Black Friday Postcards

What Are Black Friday Postcards

Black Friday postcards are full-color postcards built for a retailer's Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale, printed in 14 sizes from a 2.5" x 2.5" card up to a 6" x 11" mailer, on any of 22 stocks. Businesses reach for them when an email would get buried: direct mail sale announcements, in-store handouts, bag stuffers, doorbuster coupons, and early-access invites for regulars. Because a card is physical, it gets handled and kept instead of scrolled past. If you want an everyday version for the rest of the year, the Standard Postcards cover that, and the Black Friday postcard is the seasonal push that lands before the rush.

What Size Should a Black Friday Postcard Be

The right size comes down to where the card goes. A 2.5" x 2.5" card works as a bag stuffer or a counter handout a cashier can add to every purchase. A standard postcard size gives a mailer room for your sale dates, a map, and a coupon code. Go to the 6" x 11" format when you want a large mailer that is hard to miss in a stack of mail. All 14 sizes, both finishes, and the full stock list are grouped below exactly the way the live configurator presents them, so you know what you can change before you change it. For a metallic, premium look, the Metallic Foil Postcards go further, and the small-format Mini Cards are another handout-sized pick.

The stock, the code on the back and the design decide what a Black Friday postcard brings in.

Pick a stock that feels like the sale

A heavier coated stock gives the card real presence in the hand. Silk/matte and uncoated stocks take a pen for a written note, metallic pearl and StarLustre catch the light like a premium piece, and synthetic plastic or 18pt rigid vinyl hold up as weather-proof handouts. The default 14pt Gloss Cover keeps a mailing clean and cheap, and a High-Gloss UV Coating makes a photo or a big percentage-off snap. The stock list runs 22 deep, up to a genuinely chunky 24pt ultra thick.

Put a QR or promo code to work

Print the sale on the front and a QR code or promo code on the back, so the customer can open the deal without typing. With variable data on, every card carries its own tracking code, and you see which mailing drove the traffic.

Design it without a designer

Start from one of the free layouts in our postcard design templates, part of the 10,000+ design templates across 4OVER4, then change the colors, copy and prices in the online editor. Give the front to one offer and the dates; the back takes the code and the address.

Already have your artwork? Skip the editor and download a press-ready blank instead. Each blank Black Friday postcard template is built at the real trim size with the 1/8" bleed and safe margin already drawn in, so your design never crowds the cut. Grab the size that matches your order below, drop your art in, and upload.

How Much Do Black Friday Postcards Cost

From $16.48 for 50, an 800-card set costs $73.60 and 7,000 cost $176.61, and a full 100,000 run comes in under two cents a card. Move the slider below to the size of your list for the total and the price per postcard.

Can You Print a Different Code on Each Postcard

Yes. Turn on variable data and you can drop a unique coupon code, a name, or a one-off tracking link onto every single postcard in the run, so each one ships personalized instead of identical. That turns a Black Friday postcard into a numbered coupon, a VIP invite with a real name, or a mailing you can track by segment. It is the easiest way to know which list drove the sale. Pair it with full color on both sides and a finish that fits, and a simple card starts doing the work of a whole campaign.

How Variable Codes Actually Work

Variable data printing means one column in your list becomes one printed line on the card, and every card in the run comes off the press different. Concretely:

• Your list is the source. Send a spreadsheet where each row is one recipient and each column is one thing that changes: the name, the address, and a column holding that person's unique code. Save it as a CSV with a header row, keep the column names simple, and make sure the code column has no blank cells, because a blank prints as a blank card.
• The code column maps to a spot on the layout. On the artwork you leave a defined space where the code prints, sized for the longest code in the file rather than a typical one. Set it in a plain, well spaced typeface, and avoid characters that get misread when a customer types them in: the zero against the letter O, the one against the letter l.
• Redemption tells you what the mailing did. Because each code belongs to one recipient, a redeemed code identifies which segment, which list and which offer actually brought someone in. That is the difference between knowing a mailing worked and guessing. Export the codes from the same system that will validate them at the till or at checkout, so the two lists cannot drift apart.
• Check the proof against the file, not against your memory. Read the sample records on the proof next to the matching rows in your spreadsheet. Field mismatches, where the code column lands one column off, are the classic variable data failure, and they are invisible until you compare the two side by side.

How Do Black Friday Postcards Compare to Other Postcards

Starting prices for an everyday postcard, a metallic finish and a small handout card sit in the chart below, next to this seasonal mailer.

Pair Your Postcards With Black Friday Posters

The postcard does one job well: it reaches a customer at home, days before the sale, while there is still time to plan a trip to your shop. What it cannot do is close the sale once that customer is standing in front of you. That is why the mailer and the in store display are usually printed as one campaign.

Run them together and each one covers the other's weakness:

• The mailer creates the appointment. Doorbuster prices, the sale dates, opening time, and a code that only works if the card comes along.
• The in store print confirms it. A shopper who read the card at the kitchen table needs to see the same offer, in the same colors and the same type, at the door and at the till. Matching art is what turns a half remembered postcard into a purchase.
• One design, three placements. Build the artwork once and reuse it across the card, the window and the wall. The repetition is the point, and it costs nothing extra in design time.

For the window and the sales floor, Black Friday poster prints carry the offer at wall size, and Black Friday banners handle the entrance, the storefront and anywhere a poster is too small to be seen from the street.

See How a Finished Black Friday Postcard Lands

A doorbuster price on 14pt gloss and on soft touch are two different cards. We printed the postcards below in-house for our customers, across sizes, stocks and finishes, so you can compare before you order. Tap any print to see it larger.

How Fast Can You Get Black Friday Postcards

Black Friday postcards print on a 3 business day standard turnaround, and when the sale sneaks up you can move that to 2-day, Next-Day, or even Same-Day production out of our New York City plant. Each step buys back time for a set percentage on top of the base price, so you only pay for speed when you actually need it. Same-Day orders need to be approved by the daily cutoff to ship that day, and 99.8% of 4OVER4 orders arrive on time with 82% shipping early. Compare every turnaround tier below and see exactly what the rush adds before you pick.

Black Friday Mailing Deadlines

The deadline that matters is not when the postcards are printed, it is when they land on a kitchen table. Count backwards from the sale, not forwards from today.

1. Decide the day the card should arrive. Early enough that the reader can plan the trip, late enough that the card is still on the counter. For a Black Friday sale that generally means arriving during the week before, not a month out, when the card gets filed and forgotten.
2. Subtract mail transit. Transit depends on the mail class and the distance, and it slows down through November as holiday volume climbs. Confirm the current window with whoever handles the mailing before you commit to an in-home date, and add a buffer rather than assuming the fastest case.
3. Subtract production. Standard turnaround is 3 business days, with 2-day, Next-Day and Same-Day rush available. Rush buys back a few days at the end, so treat it as insurance, not as the plan.
4. Subtract proof and approval. The production clock starts when you approve the proof. Building in a day for a careful read of the dates, the offer, the codes and the address block costs less than a reprint, and a wrong sale date on a Black Friday card cannot be fixed after it mails.

One practical note on scheduling: get the artwork finished before the week you intend to mail. Almost every missed Black Friday deadline is a design that ran late, not a press that did.

See the Rest of Our Postcards

The full print product range lists the everyday, metallic and handout postcards with their prices.

Planning the wider campaign? The postcard printing category covers every size, stock and finish, direct mail postcards are the version built around a mailing list and address panel, and the Black Friday printing collection gathers the signs, banners and in store pieces that carry the same offer.

Print Your Black Friday Postcards Today

At 4OVER4.COM, quality comes first, and it is backed by a satisfaction guarantee and 25+ years of printing since 1999. Whatever size, stock, or finish you pick, these Black Friday postcards are built to make your sale impossible to ignore. Need them before the doors open? Our Same-Day production keeps you covered. Print your Black Friday postcards today.