By Jodie Thiel, SheerID
For years, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have dominated the marketing calendar, shaping entire budget cycles and dictating creative strategy. The industry treats this stretch as the unquestioned peak of consumer attention.
But what if the most powerful moment for long-term loyalty doesn’t happen during the holiday frenzy at all? Increasingly, smart marketers are recognizing “Q5” – the quiet stretch between Christmas and mid-January – as one of the most undervalued windows for meaningful customer relationships.
While brands fight for share of wallet during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Q5 offers something far more valuable: the space to build trust, affinity, and durable connections.
Why Black Friday Is a Loyalty Trap
Black Friday’s gravitational pull creates an irresistible race to the bottom. When every brand slashes prices at once, differentiation evaporates. Consumers, conditioned to expect blanket discounts, behave transactionally: they hunt deals, not relationships. The result is a spike in revenue that looks impressive on a dashboard but does little to strengthen the brand long term.
There’s also a hidden cost. When loyalty is built primarily on price, it’s fragile. It undermines brand affinity by teaching customers to wait for the next markdown. Even worse, it erodes trust in everyday pricing, forcing brands into repetitive discount cycles that are increasingly unsustainable. For all of the holiday hype, it rarely produces the kind of customer who sticks around for reasons beyond savings.
What Exactly Is Q5?
Q5 captures the stretch from December 26 to roughly the second week of January. It’s when consumers shift from holiday hyper mode into a period of browsing, reflecting, and resetting.
People are home more. They have gift cards to spend. They’re mentally preparing for new self-care routines and are unusually open to trying new brands. It’s one of the rare advertising moments that’s attention-rich but pressure-light. Competition drops off sharply after Christmas, making it easier for thoughtful, well-targeted messaging to break through.
The mindset shift happening during Q5 pairs naturally with identity-based engagement, which refers to strategies that connect with consumers based on who they are as individuals. During this period, consumers feel optimistic and generous. They’re resetting habits, not bargain-hunting. With fewer brands jostling for their attention and crowding their inboxes and messages, consumers notice authenticity. And those who are recognized with special offers by brands for their service, such as educators, members of the military, first responders, and healthcare workers, Q5 is a great time to start a new year with long-term goodwill between a brand, their customer, and their families.
The Real Opportunity: Identity-Based Engagement
Q5 offers an opportunity to move beyond one-size-fits-all discounting. Instead of rewarding everyone simultaneously, brands can reward those who truly deserve it, for the work they do to better our communities. They can also bring discounts to students and low-income persons, such as those who receive SNAP benefits. Verified, identity-based offers stand apart from generic promotions because they create a sense of earned value. They feel personal, intentional, and mission-driven.
This opens the door to true permissioned engagement – personalization that consumers welcome because it respects who they are. Brands build authentic relationships rather than anonymous traffic spikes. They gain clearer lifecycle insights and, ultimately, higher LTV because the relationship is built on shared values rather than temporary savings.
Gift-card spending adds another layer of opportunity: shoppers aren’t stretching budgets; they’re exploring with newfound purchasing power. Identity-based offers meet them at exactly the right moment – when they’re open to forming new loyalties and receptive to value that feels personal rather than promotional.
How Brands Can Activate This Season of Loyalty
Brands should start by identifying which audience groups make the most sense for their mission and product, then design verified offers that add value without eroding pricing integrity. Q5 should also not be treated as a one-off push but as the starting line for a deeper relationship.
That means pairing the offer with personalized lifecycle messaging and community-building opportunities. They can track metrics that reflect relationship strength – repeat purchase rate, LTV, and other loyalty indicators.
Q5 is when the right offer can spark a long-term connection. Black Friday is about volume, while Q5 is about value. The brands that recognize this shift stand to win loyalty that lasts well beyond the holidays. With the right approach, Q5 can be marketing’s hidden engine for sustainable, year-long growth.
