Black Friday…
It’s the time of year many retail organisations pin their hopes on.
When inboxes overflow with offers and promotional messages compete for attention.
Behind every one of those campaigns is a marketing team that’s been planning for months, carefully deciding how to make their promotions land.
One of the most important parts of that decision-making process?
Choosing the right channel to reach your audience.
In particular, choosing between: Black Friday SMS marketing or Black Friday email marketing.
This blog weighs up both, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses, to help you decide which channel to prioritise for your next Black Friday campaign.
Enjoy!
Black Friday SMS Marketing vs Email: Which Channel Wins?
When it comes to Black Friday marketing, it’s not really a competition between SMS and email, it’s about knowing when each channel works best.
Both can drive results, but they play different roles.
SMS is fast, direct and ideal for short, time-sensitive messages.
Email, on the other hand, gives you room to tell a story, showcase products and include all the detail customers expect.
During Black Friday, timing and relevance are everything.
The brands that perform best don’t pick one channel, they combine both.
SMS creates the sense of urgency that gets customers to click, while email builds anticipation and reinforces your brand message.
Black Friday SMS Benefits
Let’s start off by looking at why SMS campaigns are so impactful for Black Friday campaigns.
Unmatched Accessibility
The number one benefit that SMS has over any other messaging channel — like WhatsApp, Viber or WeChat — is that it can reach customers on any mobile phone, without needing apps, data or a specific device.
That means your Black Friday message can land almost anywhere in the world instantly, reliably and without relying on internet access.
With over 5.6 billion people subscribed to mobile services globally, it’s clear to see why SMS is so popular for Black Friday campaigns.
Two-Way Messaging
A feature of SMS that not all organisations take advantage of is the ability to build out two-way messaging workflows.
With simple prompts like “Reply Y or N”, customers can respond instantly — no links, forms or landing pages required.
During Black Friday, this could mean opting customers into early-access lists, confirming interest in limited-stock items or collecting quick feedback after a purchase.
These small interactions can make a big difference, turning one-way promotions into conversations that feel more personal and engaging.
Delivery and Execution Speed
SMS campaigns are quick to create and even quicker to send.
Messages are naturally short (as they’re limited to 160 characters) and don’t rely on design assets, approvals or creative builds to be sent.
That means marketers can use SMS marketing to move fast during Black Friday, launching timely offers or updates based on stock levels, or social media trends.
When it comes to pressing play, SMS campaigns can be delivered to entire customer lists in seconds.
What would take traditional forms of advertising weeks or even months to go live, Black Friday SMS blasts can be executed in minutes.
High Open Rates
Another big factor in why SMS is so effective during Black Friday is how many people actually read the messages you send.
It’s believed that 98% of SMS are opened and 90% are read within just 3 seconds.
When inboxes are overflowing and attention is split across multiple devices, that level of visibility gives SMS a real edge for getting messages seen.
But as any marketer knows, that’s only half the challenge.
Getting customers to take action after you’ve caught their attention.
That’s where email comes in big.
Black Friday Email Benefits
Email picks up where SMS leaves off, turning attention into action through personalisation, segmentation and automation at scale.
Here’s why email remains a critical part of any Black Friday messaging strategy.
Personalisation Potential
Email makes it easy to tailor messages based on what customers actually care about.
With access to data like past purchases, browsing behaviour or location, marketers can deliver offers that feel relevant rather than generic.
During Black Friday, this could mean showing customers the exact categories or products they’re most likely to buy, or rewarding loyalty members with personalised discount codes.
Automated Workflows
Automation turns email from a one-off send into a responsive customer journey.
You can set up triggers that send different messages based on what someone does — whether that’s opening an email, clicking a link or completing a purchase.
During Black Friday, this could mean sending follow-up offers to customers who browsed but didn’t buy, or thank-you messages that encourage repeat visits once a sale is complete.
These preset actions help you stay connected throughout the sale period, without needing to manually manage every interaction.
Segmentation Capabilities
Email is where most marketers do their most advanced segmentation.
You can create multiple lists and dynamic segments based on behaviour like opens, clicks, past purchases, average order value or time since last engagement.
For Black Friday, that might look like one campaign for high-value repeat customers, another for recent sign-ups and a softer touch for subscribers who haven’t opened an email in a while.
Because all of this lives inside your email platform, it’s easy to control frequency, adjust offers by segment and avoid blasting the same message to your entire database.
Top Tips for SMS and Email Black Friday Marketing
As you may already be able to tell, the best approach for Black Friday shouldn’t be an either-or decision between SMS and email, but rather using both together.
SMS helps you land timely, high-impact messages in the moments that matter most.
Email gives you the depth, sequencing and control you need to support those moments before and after the big push.
Here are a few ways to make both channels work harder without overwhelming your customers.
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Use Email and SMS Together at Key Touchpoints
When your Black Friday sale goes live, customers should be hearing from you across both SMS and email, not just one channel.
Email can carry the full story – the offer details, product links, exclusions and any important information they might need before buying.
SMS should support that moment with a short, time-sensitive prompt that highlights the headline offer and makes it easy to click through.
Used together, they reinforce the same message at the same time, giving customers multiple ways to see and act on your Black Friday campaigns without feeling overwhelmed.
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Use Engagement Patterns to Guide Your Black Friday Strategy
Most Black Friday messaging is planned and scheduled well in advance — it isn’t the moment to be building complicated, reactive journeys.
But basic behaviour signals can still shape how you structure your campaigns.
For example, customers who consistently open your emails throughout the year may be a safe group to contact more than once, while subscribers who rarely engage might be better suited to fewer, more meaningful messages.
Using high-level engagement patterns like this helps you build a messaging plan that feels balanced from the start, without relying on rapid-fire adjustments during the sale itself.
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Track Key Metrics and Use Them to Improve Future Campaigns
Black Friday gives you a huge amount of data to learn from, even if everything is pre-planned and locked in for the day itself.
Reviewing how your SMS and email campaigns performed will give you a clearer picture of what to refine next time.
Looking at things like which messages landed, which segments engaged, and where drop-offs happened are far more valuable after the sale than during it.
They’ll help you shape stronger, more predictable messaging strategies for your next campaign.
Black Friday Marketing FAQs
Here are some of the most common questions marketers ask when planning Black Friday SMS and email campaigns.
Should businesses prioritize SMS or Email for Black Friday promotions?
Neither channel should be prioritised on its own. The strongest Black Friday campaigns usually use SMS and email together. SMS delivers timely, high-impact reminders, while email provides the detail and depth needed to convert interest into sales.
What are effective SMS marketing strategies for Black Friday?
Keep Black Friday SMS campaigns short, clear and time-sensitive. Focus on key moments such as sale launches, limited-time offers and stock alerts, and send only when the message genuinely needs to be seen quickly.
What type of emails work best for Black Friday campaigns?
The best Black Friday emails are easy to scan, clearly state the offer and include direct paths to purchase. They perform even better when they’re segmented and personalised based on customer interests or past behaviour.
How early should Black Friday marketing begin?
Many brands start warming up their audience a few weeks before Black Friday with teaser campaigns and preference collection. The most successful activity is usually planned well in advance, even if key sends go out closer to the day.
Send SMS and Email Marketing with Soprano
If there’s one takeaway from this guide, it should be that SMS and email marketing work best when they’re used together, not in isolation.
Throw more messaging channels into the mix like WhatsApp or RCS, and you’ll be able to take advantage of even more features and hit even more angles with your campaigns.
But more channels means more work, right?
Wrong.
With Soprano’s all-in-one communication platform, Soprano Connect, you can send omnichannel marketing campaigns from one simple and secure interface.
Our team can help you plan how these channels should work across your next Black Friday, seasonal sale or always-on campaigns, so you get more value from every message you send.
Click below to chat with a Soprano messaging expert today!