It's mid-September, which means your inbox is about to be flooded with the same Black Friday advice:

• clean your list,
• warm up your sends, and
• get ready to send a lot more in November.

And it's not bad advice; it's just dated and lazy.

How brands go from "We've got a plan" to "SEND THOSE EMAILS TO EVERYONE!!!"

Somewhere between all that careful planning, things start going wrong and panic sets in.

Brands go from following a carefully laid-out strategy to sending as many emails as they can fit into the Black Friday week.

The worst part?

They decide to send those emails to their entire list.

Email volume has never been the thing that makes brands money in Q4.

The brands that print money during Q4 aren't the ones sending the most emails. They're the ones who decided, back in September, which people to protect from the November email rush.

Because sending your Black Friday promotional campaign to the wrong segment is a surefire way to lose credibility and goodwill.

It might feel like an acceptable trade-off, but it'll hurt your revenue and deliverability during the holiday season.

So do your Q4 a favor and leave these three segments the hell alone

1. People who buy just before your Black Friday promo kicks off. ​
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For the love of all things email, puhleeeez suppress folks who buy from you a week before your Black Friday sale. They don't need to know that you just slashed the price on a product they just paid full price for.
​
​2. Folks who buy early during your Black Friday sale

Let's not do them dirty.

Don't keep sending them Black Friday offer emails if they've already bought — especially if you're offering a bigger discount later.

Nothing sours a buying experience than realizing you'd have gotten a better deal if you'd just... waited.

3. Your unengaged subscribers. ​
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If they're unengaged now, what makes you think they'll buy from you when you're blasting them with two emails a day shouting some version of:

• Black Friday sale is LIVE
• 50% OFF everything
• Last chance!

Every email you send this group increases your spam complaints, messes with your deliverability, and affects overall list health. That's gonna bite you in the *ahem* during the holiday season.

And considering how AI now reads all emails before deciding their inbox placement, you can't risk it during peak sales season.

Don't wait... do this now.

We all know that a well-targeted email converts much better than an email sent to your whole list. But if you wait until mid-November to put these guardrails in place... you're already too late.

Do it now so that you have one less thing to worry about.

Remember, the best way to build a relationship with your subscribers is to put them (and their email experience) first.

— Samar

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