Black Friday is like the Super Bowl of shopping. Everyone’s excited, deals are flying, and brands are battling for attention. But here’s the truth, even the best marketers sometimes drop the ball when crafting their Black Friday ads.
If you want to stand out in the chaos and make sure your campaign actually converts, you need to know what not to do. Let’s break down the seven biggest Black Friday ad mistakes that can kill your results and how to avoid them.
1. Starting Too Late
This one’s huge. Most brands wait until mid-November to plan their Black Friday campaigns. By then, it’s often too late.
Your customers start hunting for deals weeks before the big day. Competitors are already teasing discounts, collecting emails, and building hype. If you show up at the last minute, your audience has probably already decided where they’ll shop.
Start early. Build anticipation. Drop hints on social media. Send “coming soon” emails. When your deal goes live, people should already be waiting for it.
Pro tip: Create a short teaser video or countdown reel using Invideo’s AI tools to get your message out fast. You can even use the CREATE VIRAL BLACK FRIDAY ADS feature to make scroll-stopping clips in minutes.
2. Ignoring Mobile Shoppers
Here’s a simple fact: most people shop on their phones during Black Friday. Yet so many brands still design ads, landing pages, and checkout experiences only for desktop.
You could have the best deal in the world, but if your ad looks weird or loads slowly on mobile, you’ve lost the sale.
Before launching your black friday sale ads, grab your phone and test everything, the ad creative, the link, the landing page, and the payment process. Everything should load fast, look clean, and be easy to use with one thumb.
If you wouldn’t buy from your own ad on your phone, your customers won’t either.
3. Overloading With Text and Details
During Black Friday, attention spans are shorter than ever. People scroll fast, compare prices, and move on. If your ad looks like a wall of text, they’ll skip it instantly.
The secret? Keep it simple. Focus on one big message, your best offer or most exciting deal. Use short, bold copy and clear visuals. Let your images and videos do most of the talking.
Remember, your ad’s job is to get the click, not explain your entire promotion. You can share the details once they land on your site.
Here’s a quick formula:
- Headline: What’s the offer?
- Visual: Show the product or benefit.
- CTA: Tell them what to do next.
That’s it. No fluff, no essays, no confusion.
4. Forgetting About the Customer
Many brands make their ads all about themselves “We’re offering 50% off!” or “Our biggest sale ever!”
That’s nice, but customers care about one thing: what’s in it for them?
Instead of talking about your brand, show how your deal makes their life better. If you’re selling headphones, don’t just say “50% off.” Say, “Block out the holiday chaos with premium sound, now half off.”
Speak to their needs, not your sales goals. When your ad feels personal, it connects. When it feels like a pitch, it gets ignored.
5. Not Testing Creatives
One version of your ad is never enough. The biggest Black Friday winners test different visuals, messages, and formats to see what performs best.
Try multiple ad styles – a product close-up, a lifestyle video, a funny meme-style graphic, or a quick testimonial clip. Run A/B tests and see which gets the best click-through rate.
Even small tweaks like headline changes or different CTAs can make a big difference.
With Invideo, you can generate variations fast without needing a big creative team. Just tweak your AI-generated video ads and instantly produce multiple versions to test.
Don’t guess what will work – test what will work.
6. Skipping Emotional Appeal
Black Friday isn’t just about discounts; it’s about feeling something. Excitement, urgency, joy, or even relief that they’re getting a great deal.
If your ad just lists prices, it feels flat. The best ads tap into emotion. Use visuals, music, and storytelling to make your viewer feel the moment.
For example:
- Excitement: “It’s finally here – your dream tech at dream prices!”
- Urgency: “Only 6 hours left – don’t miss out!”
- Joy: “Give more, spend less. Make everyone smile this Black Friday.”
Video is perfect for this because it captures emotion instantly. You can create those punchy, emotional Black Friday ads using AI-driven tools like Invideo that automatically script, storyboard, and edit for you.
When people feel something, they click faster, and buy more.
7. Forgetting Post-Black Friday Shoppers
Your Black Friday campaign doesn’t end when the clock strikes midnight. Plenty of people miss the sale, get paid late, or just need one more nudge to buy.
Smart marketers keep the momentum going with “Cyber Week” or “Extended Black Friday” offers. You can even retarget people who clicked your ads but didn’t purchase.
Send a follow-up email:
“Hey, we noticed you missed our Black Friday sale, here’s one last chance before it’s gone.”
It works because you’re reaching people already interested in your offer.
The key is to plan your post-sale strategy before the big day, not after. That way, you can keep your campaign running smoothly and squeeze out every possible sale.
Bonus Tip: Forgetting to Track Results
Here’s one extra mistake that deserves a spot on the list, not tracking your results properly.
Black Friday is busy, and it’s easy to focus only on sales numbers. But you also need to track ad performance: click-through rates, conversions, engagement, and cost per result.
These insights will help you fine-tune next year’s campaign and spend smarter.
Use analytics tools or built-in ad managers to monitor everything in real time. If something’s not working, don’t wait, adjust it right away.
The best marketers treat Black Friday as both a sales event and a learning experience.
Wrapping Up
Black Friday can be a goldmine for your brand or a missed opportunity if you’re not careful. Avoid these seven common mistakes, and you’ll be miles ahead of the competition:
- Don’t start late.
- Optimize for mobile.
- Keep it simple.
- Focus on the customer.
- Test your creatives.
- Add emotion.
- Keep going after Black Friday.
And remember: your ad doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective. It just needs to be clear, exciting, and focused on value.
If you want to save time and still make professional, scroll-stopping ads, try Invideo. It lets you script, storyboard, and edit automatically so you can CREATE VIRAL BLACK FRIDAY ADS that grab attention and drive conversions, all in minutes.
Because when everyone’s shouting “SALE!”, your ad needs to be the one that makes people stop scrolling and start buying.
Final Thought:
The best Black Friday ads don’t just sell a discount, they sell an experience. So plan smart, stay creative, and give your audience something worth getting excited about. That’s how you turn Black Friday chaos into your biggest win of the year.
