How Many Black Friday Emails Is Too Many?

Edu here. Last week I published a study of 8,000 comments where shoppers talk about Black Friday, and the part that surprised me most was the one about email. I expected complaints about how many emails people get to come first, but they came third. And the two biggest groups were people who unsubscribe every year and people who sign up on purpose to get a code (often the same person, with different brands).

A week before that, Validity published its holiday email survey, and Adobe published its forecast for the season. So while most brands are writing their November calendar, there's some fresh data on the question every email person asks around now: how many Black Friday emails is too many?

What the 2026 holiday email numbers say

Adobe expects Americans to spend $275.1 billion online between November 1 and December 31, up 6.7% on last year, and $12.9 billion of that on Black Friday alone. More money on the table usually means more emails chasing it, and last year showed how fast that grows. Over the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday 2025, Klaviyo delivered more than 22.7 billion messages, up 25% on the year before (and that's one platform, not the whole market).

One detail in Klaviyo's report stayed with me, because shoppers spent 11% more than the year before while discounts fell 10%. So brands sent a lot more emails about slightly smaller deals and it still paid off, which surprised me a bit. I think that's why most brands will send even more this year. Honestly, I can't blame them.

But Validity's survey shows the other side, because 44% of people say they get more promotional email during the holidays. And 36% say the volume made them miss or delete something important, like a bill or a shipping notice. A third say volume alone is enough to make them unsubscribe. Nearly one in four say a brand's holiday emails made them trust it less, buy less from it or stop buying, and among Gen Z it's nearly half. Validity sells email deliverability tools, so of course it cares about this, but the numbers line up with what shoppers say when nobody is asking them.

What shoppers say about Black Friday emails

In our study of which Black Friday offers shoppers trust, about 300 comments mentioned emails, texts or ads around the sale. 83 shoppers described what they actually do about them, and four more came from email marketers talking about their own sends, so I left those out. Here's how the shoppers split:

For a lot of people, unsubscribing has turned into a yearly habit. They do it on Black Friday because it's the one day every brand they ever bought from writes to them at once. Some of them even seem to enjoy it a bit.

"It’s like the retailers compiled a nice tidy ‘unsubscribe’ list for me today."

Then the same people sign up on purpose to the few brands they actually plan to buy from, because that's where the extra code is. One shopper took 31% off and then stacked another 15% just by signing up for texts. Fair enough.

"If there are items I am looking for I subscribe to stores that carry. I unsubscribe after Christmas."

Also, a few people mentioned something that annoys them more than the volume: brands that never write all year and then suddenly email on Black Friday.

"I always find it funny whenever you never ever get an email from them previously, until it makes you wonder if they actually believe that's gonna work."

Why the spam button costs you more than an unsubscribe

An unsubscribe is the polite way out, and it's the only one you can see on your dashboard. Most people don't use it, though. Our earlier study of why people leave email and SMS lists was based on more than 3,200 comments. In it, people described marking emails as spam (about 27%) and blocking the sender (24%) more often than clicking unsubscribe (22%). Many of them don't trust the link, because they believe clicking it proves the address is real and gets them even more emails.

This matters most in November. Google tells bulk senders to keep their spam rate below 0.1% and never reach 0.3%, and spam reports from the people you email count toward that number. So a week of heavy sending to people who don't want it can affect where your emails land for everyone, including your best customers. I can't put a number on it, though (Google doesn't say how much each report counts).

Gmail has also made the volume easier to see. Since July 2025 there's a Manage subscriptions page that lists every brand emailing you, sorted by who sends the most. Each brand has an email count and an unsubscribe button. So shoppers don't have to guess who's flooding them anymore, because the count is right there on the screen. And since September 2025 the Promotions tab can sort by "most relevant", based on the brands each person engages with most. So emails someone keeps ignoring probably sink lower in their tab.

And some people press spam on purpose, because they want it to hurt.

"Set a filter to mark them as spam before deleting them. Hurts them more than unsubscribing."

So how many Black Friday emails is too many?

Honestly? There isn't one number that works, and Validity's survey shows why. When it asked people how often they want holiday emails, the answers split across very different rhythms.

Some people want an email every day (21%) and some want none (11%), so any number you pick will be wrong for part of your list. But both of our studies point to choice. In the email study, the most common reason people gave for staying subscribed was a rhythm they chose and could predict (about 42%). Only about 2% said they stayed because they liked the brand. In Validity's survey, 22% said a snooze or "opt down" option would help them get through the holidays without unsubscribing.

There's one thing the data doesn't agree on, though. Optimove surveyed 1,034 shoppers in November 2025, and 56% said too many messages only bother them when the offers are irrelevant. But when people complain on their own, without anyone asking, they almost never say "irrelevant". In our email study, about 60% of the reasons people gave for wanting out were about how often a brand sends, and only about 6% were about irrelevant content. I'm not sure which of the two is closer to what people actually do. Maybe relevance is the reasonable answer you give in a survey, and the count is what you say when you're annoyed. Probably a bit of both.

Frequently asked questions

How many Black Friday emails should a brand send?

There's no single right number. In Validity's Holiday 2026 Consumer Survey, 21% of people wanted holiday emails every day and 21% every two to three days. Another 25% wanted them once a week, 16% only for big sales and 11% not at all. So a practical approach is to send the full sequence to recent buyers and regular openers and fewer emails to everyone else, with a way to pause until December.

Do Black Friday emails make people unsubscribe?

Many people unsubscribe around Black Friday, often as a yearly habit. In our study of Black Friday comments, unsubscribing was one of the two most common inbox habits (about 29%), tied with signing up on purpose to get a discount code. In Validity's 2026 survey, a third of consumers said holiday email volume alone would make them unsubscribe.

Why do people mark marketing emails as spam instead of unsubscribing?

Many don't trust the unsubscribe link. In our study of more than 3,200 comments about marketing messages, people marked emails as spam (about 27%) or blocked the sender (24%) more often than they unsubscribed (22%). A common belief was that clicking the link confirms your address is active and gets you more emails.

What spam rate does Gmail allow for marketing emails?

Google tells senders to keep the spam rate shown in Postmaster Tools below 0.1% and to never reach 0.3% or higher. Spam reports from the people receiving the emails count toward that rate. So a spike in spam reports during November can affect how a brand's emails reach the rest of its list.

Should brands email old subscribers on Black Friday?

Be careful with it, because in our Black Friday study shoppers made fun of brands that never email all year and then suddenly write on Black Friday. And since many people press spam rather than unsubscribe, waking up a list you haven't emailed in months on the busiest email week of the year is risky. A short email earlier in November is a safer way to start again.

What I'd do this November

If I were planning a small brand's Black Friday emails this month, I'd split the list in two. People who bought in the last year or open regularly get the full sequence, because in the Black Friday study they're the ones who actually buy. Everyone else gets fewer emails, maybe one announcement and one last call. Two emails, max.

Then I'd add one line near the top of the first email, something like "Too much this month? Pause our emails until December." It costs nothing to offer. Someone who pauses is still on your list in January, and that's a lot better than a spam report you'll never see.

Also, make the email match the website. If the subject line says sale and people click through to find a few discounted kits, they feel tricked, and that complaint showed up in the inbox section too. If you're rewriting your November emails anyway, I wrote about using customer language in email marketing in another post.

And if you haven't emailed part of your list since spring, Black Friday is probably the worst week to start again. I'd guess those people are also the most likely to press spam, since they barely remember signing up. Just a guess, though.

All in all, I think the brands that finish November with a healthy list will be the ones that sent less to people who weren't going to buy. If you've tried a pause option before, I'd really like to know whether people used it.

Sources

1. Schultz, R. (2026). Holiday glut: Shoppers are overwhelmed with commercial emails. MediaPost, Email Insider, September 30, 2026. Source for the Validity Holiday 2026 Consumer Survey figures (1,000 consumers): unsubscribe threshold, spam, deletion, missed emails, preferred frequency and snooze option. Link Retrieved October 13, 2026.
2. Validity. (2026). Nearly half of younger buyers will trust a brand less by the time the holidays end, Validity research finds. Press release, September 30, 2026. Source for the 44%, the trust figures and the Gen Z finding. Link Retrieved October 13, 2026.
3. Haleem, A. (2026). Adobe projection: 2026 online holiday sales to reach $275.1 billion. Digital Commerce 360, September 29, 2026. Source for the $275.1 billion season and $12.9 billion Black Friday forecasts. Link Retrieved October 13, 2026.
4. Klaviyo. (2025). Klaviyo breaks records with first AI-powered BFCM, December 2, 2025. Source for 22.7 billion messages (up 25%), spending up 11% and discounts down 10% over the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. Link Retrieved October 13, 2026.
5. Google. Email sender guidelines. Google Workspace Admin Help. Source for the 0.1% and 0.3% spam rate thresholds and the one-click unsubscribe requirement. Link Retrieved October 13, 2026.
6. Malik, A. (2025). Gmail's new Manage Subscriptions tool will help declutter your inbox. TechCrunch, July 8, 2025. Source for how Manage subscriptions sorts senders and shows recent email counts. Link Retrieved October 13, 2026.
7. Google. (2025). Introducing a new purchase tracking view and more relevant promotions in Gmail. The Keyword, September 11, 2025. Source for the "most relevant" sort in the Promotions tab. Link Retrieved October 13, 2026.
8. Sullivan, L. (2025). Turning Black Friday message fatigue upside down. MediaPost, November 21, 2025. Source for the Optimove survey of 1,034 consumers and the 56% relevance finding. Link Retrieved October 13, 2026.