5 ways to get your deliverability in order ahead of BFCM

It’s that time of year again.

No, I’m not talking about the summer doldrums or back-to-school prep. I’m not even talking about hurricane season.

I’m talking about Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) prep season.

You might ask, “Why on Earth would he be talking about that right now?”

Because this is the time of year when brands need to get deliverability in order for the big sale, even if it feels early.

Here are a few steps you can take now to maximize your deliverability for BFCM:

1. Organize your list now, not in November

There are two key things you can do to avoid potential deliverability woes during BFCM:

1. Make sure your list is up to date.
2. Make sure your list accurately reflects your recipients’ subscription preferences.

If you’ve got systems in place that automatically do that for you, you’re in great shape. But if not, August and September are the right time to conduct a systemic review of that process to make sure it meets your subscribers’ current needs and expectations. Those have a habit of drifting over time as a company grows and your scope expands or shifts.

You should delete or consider sunsetting:

• Hard bounces
• Role accounts you don’t need or which aren’t worth sending to, such as sales@fakecompany.com or admin@fakecompany.com
• Any other kinds of addresses that don’t have a material impact to your bottom line

Sending to these less-qualified recipients might actually be hurting not only your chances of reaching higher-value recipients, but also your domain reputation more than any potential revenue gains would justify. Clean your list accordingly.

Bill Biggers, deliverability strategist at Klaviyo, recommends implementing a sunset flow to re-engage dormant subscribers—typically those who haven’t clicked in the past 12 months. “If they don’t respond, remove them from your active list,” he suggests.

“Start this process at least 3 months before BFCM to improve sender reputation ahead of peak sending,” Biggers adds. “Emailing unengaged contacts hurts deliverability and reduces the likelihood that your top customers will even see your promotions.”

2. Stage the warming runway

When you’re getting ready for BFCM, you have to be sure your domain reputation can handle the intended volume for the peak of BFCM.

Think of this like a credit score. If your domain hasn’t sent a high enough volume of emails that drive the right metrics (like opens and clicks), you’re going to experience increased throttling when your email volume increases (meaning inbox providers hold off on letting your email in). You might also experience soft bounces.

And unfortunately, a sudden spike in email volume looks like spammy behavior. You don’t want to scare off inbox providers or make them think you’re sending spam.

In the months leading up to BFCM, make sure your content is consistent and easy for your recipients to understand. Big shifts and changes to your branding or overall content could force the algorithms at major inbox providers to re-evaluate your overall reputation, and could potentially cause subscriber confusion.

“Timing matters,” emphasizesAutumn Tyr-Salvia, senior deliverability strategist at Klaviyo. “Holidays bring an avalanche of email for inbox providers, which can lead to delayed inbox placement as their systems struggle to keep up with the volume.”

“We’ve heard from service providers that their servers get absolutely hammered at exactly 9 a.m.,” Tyr-Salvia adds. “They even recommend senders consider sending big campaigns at 9:15, or other times that aren’t exactly on the hour, to help them better manage capacity.”

3. Segment by behavior first, demographics second

At its core, email deliverability is a 3-way conversation between the sender, the inbox provider, and the recipient. An inbox provider’s main goal is to deliver the emails recipients want to see, while also protecting them from unwanted or harmful messages.

The primary way inbox providers participate in this conversation is by paying attention to the recipient’s engagement signals (opens, clicks, spam complaints, and unsubscribes).

It’s common marketing industry knowledge that the more relevant the email, the more likely the recipient is to engage. This is where segmentation comes in.

Demographic-based segmentation is a good starting point, but it’s inherently based on assumptions. Behavior-based segmentation, by contrast, is based on the real actions people take.

Klaviyo segmentation allows you to segment your audience based on behavior first and demographics second. This way, you can react to recipient behavior more effectively while serving your recipients content that meets them where they’re at.

Remember, inbox providers reward campaigns and domains that only send email to engaged recipients. If you only segment by demographic data, you miss that part of the conversation entirely.

BFCM deliverability tip: Build a never engaged segment to side-step recipients who’ve never meaningfully engaged with your sends.

4. Perform an authentication/configuration audit now

It’s no secret that domain name system (DNS) records have a habit of changing: someone logs in and sees what they think is an errant canonical name (CNAME) record that points to something they’re not familiar with, breaking your DKIM records.

It’s always a good idea to perform periodic audits of your sending domain’s settings to make sure your email is authenticating properly. August or September would also be a good time to make sure your DMARC policy is at the right levels for your business needs.

If you’re the kind of brand that requires strict p=reject policies and strict alignment rules, now is also a good time to make sure that you have the right settings in place for everything to reach the inbox.

BFCM deliverability tip: Read up on the importance of DMARC.

“Inbox providers are signaling that stricter standards are coming,” Biggers says. “Future-proof your email program and protect your brand’s reputation before it becomes a requirement.”

5. Consider using paid ads to re-engage recipients

It can be tempting to revive a list of unengaged subscribers with a targeted email and a coupon. But this common tactic often backfires.

Our deliverability experts warn that sending emails to long-inactive profiles can damage your domain reputation. Many recipients may no longer recognize your brand, or their addresses could now be inactive—or even spam traps.

A more strategic and effective approach is to re-engage this audience where they’re most active. Instead of emailing them directly, create a segment of your unengaged subscribers and sync it to paid ad channels like TikTok, Google Ads, Meta, and any of our other ad partners.

This method allows you to:

• Reconnect with colder audiences by gently nudging them on the platforms they use daily.
• Drive conversions and sales without jeopardizing your crucial email deliverability and sender reputation.
• Warm up your un-engaged audience ahead of BFCM and reintegrate them into your active marketing campaigns.

“By leveraging paid ads for re-engagement, you can protect your email performance while maximizing the revenue potential of your entire list,” says Wei He, compliance operations analyst at Klaviyo. “This way, your most important campaigns land in the inbox.”

Finalize your pre-game content calendar now, not in November

Along with your warming plan, consider how your brand ramps up brand awareness prior to BFCM. That means securing copy, images, and any and all assets you need to render your emails well in advance. The biggest BFCM mistakes are usually last-minute pivots in your content strategy driven by gut instinct rather than data.

Lastly, I invite you to review our past blog about why Apple’s new promotions tab is a game changer for email marketing. Make sure your content renders well in this and any other ecosystem soon, not when “All I want for Christmas is you” is on repeat in every store you walk into.