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Key Takeaways
- Email may be the one marketing channel you truly own this holiday season, but are you using it wisely?
- Preparing your campaigns now can make the difference between standing out in your inbox or getting lost in the holiday noise.
If you run a business, you already know what to expect: the most competitive email weekend of the year.
In 2024, shoppers made a dazzling impression $41.1 billion online during Cyber Week, up 8% from the year before. And Adobe expects this to be the case during the holidays as well exceed the $250 billion mark for the first time in online sales.
Even though social feeds are overcrowded and advertising costs spike during the holidays, email remains the only channel you truly own. The inbox is where your customers stop, open, and shop – if your messages reach them at all.
Here’s how to get your email marketing into shape before Black Friday hits.
Related: Online Shoppers Spent More Than Ever on Black Friday – and Now Cyber Monday Will Break Records, Too
1. Warm up your domain (especially if you don’t email regularly)
If your brand has been quiet for most of the year, don’t go from zero to 100 during Black Friday week. Sending out a huge campaign out of nowhere could trigger every spam filter in sight and crush your deliverability before your first sale even comes in.
Plan your shipping cadence carefully. When you suddenly start emailing thousands of people, your messages look suspicious. So warm up your domain slowly and start sending smaller batches of emails before Black Friday. This allows mailbox providers to recognize you as a consistent, legitimate sender again.
2. Clean and validate your list
Here’s the hard truth: no matter how careful you are, email lists go out of date quickly. In reality, 28% of the average email list goes bad every year. People change jobs, leave their inboxes, or mistype their addresses when they sign up.
If you don’t clean out your list before the holidays, chargebacks are just one of the risks. High bounce rates indicate to mailbox providers that you may be sending spam. That can damage your domain reputation and push your future emails into the spam zone.
Run your database through an email validation service to remove inactive and fake addresses. This simple step can immediately improve your deliverability and engagement. It protects your domain exactly when you need it most.
3. Focus on your best segments
Now that you’ve cleared out your list, it’s time to think about how you’re going to tackle it in the coming weeks. You’ll need different tactics for each segment of your audience, but don’t be intimidated: you can still keep things simple.
First, instead of blowing up your entire list, focus on the subscribers who actually engage with your brand: the people who open, click, and buy from your brand. Give them early access to your offers, a taster or a small loyalty reward. When customers feel valued, they respond. As a result, you will see higher open and conversion rates.
Targeting your most active segments also protects your sender’s reputation, as clicks indicate interest. That means more of your emails go to the inbox. It’s a smarter approach that ensures your messages reach the people most likely to convert.
4. Re-engage the people who used to like you
Next, consider warming up your inactive audience so you can gauge where they stand with your brand. Not everyone on your list needs a discount. Some just need a reminder of why they signed up.
Send a simple “Here’s what’s new for the holidays” email to re-engage them. Keep it conversational and light-hearted. You’re not pushing sales yet; You rebuild the familiarity.
Those who open and click again can be moved to your ‘warm’ segment ahead of your Black Friday campaign. You’ll enter the holidays with a more responsive list and fewer surprises when it matters most.
5. Keep your tone human (because everyone else sounds like a billboard)
Every inbox is flooded with “Hurry!” “Last hours!” and “Don’t miss it!” subject lines. It’s the noisiest time of the year, which is exactly why sounding human helps you stand out.
Talk to your customers like real people, not like potential customers in a funnel. Share what you appreciate, tell a short story about your brand, or highlight how your product can make their lives easier this season.
Even a small change in tone, like trading “Buy now before it’s gone!” because “We saved something special for you” can change the way people respond. While every other brand sounds robotic and is unique You is your biggest differentiator.
Related: 5 Black Friday Strategies to Turn Holiday Browsers into Instant Buyers
Bonus tip: don’t burn your list for a weekend
Many brands go all-in for Black Friday and then disappear until spring. That’s a mistake. Your goal is to earn long-term loyalty.
Send campaigns and newsletters consistently so you can keep your customers engaged beyond Cyber Week. After the sale, you can send a product tip or an educational email. Think of simple gestures to build goodwill and keep potential customers opening your emails long after the discounts have disappeared.