Should I Run a Black Friday Sale? My Real Numbers From 3 Years

Should you run a Black Friday sale this year? Or should you sit this one out and just focus on growing your list?

I've done both. Three Black Fridays, three completely different strategies... and the year I barely sold a thing taught me the most.

So here are my real numbers from all three, including the bit I didn't see coming until I looked at December.

Should I run a Black Friday sale? Start with what you want

Before you decide what you're doing this Black Friday, ask yourself one question first. What do you actually want out of it?

Every single Black Friday offer, no matter how it's dressed up, is really doing one of three jobs. It's either growing your email list, nurturing your email list, or selling to your email list.

So are you trying to grow your list? Do you need to nurture the people already on it? Or are you ready to go and wanting to sell? Pick one focus, because that becomes your lane... and everything else can follow from that.

Here's how that played out for me, three years in a row.

Year one: five offers in five days

My first-ever Black Friday was 2023 and, like a lot of first attempts, I went big (I'm very much a go big or go home kinda girl). I shared those numbers in more detail on the podcast in my 2023 Black Friday numbers revealed.

I bought a Black Friday product that taught five different offers over five days, and I followed it to a T. A new offer every single day, to build up the hype and keep people excited.

By day three, I hated it. Five sales pages, all the emails written, and it just felt like too much. Too much for me and, honestly, probably too much for my list as well.

So I did something that felt genuinely scary at the time. I emailed everyone and said, hey, we're not doing this anymore. Here's one page with all five offers on it. Go have fun with it.

People LOVED the transparency of that. I got so many replies thanking me for changing my mind mid-campaign, and that one honest email built more trust than the whole five-day countdown ever would have.

The offer I was most excited about, a podcast guesting program, sold zero. Not one single person. And I think the main reason is that I hadn't talked about podcast guesting once in the months before. I just threw it at my list because it was Black Friday.

A few months later I relaunched that exact same offer, after talking about it consistently, and sold three spots within 24 hours at an even higher price. Same offer. Completely different runway and warm-up, completely different result.

So year one taught me two things. Warm people up to an offer first. And it has to feel good for you as well as your audience (I'm still so proud of myself for changing my mind halfway through).

Year two: the collaboration approach

By 2024 I'd learnt my lesson about doing too much myself, so I put together a Black Friday deals page instead. I invited other women in business to submit their offers so I could be an affiliate for them, and shared the whole roundup with my list.

I also floated a few smaller offer ideas of my own and asked my list to reply and tell me which one they actually wanted (I love this kind of market research).

Here's the honest split. My new sales that came from Black Friday specifically sat around $946. Most of my income that month was my membership renewing, like it does every month, Black Friday or not... about $4,000 that would have landed anyway. And on top of that, about $1,100 in affiliate income from the deals page.

I always look at Black Friday as a bonus, so 1,100 odd dollars where I didn't have to deliver a thing? I really loved that.

If you're curious about earning without selling your own offers, I've shared 3 ways to monetise your email list that aren't selling your own offers.

Year three: I didn't run a sale at all

Last year, 2025, I decided not to run my own Black Friday sale. Instead I opened up five sponsored email spots and let other business owners pay to get in front of my audience. I told my list flat out: I'm skipping my own sale this year, send me your deals instead.

My new sales that month were the smallest they'd ever been, about $688, and most of that was the sponsor spots themselves. That was intentional, because I was all about list growth. I was invited into a Black Friday bundle with a group of other business owners, and from that one bundle my list grew by about 150 subscribers, setting me up for a bigger list in 2026.

If bundles are new to you, here's how I grow my list by hosting free digital bundles.

So the year I sold the least was the year my list grew the most.

My November barely moved, whatever I ran

Here's where it gets interesting. I pulled my whole November revenue for all three years, not just new sales:

• 2023: $8,257
• 2024: $8,146
• 2025: $8,387

Basically frickin identical. Three completely different strategies, and my November barely moved.

That tells you something on its own. The specific strategy you pick for Black Friday matters a LOT less than we all think it does. I also talked about this side of it in why Black Friday won't save your business.

Then I looked at December

December was a different story:

• December 2023: $11,729
• December 2024: $13,350
• December 2025: $8,953

That's a real gap. The two years I actually asked my email list to buy something in November, December came in noticeably stronger. The year I mostly sat out and let other people do the selling, December dropped.

I want to be honest with you here... this isn't a controlled experiment. Other things shift from year to year (of course they do). But my read on it is that asking people to buy in November seems to keep some kind of buying muscle warm going into December and the end of the year.

"The act of asking might do more work than we give it credit for."

Even when the November offer itself isn't the thing that changes everything.

Grow your list this Black Friday, and still sell something

So whether it's a sponsored roundup, five offers or something else entirely, the takeaway is to know what you actually want out of Black Friday this year (list growth, revenue, or a bit of both) and build your plan around that on purpose. Not because everyone else is doing something, and not because you feel like you have to.

And if your lane this year is growing or nurturing your list instead of selling? Awesome. Do the bundle, do the collaboration, grow your list.

But please, still try to sell something on the side. Even if it's just in the P.S.

That way you're giving yourself the best possible chance of a strong December, and of ending 2026 strong, with more revenue.

Frequently asked questions

Should I run a Black Friday sale if I want to grow my list?

Start by deciding what you want out of Black Friday: growing your list, nurturing it, or selling to it. If list growth is your lane, do the bundle or the collaboration. But please still try to sell something on the side, even if it's just in the P.S.

Does my Black Friday strategy change how much I make in November?

In my numbers, barely. My November revenue was $8,257 in 2023, $8,146 in 2024 and $8,387 in 2025, with three completely different strategies. The specific strategy you pick matters a lot less than we think it does.

What happens to December if I don't sell in November?

The year I mostly sat out, my December dropped to $8,953. In the two years I asked my list to buy, it was $11,729 and $13,350. This isn't a controlled experiment, but my read is that asking in November keeps some kind of buying muscle warm going into December.

Can I make money on Black Friday without selling my own offers?

In 2024 I shared a deals page of other women's offers as an affiliate and earned about $1,100 without having to deliver a thing. In 2025 I opened five sponsored email spots, and most of that month's new sales were the sponsor spots themselves.

What if my Black Friday offer sells nothing?

My podcast guesting offer sold zero in year one, because I hadn't talked about it once in the months before. When I relaunched it after talking about it consistently, I sold three spots within 24 hours at a higher price. Warm people up to an offer first.

Is it okay to change my mind in the middle of a campaign?

It worked for me. By day three of my five-offers-in-five-days plan I hated it, so I emailed my list, said we weren't doing it anymore, and put all five offers on one page. People loved the transparency, and I got so many replies thanking me.