How to drive traffic during Black Friday: a brief guide for affiliates

Black Friday is that very moment of the year when the world simultaneously goes crazy over discounts, and demand skyrockets. For marketers and PR specialists, it’s not just a date but a golden news hook that would be a shame to miss.

The affiliate sphere is no exception. On the contrary, the potential here is the highest: people are actively searching for best deals, brands are ready to fight for attention, and conversions during this period can set records.

We naturally do not stay aside. We have prepared truly useful material with practical recommendations and hacks that will help you get the most out of Black Friday.

The Black Friday period is strategically significant for traffic arbitrage. The growth in consumer demand, high audience motivation, and increased user readiness to make purchases create unique conditions for increasing campaign effectiveness. This is the time when conversion rates rise across all verticals, customer acquisition costs decrease, and ROI can multiply several times with proper work on connections and creatives.

Purchasing activity during Black Friday continues to grow steadily. In 2024 alone, online sales in the US reached $10.8 billion, and this is not a one-time spike but part of a steady upward trend. Below is statistics from Demandsage showing year-on-year growth dynamics, clearly demonstrating how each subsequent season beats the previous one.

Globally, total sales for the day amounted to approximately $74.4 billion, with an approximate 5% year-on-year growth. Blackfriday Statistics 2024+1 In numbers, this means millions of new buyers, a sharply increased traffic flow, and users transitioning from “just looking” to “buying.”

Black Friday works best in markets where a combination of factors (such as high buyer motivation, frequent sales, online payment accessibility, and a historically strong response to discounts) creates best return. Three key areas stand out:

• Latin America is one of the fastest-growing markets. For example, online sales in Brazil alone reached R$9.3 billion in 2024, a 10.5% increase from the previous year. The region is characterized by high audience engagement, explosive e-commerce growth, and the popularity of fast payments. For arbitrage, this means a huge volume of quality traffic and fast conversion of mobile offers.
• CIS and Eastern Europe have an audience that traditionally actively responds to sale advertisements: according to global BCG research, up to 70–75% of users aware of Black Friday plan to make purchases in November. Although purchasing power is lower than in the West, the motivation to catch a good price is much higher than average. Discount offers, merchandise, games, subscriptions, and financial verticals work well here, especially when optimized for mobile traffic.
• USA and Canada are mature and expensive markets but also the most predictable. Users are accustomed to shopping during this period, brands actively compete for attention, and conversion rates in many verticals rise naturally. Yes, traffic is more expensive, but ROI is often higher due to high LTV.

We present only a few striking examples, but Black Friday performs well in many other GEOs. If desired, you can experiment more widely: if a country has a culture of discounts, fast payments, and high mobile traffic, the potential there is almost guaranteed.

Below, we’ll discuss the main verticals that are most profitable to drive during Black Friday and explain why each of them performs well during this period.

It is one of the strongest verticals for Black Friday because users massively move into a “searching for a bargain” state during this period. Demand for physical products rises sharply, the audience actively compares prices, clicks on ads, and is much more willing to make impulse purchases on anything that looks like a discount.

Physical goods offers win due to the simplicity of solving user pain points, a wide range of products (from electronics to small gadgets and home goods), and people’s readiness to buy here and now without delay. During Black Friday, even average-quality creatives and landing pages start converting better than usual, and targeting becomes cheaper due to the enormous demand volume. All this together makes physical goods vertical one of the most predictable and profitable directions for traffic during the sales season.

Nutraceuticals perform well during Black Friday because users are receptive to offers related to health, beauty, and quality of life improvements during this period. People actively buy products for themselves — vitamins, dietary supplements, weight loss products, cosmetics, anti-aging solutions, especially if they see a strong discount or limited offer. Against the backdrop of general consumer excitement, purchase impulsivity grows, and trust in advantageous offers increases. In nutraceuticals, this creates a double effect: lead cost decreases, and conversion to payment grows because the product addresses a clear personal need and appears as an advantageous opportunity not to be missed.

The finance vertical traditionally performs well during this period because, amid mass sales, users actively seek additional ways to save: cashback services, new bonus cards, installments, credit offers, and bank loyalty programs. People are willing to apply for financial products for advantageous conditions “only today” or increased cashback percentages on sales period purchases. For arbitrage specialists, this means increased conversion to applications, higher audience activity, and cheaper traffic due to higher demand for financial instruments. Financial offers become particularly attractive because they help users buy more at the same cost, aligning with the overall seasonal motivation.

Subscription services also perform well because users actively seek services on advantageous terms — movies, music, software, VPN, cloud services, AI tools, and any subscription-based solutions. During this period, brands massively launch large discounts on the first month or year of subscription, and the audience is much more willing to try new services: low entry threshold, quick onboarding, and the feeling of «a penny saved is a penny earned». For affiliate marketers, this means increased trial numbers, enhanced conversion to renewals, and high LTV due to many users staying with the service after the promotional price ends. Subscription offers during Black Friday season are a stable vertical with good margins and predictable math.

During Black Friday, traffic responds mainly to strong, specific, and visually noticeable USPs, so ads must immediately sell the benefit. It’s important to use strong triggers: time limitations (“only 24 hours”), high discount percentages, gifts, free shipping, improved conditions, limited stock. During this period, the audience seeks quick solutions and good deals, so creatives should be as straightforward as possible: minimum text, maximum benefit, and clear discount visualization. Test 3–5 ad variants: even average creatives convert during Black Friday, but the task is to find the one that “unlocks” the audience faster than others.

Black Friday advertising works differently than on regular days: overall demand spikes, new hot segments emerge, and users respond more actively to any commercial offers. Regardless of the traffic source, it’s important to expand reach, test more connections, and increase work intensity on formats showing growth. If your platform allows using keywords, add seasonal queries.

If working with targeting or recommendation algorithms, expand audiences and interests. If purchasing fixed traffic, increase volumes on streams where conversion grows.

For those working with bids, remember: a slight temporary increase can help enter the peak, but overdoing it is dangerous — many advertisers also raise bids during this period and can overheat the auction, causing the cost per click to rise faster than conversion. Therefore, bids should be managed precisely and carefully, reacting to real changes in effectiveness.

The main thing is to scale gradually and closely monitor the analytics: the Black Friday window is short, and your task is to hit it without overpaying for traffic.

Remarketing during Black Friday is one of the cheapest and most effective advertising tools. 5–7 days before the peak, start warming up: soft reminders, teasers about future discounts, ads promising benefits. Accumulate segments: website visitors, people who added items to the cart, those who interacted with creatives, and subscribers. If you already have your own database — email, push notifications, or active subscribers — be sure to warm them up as well: personal discounts and early access work especially effectively. On sale day, switch remarketing to aggressive mode: «discount active», «hurry to grab», «best deals of the year». Hot audiences convert 2–4 times better than cold ones at this moment. The main thing is to immediately capture traffic: announcements, limited timers, and repeated touches work best with remarketing.

OctoClick doesn’t cover all the verticals that usually perform well during Black Friday, but we are excellent for areas where seasonal demand growth truly enhances results.

With us, you can confidently drive sweepstakes, subscription services, mobile subscriptions, and nutraceuticals tied to sales, enhancing them with seasonal user motivation.

We offer formats that consistently provide good volume and quality traffic during this period:

• Native — for soft entry and high engagement
• Popunder — for scaling and quick reach
• In-page push — for instant attention and strong CTR

We provide advertisers with real, live traffic that converts regardless of the season, often giving an additional boost during Black Friday due to increased audience activity.

For Black Friday, we have also increased the bonus for the first deposit by +10% to the deposit, making this the perfect entry point if you’ve wanted to test OctoClick.

During Black Friday, the audience responds to specifics: strong discounts, time limitations, and the feeling of a good deal. The most effective triggers are clearly marked discount percentages, countdown timers, «last units», «only today», «price before/after», and bonuses for quick orders. For offers that don’t involve direct discounts (sweepstakes, subscriptions, nutraceuticals), you can use veiled triggers: «special conditions», «limited access», «bonuses on Black Friday», «promo day», «Black Friday week». It’s important that ads are instantly understandable — users don’t want to figure things out during this period; they want to see the benefit immediately.

During this period, ads that emphasize benefits work best. Here are the creatives that perform best:

Physical products/E-commerce:
Banners with large discount percentages (30–70%), minimal text, black-yellow or black-red color schemes;
Price comparisons «was/now»;
Before/after visuals + «Black Friday Price» message.

Subscription Services:
«−70% for the first month», «year for the price of a month», «lowest price access only today»;
Creatives highlighting popular features or «lowest price of the year».

Nutra:
Trigger visuals (energy, weight loss, beauty) + strong emphasis on promotional offer;
«Black Friday price», «super day», «week promo».

Sweepstakes:
Cards «Black Friday Win»; «Special Draw», «Super Prize for Black Friday»;
Visuals with gifts, boxes, glitters + «Hurry to grab the prize» message.

Gaming:
«Discounts on in-game purchases», «gifts for new players for Black Friday», «VIP 80% off»;
Creatives with popular characters + promotion.

Social media and native traffic:
Headlines like «Discounts have started», «Half-price product of the week», «Best deals of the day»;
Creatives with real products and large, bright price tags.

Viral approaches:
«We checked this discount — it’s real»;
«Best Black Friday finds»;
«What sold out in the first hours of the sale».

During Black Friday, even simple creatives work well if they quickly sell the benefit. People don’t read; they scan: percentage, benefit, deadline — that’s enough for conversion to increase.

Novices in arbitrage often make the same mistakes during Black Friday: launching campaigns too late, creating creatives without clear benefits, not testing multiple ad versions, setting large budgets without testing the connection, and forgetting about remarketing. Another common mistake is blindly raising bids or mindlessly expanding audiences to catch the peak, which often leads to overspending and auction overheating without conversion growth. Many also ignore real-time analytics, although during Black Friday it’s important to quickly turn off what doesn’t work and boost what performs well. The main rule for beginners: more tests, less chaos, clear focus on benefits, and budget control.

If you haven’t prepared for Black Friday in advance, it’s not all lost. First, use quick connections: remarketing, warmed-up audiences, offers with simple USPs and minimal funnel. Second, focus on post-peak days — Cyber Monday, Black Week, extended promotions — many verticals convert well even after the main sale day. Third, launch small tests right during the peak: even a late start can yield results if the offer is hot and creatives focus on immediate benefits. Finally, use the seasonal hype: people still expect discounts, so approaches with sale triggers will work even after the official Black Friday end.

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Black Friday is a short but extremely powerful window of opportunity. During this period, user behavior changes, demand grows, emotions intensify, and even familiar offers start working differently. The main task for an affiliate marketer is to be ready for this moment, test faster, be more flexible in reactions, and use the seasonal hype to their advantage.

May this Black Friday become not just a sale for you, but a growth point. Good luck with your campaigns and wishing you hefty profits!