Black Friday is Friday 27 November this year, and some of your clients will spend that weekend looking for a deal on their pet as well as their television.
The risk for a pet business is not that nobody takes the offer. It is that the regulars who were booking anyway take it, and you hand over 20% on a week you would have filled. The Black Friday promotion ideas that work for a groomer, a daycare or a walker all come down to the same thing: decide exactly which slots the offer is for, and stop it there.
Where we stand. Petboost is our product and we make money when you use it, so weigh the setup steps below accordingly. The planning part works whatever system you use.
Pick 1 service and 1 reason
Start with the gap, not the discount. Look at the 2 weeks after Black Friday and find what is not full yet. For most groomers that is a weekday morning before the Christmas rush lands. A daycare might have a quiet Monday. A walker might have a midday run with 2 dogs on it.
Then write the offer around that one thing: "Black Friday groom, 20% off a Full Groom", or "$10 off a Daycare Day, Mondays in December". One service is easy to say, easy to cap, and leaves everything else at full price.
Avoid making the saving so large it trains clients to wait for it. A clear amount off one service is enough to get a reply. Everything Discounts & Deals can do is in our launch post.
Cap the places and say how many are left
A limit is what turns a discount into an event. "40 places" gives people a reason to book now and gives you a ceiling on what the weekend costs.
In Petboost the cap is Total uses, or a Limit per Day, Week or Month under Advanced options. Turn on Show how many are left and your booking page shows the real number, such as 18 of 40 left.
One trap: a bundle with a limit does not show as a tile on the booking form. If you want capped places, use a % off or $ off discount, not a bundle.
Give it a start and an end
An open-ended offer is just a lower price. Set both ends before you announce it.
- Open Discounts & Deals and select New discount.
- On What kind, choose % off or $ off.
- On The offer, enter the amount and choose the service under Choose services.
- On Who and when, set the Visit dates, the days of the appointments it covers. These can run past the weekend, so a booking made on Black Friday can be for a visit in December.
- On How they get it, set the code (BLACKFRIDAY works) and turn on Advanced options.
- Set Release time to 27 November 2026 at 12:00 am and Expiry date to 30 November 2026, leaving the time empty so it runs to the end of that day.
- Set Total uses to the number of places, turn on Show on your listing, then Show a countdown and Show how many are left.
- On Check and save, read the Offer terms, tick I have reviewed these terms and select Go live.
The offer shows as Live straight away, and customers can use it from the release time. The countdown on your listing counts to the release, then to the end you set. It only counts to times you set, so it never invents urgency.
Send one link, not a code to remember
Most of the work happens in the message you send, so make it one tap. A live offer has a booking link on its row: copy it and put it in your newsletter, your Instagram story and your Google post. The link opens your booking page with the service picked and the code already on, when customers can type it.
If you text the offer, send it only to clients who said yes to marketing. A discount by text is a commercial message, and under Australian spam law it needs their consent and a way to opt out.
Decide who it is for
Who can use it has more choices than Everyone. Two are worth a look for Black Friday:
- First-time customers, if the point is new clients rather than a thank you to regulars
- Chosen customers, if you want to offer it to a short list, such as the clients who have not booked their Christmas groom yet
An offer for Everyone is the only kind that shows on your listing, so if you choose another group, the link and your own message do the work.
Read the results on Monday night
Open the offer and select Results. Total usage counts the bookings, Total clients counts the people, and Discount sales shows what it took off. The History log lists every booking that used it.
Compare those bookings with the gap you started from. If the offer filled the quiet slots, keep it for next year. If it mostly went to people already booked for that week, make the next one narrower.
Frequently asked questions
When is Black Friday in 2026?
Friday 27 November 2026. Cyber Monday follows on 30 November, so a 4-day offer covers both.
Should a pet business do Black Friday at all?
Only if you have slots to fill. If December is already booked out, skip it, or run it on the gaps in January instead.
Can I offer Black Friday prices on bookings in December?
Yes. The visit dates and the booking window are separate. The offer can be claimable only from 27 to 30 November while covering appointments into December.
Can I use a bundle for Black Friday?
You can, but a bundle with a limit shows no tile on the booking form. For a capped offer, a discount is simpler. Our guide to bundle pricing covers how to price one. An uncapped bundle such as a Full Groom and Nail Clip for $95 shows as a tile on its own.
Can a client use 2 codes on one booking?
No. Petboost applies 1 code per booking. Member prices and pack credits keep their own visits and the code comes off the rest.
What if I want to stop it early?
Open the offer and select Pause. Bookings that already used it keep their price.
The full walkthrough is the Petboost Academy lesson Run your Black Friday offer with Discounts & Deals, and every setting is on the Discounts & Deals page.