Holiday Season is (Almost) Upon Us
The holiday shopping season is right around the corner. While the summer sun might still be out, the truth is, if you’re an e-commerce brand, your Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) prep needs to start now.
Why so early? Because when it comes to email marketing, your deliverability—the ability for your emails to land in the inbox instead of the spam folder—is your most valuable asset. A healthy sender reputation takes time to build and can be damaged in an instant. By taking proactive steps today, you ensure your most critical holiday campaigns reach your customers when it matters most.
At Tadpull, we work with top e-commerce brands to optimize their digital strategy, and we know that email is a cornerstone of success. Here are five essential steps to get your deliverability in perfect order well ahead of the BFCM rush.
1. Organize Your List Now, Not in November
The single most impactful thing you can do for your deliverability is to clean your list. Sending to an outdated or unengaged audience is a red flag to inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook, and can actively hurt your sender reputation.
What to do:
- Remove Hard Bounces: These are permanently undeliverable addresses. Continuing to send to them signals a low-quality list.
- Delete Role Accounts: Addresses like sales@, info@, or admin@ often don’t represent a real person and can harm your metrics.
- Implement a Sunset Flow: Our friends at Klaviyo suggest running a re-engagement campaign for subscribers who haven’t clicked an email in 12 months. For those who don’t respond, it’s time to remove them from your active mailing list.
According to Bill Biggers, a deliverability strategist at Klaviyo, “Start this process at least 3 months before BFCM to improve sender reputation ahead of peak sending.” Remember: quality over quantity. A smaller, highly-engaged list will always outperform a large, messy one.
2. Stage the Warming Runway
Think of your email sending volume like a credit score. A sudden, massive spike in email volume looks suspicious to inbox providers and can trigger throttling (delays in delivery) or soft bounces. This is a common mistake brands make when they start their holiday promotions.
What to do:
- Increase Volume Gradually: In the months leading up to BFCM, begin to slowly increase your sending volume to show inbox providers you are a legitimate sender.
- Maintain Consistency: Avoid big, sudden shifts in your branding or email content. Consistent, predictable sends build trust.
- Time Your Sends Strategically: As Autumn Tyr-Salvia, a senior deliverability strategist at Klaviyo notes, “Holidays bring an avalanche of email for inbox providers, which can lead to delayed inbox placement.” Consider staggering your big campaigns to avoid the peak on-the-hour sends.
This gradual “warming” period ensures your domain is ready to handle the increased load of BFCM promotions without raising any alarms. Here are some ideas for welcome emails and welcome series ideas.
- Segment by Behavior, Not Just Demographics
A key part of the conversation between a sender and an inbox provider is engagement. The more opens and clicks your emails get, the better your reputation. The most effective way to improve engagement is with smarter segmentation. Here are some more ideas for better flows and automations.
What to do:
- Prioritize Behavioral Segmentation: While demographic data is a good start, go deeper. Segment your audience based on actions they’ve taken, such as:
- Recent purchases
- Website browsing history
- Engagement with previous email campaigns
- Create a “Never Engaged” Segment: Build a segment of contacts who have never opened or clicked an email. By separating this group, you can avoid sending your high-priority BFCM emails to people who are unlikely to engage, protecting your reputation.
- Leverage Zero-Party Data: Use quizzes and surveys to collect information directly from your customers, then use that data to create even more personalized segments.
- Segmentation isn’t just for email—make sure your SMS subscribers are part of your strategy, too.
**Expert Tip from our email specialist Sean** Create an ‘Early Access’ Signup: Use this segment as your highest priority for outreach when launching your BFCM campaigns. These will be the most likely to convert and maintain your strong deliverability as the busy sending cadence begins.
Inbox providers reward brands that send relevant content. By segmenting on behavior, you ensure your BFCM messages land with the people who are most likely to convert.
4. Perform an Authentication and Configuration Audit
Email authentication is the technical foundation of good deliverability. Without it, your emails are more likely to be flagged as spam. DNS records can sometimes be accidentally altered, so a periodic check is a must.
What to do:
- Check Your DNS Records: Ensure your SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly configured. These protocols prove to inbox providers that you are who you say you are.
- Review Your DMARC Policy: Understand your DMARC settings and whether a strict p=reject policy is right for your business. Stricter standards are becoming the norm, and future-proofing your email program now is a smart move.
As Biggers states, “Inbox providers are signaling that stricter standards are coming. Future-proof your email program and protect your brand’s reputation before it becomes a requirement.”
5. Use Paid Ads for Strategic Re-engagement
It’s tempting to try to revive a list of inactive subscribers with one final, big email campaign. Don’t. Our experts warn this can backfire and harm your deliverability. A better, more strategic approach is to use other channels to warm up these “cold” contacts.
What to do:
- Sync Segments to Paid Ads: Create a segment of your unengaged email subscribers and sync it to platforms like Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), and TikTok.
- Target with Ads, Not Emails: Use paid ads to gently re-engage this audience with special offers and brand content on the platforms they use daily.
- Drive Conversions Without Risk: This method allows you to reconnect with your colder audience and drive sales without putting your primary email sender reputation at risk.
According to Wei He, a compliance operations analyst at Klaviyo, “By leveraging paid ads for re-engagement, you can protect your email performance while maximizing the revenue potential of your entire list.”
Final Thoughts: Get Ready Now
BFCM is a marathon, not a sprint. The brands that win are the ones who start their preparation early. By cleaning your lists, warming up your sending, segmenting intelligently, securing your technical settings, and using paid ads to re-engage, you’ll ensure your holiday campaigns are a massive success.
Ready to take your e-commerce strategy to the next level? Get a demo with Tadpull to start optimizing your email marketing today.