Timing is everything: Strategies for overcoming Black Friday messaging delays

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) approach, retailers are busy preparing for one of the most intense shopping periods of the year. These high-stakes days can make or break a business’s bottom line, but with smart messaging strategies, you can turn them into revenue-boosting opportunities.  

In our 2026 BFCM consumer survey, we gathered insights from 2,501 shoppers to help brands better understand holiday shopping preferences and purchasing behaviors. A key takeaway? Speed is everything. 75% of the people we surveyed said they expect to receive transactional messages within five minutes of purchase, and 93% consider these messages important during the holiday season. Enter SMS, offering near-instant delivery to meet these high expectations. In the US, Canada, Australia, and Puerto Rico, MMS goes one step further, offering images, video, and branding content too. 

With many retailers planning to use mobile messaging for BFCM, we anticipate a significant spike in SMS and MMS traffic in 2026. If you send a lot of SMS or MMS messages during this time, you should plan ahead to keep your messaging running smoothly during this high-traffic period. 

Here are a few expert insights and proven tactics to help ensure your Black Friday mobile messages are delivered, effective, and compliant with industry best practices. 

• Schedule your SMS/MMS messages strategically. Most organizations send messages at the top of the hour, so aim for times between :05 and :25 or :35 and :55. This helps your messages get delivered almost instantly and avoid network congestion.   
• Send your messages during optimal times. If you’re in the US, try to schedule messages outside of peak hours (9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. EST) to ensure optimal delivery.   
• Identify your brand in your messages. Make sure your customers can easily recognize your brand to build trust and credibility from the first glance. 
• Implement a clear SMS opt-in strategy. Make sure you’ve obtained explicit consent from subscribers who want to receive your texts, keeping your SMS campaigns compliant and customer-focused. 
• Be concise. Keep SMS within the 160-character limit to avoid splitting messages, which could affect readability and increase costs. If your message is longer, consider using MMS messaging (which has a 5,000-character limit with transcoding). 
• Use MMS marketing to send richer content and optimize your MMS file size. We recommend keeping your image sizes under 300KB, and your videos to 25 seconds or less for best results. 
• If you’re in the US, register 10DLC campaigns well ahead of BFCM. Your brand, campaign, and your 10DLC numbers will all need to be set up well before any holiday send event. This helps you maintain a good sender reputation. 
  • Sinch ensures your 10DLC number is ready to go in seven days or less! Learn about this process in our 10DLC guide, and get started with your campaign here.  
• Plan for new U.S. short code vetting requirements. Since October 15, 2024, all brands leasing or manually renewing short codes in the U.S. must undergo a new vetting process introduced by CTIA and the U.S. Short Code Registry. Read about the full process.  
• Don’t forget your opt-out (STOP) text! Always include clear instructions for recipients to opt out of receiving messages if they wish. SMS compliance isn’t just a legal requirement, but also a sign of respect for your customers’ preferences and privacy.  

Getting your messages delivered to your customers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday is key, but don’t forget about the everyday basics that will boost your campaign’s success. Here are a few other best practices that will help you maximize your messaging campaigns across all channels:   

• Keep it simple. Be clear about your offer and include a single, strong call to action to avoid confusing your customers.   
• Personalize the message. Use recipient names or other details to make the message feel relevant.  
• Segment your audience. Segment your contact list into subgroups based on demographic factors like age, gender, location, customer interests, and previous buyer behavior.   
• Analyze and adapt. Continually track your campaign performance, and adjust your future strategy based on these insights to improve next year’s results!   

Elevate your Black Friday strategy by going omnichannel 

An omnichannel approach to customer engagement can help you engage with customers seamlessly, across different messaging and email channels. This means higher engagement, loyalty, and conversions – a win for your business, and a win for your customers!  

But like with SMS, there are certain best practices you’ll need to follow to ensure your messages are delivered and engaged with. Luckily, these aren’t our only holiday deliverability tips, especially if you’re using other channels for your BFCM campaigns.  

Check out these other resources that are sure to help you land in front of your customers this holiday season:   

• Email deliverability tips to avoid the spam folder this holiday season  
• The best time to send holiday emails – investigated  
• Holiday campaign ideas using RCS  
• How to use chatbots in customer service successfully  

Author: Tara Brownbill Tara Brownbill is a Senior Content Manager at Sinch