The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast

Hosted ByTaylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin

2020 transformed the world of ecommerce forever. For the modern DTC brand, the rewards have never been greater. But the waters have also never been choppier, and the way forward has never been more uncertain. So how do you navigate this dangerous new reality? No matter how you do it, you’d better not do it alone. That’s where the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast comes in — join Common Thread Collective’s Taylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin as they bring you guiding insights from across CTC’s portfolio of growing DTC businesses. Whether you need a clear view on the macro issues affecting the world.

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The Ecommerce Playbook | The BFCM Prep Checklist: From Least to Most Impact

October 13, 2026 The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast 00:28:00
The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast
The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast
The Ecommerce Playbook | The BFCM Prep Checklist: From Least to Most Impact
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Joy Sharma, who leads CTC’s seven-figure service offering, joins Richard with one goal: give every 7-figure ecommerce brand a clear BFCM prep playbook before the season hits.

They walk through five areas in order from least to most impact.

  • Housekeeping: Make sure your ad account billing limit is higher than your expected spend. Check your Commerce Manager, confirm your pixel is firing with 90%+ match rate, and clear any blockages before November.

  • Offer: Your discount needs to be 20% or higher. Anything below that doesn’t register. Simplify it — no tiered structures, no math for the customer. If your BFCM customers have weak LTV, build bundles around AOV instead of chasing subscriptions. And have something for your whales — Joy has sold $1,000 bundles for brands with $50 products. People don’t realize how rich their best customers are.

  • Email and SMS: Run at least three emails a week during the pre-Black Friday period. One email a day during Black Friday week. Up to three emails on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Immediately after Cyber Monday, run a two-day extension. Then shift to a free shipping cutoff sale. Most brands stop on Cyber Monday. That last window has a lot of revenue left in it. Send on your peak hours — use your historical data to find them.

  • Landing page: The homepage is the hero. Run your ads there. Add a countdown timer, a sticky bar, slashed prices in a different color, and at least three product blocks (bestsellers, highest AOV, highest margin). Build a whale bundle. Turn off your evergreen first-time-buyer pop-ups.

  • Creative (highest impact): CTC’s research across hundreds of brands found that BFCM-specific ads drive only 30% of total Meta spend during the holiday period. Evergreen carries 70%. Don’t sacrifice October ad production to make more November ads — October ads spend 50% more over Q4. But nobody makes enough Black Friday ads. One brand went from $5K a day to $55K a day by making 1,500 ads. Creative hierarchy: frames first, then catalogs with sale creative, then statics with offers overlaid, then video remixes of top performers, then new creator content if you have capacity.

BLACK FRIDAY AD RESEARCH: https://commonthreadco-global.com/bfcm

Show Notes: