If your store only starts talking about Black Friday the week of Black Friday , who is it competing against: the competitor or the consumer's own calendar? The question is troubling because Brazilians have already decided a good part of what they will buy long before Friday arrives. A study by Microsoft Advertising shows that the purchase journey in Brazilian digital retail takes an average of 35 days and involves 49 searches until conversion.
The "warm-up" campaign is the answer to this behavior , as it's the period leading up to Black Friday when the brand appears, captures contact information, and prepares the ground before the offer goes live. Those who organize a "warm-up" campaign arrive on the day of the event with a base of leads ready to convert . Those who ignore it compete for attention (and price) at the most expensive time of the year.
On this page you will find:
The Black Friday warm-up in key areas.
Before detailing how to assemble yours, here are some things that need to be clear:
- "The warm-up" is the pre-sale campaign that precedes Black Friday., focusing on capturing leads and warming up the customer base before the offer day, not on burning margin with early discounts;
- Black Friday 2026 falls on November 27th.However, half of consumers research deals more than a month in advance, according to a purchase intention survey by [source missing]. LWSA;
- Only 20% of Brazilians plan to concentrate their shopping on Friday; 54% will buy throughout the month, as offers appear, according to the... LWSA;
- 55% of online conversions in November came from searches made in October., points to ecosystemThe outcome of the date is decided before then;
- Capturing leads early opens up opportunities to nurture the contact with marketing automation and reduces reliance on paid media. in the most hotly contested auction of the year.
What is the "warm-up" and why does the November sale begin in October?
"Warm-up" is the name retailers give to the pre-Black Friday phase. Instead of waiting until the 27th to go all out, brands use the weeks leading up to it to generate interest, collect contacts, and signal that they will have good deals. The goal isn't to sell yet, but to build a list of potential buyers.
This logic relies on how the consumer decides. The 35-day journey and 49 surveys measured by Microsoft show a long and comparative decision-making process that extends over weeks. When a brand only presents itself in the final stretch, it enters late into an evaluation that the customer has already been making and competes with everyone at the same time.
The most revealing data point is the 55% figure, where more than half of November's purchases begin with a search from October . In other words, the intent that turns into a sale at the peak was sparked earlier. The warm-up campaign exists to capture this intent while it is still forming , instead of trying to compete for it when it has already matured with the competitor.
Why lead generation is more important than last-minute discounts
A simple discount is easy to copy; any store can lower prices during Black Friday week. What can't be improvised is a database of qualified contacts, built in advance and ready to receive the right offer at the right time.
LWSA 's numbers reinforce this point. Half of consumers research more than a month in advance, and 72% prepare financially before the event. Therefore, there is a wide window of intent circulating well before November. Capturing the email or WhatsApp of those in this phase transforms anonymous interest into a contact that the brand can guide to a purchase.
There's also a cost advantage: a lead captured during the pre-Black Friday phase is already an existing audience. The brand can communicate with them via email, messaging, or remarketing without paying the expensive clicks of Black Friday week . Since only 20% of people buy exclusively on Friday, this database still serves the entire month of sales and Cyber Monday , which, according to the same research, attracts 47% of consumers to new purchases.
How to organize a Black Friday pre-party, step by step.
The warm-up phase works when lead capture and nurturing go hand in hand. Three fronts support the campaign.
1. Start with the bait.
People give out their contact information when they receive something of value in return. This could be an exclusive coupon for those who join the VIP list, early access to offers, a price alert, or a category-specific buying guide. The promise needs to be clear: those who register now get a head start on Black Friday.
2- Segment who enters the database
Not all leads have the same interests. Separating contacts by search category, price range, or website behavior allows you to send relevant offers to each group, instead of a single generic message. Good segmentation starts with lead capture, using forms that ask only the essentials.
3. Use marketing automation to nurture leads until the offer is ready.
Capturing the lead is just the beginning. Marketing automation keeps the contact warm with a sequence of messages leading up to the event: registration confirmation, preview of categories on promotion, countdown, and, on the day, the offer is released . Abandoned cart and recovery flows also come into play here, triggered automatically at the moment they make a difference.
What to watch during the warm-up before the peak
The right metrics show whether the lead nurturing campaign is building the foundation that Black Friday will need. It's worth observing the lead capture rate (how many visitors became contact information), the growth rate of the list over the weeks, the open and click-through rates of the nurturing emails, and the cost per lead in each channel.
As the event approaches, the number that closes the deal is the lead-to-customer conversion rate: how much of the database captured during the warm-up actually made a purchase. This indicator shows whether the warm-up resulted in a sale or just added to a list that nobody opened. Data without analysis is meaningless; each metric is only valuable for what it points to in order to make the next adjustments to the campaign.
Arrive ahead of the 27th.
Black Friday rewards those who get in early in the consumer's decision-making process. The "warm-up" campaign is a way to capture that intention as it forms, build your own base, and reach the peak with a ready audience, instead of competing for attention and price in the final stretch.
If you want to structure a pre-Black Friday campaign that captures leads and guides them to purchase, the e-Plus team of experts can help you build lead capture and marketing automation flows tailored to your operation . And, to continue your preparation, explore the other Black Friday content already published on the e-Plus blog.
Frequently asked questions about the Black Friday pre-sale.
What is the Black Friday warm-up?
The "warm-up" is the pre-Black Friday phase, when the brand captures leads and prepares its database before the day of the offer. Instead of offering discounts early, it generates interest, collects contacts, and uses the leading weeks to arrive at the event with a qualified audience ready to convert.
When should you start capturing leads for Black Friday 2026?
Ideally, you should start in September and October. Half of consumers research offers more than a month in advance, and 55% of November conversions come from October searches, according to market studies. Capturing contacts during this window ensures you have time to nurture your database before November 27th.
How to capture leads before Black Friday?
Capturing leads requires a valuable incentive in exchange for contact information: an exclusive coupon, early access to offers, or a price alert. Registration is done through a short form on the website, landing pages, or social media, and the contact is entered into a segmented database to receive the right communication until the day of the offer.
Is it worth investing in marketing automation for Black Friday?
Yes. Marketing automation keeps leads captured during the pre-Black Friday phase engaged with automated messages leading up to the event, triggers abandoned cart recovery flows, and releases the offer at the right time. It transforms the database built before Black Friday into sales, without relying solely on paid media during the most expensive week.
