05/10/2026
This could be your brand's best Q4 ever BUT you have to ACT NOW. I'm talking about getting your email list ready for BFCM week.
1. Step one: scrub your list of bots, spam traps, malicious emails, spam complainers, bots, hard bounces, catch-alls etc. Use a service like Klean13 or EmailListVerify.
2. Step two: build a flow that unsubscribes hard bounces and spam complainers. Also create a segment of contacts who have done this and add them to the flow or manually unsubscribe them (unnecessary if you've done step one.)
3. Step three: create a Google Postmaster account and monitor your deliverability health. Fix any issues. You can also use mxtoolbox to check your domain isn't on any blocklists and your email authentication is properly set up.
4. Step four: send a REACTIVATION campaign to your entire list in BATCH-SENDING MODE. Set the batches to go out as slow as possible within reason, e.g. over 1 to 4 weeks.
5. Step five: only send campaigns to your most engaged segments for the next 3 to 6 weeks. So you can send good engagement vibes to email services and get in their good graces for BFCM.
6. Step six: Google has THROTTLED email delivery during BFCM week for the last few years. Many brands wait until thanksgiving to send their offers and their emails don't get delivered. DON'T BE ONE OF THEM. Starting today, create a VIP waitlist for early access to BFCM offers. Promote this waitlist RELENTLESSLY.
7. Step seven: Ramp up campaign frequency in November. Daily emails are the MINIMUM. During BFCM week, email and SMS twice or thrice a day, or more. During BFCM WEEKEND, no amount of campaigns is too many. Six emails a day, eight emails, 10. If they keep opening and buying, you keep sending. And REMEMBER to exclude customers.
8. Step eight: Your BFCM emails HAVE TO STAND OUT in the inbox. Every brand and their grandma will be fighting for your subscriber's attention. Make their emails look invisible by comparison.
9. Step nine: Customers get special treatment post-purchase. What else can you sell them? Don't even wait until they've received the product. Sell it to them now. They are in a buying frenzy. And if they don't spend their money with you, they'll spend it at another store, so it might as well be you.
10. Step 10: ONLY for the brands who want to be a Brand. Continue to sell the best products you can make at a fair price, at full price, and trust your loyal customers. OR take a ballsy stand, close your store, accept no new orders in November, and refuse to participate in such vulgar consumerism.
If you need help implementing any of this, we're offering done-for-you email deliverability audits throughout October for $50. Done by a human, not AI. We have limited capacity so they're first come, first served. Comment “AUDIT.”
