Your 3-step Black Friday and Cyber Monday playbook
20 October 2025
Peak season shouldn’t trigger panic. Yet the default playbook returns every year: deeper discounts, higher bids, disappearing margins. It’s costly and exhausting—and on many channels, it feels unavoidable.
But on Pinterest, the default playbook isn’t necessary. Our users aren't impulse buyers; they're planners, savers and decision-makers. Last year, 76% of our monthly audience shopped Black Friday or Cyber Monday—30% more likely than non-users.¹ Demand is already building. Prep now and you’ll meet buyers while competitors scramble.
Step 1: Optimise your product feed
Your product feed (also known as a data feed, data source or product catalogue) is Pinterest's first impression of your inventory. It tells our algorithm which searches to match you against, which audiences to show your ads to and how your products appear across the platform.
The richer the data, the easier it is for our system to serve the right product to the right person. When your feed includes comprehensive titles, accurate categories and lifestyle imagery, Pinterest can more accurately match your products to relevant shopper searches and interests. This can lead to lower costs per click and stronger conversion rates. But if you don't optimise your feed, you risk sending traffic to competitors.
Do this:
Open Pinterest catalogues to check your data sources.
Fix the essentials: title, description, price.
Layer in detail: colour, material, size, brand, multiple category levels.
Group products logically; avoid placing the same SKU in multiple groups.
Refresh hosted feeds daily or re-upload manual files after changes.
Working with a Pinterest rep? Request your feed health score for additional insights.
76% of our monthly audience shopped Black Friday or Cyber Monday in 2024—30% more likely than non-users.¹
Step 2: Make discounts impossible to miss
Cyber Week is synonymous with bargains. Shoppers scan for the fastest “save now” signal—they shouldn’t have to dig for yours. Promotions help solve that with a corner badge and message overlay that works on any Pinterest ad, making your discounts highly visible to shoppers.
Promotions have been shown to improve CPA by 15% and boost conversion rates by 18% compared to identical ads without them.2 It's the difference between hoping shoppers notice your sale and making sure they do.
Do this:
Create a promotion during campaign setup or import existing Shopify discounts directly into Pinterest Ads Manager.
Choose from a wide variety of templates (like percentage off, free shipping, gift with purchase).
Apply the promotion to an entire ad group or specific products.
Proof it works: Wayfair tested promotions against their standard campaigns and saw a 7% lift in conversion rate plus 12% higher ROAS.3
To help ensure a cohesive user journey and positive experience, the promotion shown on the ad must also be reflected accurately on the landing page and at checkout. Discounts cannot exceed 90% and all promotions must fully comply with applicable local regulations and Pinterest’s policies. Certain types of promotions, such as sweepstakes, trade-in offers or discounts on free products, are not permitted.
Step 3: Let automation do the heavy lifting
Black Friday demand moves fast. Last year, Pinterest checkouts jumped 60% week-over-week4 while CPAs for catalogue campaigns fell 7.5%.5 If traffic spikes like that again, real-time automation will capture its potential far better than manual bid tweaks.
Pinterest Performance+ combines automation and AI to optimise your campaigns in real time. It automatically finds the best audiences, creative variations and bidding strategies that convert right now, then shifts your spend toward the strategies that are shown to be working best.
Do this:
Launch a new conversion or catalogue sales campaign.
Toggle on Pinterest Performance+ during the setup process.
Provide 10+ creatives per ad group; the system needs variety to optimise.
Shopping demand stays elevated through the end of the year, so these steps not only prepare you for Black Friday and Cyber Monday—they help you capture sales all season long.6
Skip the chaos
Smart preparation wins every time. While competitors scramble with last-minute discounts and frantic bid increases, you’ll be ready for what actually can drive results. Get our 2025 festive season marketing guide to learn more.
