Post-holiday email list management

The rest of Q1 is when the customers you just acquired during the holidays start disappearing. You spent all that money on BFCM/Q5 acquisition and now you're watching people churn. The retention window is closing, and if you're not treating these buyers differently.. It’s over. Q4/Q5 buyers have completely different behavior patterns than your regular customers. - They bought because of a discount - They might have bought for someone else - They're dealing with post-holiday spending guilt They don't know your brand the way someone who found you organically in March does, and your January retention flows need to acknowledge this. STEP 1: SEGMENT IMMEDIATELY Holiday customers should have their own bucket from day one because everything you send them should be different. STEP 2: ADJUST YOUR Q1 ONBOARDING SEQUENCE Your normal welcome flow assumes the customer chose you. Holiday buyers chose your discount. - Lead with product education, not upsells - Remind them WHY the product matters (they forgot the second they closed the tab) - Delay any subscription push until they've actually experienced the product STEP 3: ADDRESS THE GUILT Post-holiday spending guilt is real. Your first few emails should be reinforcing that their purchase was a good decision. - Share customer success stories - Highlight the value they're getting - Make them feel smart for buying, not pressured to buy again STEP 4: EXTEND THE TIMELINE These customers aren't warmed up yet (even though we’re 3 weeks into the year). Give them 45-60 days before you start pushing hard on repeat purchases or subscriptions. Yes it’s almost February. Yes, I’m still getting questions in my DMs about this. Don’t neglect your holiday customers for the rest of Q1. Follow the steps above and you’ll be in a MUCH better spot in April. Or don’t. Up to you

Holiday shoppers are like shooting stars—bright, exciting, but often fleeting. The real challenge? Turning those one-time buyers into loyal customers who stick around long after the decorations come down. Chances are you're about to get a significant influx of new customers. Here's how to keep them engaged for the long haul: 1.) Send Customized, On-Brand Post-Holiday Emails The time right after a customer makes a purchase is when their affinity for your brand is at its peak. They're excited about their decision and can't wait to get their hands on your product. So why do so many brands use dry, boring follow-up emails? This is an opportunity to send a personalized message, share tips and tutorials, or surprise and delight them with an exclusive offer. Pretty much anything other than a plain, boring "Thanks For Your Purchase!" email would be an improvement. 2.) Build And Promote A Customer Loyalty Program This may seem obvious, but having a customer loyalty program can do wonders for your repeat purchase rate. Where most brands get things wrong is they cut corners by using off-the-shelf platforms that have bland default settings. This is a time to lean into your customer research and build a meaningful loyalty program that offers customers incentives they actually want in exchange for buying products they actually need. Once you get the terms and offers dialed in, use behavior-based email marketing to keep your loyalty program top of mind and generate repeat purchases on a regular basis. 3.) Create Personalized Offers That Build A Brand Community By now, you're probably sensing a trend – using cookie cutter templates is killing your brand. Don't treat your subscribers and customers like just another transaction. Remember, there's a real person behind that screen, and they're experiencing many of the same wins, frustrations, concerns, and emotions you are. The more you can personalize your marketing messages to their unique situation, the more they'll feel like they're part of a community, not a customer base. Don't sell to them. Make them feel like they're a part of your brand journey. At the end of the day, building customer loyalty is about creating meaningful relationships through consistent communication. Here's your checklist for maximizing the long-term impact of your BFCM efforts: ✓ Make a solid first impression with a personalized post-purchase experience ✓ Create and promote a customer loyalty program that's actually appealing ✓ Treat your customers like members of a community ✓ Use hyper-relevant offers to stay top of mind Do all of this, and you'll not only improve your repeat purchase rate, you'll also recruit a large (and growing!) army of lifelong brand advocates.

The lead up to BFCM for email folks is just like preppin’ for Christmas and New Years, but little thought is given to the holiday hangover that comes directly after…cleaning up all the messes we’ve made while bakin’ cookies, wrappin’ presents, and checking off every last item on our lists. So, let's talk about what caused those email messes that require cleanup on aisle 4…and 6, 7, 10… all of 'em? 1️⃣ Not taking action early enough (or “ignoring warning signs”) The big days are behind us. So, like, go look at your data to suss things out: - Delivery and bounce rates to determine if mail’s getting blocked due to sender reputation issues. - Opens and clicks at the destination level for signs of engagement…and signs of spam folder placement. Imagine, if your open rate is 40% at Gmail and Yahoo, but 6% with MSFT, you’re likely going to the spam folder with MSFT. Knowing WHERE you're going to spam is important to prevent further damage because what’s driving the issue will vary with every provider. Plus, the more mail that goes to spam, and the longer you keep sending it, the more it will impact your deliverability over time. 2️⃣ Too many user complaints (aka “marked as spam” reports) These are a clear indication to mailbox providers that your mail is not wanted —coming straight from your readers — which can cause your mail to be blocked entirely if you let them continue for too long, so nip them in the bud quickly. You’ll never know exactly why someone flagged your mail as spam, but you can look for clues based on the data you have at hand: 💌 If users are marking your emails as spam shortly after they’ve joined your list, look to your sign-up process...you do have one, right? Permission is job one if you’re looking for consistent inbox placement. 💌 Are you properly setting expectations about your frequency and the types of content you send? Are you sticking to what you promised? Depending on how severe your #spam folder issue is, you may notice your spam complaint rate is at or close to 0%. Not the time to celebrate! This likely means most (or all) your mail is going to spam…and you can’t mark emails as spam if they’re already in spam, ya know? 💌 Look to the time period when you *did* still see complaints coming in, or when you first started noticing engagement drop: - Any new address collection sources? - Changes in volume around that time suggesting you sent to a very inactive segment, or worse — your suppression list — by mistake? - Has your content or frequency changed recently? Are your offers as unique and valuable as they used to be? TL;DR: Once you detect a spam folder issue, your best bet is to pump the brakes on your sending and take action to quickly identify the cause of your issue. After all, it’s a whole lot easier to dig yourself out of the spam folder when the issue first starts vs waiting for open rates to drop to near-zero or turn into an outright block. 💌 How have you fared this lovely #email holiday season?

Most brands are about to walk blindly into a Q1 disaster and they won’t understand why until it’s too late. So let me say this now, in December, while there’s still time to fix it: 𝗤𝟭 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆. 𝗤𝟭 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿. Every year I see the same pattern: Brands stretch their lists to squeeze out a little more BFCM and holiday revenue: 90-day → 180-day segments 180-day → 365-day segments “F*** it, hit the whole list, it’s Christmas” Revenue spikes. Open rates tank. Spam complaints go up. Gmail starts flagging the sender. And nobody notices — because December revenue hides all the damage. Then January arrives and the panic kicks in: “Why is Q1 dead?” “What should we be sending?” “Should we increase the discount?” But the real answer is brutal: 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗤𝟭 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗤𝟭 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘅 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁. This is exactly why, inside client accounts, December has TWO goals: 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹 #𝟭: 𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲. 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹 #𝟮: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘅 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀. If you don’t balance both, January becomes unsalvageable. Here’s the Q1-prep checklist I run right now in December: 𝟭. 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝟳𝟱 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟭 If Klaviyo deliverability score drops below 75, Q1 becomes a spam-placement month, not a sales month. 𝟮. 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 IP rep + domain rep. If those hit “Low,” your entire Q1 campaign calendar is irrelevant. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝗰 𝟮𝟲 This single move protects you from the post-holiday inbox tightening Gmail ALWAYS does in January. 𝟰. 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟳–𝟭𝟰 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 This gives your domain space to recover so you enter Q1 clean. 𝟱. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗢𝗪 Because if you wait until after New Year’s to write your Q1 emails, you’re already behind. Here’s the truth no one wants to hear: 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗤𝟭 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗤𝟭 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘅. If you want to actually win January, December is your last chance to earn the right to be seen. Fix deliverability now. Tighten your segments now. Protect your domain now. 𝗤𝟭 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝟮𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆.

Your email list has the same problem as your closet. Things pile up, you stop noticing, and one day you realize half of it is useless. Every ecommerce list builds up the same junk. Subscribers who haven't opened in a year, segments built for one-off campaigns, and automations still referencing a sale from last November. None of it hurts enough to force action, but it drags down deliverability and engagement in ways you can't see from your dashboard. Five things worth doing this month: 1. Prune your list. Anyone who hasn't engaged in six months is hurting your sender reputation. Run a re-engagement campaign, and if they don't bite, let them go. A smaller engaged list beats a bloated one every time. 2. Archive unused segments. Most accounts have dozens built for campaigns nobody runs anymore. Omnisend lets you archive without losing the data, so nothing is gone if you need it later. 3. Audit every automation. Welcome, cart, post-purchase, winback. Check the copy, the links, the offers. I saw a flow in a brand's account last month that was still promoting Black Friday pricing. 4. Refresh your signup forms. That pop-up from last fall probably still says "Holiday savings." Update the copy so it matches what you're actually running right now. 5. Recalibrate sending frequency. Review your engagement and unsubscribe rates over the last 90 days and decide whether you're sending too much or too little. This is the unglamorous work most brands skip until something breaks. Omnisend makes it faster because segment archiving, automation edits, and signup forms all live in one place. A full list audit takes an afternoon instead of a week. A clean list, organized segments, and current automations mean better deliverability, higher engagement, and a dashboard you actually want to open. → https://lnkd.in/geVtSeYB

Just a reminder as you think about opening the "net" with your email list: - Microsoft & Gmail is sunsetting emails that haven’t been used for 2 years. - Yahoo is doing it after 12 months. When these emails “expire,” they can become spam traps and create a hard bounce report. Both will hurt your domain reputation and deliverability that could cripple your holiday. Easy way to avoid it? Use the opt in date with behavioral data and ensure you aren’t reaching too far back. My suggestion is simple: if they have NEVER engaged with any email or sms, it’s not the time to try to engage them. TL;DR: Use this as your reminder to perform list hygiene to your list and engage with those who are engaged with you.

Every ecommerce store needs to do a January email audit. Remember: Email automation is not meant to be “set it and forget it forever.” Automation saves time. Automation increases efficiency. Automation generates more revenue… but only if someone checks in regularly and makes sure the automation is actually working properly, or it might not really be doing any of those things. January is perfect for email audits for a few reasons: --> Mistakes and poor-performing emails compound over the course of the year. Broken links, missing product images, and innocent oversights (e.g. someone turned off an abandoned browse flow to edit it and never turned it back on) send thousands in potential revenue down the drain every month. --> As the post-holiday sales dwindle, business will slow down and there’s more bandwidth for an email audit. Don’t let other tasks leap-frog the email audit. --> Opportunity for post-holiday retention is huge, because you’ve got a pot of warm prospects who can still be converted. If you don’t have time to check every little detail, focus on: 1) Make sure key flows are all set up and turned on. 2) Review graphics and make sure they are as personalized as possible. 3) Check all links to make sure they are working and going to the optimal destination.

The holidays are over, and Q1 is here. But your email list might be a little fatigued. So how can you ensure your emails land in inboxes instead of spam folders when your customers are recovering from that post-holiday spending hangover? Here’s the game plan: 1️⃣ Build demand, don’t just sell! Sure, you want to drive sales, but now’s not the time to keep hammering people with “buy now” messages. After the holiday rush, customers need a breather. Instead, engage them with content that adds value. Think curated playlists (thanks, Daniel Monte 🎧), educational content, and even a bit of humor. Keep them interested in your brand without always trying to take their money. 2️⃣ Relevant content = better deliverability! Want your emails to actually get opened? Make sure you’re sending content your audience cares about. If you just sent a bunch of gifts for Christmas, a "last-minute sale" email isn’t going to cut it. Focus on the things your customers are into right now, and they’ll reward you with higher open rates. Better engagement means better deliverability, and that’s how you stay out of the spam folder. The gist of it all? Keep it relevant, engaging, and thoughtful. And when you’re ready to roll out those Q1 promotions, your audience will be primed and ready to buy. How are you keeping your email list engaged post-holidays?