Limited Supply – S14 E10: The BFCM Tactics That Actually Worked

Host: Nik Sharma
Guest: Simon Wohl (Wohl Ventures)
Date: December 3, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Nik Sharma dives deep with growth consultant Simon Wohl to break down the DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) strategies that actually succeeded during Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2025. They offer unfiltered takes on early sales, which offers convert best, customer retention, channel experimentation (including cannabis brands), and the ever-evolving tactics powering e-commerce brands from $1M to $20M+. The discussion is packed with candid advice, real data, and memorable industry moments for DTC founders and operators eager to level up in 2026.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. BFCM Timing: Early Sales & Consumer Behavior

• Shift in Timing: Brands are launching "Black Friday" deals as early as November 1, compared to previous years when deals were reserved for the actual BFCM weekend.
  • Simon: "In the past, it was no sale, no sale, no sale, day of Black Friday, huge sale... It taught this consumer behavior of wait, wait, wait, purchase. This year, it seems like we went live really early." (05:01)
• Consumer Response:
  • Sales spike Nov 1–7 due to early high intent, drop off (flat) from Nov 7–20, then spike again around Nov 20 through Black Friday.
• Best Results: Brands that held back “the real firepower” for Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw the highest conversion rates and revenue spikes.

2. Discount and Offer Strategies

• Tiered Offers Win:
  • Hold a moderate discount (e.g., 20%) for early access, then “juice” the offer to 35%+ starting Thanksgiving evening for the BFCM surge.
    • Simon: “Thanksgiving at like 4 or 5pm the sales shot up to the early Black Friday offer at 35% off sitewide. Their Black Friday 3X’d what they did the day before.” (08:15)
• Keep BFCM Fresh:
  • Switch up offers (sitewide, category-specific, doorbusters) for Cyber Monday to maintain urgency and excitement.
• Direct Language Outperforms:
  • The best ads and emails were simple, clear: “X% off sitewide.”
    • Simon: “During Black Friday Cyber Monday, the ads that just literally were a business-as-usual static ad with the offer front and center were the best performers. Without a doubt.” (35:02)

3. Email & SMS Volume

• More is More:
  • There’s little downside to sending multiple emails and texts during BFCM — inboxes are flooded anyway.
    • Simon: “Are you going to get hit with spam complaints? Sure. But ... if that email, which doesn’t cost you any more to send, drives incremental revenue, then you’re doing it right.” (11:01)
• Example Schedules:
  • 3+ emails per day, with resends, is a good baseline. Many brands did 6-8 on Black Friday alone.
    • Nik: “A lot of brands were sending like six to eight emails on Black Friday alone.” (12:15)
• SMS:
  • Cited CB2's “spamming” of 50+ texts during BFCM, indicating aggressive but memorable brand presence.

4. Subscription & Retention Tactics

• Value-Add for Subscribers:
  • Instead of deeper discounts on subscriptions, add value (e.g., free gifts, entry into raffles, bonus items).
    • “What does change though is what you get with that offer ... little things like that really move the needle.” (14:00)
• Gamification Works:
  • Sweepstakes, instant discounts, refunds or gifts with purchase drive urgency and appeal.
    • Nik: “This gamification framework has room to be explored and kind of tested in different ways.” (14:50)
• Post-Purchase Retention:
  • Send handwritten or founder-signed mailers, personal “Letter from the Founder” emails soon after purchase, honor late sale requests for loyal customers.
    • Simon: “The first marketing email they get is going to be a letter from the founder... it looks like they will [go to the founder].” (19:59)

5. Customer Quality: BFCM Shoppers vs. Year-Round Customers

• Not All Customers Equal:
  • BFCM brings many “bargain hunters” who tend not to become high-LTV customers.
    • Simon: “The reality is they're not going to be as good a customers ... But it should be on making as much money as you possibly can at the most efficient cost.” (24:17)
• Halo Effects:
  • Consumables purchased during BFCM often lead to increased retail/Amazon sales even if the customer doesn’t reorder DTC.

6. Paid Acquisition & New Channels

• Clipping / “Zagged” Platform:
  • Underground platform for top-of-funnel discovery — pay per view via viral, story-style creator content on TikTok/reels.
    • Simon: “You’re scrolling TikTok and you see a slideshow ... telling a story about how they solved a problem with this product ... I tried it with one brand and it just took off. Absolute virality.” (27:21)
  • CPMs are extremely low ($3–$3.50), and content appears authentic; huge for awareness.
• Category Flexibility:
  • Especially beneficial for cannabis brands due to relaxed organic content requirements (vs. paid ads).
• Applovin for Cannabis & Supplements:
  • Opened up for cannabis/supplement brands with high efficiency (good ROAS, CPMs, strong customer acquisition).
    • Simon: “I work with cannabis brands and because this is technically organic content ... they can talk about it pretty openly.” (30:06)

7. Tactical Takeaways for Next Year

• Best Practices for 2026:
  1. Start early access deals (first week of November) for list-building.
  2. Pull back ad spend Nov 17–21 (flattened intent period).
  3. Ramp up spend/offers starting Thanksgiving evening.
  4. Refresh ads for each new sitewide/doorbuster offer — but don’t turn off previously high-performing ads.
  • Simon: “There’s no reason to like blast spend into these new ads. Spend on them... but don’t turn off what you have working.” (38:34)
  5. Make the sale visible everywhere (cart, PDP, hero, nav banner).
  6. “Flood the zone” with simple, direct, and fun content (emails, SMS, ads).
  • Simon: “Make it fun, right? Like, put your sales front and center. Make it fun. The ads that, like, are memorable to me are the ones that, like, have a sale front and center and make me laugh.” (41:14)
  7. Gamification and limited incentives continue to work exceptionally well.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the shift to early sales:
  “Brands have been going live really early with Black Friday. And I think this was like an ideology that happened, like, maybe two or three years ago ... This year, it seems like we went live really early.”
  — Simon Wohl, (05:01)

• On overwhelming the inbox:
  “There’s always...the idea is like you’re not sending enough emails, you’re not sending enough texts. At a certain point, I think you’re sending too many...but I don’t think most brands send enough emails. That is something I truly believe.”
  — Simon Wohl, (10:54)

• On the kind of ads/emails that convert:
  “The emails that I open in my inbox are not the ‘up to’ discounts. If you tell me that a site is ‘up to 60% off,’ my brain already says ... the good stuff’s only 10% off. If you tell me it’s 30% off sitewide, I’m shopping it. I’m shopping it every time.”
  — Simon Wohl, (35:28-35:45)

• On paid channels and the “clipping” tactic:
  “I tried it [Zagged] with one brand and I was like, this can’t be real. That one brand just took off. Absolute virality, and you see organic traffic increase. You see direct traffic increase.”
  — Simon Wohl, (27:21)

• On retention best practices:
  “The first marketing email they get is going to be a letter from the founder. It doesn’t matter ... that is like, welcome to the family, welcome to the team.”
  — Simon Wohl, (19:59)

• On BFCM “new customers”:
  “The reality is they’re not going to be as good a customers as ones that you acquire elsewhere. So your focus shouldn’t be on new customer acquisition during Black Friday Cyber Monday, but it should be on making as much money as you possibly can at the most efficient cost.”
  — Simon Wohl, (24:17)

Timestamps of Important Segments

• Early BFCM sales, new behaviors: 05:01 – 08:44
• Discount escalation, timing, and spikes: 08:13 – 09:13
• Email & SMS campaign strategies: 10:25 – 12:26
• Subscription and value-add tactics: 13:25 – 15:09
• Gamification trends (giveaways etc.): 14:50 – 16:59
• Retention, welcome, and post-purchase: 19:26 – 21:43
• Retention vs. new customer quality: 22:30 – 24:17
• Clipping/UGC discovery channels: 26:17 – 29:57
• Leveraging clipping for cannabis: 30:06 – 32:00
• Applovin as a new paid channel: 32:44 – 34:21
• Direct “sales first” creative: 35:02 – 36:01
• Making on-the-fly campaign changes: 36:29 – 37:49
• Best practices for BFCM 2026: 38:03 – 40:17
• Simplicity and fun in execution: 41:14 – 41:37

Conclusion

This episode is an essential listen for DTC founders, marketers, and team members seeking clear, actionable, and field-tested BFCM tactics for 2026. Nik and Simon’s “no fluff” approach cuts through industry noise, delivering what worked, why it worked, and how to repeat (and scale) it in a crowded, chaotic consumer landscape.

For further questions or follow-up:

• Reach out to Simon Wohl: woolventures.com
• Contact Nik Sharma on X (Twitter): @mrsharma