How to Create Meta Ads (Catalog Ads) for Black Friday Sales

Black Friday is the busiest shopping moment of the year, and for ecommerce brands, it is also the most competitive. 

Last year alone, online shoppers in the United States spent over $10.8 billion on Black Friday. Most of those purchases were made on mobile devices. 

Your creatives will have the biggest impact on how much you sell during this Black November. 

And that's why, in today's blog, we show you how to create Meta Catalog Ads for Black Friday that are positioned to convert.

Pre-Black Friday setup

Before we create Black Friday ads, let's review what you need to have in place before the busiest ad season comes around. 

1. Prepare your product catalog

Since we’re dealing with Meta catalog ads, your product feed will be the engine behind your Black Friday ads. Double-check inventory, sale pricing, and product details to avoid disapprovals during the busiest week of the year. 

2. Create your product sets

Product sets let you show specific groups of products to different audiences. Rather than promoting your entire catalog, you can target shoppers with exactly what they're looking for, which is discounted items, bestsellers, or holiday collections.

Examples of bundle ideas by industry:

• Clothing: Top + bottom sets, three-piece outfit bundles, 'build your basics' packs
• Shoes: Multi-pair deals, family bundles, seasonal style sets
• Cosmetics: Routine kits, color families, skincare trios
• Sportswear: Training gear sets, athlete kits, multi-item equipment bundles

3. Determine your discount offers

Why is Black Friday so popular?
It comes down to the fact that shoppers expect mass savings. Your job as the advertiser is to make those savings compelling and easy to claim.

Here are a few tips to make that happen.

• Have one main discount that every customer can immediately understand. A good baseline is 20% off or more. Mark products down directly on your ads and website instead of requiring discount codes.
• Add urgency. Bake deadlines into your messaging, for example, 'Sale ends Monday' or '48 hours only.' This kind of urgency prompts hesitant shoppers to click the buy button.
• Layer in tiered offers to increase spending. Such offers give shoppers a reason to add one more item, which lifts your average order value without diluting your main promotion. Here are a couple of spend thresholds that reward bigger purchases:
• Spend $75, get 25% off
• Spend $150, get 30% off
• Spend $200, get a limited product free

Creative strategy for Black Friday catalog ads

If you have ad creatives that performed well throughout the year, customize them for Black Friday instead of starting from scratch. The only additional step you need to take is to add discount overlays, update pricing, and adjust the messaging. 

Meta already has performance data on these assets, which gives you a head start during the learning phase.

These two other tips are also useful for your strategy:

1. Design for mobile first. About 69% of Black Friday sales happen on mobile devices. Your product images, text overlays, and discount badges need to be visible on a small screen. If your creative looks cluttered or hard to read on a phone, you’ll lose a lot more sales than you bargained for.
2. Make the discount unmistakable. Black Friday shoppers are on the hunt for deals, and that’s why your creative should answer one question immediately: ‘How much am I saving?’ Use bold text, high contrast, and price comparisons. The discount should be visible within the first second of viewing.

Best Black Friday Meta ads examples

Let's look at what excellent Black Friday catalog ads look like across different product categories, so you know exactly what to aim for when building your own.

Clothing ads for Black Friday 

Apparel ads live or die based on how quickly shoppers can assess fit and value. 

First, make sure that your product is in focus. Next, make the discount unmistakable and place it close to the product image so shoppers can see the price drop instantly. 

Another thing we recommend is to include your logo somewhere on the creative so buyers associate the deal with your brand at a glance. 

Last but not least, use Black Friday accent colors so shoppers can understand that it’s a Black Friday sale, not just another ad in their feed. 

Another effective tactic for fashion ads is using multiple images within a single ad. 

What this does is it allows shoppers to see the fit, fabric, and overall style of a clothing item, which reduces their reluctance to check out. See this example from Levi’s.

If you prefer not to use Black Friday colors, you can add a Black Friday label the way Levi's does. It keeps your ad on brand while still signaling that your promotion is a Black Friday-specific sale.

Black Friday ads for shoes

As much as shoppers want to buy quality shoes, they are also interested in bagging the best deals. Ensure that the price drop in your ads is immediately visible, so shoppers don't have to hunt for the discount. 

For the background, opt for a crisp, clean backdrop to ensure your catalog cards are easy to scan.

Just like with apparel, multiple images work really well for shoes. One image can show the full shoe, while another zooms in on fabric detail or design elements that set your product apart.

If you're selling a well-known brand, make sure to include the logo or at least a logo mark somewhere in the shoe ad. 

Brand recognition builds trust instantly, and during Black Friday, when competition is high, that trust can be the difference between a scroll and a click.

Cosmetics ads for Black Friday

Cosmetics shoppers are particular about what they buy, which means your ad needs to communicate the product's identity quickly. Here's how you can structure your cosmetics ads for Black Friday.

Make the product the hero by using simple backgrounds and bold branding. This keeps attention on the product and prevents visual clutter that can confuse shoppers.

You should also include the full product name in your ad. Most beauty brands have multiple ranges under a single product line, and shoppers want to know exactly which version they're getting. Leaving this out creates uncertainty and kills conversions.

Brand recognition is another vital factor in the cosmetics industry. For example, Clinique is a well-known brand, and if they hadn't included their name prominently in the ad example above, all that brand equity would be wasted. 

One additional tactic that works well for cosmetics is to include product benefits directly in the ad. Whether it's hydrating, anti-aging, or long-wear, calling out benefits will help shoppers decide faster.

Sportswear ads for Black Friday

Sportswear sells best when shoppers can visualize themselves using the product, which is why lifestyle images tend to outperform plain product shots in this category.

You should also pair these lifestyle shots with bold discount badges so the Black Friday message remains evident even when the creative feels more editorial.

You can also use multiple images to give customers a 360-degree view of the product. One image can show the full outfit on a model, another can zoom in on fabric texture or technical details, and a third can display the product from a different angle. See this Nike example below. 

Black Friday creative checklist

Below is a quick reference checklist to make sure your Meta Ads (Catalog Ads) for Black Friday ads are set up for success.

• Make your discount visible within the first second of viewing
• Use multiple product images to show different angles and details
• Include your logo or brand name prominently in every ad
• Design for mobile first since 69% of Black Friday sales happen on phones
• Show struck-through original pricing next to sale prices
• Use Black Friday accent colors or sale labels to signal urgency
• Keep backgrounds simple so products stay in focus
• Feature full product names when selling items with multiple variations
• Add product benefits when relevant to help shoppers decide faster
• Reuse top-performing creatives from earlier in the year and customize them for Black Friday

Scale Your Black Friday catalog ads with Cropink

The problem with most Facebook catalog ads during Black Friday is that they look generic, unbranded, and identical to every other product feed running that week.

Shoppers scroll right past them because nothing communicates value or urgency. 

Cropink fixes this by giving you full creative control over your catalog ads without the manual work that usually comes with it. 

Here are just a few examples of how you can elevate your Black Friday Meta ads using Cropink:

• Add text overlays, such as discount badges, sale pricing, and promotional messaging, directly to your product images.
• Automatically update pricing across all your catalog ads.
• Layer in reviews, testimonials, and trust signals to reduce purchase hesitation.
• Dynamically serve the most relevant products to your audience as your feed changes.
• Access a library of pre-built templates optimized for conversions, plus Figma integration for full design control.

Black Friday Meta ads strategy

With your creatives ready, the next step is to structure your campaigns so that Meta can deliver them effectively. Here's how to set up your Black Friday ads for maximum reach and control.

Campaign setup

We recommend running a dedicated Advantage+ Shopping Campaign for your Black Friday sale ads. 

Unfortunately, whenever you mix new sale creatives with historically good performers, Meta tends to underdeliver on the new assets. A separate campaign for Black Friday will provide the algorithm with a fresh learning window and direct the budget toward your Black Friday offers.

If you're running retargeting campaigns, use a manual or cost cap bidding strategy to maintain better control during the high-competition period.

Audience structure for Black Friday ads

Media buyer and creative strategist Ben Radack recommends a two-ad-set structure for Black Friday campaigns. 

The first ad set uses broad targeting while excluding all existing customers from both your Meta pixel list and email list. 

The second ad set targets your existing customers directly using your pixel and email lists, but with a max spend limit set to prevent overspending on this segment.

This structure keeps your prospecting and retention efforts separate, which helps you control budget allocation and prevents warm audiences from eating up all your spend.

Budgeting for Black Friday Meta ads

Competition for shopper attention spikes in November and December, especially around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As a result, CPMs can climb by up to 66 per cent during the holiday buying season. 

In fact, the most expensive period for Meta ads is the Thanksgiving and Black Friday week, where CPMs averaged $13.42 in 2024.

Because of this cost increase, you need to plan for 1.5 to 3 times your normal Facebook ad budget during the main sale window. This isn't optional if you want to maintain visibility and reach your revenue goals.

One final tip is to scale gradually in the weeks leading up to Black Friday rather than attempting a last-minute surge. Sudden budget increases can disrupt campaign performance and force Meta back into the learning phase right when you need stability most.

Pro tip: Launch your ads 3–5 days before the sale so Meta can exit the learning phase before Black Friday traffic peaks.

Final thoughts

Black Friday is usually most profitable for brands that prepare early and place bold, mobile-optimized ad creatives at the center of their strategy. If you choose the right campaign structure and ad creatives, your Meta Catalog Ads will drive conversions and higher average order value during this week. 

Test thoughtfully, watch your data closely, and keep the deals at the front and center of your campaigns.

Start creating your Black Friday Meta ads for free with Cropink. Sign up for the FREE forever plan!

FAQs

Sources

1. NPR. Most Black Friday shoppers bagged their deals online this year, with record spending
2. Red Stag. What percentage of Black Friday sales come from mobile devices?
3. Gupta Media. The true cost of social media ads