Bastion · Email & SMS · Team plan

Klaviyo plan: what we build and design before Black Friday

Our campaign schedule is already right (about 3.6 sends a week). The gap is the automated flows: some were broken, some were starved, some never existed. We fix and build flows first, then design the holiday season on top of them.

Status as of Oct 28, 2026 · numbers from the live Klaviyo audit (Jul 11 to Oct 8) and batch 1 read-backs (Oct 15)

The dates that drive everything

Now, Oct 28Build + designGift-guide mentions in regular sends, no new discount

Sun Nov 1Holiday kickoffFlows must be live. VIP sign-up, Titanium teaser, gift guide

Tue Nov 17Early accessBlack Friday offer early for VIP + engaged list

Nov 25 to 29Black FridayBiggest, simplest offer of the year, through Sunday

Nov 30 to Dec 3Cyber MondaySame value, new angle

Dec 4 to 24Gifting + cutoffsBundles, real ShipBob cutoffs, gift card last

Done Needs design Build / setup Needs Mike's call

1 · Needs design 13 pieces

Emails, blocks and templates someone has to lay out. Copy is drafted for approval first; design follows the rules at the bottom of this page. Red edge = needed before Nov 1 or Nov 17.

4 BFCM email templates

#29

Early access (Nov 17): date-strip layout, or early-sale frame with a comparison block
Black Friday / Cyber Monday: big % plus a short letter, or a ticker with the code repeated
Sale-period cart and browse: product block that fills in the item left behind, plus a sale band
Gift roundup: grid of gift picks by person

Saved as Klaviyo templates only. Nothing sends from this step.

DesignBefore Nov 1

Holiday flow versions

BFCM

Welcome: holiday offer first, short brand intro after
Browse: 2 quick emails, first one 30 min after
Cart + checkout: same emails for both, 20 min then 2 h
Site abandon: 1 email at 45 min
Post-purchase: plain thank-you from Mike, plus "a second pen as a gift"

We refresh the 7 old holiday drafts instead of starting from zero.

DesignBefore Nov 1

Holiday campaign calendar

BFCM

About 45 emails and 30 texts from Nov 1 to Dec 21
3 emails + 2 texts on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday
About 1 in 4 sends plain text; keep graphic emails simple
Change the offer each phase (one offer gets tired in 7 to 14 days)
Resend the best emails to people who did not open

Texts go out from Postscript, emails from Klaviyo.

DesignOffer per phase

Founder email for early access

#27

Plain text from Mike, Nov 17: short story, the offer, one link
Real photo of Mike and his sign-off

Photo + layoutApprove copy

Pop-up: one-tap first question

#11

Step 1 asks "Shopping for yourself or a gift?" with no email field yet
Step 2 asks for the email, offer stays 20%
Separate mobile and desktop versions
Visible X and a plain "No thanks"; no guilt-trip decline links
Swap the offer at each holiday phase instead of switching the pop-up off

This is the Shopify theme pop-up ("Worth Remembering" style), not a Klaviyo form. Judge it on orders, not sign-ups.

DesignTheme change

Welcome series rework

#3 #28

Email 1 stays as is (it earns the most); add a resend with a new subject for non-openers
Founder note moves to slot 2, plain text, code in a P.S.
Email 2 gets a "Shopping for a gift?" Yes / For me button pair
P.S. on email 1: "Reply LEFT or RIGHT so we know which hand you write with"
Unique 20% code with the real end date printed in the email

DesignApprove copy

Post-purchase series

Day 1: plain-text note from Mike (replaces the email that repeats Shopify's)
Day 2: "How to get the most out of your pen": bolt action, refills, warranty
Day 14 after delivery: review ask (Judge.me)
"Your next order" block: recently viewed, best-seller fallback
Repeat buyers get a loyalty perk, not a generic thank-you

DesignApprove copy

Ink refill reminders

2 emails, timed from our own reorder data (around day 30 to 45, 90 and 180)
Shows the right refill for the pen they own
"Remind me in 2 weeks" snooze link
Email 2 leads with the 6-pack value

Reorder data is pulled. Waiting on copy.

DesignApprove copy

Winback with store credit

Email 1 opens with "We added $13.37 to your Bastion account" (not "We miss you")
Email 2: the credit reminder, one clear end date and time
Email 3: plain-text last call

Our old one-off store-credit email earned about 4x the current winback per person.

DesignCredit amount

VIP welcome + VIP-first drops

Plain-text thank-you from Mike when someone becomes a VIP, plus a standing perk
Every Titanium drop goes to VIPs and repeat buyers 24 h before everyone else

Our plain-text VIP email on Sep 30 did about 6x the average campaign per person.

Light designVIP perk

3 single-question emails

#19

"Will it fit my refills?" (Parker-type G2). Mockup ready, waiting on Mike's OK
"Why grade 5 titanium?"
"What the lifetime warranty covers"

One worry per email. Reusable later inside welcome and browse.

DesignApprove copy

Footer block

#20

2x2 grid: Aluminum, Stainless, Carbon Fiber, Titanium
"Shop All" link under it
Saved once, used in every campaign template

Design

Buyer survey (day 35)

#24

4 questions: writing feel, still carrying it daily, refill fit, would you buy again
Thank-you page gives a refill-pack code
No stat goes in any email until real answers exist, and each stat shows how many people answered

DesignApprove questions

2 · Build and setup no design needed

Settings, filters and tests inside Klaviyo, Shopify and Postscript. Each one still gets Mike's OK before it goes live, and gets checked after.

Stop junk checkouts bouncing

New

Since Oct 15, bursts of fake checkouts (mostly $4.99 items, bad addresses) reach Checkout Email 1 and bounce
They bounce at about 71% vs about 10% for real checkouts
Fix: the checkout flow skips checkouts under $6

Overall bounce rate is still low (about 0.25%), but we want it clean before the holiday volume.

FilterMike's OK

Checkout subject test

#16

Current Email 1 subject vs "Your order is ready to ship"
Smart Sending off on every checkout email

A/B test

Reply booster before big sends

#22

Short plain note from Mike asking a one-word reply
2 to 3 days before each Titanium drop, Nov 17 and Black Friday
Replies help us land in the inbox, not promotions or spam

SetupApprove copy

Site abandon + cross-sell

#12

Re-entry 7 days (was 100); first email at 2 h, tested against 4 h
Add a second email
Cross-sell email that is stuck on manual: set live or remove

Setup

Back-in-stock button

#14

"Notify me" button on product pages (theme change)
One flow email when the item returns; most useful for Titanium sellouts

Theme + flow

International test order

UK/CA/AU sends got clicks but zero orders across 9 sends
Someone places a test order from a UK address before we send there again

ProcessWho runs it

Retire the old cart flow

Once the new cart flow's 2nd email is seen handing out codes, archive the old one

Cleanup

Later: holdout test + promo rule

#13 #23

January: hold back 10% of the list from campaigns for 4 to 8 weeks to see true lift
Outside BFCM, at most 1 extra sitewide discount a month on top of BOGO50

January

3 · Waiting on Mike's call

These block the design and build cards above. Nothing here goes live without a yes.

Decision	Options on the table	Blocks
Black Friday offer	(a) BOGO free or buy-2-get-1 on Aluminum + Stainless · (b) BOGO50 + free refill pack (or a mystery gift, tested) · (c) store-credit tiers on top of BOGO50. BOGO50 alone is our everyday promo, so it does not feel special. Each option gets checked against product cost first.	Templates, calendar, founder email
Past-buyer perk	Free refill pack instead of a first-order code for people who already bought	Cart, welcome, post-purchase
Winback credit	Keep $13.37, or another odd amount with a minimum cart	Winback emails
VIP perk	Early access only, or a free ink pack with each order	VIP welcome
Checkout $6 filter	Skip checkouts under $6 in the checkout flow	Junk bounce fix
Inactive people	Today they are left out of campaigns only. Later: suppress them fully to lower the Klaviyo bill?	List cleanup
Who reads replies	"Reply LEFT or RIGHT" and the reply booster need one person to read and tag answers	#22, #28
Copy approvals	Welcome, post-purchase, ink, winback, single-question emails, founder email, survey questions	Most design cards

4 · Already done batch 1, Oct 15

#	What changed	State
1	New abandoned cart flow on Shopify's real "Added to Cart" signal (the old one had sent to 30 people in 90 days)	Live
2	Sunset flow for people inactive 210+ days, with a final $15-off email; they are left out of campaigns	Live
4	Mislabeled segments renamed, stray drafts archived	Done
7	Ink reorder timing measured from our own orders	Done
10	Checkout flow filter removed that skipped anyone never emailed before	Live
17	Browse flow skips anyone who added to cart in the last 24 h (no double emails)	Live
18	"Engaged 90 days" segment for everyday campaigns	Built
21	Email size checked: all under Gmail's 102KB clip limit	OK
25	Pop-up checked: the live one is the theme pop-up, about 20 sign-ups a day, working	OK

Rules for every email we design

Show the live price

Every product email and flow email with a product shows the real current price. Crossed-out prices only when Shopify has a real compare-at price, never on the four core pens.

Words we never use

cheap, affordable, budget, basic, tactical, military, gun, rifle, firearm, weapon, ammo, bullet. No "Made in China". No naming other brands.

How we write

Greet with "Hi". No em-dashes. Short sentences. Modern, precise, premium.

Product facts

Refills are Parker-type G2. We do not offer engraving, so it never appears as a perk or upsell.

Only real claims

No stats without real survey answers behind them. Never state a gift's dollar value we cannot back. Holiday cutoff dates come from ShipBob, checked first.

Build to send

Images sliced up to 800px wide, each under about 500KB, full email under 102KB. Unique codes with a real end date printed in the email.

How we work

Nothing in Klaviyo changes without Mike's OK on that item. After each change we read it back from Klaviyo to confirm it took. Copy is drafted first, approved, then designed.