Mistake 1: Only emailing your engaged segment
This is a common mistake. If you limit your audience to an “engaged 120” segment in Klaviyo, you’re limiting your chances of making sales. BFCM is the time to unsuppress your contacts, and go as wide as possible. Any deliverability damage you do in November, you can fix in January.
Mistake 2: Waiting until November to start
A big chunk of demand starts in October, but very few brands promote that early. Run an early gifting angle now (get it done early, spread the cost, skip the stress). A fall sale is also your last chance to test your BFCM offer (e.g. BOGO 50% OFF vs 25% sitewide discount). Go early and go wide.
Mistake 3: No early access sale
Run an early access offer that’s close to your BF deal but slightly less valuable, and limit it to email and SMS subscribers only. You get early sales from your most ready-to-buy customers, give people a valid reason to join your list, and sell the convenience of beating shipping delays.
Mistake 4: Running one offer for the whole season
One offer means one urgency moment. Don’t be like those brands that say last chance and then extend the sale due to “high demand.” Your customer is not stupid.
Cycle at least 3-4 offers to prevent your audience from getting bored. You can launch a new product variation, a holiday bundle, or simply frame your discount as store credit.
Mistake 5: Making Cyber Monday the same as Black Friday
If CM is just BF with a new subject line, the people who ignored Black Friday will ignore Cyber Monday too. During CM, you should keep the value but adjust the mechanic. Add a free gift, launch a new product, or switch from a percentage discount to tiered store credit.
Here’s a creative offer by Sport Drink from last year.
Mistake 6: Tapping out after Cyber Monday
After Cyber Monday, and especially in the first weeks of December, shift the focus to gifting: bundles, gift guides, and tiered spend offers (“Spend $100, get 20% off. Spend $200, get 30%”). Then use shipping cutoff times as its own deadline.
Mistake 7: Sending too little email/SMS
At the end of the day, your marketing inputs will control your outputs. Don’t be afraid to send 2-3 emails per day at times. If anything, send customers a warning email saying you’re going to blow up their inbox with offers and that they should bring their wallets.
Mistake 8: Not updating your automation flows
Your traffic peaks during BFCM, and most of it lands in flows built for the rest of the year. You don’t want someone who abandons their cart on Black Friday to receive another flash sale 10% discount or a “still thinking it over?” message with zero urgency.
Update your core flows with your offer & double down on urgency.
Mistake 9: Sending only designed emails
This is not the time to send educational emails with cute infographics. Plain text emails often convert better, take less time to ship, and act as pattern breakers.
Send them from the founder, bold the offer, and use one clear CTA.
What’s Next
That’s it for this week.
If you’re reading this, it’s too late now’s the perfect time to hire a professional to create you a 2-month BFCM calendar and execute it (even if you have a small email list).
