This comprehensive guide can help drive engagement with customers during Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) is a highly anticipated global shopping event and is a time when you, as an advertiser, can partake in one of the biggest brand-building opportunities on Amazon, helping shoppers across the world discover your products and deals.

Chapters

Actions to take before BFCM

The lead-up to a global shopping event may sometimes be just as important as the event itself. Ensure you are building brand awareness by leveraging static and video creative for new-to-brand customers prior to BFCM. Shoppers are using this time to discover brands and compare products; engage them as they shop by featuring product deals and your top sellers in both your ad creative and Store. Understand ad policies to avoid moderation issues with your creative during the different phases of the event. Finally, optimize product detail page to drive engagement and product readiness for BFCM itself.

1. Static and video best practices for pre-event awareness

Take note of static and video creative best practices to build awareness pre-event.

For static creative, focus on clarity and getting your brand messaging across. Follow these three tips:

Creative insights repository: Visit the creative insights repository for more audience-specific static image insights.
General Creative Guidelines: We apply a high creative bar to all ad content to ensure a consistent, high-quality customer experience. Learn about our policies in our General Creative Guidelines to ensure a minimum quality bar.

Follow these two tips to optimize Amazon DSP online video and Streaming TV creatives before Black Friday Cyber Monday

Get more online video (OLV) ads insights
Learn more about Streaming TV and online video ads
Learn more about connected TV advertising

Need support with creative production for BFCM?

Get in touch

2. Boosting engagement with deals before BFCM

Which creative copy is more likely to help boost engagement with the product?

3. Optimizing PDPs

Optimize your PDPs before BFCM to further drive conversions

Product detail page (PDP) best practices:

Create a strong product title.
Feature four or more high-quality, zoomable images.
Include at least three bullet points on your PDP, and list item specifications.
Ensure your products with BFCM deals are in stock leading up to and on the event date.

Learn more techniques to optimize your PDPs here.

4. Take care of ad policy during your setup

Understanding common blockers will help support your BFCM setup and creative optimization opportunities. Implementing these best practices ahead of time will help you achieve your campaign objectives and avoid creative rejections during the event.

Use of BFCM messaging

References to “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” should not mislead the customer as to the duration of the deal. Advertisers are responsible for complying with applicable laws, regulations, and best practices for use of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in respective locales. All deals must be live and accurate on the dates that they are running. For example:

“Available on Black Friday only” can be used to describe any offer lasting 24 hours only.
“Black Friday Week” or “Black Friday” - can be used to describe any offer lasting approximately seven days, running across Black Friday (November 17- 28).

Note: In AU, the dates are extended through December 4.
Note: In BR, the use of “Black Friday” on creatives and brand Stores is allowed from November 6 to November 27. If the term is preceded by a temporal word such as “week” or “day”, for example, the rules below must be followed.

“Black Friday weekend” can be used to describe any offer lasting approximately three days, running across Black Friday (any three-day span between November 23 and November 28).
“Cyber Monday week” can be used to describe any offer lasting approximately seven days, running across or starting on Cyber Monday (November 25 and ending on December 4).
“Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” can be used to describe any offer lasting approximately 14 days, running across or starting on Black Friday week or Cyber Monday week (November 17 through December 4).
“11:11” is considered a sales event with a lead-up period. It is also known as “Singles’ Day.” Ads may use this to refer to a period lasting approximately 21 days (October 28 through November 19). Ads that specify “11:11 only”or “Singles Day only” must only be active on the date of 11/11 (November 11).
In the UAE and KSA, the term “White Friday” (rather than “Black Friday”) should be used. The start dates are the same as mentioned above but the end date can be carried through to December 7. “Available on White Friday only” can be used to describe any offer lasting 24 hours. “White Friday Sale” can be used to describe any offer lasting approximately seven days, running across White Friday but carrying through December 7.
All deals advertised should be live at the time the ad is live. Deal teasing is not permitted.

Top 5 most common blockers for BFCM creative

1. Price deal mismatch

Issue: The price or savings included on the creative is not found on the landing page.
Guideline: All prices or savings must be in the same format as the creative and easy to find on the landing page. Either the creative or landing page will need to be adjusted if this is not the case.

2. Product deal mismatch

Issue: The product version or image included on the creative does not match the product on the landing page.
Guideline: The product type and version included on the creative must match what is shown on the landing page. Either the creative or landing page will need to be adjusted.

3. BFCM violation

Issue: BFCM messaging is included in copy of ads running on-site.
Guideline: If running off-site on Amazon DSP, BFCM messaging will be allowed only if you have an official BFCM deal linking back to Amazon. However, the BFCM logo can never be used. Review the requirements above, and adjust your creative to BFCM best practices.

4. Restricted product violation

Issue: The product advertised is restricted and therefore has required audience and placement restrictions that have not been adhered to for this creative.
Guideline: Review the requirements, and amend audiences and placements for this creative.

5. Responsive e-commerce (REC) ad headline violation

Issue: The custom headline must be grammatically correct and cannot contain a price or deal.
Guideline: Headline will need to be adjusted based on these requirements.

5. Pre- BFCM checklist

Your BFCM checklist

Static ads

The brand logo is present and visible
Shoppers can immediately tell what’s being advertised
Copy is simple and concise
Creative features a deal
Product detail pages are optimized

Video ads

Brand is introduced early on
Logo is present

Ad policy

All prices or savings are in the same format as the creative(percent vs numerical value) and are easy to find on the landing page.
The product type and version included on the creative matches what is present on the landing page
If the product being advertised is restricted, it meets the required audience and placement restrictions
The REC ad custom headline is grammatically correct and does not contain a price or deal.

Actions to take during BFCM

On BFCM itself, optimize your ad placements by featuring top selling products and deal items through REC. Finally, optimize your Stores experience by highlighting product deals prominently in your Store.

1. Optimizing for click-through

Optimize for click-through and engagement during big events:

Enhancing product legibility by selecting high-quality, larger-sized product snapshots that make it immediately clear for customers what’s being promoted.
Single-product creative should feature simple and neat composition, as well as product snapshots rather than lifestyle imagery.

Which creative is better suited for BFCM?

Writing simple, readable copy will help to clarify promoted products.
Including sharp, vivid visual elements will help your creative pop. For example, color product images, logos designed on colored frames, and high background-to-foreground contrast can make the creative more noticeable.

Which creative is better suited for BFCM?

Help improve brand recognizability by displaying a distinct logo that is familiar to customers. Brands can also be mentioned in the ad copy; however, make sure to use well-balanced composition and avoid redundancy.

Which creative is better suited for BFCM?

2. Promoting top deals through REC

During the event, promote your top deals and products through responsive e-commerce creative (REC), which have the following five benefits:

1. Multiple products

This benefit auto-generates ads with up to 20 associated ASINs and auto-optimizes by picking the best-performing ones.

2. Out-of-stock awareness

This benefit automatically skips rendering of products while they are out of stock until they come back in stock. If all products are out of stock, ads will automatically pause until at least one ASIN is back in stock.

3. Responsive auto-resize

This benefit reduces the average time spent building creative by 90% and efficiently allows automatic creation across 10 sizes.

4. Deals-enabled

This benefit automatically pulls products’ prices and information from detail pages and displays associated deals badges (including a BFCM badge) for selected deal types.

5. Conversion focus

This benefit drives customers to PDPs or lets them add products to cart, enabling a two-click purchase experience.

Additionally, BFCM badges will be available on REC ads with approved deal types during the event. Discount messaging will also be dynamic and update automatically if the deal changes.

REC ad with coupon variation.

REC ad with deal badge and “Shop now” button

3. Ensure your Store is ready for BFCM

The top five things to consider for your Store during BFCM

1. Promotional messaging

Make sure your Store’s BFCM promotional messaging adheres to ad policy.

In your brand’s Store, promotional messaging is only permitted when used with the Featured Deals widget (FDW).

Stores FDW

Sale events (for example, Black Friday and Cyber Monday) should start no more than seven days prior to the event and be removed or updated within 24 hours of the event date, unless that event is considered to last longer (for example, Cyber Week).

Below you can find promotional copy that is approved for the event:

Allowed
“Explore our savings/discounts”
“Great savings/discounts”
“See our savings/discounts”
“[Brand Name] or [Product Name] savings/discounts”
Holiday/Season special
Great bundles on products

Not allowed
“Today only,” “Hurry,” or other additions intended to create urgency or promote a limited time restriction
Any specific numerical pricing promotions or savings messages. This includes deals, offers or savings such as “Save 50% on Product” or “$20 off Product”.
Pricing claims that are competitive, misleading, or cannot be proven such as “Competitive price,” “Best possible price,” “Introductory price,””Reasonable price,” “Wholesale price,” “Price advantage”
Superlatives such as “Save big,” “Huge savings,” “Incredible price,” “Best/Top price,” “Unbeatable price”
Product prices with or without the bundle must not vary if advertised as a free offer or unless conspicuously noted in the ad.
The word “free” is recognized as a strong inducement in advertising copy. Ads should not include the word “free” or similar, if: • The offer is not available to all customers, or • The ad (not the landing page) does not contain all the conditions required for eligibility.

2. Store layout

Correctly set up your Store layout

When driving creative with deals messaging to a Store, the Store or page must be appropriately titled if created exclusively to promote deals (for example, “sale,” “discounts,” “deals,” or other terms that imply a promotion). It should also contain the FDW as the first product selection tile on the page.

Approved Stores layout for Prime Day: FDW on top, text banner in the middle, Product Grid at the bottom

Approved Stores layout for BFCM: FDW on top, text banner in the middle, Product Grid at the bottom

Header

Promotional messaging is only permitted here when used with the FDW below.

Featured Deals widget (FDW)

It must appear immediately under the header with no other elements in between.
Use “curated set of products” mode to show products featured in your display creative in the first position.

Banner to separate deal widget section from other sections within the tab

Any additional section besides FDW must be clearly separated to avoid confusion.
The copy of this banner cannot use the world “offer,” as it would be misleading for customers.

Product Grid

Including a Product Grid in the tab is required to ensure you will always have products shown in case there are no active deals displayed in the FDW.
The Stores page must make clear to customers that the items within the Product Grid do not have deals associated with them by separating the FDW and Product Grid by a text tile. This text tile must indicate that the below products are not deals and use general messaging to describe the product selection.

Product Grid

QUIZ

What is the correct layout when driving BFCM creatives with deals messaging to a Store?

3. Placement of deal ASINs

The Featured Deals widget (FDW) must be used for all deals.

The FDW will show products with active promotions (including “Subscribe & Save”). Make sure to use a curated product list when adding the ASINs to the FDW, paying attention to the following:

ASINs featured in the creative must be entered first.
The ASINs will appear in the order as entered.
At least four ASINs need to be added to activate the FDW.
The widget will only show ASINs if they are deals.
The products will automatically appear in the title for as long as the promotions last. When a promotion ends or products go out of stock, they will be removed automatically.

4. Scheduling a separate Store version

Scheduling allows advertisers to choose a launch and end date for a new Store, or a version of an existing Store.

If scheduling is used for BFCM, the following conditions apply:

Sale events (for example, Black Friday and Cyber Monday): should start no more than seven days prior to the event and be removed or updated within 24 hours of the event date, unless that event is considered to last longer (for example, Cyber Week).
Stores cannot be scheduled within 24hours of the intended start date of the promotion, launch, or seasonal event. To ensure your Store is reviewed ahead of your launch date, please submit the Store within 48 hours of the scheduled start date.

5. Multi-brand Stores

Stores considerations for multi-brand advertisers

Multi-brand advertisers that lead with multi-brand deals in Store creative, such as “Shop our skin care deals,” may create a Stores deals page that contains product category image tiles with text. For example, it could say “Shop [brand x] for deals for her,” or “Shop [brand x] for deals for him” as the first component on the Store page above the FDW. The titles must click through to the correct corresponding deal pages within the same Store. These corresponding pages must also contain the FDW with full selection of deals for customers who wish to continue exploring and shopping for products on that page.

4. Checklist during BFCM

Your BFCM checklist:

Optimize your executions for engagement

Select high-quality, larger-size product snapshots that make it immediately clear for customers what’s being promoted.
Use single-product creative that features simple and neat composition.
Use simple, easy-to-read copy to help clarify promoted products.
Include sharp, vivid visual elements to help your creative pop. For example, color product images, logos designed on colored frames, and high background-to-foreground contrast can make creative more noticeable.
Improve brand recognizability by displaying a distinct logo that is familiar to customers.
Avoid redundancy (do not repeat the brand name in the copy if the logo is included), and use well-balanced composition.
Promote your top deals and products through REC.

Ensure your Store is ready

Make sure your Store’s BFCM promotional messaging adheres to ad policy: In your brand’s Store, promotional messaging is only permitted when used with the Featured Deals Store widget.
Use the approved Stores layout for BFCM: Featured Deals widget on top, text banner in the middle, Product Grid at the bottom.
Schedule a separate Store version for BFCM if needed.

Actions to take after BFCM

Post-BFCM tips

4 actions to take after BFCM (2+ weeks):

Shopping habits during high-traffic events don’t end abruptly. Ensure your brand is present even after BFCM by remarketing featured products to re-engage audiences who browsed or viewed your products during the event but didn’t end up purchasing.