Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are the busiest shopping days of the year, and your email automations can make or break your success. While you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you do need to tweak your core automations to capture attention, recover lost revenue, and maximize sales during the holiday rush.
Here’s how to adjust them to increase sales during the holiday shopping season.
Welcome Series adjustments for BFCM
Your welcome series sets the tone for new subscribers, but during BFCM, it should emphasize urgency and increase chances for a sale. Highlight limited-time offers, early access to deals, or VIP perks — and don’t forget to match your signup offer with seasonal discounts. Offering 10% when your standard holiday promotion is 25% does not make sense.
1. Adjust incentives to match seasonal offer. Consider:
Tiered discounts
Minimum spend
Gift card w/ purchase
Free gift
Bonus loyalty points
2. Include product introductions
Top-sellers
Top-rated
Gift suggestions
3. heavily promote Value-adds and differentiators
Shipping/returns
Product attributes
Guarantees
Customer service
Testimonials
Star-ratings
4. Adjust message timing
Immediately (with SMS for subscribers)
+12 hours
Product abandonment adjustments for BFCM
When shoppers view products but don’t add them to the cart, it’s critical to re-engage quickly during BFCM — especially as 48% of shoppers did more comparison shopping in 2025 than in 2024. Shorten your send delays, showcase the product’s popularity, and remind them of sale pricing. A subtle nudge like “Don’t miss this deal before it’s gone” can turn browsers into buyers.
Promote Product attributes (answer the “why”)
Quality
Limited edition
2. Promote a sense of urgency
Products are selling fast, get them before they’re gone
3. Include Secondary and tertiary content
Higher categories (if the message is for dress shoes, promote all women’s shoes)
Top- sellers
By price point (so people can shop within their gifting budgets)
4. Adjust your Incentives
Discounting here is optional, but it may make sense to reduce other retargeting costs
Follow seasonal rules of aligning discounts with common sales during this time
5. Adjust message Timing
1 hour (w/ SMS)
+12 hours
+12 hours (w/ SMS) (third message is optional. Consider for higher price points.)
cart abandonment adjustments for BFCM
Abandoned cart emails are always important, but with BFCM’s fast pace, urgency is everything. Send messages sooner than usual, and work to overcome obstacles to conversion by featuring clear shipping deadlines, shipping and return policies, and reinforcing the discount. Adding a testimonial or social proof can also boost trust during the chaotic holiday rush.
1. Promote value-adds
Shipping and return policies (returns policies are especially important.)
Customer service
Product quality
2. Heavily utilize a Sense of urgency
Products are selling fast
3. Include social proof
Testimonials
Star ratings
4. Adjust your incentives
Optional — consider your BFCM discounts
Follow seasonal rules
5. Adjust message timing
Message 1: 30 minutes (w/ SMS)
Message 2: +90 minutes
Message 3: +2 hours (w/ SMS)
Message 4: +12 hours (consider sending four messages only over the free shipping threshold)
6. tweak your Subject lines
Ditch the ‘oops, you left something in your cart” subject lines. No one “forgot” to check out.
Focus on a sense of urgency (e.g., The products in your cart won’t last long, Complete your purchase before they sell out, or Complete your purchase and gift quality this season.)
Fine-tuning your core automations for BFCM ensures you’re ready to meet customers where they are: excited, possibly overwhelmed, and moving fast. A few smart adjustments can help you capture more sales and keep your brand top-of-mind during the season’s biggest shopping days.