6 last-minute things to do before BFCM

As founder of Zettler Digital, I’ve been coaching brands through Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) for over a decade. One thing is for sure: the teams that win don’t wing it, especially not in the last 10–14 days. They make a few practical changes in Klaviyo, schedule their flows and campaigns, and protect their deliverability.

I sat down with a few experts from Klaviyo to discuss what brands should prioritize in those last few weeks before BFCM.

1. Decide on how you’ll approach discounts during your sale

This is a tactic I find isn’t talked about enough. If your flows—like welcome, abandoned check-out, and browse abandonment—use discounts, you should decide now if those codes pause or change during BFCM.

Leaving them as is creates friction: codes may not work. Or, worse, they do work and shoppers stack discounts, then get frustrated when it doesn’t work, which can turn into a customer service problem.

At Zettler Digital, here’s what we recommend:

• Build sale-specific versions of the key flows mentioned above. Make sure the copy emphasizes your BFCM offer instead of generic incentives.
• Use Klaviyo’s flow scheduling to turn your BFCM flows on for the sale window, and automatically turn your always-on flows back on after. Flow scheduling is super helpful for Black Friday, as it saves you from late evening and early morning updates.
• Shorten timing and reduce message count. During BFCM, speed beats long drips. In my experience, one or two well‑timed reminders usually outperform a 4- or 5-message sequence.
• If you normally give first-time buyers a code via a conditional split, route everyone through the non-discount path during the sale. Turn your original logic back on after Cyber Monday. You can’t schedule a change like this in an existing flow, but you can clone, modify, and then schedule it.

Last-minute BFCM prep pro tip: It’s also important to optimize your flows according to more than just your discount logic.

Michael Pattison, global director of digital strategy at Klaviyo, suggests asking, “Are abandonment flows sending after 1 hour or 4 hours? Do we need to add any new banners or copy to speak to the holiday shopping period? Set it and forget it is for rotisserie chickens, not automated communications.”

2. Use forms to re‑engage last year’s BFCM buyers and recent window shoppers

Smart, fast list growth in the weeks leading up to BFCM pays off when inboxes get loud.

“Create an exit‑intent pop‑up targeting past window shoppers (viewed recently but no purchase) and/or BFCM purchasers who are no longer subscribed to email or SMS,” recommends Samantha Lodge, principal CSM for mid-market plus brands at Klaviyo. “Offer them early access to your upcoming Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale in exchange for rejoining your list.”

Lodge suggests that brands:

• Use historical purchase segments to find people who bought November 20–28 last year.
• Build an on‑site form with exit‑intent behavior and segment‑based form display conditions in Klaviyo. You can also reach these segments on social with the Meta integration.
• Offer a strong incentive, like VIP access, free shipping, or a limited‑time bundle.

These are proven buyers. If they’ve unsubscribed, they won’t see your 2025 promos unless you bring them back in a compliant way.

Last-minute BFCM prep pro tip: If you’re doing this very close to Black Friday, switch the incentive to early Cyber Monday access and collect SMS for real‑time updates.

3. Give lower‑value buyers targeted, small‑item offers

The weeks before BFCM are a great time to segment out your not-so-big spenders.

“Create a segment of lower‑value buyers (those who purchased below a certain dollar amount, or with a discount), then send targeted campaigns featuring your best small items or accessories,” recommends Lodge. “We’re seeing the ‘lipstick index’—affordable luxuries—gain traction in this economy.”

How I handle this segment:

• Get them the big launch and last‑chance sends. Skip the extra reminders you’d send to your most engaged fans.
• Use show/hide blocks in full‑list email campaigns so only this segment sees the small‑item offers.
• Treat them as high potential—because many are—without flooding them.
• Don’t sweat every A/B test. Fix discount conflicts first. If you’ve got tests that haven’t hit significance, I understand the argument to pick a winner. But I’m less worried about content tests and more focused on making sure live discounts don’t collide with your BFCM offer.
• Use the flow scheduling approach I described above so your sale creative is on‑brand and on‑time, and doesn’t create stacking issues.
• Protect deliverability. Don’t blast truly cold profiles. Yes, BFCM is a time to email broader. No, you shouldn’t send to everyone.

At Zettler Digital, we exclude these segments from even our BFCM sends:

• Never purchased, never clicked, in your list for a long time, and have received many campaigns
• Highly unengaged contacts who aren’t already suppressed
• Known bounce risks

With these strategies, you’ll still grow revenue without putting your sender reputation at risk.

Last minute BFCM prep pro tip: Read the Klaviyo global deliverability team’s deep dive on getting your deliverability in order before the holiday.

4. Be intentional about Smart Sending

We generally don’t use Smart Sending in flows.

But if you do have Smart Sending on, I’d encourage turning it off through Cyber Monday so your sale messages land when engagement is highest—especially if your targeting and exclusions are already tight.

5. Use all your available channels for key moments

Plan to send marketing messages via multiple channels for launches and last‑chance reminders.

“Make sure to use all your channels across campaigns and flows,” says Pattison. “If you don’t have SMS and push integrated into your most important communications, you’re missing important engagement.”

If you’re worried about over-sending, Klaviyo’s AI-powered channel affinity can help you decide who gets what by making predictions based on historical engagement data. For major steps in your most important flows, I still prefer using all relevant channels.

6. Schedule your campaigns now

By 7–10 days before launch, I want everything slotted:

• The full weekend plan: launch, reminder, last chance
• Subject lines and preheaders
• Offer mechanics and how codes behave during the sale
• SMS timing to support key moments

Most of the brands we manage finalize and schedule in mid‑November, or even earlier if they’re running month‑long promos. Some will still add a bundle or twist the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. That’s fine when the foundation is locked.

Remember: even in a best-case scenario, BFCM is a chaotic several days. Pre-schedule, pre-set, and pre-plan everything you can.

I recommend the brands we work with wrap up everything they can by Monday of Thanksgiving week. That way, you and your team will be free to attend to anything that comes up during the holiday rush.

Do the blocking and tackling now so you can focus on serving customers when it counts.