Black Friday 2025 is coming fast, and for most eCommerce brands, it’s the make-or-break moment of the year.
Ad costs will rise, inboxes will overflow, and everyone will be shouting about their “biggest sale ever.”
What you will find in this article:
- Start Planning Early
- Build an Offer People Can’t Ignore
- Create a Dedicated Black Friday Category
- Set a Smart, Realistic Budget
- Plan Your Meta Ads Strategy
- Crafting the Right Message
- Use the Right Media Formats
- Creative Approach That Converts
- How Many Ads Should You Run in Each Ad Set?
- Placement Strategy
- Creative Best Practices for Maximum Results
- Shopify Apps to Supercharge Your Black Friday Campaign
- Final Thoughts
So, how do you stand out?
By planning early, crafting offers that actually get clicks, and running Facebook Ads that are designed to sell — not just spend.
This guide walks you through exactly how to prepare and run Facebook Ads for Black Friday 2025 that grab attention, drive conversions, and make your ad spend count.
We’re not guessing here — we’ve helped dozens of eCommerce brands grow online, and these strategies consistently deliver profitable results.
Start Planning Early
If there’s one rule to remember about Black Friday, it’s this: the winners start early.
Waiting until mid-November to launch is like showing up to a marathon at the halfway point.
Start planning in October — or even earlier if you can. Use this time to:
- Test audiences and creatives while CPMs are still low.
- Make sure your tracking and product feed are 100% ready.
- Warm up your Meta Pixel and conversions API with engagement and add-to-cart activity.
This early testing phase helps Meta’s algorithm learn who your ideal buyers are before things get expensive.
When competition peaks in mid-November, your campaigns will already be optimized and ready to scale.
Think of October as your “data month” — collect as much performance data as you can. That’s the fuel you’ll burn during Black Friday week.
10 Key Elements of a Successful Black Friday Marketing Campaign
Now, if you need a quick cheat sheet to make sure your Black Friday marketing campaign checks all the right boxes, here are 10 key elements that consistently show up in successful ones:
No matter the channel, in order for a campaign to be successful it needs the following key elements:
Market fit: do people need or would like to have you product/services?
Pricing: is there a special offer, discount, or something that would make you irresistible compared to competitors?
Conversion & Event tracking: pixel and browser-based events are far from enough nowadays, use APIs connections
Utilize each platform’s features & objectives: did you try Advantage+ campaign on Meta?
Budget: is your budget enough for the algorithm to run smoothly?
Time: DO NOT make any changes within the first two days. PLEASE.
Targeting Audience: do you have idea who you’re potential customers are?
Creatives: do you have a mix of videos and images?
Landing page: is your website optimized for smooth check out?
Goal: what is a successful campaign for you? Is it ROAS 6?
Make sure your campaigns meet all the above.
Build an Offer People Can’t Ignore
On Black Friday, discounts alone aren’t enough. Everyone’s offering “20% off.”
To stand out, you need one or two hero products with a truly irresistible deal — think 60–70% off.
Even if you break even or take a small hit, this is how you capture attention. You’re not just fighting direct competitors — you’re competing with every brand trying to grab eyeballs during the same weekend.
The goal here isn’t just profit — it’s visibility, new customers, and data.
Once you bring people into your ecosystem, you can remarket to them during Cyber Monday or the holiday season.
In short: be bold with your offer. The brands that dare to go bigger tend to win the long game.
Create a Dedicated Black Friday Category
Make it as easy as possible for shoppers to find your deals.
Set up a Black Friday landing page or category on your website and drive all your ads to that single destination.
That keeps your tracking clean and makes performance easier to measure.
Bonus tip: keep a simple Google Sheet where you track:
- Which products are discounted
- Their profit margins
- Current stock levels
This helps you stay agile. If something starts selling fast (or runs out), you can quickly shift ad budget to the next best performer.
Furthermore, when creating a landing page for Black Friday, or any other page, have in mind that people don’t read, they scane.
Set a Smart, Realistic Budget for your Black Friday Facebook Ads
Budget is often the part brands underestimate — and it’s one of the most important.
If you don’t give Meta enough data, it simply can’t optimize properly.
Here’s a quick guide to help you set your minimum (!) daily budgets:
Conversion Campaigns
- €20–25/day per ad set in smaller or mid-sized markets like Greece and Estonia
- €30–35/day per ad set for larger markets like Germany
These are bare minimums. Spending less can lead to limited learning and unstable delivery.
Upper Funnel Campaigns
- Traffic campaigns: €5–10/day per ad set
- Add-to-cart campaigns: €10–20/day per ad set
Use these in late October and early November to build engagement, grow your remarketing audience, and feed Meta more data.
Then, as Black Friday approaches, shift the majority of your budget toward sales-focused campaigns.
A simple rule of thumb:
“Start small to learn — scale fast when you see results.”
Plan Your Black Friday Meta Ads Strategy
Your Facebook Ads strategy should evolve as Black Friday approaches.
Phase 1 (End of October – Early November):
Focus on upper-funnel campaigns — like Traffic, Add to Cart, or Engagement. These build awareness and fill your remarketing pool.
Phase 2 (Mid to Late November):
Switch gears to Sales (Conversion) campaigns. This is when people are actively looking to buy.
You can still run dedicated remarketing ads, but keep in mind that Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns automatically allocate a portion of your budget to retargeting.
Let Meta do some of the heavy lifting — it’s designed for it.
Crafting the Right Message
When everyone’s screaming “SALE!”, your message has to connect, not just announce.
Focus on the “why” behind the purchase — what does your product help people achieve, feel, or solve?
Mix in three layers of messaging:
- Human need messages: emotion, confidence, convenience
- Product messages: benefits, features, problem-solving
- Promotion messages: urgency, exclusivity, discounts
Example:
“Your glow deserves a deal — up to 70% off this weekend only.”
That combination of emotional and practical triggers tends to perform best.
Use the Right Media Formats
Variety wins. Use a mix of static images, videos, and carousel ads to reach people in different ways.
When it comes to structuring your ad sets, creative variety plays a huge role in performance. Based on what consistently works for us, the ideal setup includes between 4 and 7 creatives per ad set. This gives Meta enough options to test and learn which formats resonate best with your audience — without overwhelming the algorithm or diluting performance.
A good balance is to combine different creative types that serve distinct purposes: videos to grab attention, images to highlight key products, a catalog to drive dynamic retargeting, and a carousel to showcase variety or tell a quick visual story. This mix allows you to appeal to different user behaviors and placements while maintaining creative freshness throughout the campaign.
Here’s a simple breakdown of what that might look like:
Creative Type | Recommended Quantity | Purpose / Strength |
Video Ads | 1–2 | Capture attention quickly; ideal for storytelling and emotional engagement. |
Image Ads | 2–3 | Showcase individual products or offers with strong visuals and CTAs. |
Catalog Ads | 1 | Automate product promotion and retarget users with dynamic recommendations. |
Carousel Ads | 1 | Present multiple products or highlight different benefits of a hero product. |
This structure gives Meta enough creative variety to find the top performers while keeping your campaigns manageable and efficient to optimize.
Stick to the most effective aspect ratios:
- 1:1 for Feed
- 4:5 for Stories
- 9:16 for Reels
Short, mobile-first videos (6–15 seconds) tend to perform best.
Combine them with still images for a well-rounded campaign that works across all placements.
Last, for Reels and stories remember the “safe zone” rule:
Creative Approach That Converts
Not all ads should look polished. In fact, authenticity beats perfection more often than not.
Mix these two creative styles:
- Lo-Fi content: user-generated, creator-style, real-life shots
- Hi-Fi content: professional photography or branded visuals
This blend helps you reach both discovery-mode and ready-to-buy audiences.
During Black Friday, realistic, relatable content often outperforms perfectly curated ones.
The use of subtitles!
Another simple but powerful improvement for your video ads is adding subtitles. A large percentage of users scroll through Facebook and Instagram with their phones on mute, meaning your message could be missed entirely if it relies on audio. By including captions, you make your videos more accessible, ensure your key points are understood instantly, and keep users engaged even in silent environments. It’s a small detail that can make a big difference in watch time and conversion rates.
How Many Ads Should You Run in Each Ad Set?
The question we hear most often is: “How many ads should we include in an ad set?”
Based on our experience, the ideal range is 3–6 ads, mixing different formats such as video, image, carousel, and catalog—just as we’ve mentioned before.
However, keep in mind: the more ads you include, the longer Meta needs to identify the top performers. That’s why we usually prefer running 4 to a maximum of 5 ads. Then, we gradually replace the underperformers with new creatives.
The rule is simple:
👉 If something works, don’t touch it.
But remember—even the best-performing ad will eventually fatigue and stop delivering the same results. That’s when you need a fresh offer, a new angle, or a completely new creative.
Wondering what a real campaign setup looks like?
Here’s an example:
Placement Strategy
When it comes to placements, your strategy should depend on the campaign objective.
For sales-focused campaigns, it’s best to keep all placements active, including the Audience Network. This gives Meta the flexibility to find the most efficient conversions at the lowest possible cost.
However, for upper-funnel campaigns — such as awareness, engagement, or traffic — you’ll usually get better results by focusing on the most impactful placements: Feeds, Stories, and Reels. These environments deliver higher-quality impressions, stronger engagement, and better creative visibility for your brand message.
Don’t limit yourself — enable Advantage+ placements so Meta can automatically distribute your ads to where they perform best.
That includes:
- Facebook & Instagram Feeds
- Stories
- Reels
- In-Stream Video
- Audience Network
When you let the algorithm test all options, you usually get lower costs and better performance.
Creative Best Practices for Maximum Results
Here are a few creative rules worth following:
- Show your brand early (within the first 3 seconds). When it comes to your logo placement, keep it simple. For square image ads (1:1 ratio used in feed placements), there’s no need to include your logo — your brand name already appears in the ad header. Adding it again often clutters the creative without adding value.
However, for Stories and Reels, if you want to include a logo, place it at the top center of the frame. This position keeps it visible without interfering with captions, CTAs, or interactive elements that appear toward the bottom.
- Lead with a strong visual hook.
- Keep videos short and mobile-friendly. Keep your videos short and mobile-friendly — attention spans are limited, especially during Black Friday. Aim for variations around 5–6 seconds for quick hooks and brand awareness, and 15 seconds as the standard length for most ad placements. You can also test longer-form videos (20–30 seconds) when showcasing a story — for instance, a creator or influencer using your product in a natural, authentic way. This mix helps you cover different audience behaviors and engagement depths across Meta placements.
- Include a clear CTA (“Shop Now”, “Don’t Miss Out”, etc.) in the text, and not on your creative. When it comes to CTAs, there’s no need to overdo it in the ad text itself. Facebook automatically adds a call-to-action button (like Shop Now or Learn More), so repeating it in your copy often feels redundant.
- Design for sound off, but make it fun with sound on.
- Combine static and video creatives in one campaign.
- Use overlays in catalog ads to highlight discounts.
Little things like these often make the difference between an ad that’s skipped — and one that sells.
Shopify Apps to Supercharge Your Black Friday Campaign
To get the most out of your Facebook Ads and store performance during Black Friday, make sure your Shopify setup supports your goals.
Here are a few must-have apps that can help you sell smarter:
GrowthSuite
AI-powered personalized discounts that adapt to your customers’ behavior.
They also offer Free Gifts, Countdown Timers, and dynamic discount triggers — perfect for increasing urgency and boosting conversions during Black Friday.
Adoric
A powerful app for product bundling, upsells, and cross-selling.
Instead of selling one product at a time, use Adoric to build high-value bundles and encourage customers to spend more in a single checkout.
Actins
Save time writing product descriptions. Actins uses AI to automatically generate and optimize your product copy.
It even gives you a score per product, so you can easily see which ones need improvement for better conversions.
Pandectes GDPR Compliance
Ensure your store stays GDPR compliant with Pandectes.
It helps you manage cookie consent, data privacy, and legal compliance effortlessly — essential for stores selling across the EU.
Ready to Win Black Friday 2025?
With the right mix of early planning, irresistible offers, and smart Facebook Ads strategy — supported by the right Shopify tools — your store can stand out, sell more, and make this Black Friday your best one yet.
Final Thoughts
Black Friday isn’t just about massive discounts — it’s about smart preparation and consistent execution.
Plan early, create offers that people can’t scroll past, and give your campaigns enough budget to actually perform.
Use October to build data and November to convert that data into sales.
If you follow these steps, by the time most advertisers are still setting up, you’ll already be converting — efficiently and profitably.
Black Friday 2025 will reward the brands that start early, stay strategic, and stay authentic. Make sure you’re one of them.
