The standout emails, good and bad
NHL / NY Rangers. Sports fans might wince at the design, but the call to action is strong. Putting the subscriber’s own last name on the jersey with dynamic content would have earned it an A+, though “ANY NAME” still makes the point. Free customization and free shipping were for that day only, which made clicking through even more tempting. Personalized images like the one this email skipped are much easier to build today than they were then.
Home Depot. This one arrived early on Thanksgiving morning, to get ahead of the Black Friday rush with deals that started that same morning. Every featured item was labeled as available in store or online, and most were available that day. Competitors such as Lowe’s and Ace Hardware weren’t in this inbox, so there is no side-by-side comparison. Still, labeling where each deal is available is a habit worth copying. It matters even more now that many large retailers open their deals days before Black Friday itself.
Restoration Hardware. The brand now goes by RH, and its emails had never been strong on design. They usually came as serif text baked into a single image, with the site’s navigation above it. The sale emails that weekend were the same, and just as flat. RH does get credit for sending an email on every day of the sale. But only one element changed across the three days, as the preview shows.
Text locked inside an image is a bigger problem today than it was then. Screen readers can’t read it. It can’t reflow for a phone screen or adjust for dark mode. And if images don’t load, the email says nothing at all. Writing the main message as live HTML text fixes all three.
Inmagine. Inmagine is the company behind the 123RF stock image site. The design is stark, simple and effective, but that is about all this email has going for it. It links only to the homepage and gives no details on the reward points promotion. The bigger problem is that the email does not comply with CAN-SPAM. There is no opt-out link and no physical postal address, and the law requires both. The team at Inmagine needed to brush up on its compliance rules before the email got its sending domain blocklisted, or worse.
The risks are higher today. The FTC can seek civil penalties of up to $53,088 for each email that breaks the law, and that 2025 figure still applies in 2026. Gmail and Yahoo also require bulk senders to include one-click unsubscribe headers and to honor requests within two days. Gmail stepped up enforcement in November 2025, so an email like this one would now risk being deferred or rejected outright.
Simple Shoes. This was the perfect sales email. Putting the original price next to the one-day-only sale price was the best way to lift conversions, and it works. The copy is excellent, especially this line: “they feel like marshmallows hugging your feet.” The brand’s personality shows in every line, and it clearly knows how to talk to its audience.
The email wasn’t opened until after the sale had ended. The click-through still led somewhere useful: a landing page for the next Black Friday sale, which Simple ran every Friday on simpleshoes.com at the time. Sending late clicks to an upcoming offer instead of an expired one is a smart way to save them. Even so, the slipper sale had come and gone. This was the best email of the weekend.
That weekly sale is history now. Deckers, which owned Simple at the time, stopped distributing the brand at the end of 2011. A new owner relaunched it in 2015.
Threadless. This is another simple, effective sales email. Threadless sells limited-run t-shirts to hipsters and nerds alike, and it knows that audience very well. The calls to action are split into three price tiers: $15 tees, $10 tees and $5 tees. The offer is easy to understand and well executed.
How often each brand emailed
This is every B2C brand that emailed this inbox over the three days, grouped by how many times each one sent.
Emailed once in three days:
- Simple Shoes
- MINI
- Quiksilver
- Paul Frank
- Inmagine
- Starbucks
Emailed twice in three days:
- Levi’s
- adidas
- Target
- NHL
- The Home Depot
- PlayStation
- Threadless
- New Balance
Emailed three times in three days:
- Dickies
- Restoration Hardware
Sending often wasn’t the problem that weekend. Sending the same thing again was. RH’s three almost identical emails show how a daily schedule can wear out a list without adding anything new. Today that habit costs more. Gmail and Yahoo set a 0.3% spam complaint ceiling, and Google advises staying below 0.1%. Each extra send to subscribers who have stopped engaging raises the risk of complaints in the one week you can least afford them. If you plan several emails over the weekend, change the offer, the products or the deadline each time. Then watch your spam rate in Google Postmaster Tools while the campaign runs.
FAQ
When is Black Friday 2026, and when should the emails start?
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, 2026, so Black Friday is November 27 and Cyber Monday is November 30. Many retailers start early-access emails in the days before. Build up sending volume gradually through October and November, because a sudden spike from a quiet domain can hurt your deliverability right when it matters.
What does CAN-SPAM require in a Black Friday email?
Every commercial email needs an honest From line and subject line, a clear way to opt out, and a valid physical postal address. It must also be identifiable as an ad. The opt-out has to keep working for at least 30 days after you send, and you must honor requests within 10 business days. Each email that breaks the rules can bring an FTC penalty of up to $53,088.
Do the Gmail and Yahoo bulk sender rules apply to a small store?
The strictest rules apply to senders who send about 5,000 or more messages a day to personal Gmail accounts. But Google requires every sender to use SPF or DKIM, keep spam rates low and avoid impersonating other domains. Black Friday is when a small list is most likely to cross the bulk threshold, so set up SPF, DKIM, DMARC and one-click unsubscribe before the holiday season.
Are open rates still a useful way to judge a Black Friday campaign?
Not on their own. Since iOS 15 in 2021, Apple Mail Privacy Protection has preloaded email content for users who turn it on, so it records opens that may never have happened. Judge holiday campaigns on clicks, conversions and revenue per email, and use opens only to compare rough trends.
How many emails should a retailer send over Black Friday weekend?
There is no safe number that fits every list. What matters is whether each email gives subscribers something new. Several sends can work for engaged subscribers if the offer or deadline changes each time. Send fewer emails to people who haven’t opened or clicked in months, because they are the ones most likely to mark you as spam.
Sources
- Google, Email sender guidelines and the email sender guidelines FAQ (Gmail Help)
- Yahoo Sender Hub, Sender Best Practices and bulk sender requirements
- Microsoft, Outlook.com requirements for high-volume senders (Microsoft Tech Community and Outlook.com Postmaster)
- Federal Trade Commission, CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business
- Federal Register, FTC Adjustments to Civil Penalty Amounts (January 17, 2025, and the 2026 notice)
- Apple Support, Use Mail Privacy Protection on iPhone