What worked
- 115%
- More sales per 1,000 visitors in the new store's first week, from 13 to 28
- 51%
- Full carts that became orders by week three, up from 35% in week one
- 2x
- Shoppers on computers buy more than twice as often, from 1.1% to 2.6%
- 281%
- Year-over-year growth in October orders and revenue for a store launched in 2021
Why it worked
The new storefront and checkout work the same on every screen. Shoppers on computers now get through the cart in a third of the time, and the traffic didn't change.
Read Same Traffic, Twice the OrdersWhat to do this year
Check your cart-to-order rate and the gap between computers and phones before you buy Black Friday traffic.
Sell to the Customers You Already Have.
Their welcome email sat unfinished for three years. It made a sale two days after it went live.
What didn't work
Every new subscriber heard nothing for three years. In a single month, 116 shoppers left carts and heard nothing.
What worked
- $9,900
- From emails to a medspa's existing customers, Black Friday through December 2024, with $0 in ads
- 282%
- More email revenue for the same medspa in December 2021, $2,900 to $11,075
- 2 days
- From a welcome email finally going live to its first sale
- 16%
- More returning customers for a retail brand, with average order up 6%
Why it worked
These customers already knew the brand, so an email reached them without an ad. A $200 gift card was the medspa's top seller in December 2021.
What to do this year
Finish the welcome series and the cart reminder, then email your existing customers before any Black Friday ad goes live.
You Can't Scale What You Can't See.
Their analytics saw 36% of their orders. Every budget decision was a guess.
What didn't work
Analytics recorded 36% of orders, and email sales showed up in no report, so email looked like a $0 channel. At another brand, broken tracking credited sales to the wrong ads and return on ad spend sat at 1.11x.
What worked
- 80%
- Orders the rebuilt store's analytics record now, up from 36%
- $0
- What email looked like it earned before the rebuild, because its sales showed up in no report
- 2.44x
- Return on ad spend 30 days after the tracking rebuild, up 120% from 1.11x
- $26.18
- Cost per purchase, down 52% from $54.95
Why it worked
Tracking went onto every link, so each order was credited to the channel that earned it. At It Just Works the rebuilt tracking took return on ad spend from 1.11x to 2.44x.
Read the It Just Works case studyWhat to do this year
Confirm your analytics record your orders, and that email and ads each get their credit, before you set a Black Friday budget.
Paid That Pays.
Black Friday ads are cheapest with people who already know you. One brand paid about a third as much per click.
What didn't work
At one brand, Google ads returned 0.7x from March to September 2025. At another, new audiences cost $2.08 to $3.20 a click.
What worked
- $35,331
- A personal care brand's Black Friday week in 2024
- 9.6x
- A back-care brand's Google return on ad spend in December 2025, up from 0.7x across March to September
- $0.81–$0.89
- Per click to past visitors in December 2021, 57% to 75% less than new audiences cost
- 23%
- Over a November revenue target: $17,273 against $14,000
New customers' average order rose 17% that Black Friday week, from $49.30 to $57.68. On one campaign, average order rose 97% week over week. The back-care brand's Amazon return reached 8.5x that December.
Why it worked
Past visitors cost about a third as much per click as new audiences. In December, the back-care brand's Google orders averaged $216.
What to do this year
Build your retargeting audience before Black Friday and spend there first. New audiences cost more per click, so keep them smaller.
Give the Sale a Deadline and a Reason.
Our best flash sales all had a deadline and a reason to buy now.
What worked
- 188%
- More sales from a 2020 flash sale, with orders up 129%
- 98%
- More orders from one flash sale in 2022
- 200
- New subscribers in the 10 days before a 2020 giveback sale
- $200
- Gift card that was a medspa's top December seller in 2021
Why it worked
In our experience, flash sales perform best with a timeline and a giveback. The 2020 giveback brought 200 new subscribers before the sale opened.
What to do this year
Give the sale an end date and a reason to act now, and add a gift card to the offer.
Your Black Friday List Gets Built Before Black Friday.
The list you email on Black Friday is the one you built in the months before it.
What worked
- 3,000
- New email addresses for an online store in August 2021, opening at 22%
- $3.97
- Per lead from the same store's signup ads, 252 leads in all
- $1.58
- Per lead for a styling brand in January 2021, 519 leads in all
- 5,710
- Email signups for a retail brand in fall 2020
Why it worked
Each list was built before the sale it fed, with ads aimed at signups instead of purchases.
What to do this year
If your list is small, run a signup offer now. You have until November 27, and every address you add can receive the Black Friday email.
Proof Since 2015.
Holiday seasons, year by year, from a publisher with no ad budget to this year's stores.
2015
A home-improvement publisher
December impressions rose 40% with $0 in ads.
2017
A pet-tech brand
Purchases rose 75%, from 116 to 203, in one month, and leads rose 156%, from 1,263 to 3,230.
2020
One brand
A flash sale lifted orders 129% and sales 188%.
2021
A medspa
Holiday email revenue rose 282%, from $2,900 in November to $11,075 in December.
2022
One brand
One flash sale lifted orders 98%.
2024
A personal care brand
$35,331 in revenue in Black Friday week.
2025
A back-care brand
Google ads went from a 0.7x return across March to September to 9.6x in December.
2025
It Just Works Deodorant
Return on ad spend rose 120%, from 1.11x to 2.44x, in 30 days.
Read the It Just Works case study
Two Routes Before November 27.
Start with No More Discounts. It ends at The Revenue Fix, so if you already know where the leak is, go straight there.
Start Here
No More Discounts
Answer nine questions about your store and get three moves for Black Friday that protect your margin. Your results end with an option to book The Revenue Fix and put those moves in place with us.
Get Your Three MovesKnow Where the Leak Is?
The Revenue Fix
Go straight to 90 minutes with Vix Reitano, Founder and CEO of Agency 6B, on where your store is losing sales. You leave with a ranked plan to run through the holidays.
See The Revenue FixBlack Friday Is November 27. Start With No More Discounts.
Agency 6B is a growth partner for founder-led businesses generating $1M or more annually. No More Discounts gives you your moves for the season in a few minutes, and The Revenue Fix puts them in place before the rush.