The 2025 BFCM and holiday marketing blueprint

Holiday marketing strategy tip: Stay on top of marketing milestones year-round with our 2025 marketing campaign calendar.

To make the most out of every channel this holiday season, you have to meet your buyers where they are. Omnichannel marketing—integrating data from multiple channels to create a complete customer experience—enables brands to drive higher revenue, customer satisfaction, and trust.

With more timely, relevant, and personalized messages across channels, brands can stand out during BFCM and other important holidays and engage their audience across every channel and step of the customer journey.

Holiday marketing strategy tip: Put your omnichannel marketing plans into action with Klaviyo’s omnichannel campaign builder.

• Grow your SMS and WhatsApp lists. Target email-only subscribers and encourage them to sign up for your SMS and WhatsApp lists to stay informed and get discounts. We recommend brands gather consent and grow their SMS and WhatsApp subscriber lists separately.
• Build a segmentation strategy. Create segments for SMS subscribers, including highly engaged SMS subscribers, high-intent shoppers, SMS VIPs, and individuals who prefer SMS.
• Consider timing and frequency. According to our 2024 SMS marketing report with Recharge, 72% of consumers who subscribe to SMS marketing expect to receive a message at least once a week. During BFCM, you can stretch the limits slightly, but don’t go overboard. Use this schedule to plan your holiday SMS messages.

• Optimize your sign-up forms. Consider your form copy, display, design, images, timing, and fields. AI-powered forms display optimization can automatically display your sign-up forms at the time when your site visitors are most likely to convert.
• Build segments. Don’t blast the same email to everyone on your list. Improve conversion rates by sending tailored messages to your most engaged subscribers, VIP subscribers, and previous holiday purchasers.
• Use different email campaign types. Switch it up by providing limited-time discounts, exclusive offers, bundle deals, gifts, and free shipping via email marketing campaigns.
• Take advantage of flows. Automate the customer journey with customizable pre-built and AI-created flows, like welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, back-in-stock, and VIP rewards automations.

• Employ retargeting strategies. Using zero- and first-party data, suggest relevant products to past shoppers and use social media ads to retarget folks who have visited your website but haven’t purchased.
• Tap into lookalike audiences. Find more customers and drive conversions across Instagram, TikTok, Google, Facebook, and Pinterest by building lookalike audiences that match your existing segments, like VIPs.

• Drive urgency and curiosity. Use time-sensitive language and messaging to encourage app users to make a purchase. For example, send an in-app message that says, “Sale ends in 2 hours: Get an extra 15% off.”
• Offer app exclusives. Encourage engagement with holiday offers—like an extra 10% off or extra gift with purchase—that are only available to app users.
• Optimize the mobile shopping experience. Remove friction—make it easy for shoppers to purchase directly in-app.

• Connect the dots. Klaviyo’s future of consumer marketing report found that consumers are most likely to shop on mobile or in-store, so create a cohesive omnichannel experience between physical stores and digital touchpoints.
• Drive sign-ups. Use QR codes to provide exclusive in-store offers in exchange for SMS and email sign-ups.
• Promote special offers. Train staff on key promotions and design in-store displays highlighting special holiday bundles and gift ideas.

• Use social channels to grow your list. Add a link to your brand’s social profiles to capture more subscribers or share holiday contests or giveaways that require an email or SMS sign-up to enter.
• Consider the nuances of each social platform. Schedule platform-specific content for each phase of the holiday season.
• Make buying easy. Create shoppable social posts with links to special holiday offerings.
• Design interactive content. Help shoppers find the perfect holiday gift with quizzes and polls.

• Identify niche influencers. Find influencers whose audience matches your ideal holiday customer.
• Repurpose influencer content. Get the most value for your money—use holiday-themed influencer images and videos across channels like email, your website, and SMS.
• Create special offers. Design exclusive influencer bundles or limited-edition holiday products to build excitement and interest.

• Up- and cross-sell. Post-purchase, check in and follow up with personalized recommendations that can improve the customer experience. For example, a few weeks after BFCM, send a special one-time deal code via an up- or cross-sell flow for an item that would complement the original purchase, like a moisturizing mask to go with a skin cream, or a 1:1 consultation to make the most of a new hair tool.
• Unify customer service and marketing. Use Klaviyo Customer Hub to gain deeper access to customer data, so you can recommend personalized products and deals at the right time.
• Streamline the process with AI. Using AI agents, you can help customers quickly make holiday purchase decisions and answer questions right away.

Today, companies are discounting their products to counteract new tariffs. But many brands don’t understand their cost of goods sold (COGS), making it challenging to determine the appropriate discount amount.

To calculate your COGS, multiply the cost to manufacture an item by the number of products you sold. For example, if it costs $2 to manufacture each gadget, and you sold 3,000 of them, your COGS is $6,000. Use that information to determine your holiday discount strategy.

And consider implementing tiered rewards for BFCM spending. For example, offer a 10% discount if a customer spends $30 and a 20% discount if they spend $50 or more.

Increase average order value by testing bundles for different segments during peak traffic periods. Suggest complementary products or offer bundle discounts.

To get started, we recommend creating 3–4 bundles for BFCM and testing price points, naming, and offer cadence in early Q4.

This holiday season, consider fostering brand loyalty by partnering with a local charity or nonprofit to raise awareness or funds for a cause your brand is passionate about. You might, for example, run a donation matching program or even donate some of your products.

London Sock Co. donated two pairs of socks to a homeless charity for every purchase during BFCM, and the strategy contributed to a 180% increase in AOV during Black Friday.

Use consistent messaging and design elements throughout your marketing efforts, from promotional channels (like SMS, email, and ads) to landing pages.

Customize your website experience to speak to the holiday you’re promoting. Implement holiday-specific navigation, dedicated landing pages for each promotion, inventory and back-in-stock alerts, and clear shipping policies.

And don’t forget to test the flows yourself to ensure it’s easy for buyers to purchase.

Make your holiday campaigns more effective and efficient by using AI and predictive analytics to:

• Identify high-intent holiday buyers.
• Deliver messages to each customer’s preferred platform.
• Use send-time optimization to improve open rates.
• Serve dynamic product recommendations based on browsing behavior.
• Test AI-generated subject lines.

The buying experience goes beyond the products you sell. Driving customer loyalty and retention hinges on effective customer service.

Create specialized flows for common holiday issues, like shipping delays and returns. You should also schedule additional support coverage for peak shopping periods.

Elevate pre- and post-purchase customer experiences by using Klaviyo Customer Hub to combine marketing and service interactions in one place. You can also use AI to provide timely answers to shopper questions.

The holidays are a great time to re-engage past customers. Build win-back campaigns to capture customers who haven’t shopped with you in 30, 60, or 90 days. And pique people’s interest with specialty drops or exclusive deals.

“This is a great time to ask unengaged subscribers if they are still interested in remaining on your list, and tease that you’re about to drop a huge sale,” says Monica Grohne, Klaviyo consultant and founder of Marea Wellness.

During BFCM, traffic is high and intent is strong.

Capitalize on increased traffic and interest by testing different elements and offers, like bundles, price-sensitive flows, product detail page layouts, or subject lines. Start small—even changing the color of a button can give you new insights.

Then, apply your learnings throughout the rest of the holiday season and beyond.

BFCM isn’t about getting a customer to purchase just once. Implement strategies like SMS reactivation, email flows, and loyalty programs to create long-term value.

“Brands that focus on keeping customers around after the holiday season see higher customer lifetime value and expand their customer base beyond this season surge,” says Annette Snow, manager of partnerships at Stamped.io.

Snow recommends:

• Giving new customers bonus points for signing up for your loyalty program
• Launching a referral program before the holidays
• Including points updates in emails

Then, take the insights from these efforts and refine your Q1 marketing strategies.

Specialty handcrafted watch company Shinola worked with Klaviyo to ramp up their SMS channel and build a more targeted email strategy.

Months before the holiday season, Shinola started laying the foundation for an efficient and personalized BFCM experience by sending targeted messages and focusing flows on high-intent events like cart and check-out abandonment.

These efforts helped the brand improve deliverability, reduce send volume, and boost engagement among their most active customers, which set them up for success during BFCM.

The results:

• 27% YoY growth in Klaviyo-attributed revenue during BFCM
• 48% YoY growth in revenue per email recipient during BFCM
• 40% YoY growth in revenue from flows during BFCM

“The drum I constantly beat is deliverability,” says Ben Zettler, founder of Zettler Digital, the agency Shinola worked with on their BFCM strategy. “Who are we reaching, and who are we intentionally not reaching? That’s helped Shinola surface in the right inboxes and drive revenue per recipient up significantly.”

Lifestyle brand POPFLEX used Klaviyo to create an intimate VIP experience for every customer during the holiday season.

First, POPFLEX ran a shopping spree giveaway in October, and required entrants to create holiday wishlists on their site. Nearly 100,000 customers entered, which gave them plenty of browsing and wishlist data from the Klaviyo x Swym integration to use for targeted holiday messaging.

They also incorporated SMS into 3 abandonment flows—for browse, cart, and checkout abandonment—so SMS subscribers got mobile-native reminders to complete their purchase before the sale’s end. Finally, they sent customers their passwords to the early-access portion of the BFCM sale the day before it started, plus the day of, and sent resonant “final hours” campaigns as the sale wound down.

The results:

• 91% YoY growth in ecomm revenue from BFCM sales in 2023
• 137% YoY growth in Klaviyo-attributed value from BFCM sales in 2023
• 3.3x YoY growth in BFCM sale revenue from Klaviyo flows in 2023

“One great thing about Klaviyo is you always know you can rely on it,” says Jodi Miller, loyalty and retention marketing manager at POPFLEX. “We’re investing so much in Black Friday, and it’s nice feeling confident that everything is going to work perfectly.”

Clean beauty brand Jones Road Beauty doesn’t discount their products. Instead, during the holiday season, they do limited product drops.

Over BFCM, Jones Road Beauty drove 4 days of product demand to a Klaviyo sign-up form, updated their evergreen flows to spotlight the specialty product, and messaged the drop differently to each segment.

The results:

• 38.4% of total BFCM revenue attributed to Klaviyo in 2023
• 167% YoY growth in Klaviyo-attributed BFCM revenue in 2023
• 59.2% submit rate on the specialty product sign-up form during the week of BFCM

“The ease of creating segments in Klaviyo and spinning up personalized emails plays a big part in our BFCM strategy,” says Cody Plofker, CMO of Jones Road Beauty. “If you want to grow any DTC business, you’re on Shopify and you’re on Klaviyo. You shouldn’t even waste time considering anything else.”

In an era of economic uncertainty, customer loyalty is key. Brands must take a unified omnichannel approach and deliver a consistent message across channels to earn shoppers’ trust and business.

Today, leading marketers at companies like Shinola and POPFLEX use Klaviyo B2C CRM to create long-lasting relationships during the holidays and beyond. With built-in support for marketing, service, and analytics, teams can design a more engaging and cohesive buyer journey.