Klaviyo: every flow and email we need before Black Friday

Before Black Friday 16

These matter most for the holiday sends.

• A price under every product

  Show the live price under each product in every email and flow. This is now in the rules on this page.

• Skip people who just got a flow email

  Every campaign leaves out anyone who got a flow email in the last 48 h, so nobody gets two emails at once.

• Plan for long-inactive non-buyers

  Hold them back now and decide whether to send to them again on Nov 25 to Dec 3. Sending to them again can raise the Klaviyo bill for 90 days, and the sources disagree.

• Start narrow, widen step by step

  Send to people engaged in the last 60 days before the season, then widen the audience phase by phase up to 365 days.

• One person watches the health numbers

  During the peak, check daily: spam complaints under 0.1%, unsubscribes under 0.3%, clicks over 1%. Also check Google Postmaster Tools and Yahoo Sender Hub.

• Sending setup check

  Check SPF, DKIM, DMARC, one-click unsubscribe and the sending address. Some flows send from info@ and others from support@; pick one.

• Holiday welcome version

  New sign-ups in the season are mostly gift buyers: "Find the perfect gift", "Order by [date]", last chance. After Dec 15, lead with express shipping and gift cards.

• Gift email after a holiday order

  About 12 h after an order: "Gift one to family or friends". This is separate from Mike's thank-you note.

• Cyber Monday rules

  Send a final call on Monday evening. Never send "Black Friday extended"; only Cyber Monday can be extended.

• Odd send times on big days

  Schedule for times like 10:07, not 10:00, so we don't land in the same minute as every other brand.

• Daily email limit

  At most 2 emails a day from Nov 17 to Dec 21, with quiet days Dec 22 to 23 and 26 to 30. This conflicts with the 3 emails planned on Black Friday, so Mike picks.

• Snooze option in the footer

  A preferences page where people can pause emails instead of unsubscribing during the busy weeks.

• Hide the pop-up from creator traffic

  Visitors from affiliate and influencer links already have a code, so don't show them the welcome code too.

• Pop-up timing and offer

  Check the exit pop-up delay (the audit shows 50 s; Max's default is 4 to 10 s). Add a second pop-up 60 to 90 s after someone closes the first. In the sale weeks, the pop-up offer repeats the live sale instead of adding 10%.

• Text message rules (Postscript)

  One text per abandonment flow: 30 min for cart and checkout, 60 min for browse. Holiday send times. 160 characters, starting with "Bastion:", no emoji. Stop texting people who never click. Titanium drops go to the text list first.

• Same yardstick on every number

  Every report states its attribution window (email: 5 days after an open or click). Score each flow on placed-order rate: checkout 3 to 5%, cart 2 to 3%, browse 0.5 to 1.5%.

Timing that differs from Max's defaults 10

The plan picked these on purpose, but Mike should confirm each one.

• Cart flow length

  The plan has 2 emails. Max uses 4 outside the holidays and 2 during them.

• Review ask

  The plan sends it 14 days after shipping. Max's default is 21 to 28 days after delivery.

• Welcome email 2

  Max sends it on the same day as email 1. The plan sends it one day later.

• Winback

  The plan sends at 1 PM; Max's default is 11 AM. Pen-only buyers and refill buyers need separate timers.

• VIP size

  The plan's VIP group is more than 5 orders. Max sizes it from 3 or 4 orders, about 5 to 10% of buyers.

• Upsell timing

  Our upsell flow sends 21 days after fulfillment. Max sends the pen cross-sell on day 0 to 1 and again around day 10.

• Sunset

  The plan uses 210 inactive days. Max uses 180 days and skips brand-new profiles.

• Holdout test

  The plan holds out campaigns only, in January. Max holds out 10 to 20% of the whole program for 4 to 8 weeks.

• Combine-shipping window

  Max offers adding items to the box for 6 hours after the order.

• Back in stock

  Max adds 2 texts and a real Titanium waitlist next to the email.

After Black Friday 18

Good ideas for Q1 2026 and later.

• Clicked but didn't buy

  A short flow for people who clicked an email in the last 24 h without ordering, with a short-lived code.

• Shipping and delivery email

  There is no "on its way" or "delivered" email today. Time the cross-sell and review ask from delivery.

• Education emails

  Days 2 to 10, every other day, no promos. Split by material (Titanium and Carbon Fiber care vs Aluminum and Stainless) plus refill fit.

• Founder check-in on day 21 to 28

  A short note from Mike that also works as the first refill reminder.

• Smarter reviews

  1 to 3 stars go to support. Ask for a photo 7 days after a review. Test a small reward.

• Post-purchase by order count

  Separate paths for orders 1, 2, 3 and 4+, with lines like "you're 2 orders from VIP". Small useful gifts (a refill) at milestone orders.

• Big-spender group

  People who spend about $200+: "Spend $200, get $20 off" in the gifting weeks.

• Predicted reorder date

  Use Klaviyo's expected next order date and the reorder metrics we don't use yet.

• Texts beyond the basics

  Welcome texts with our contact card, winback texts with store credit, a texts-only pop-up for email subscribers, a text sign-up block in emails, and a limit of 2 texts a week outside the holidays.

• List cleanup

  Suppress profiles with many bounces or spam complaints, turn on Auto-Downgrade, and remove dead sign-up sources and zero-send flows.

• Sign-ups vs unsubscribes

  Aim for 3 new subscribers for every 1 lost. Only send more often while that holds.

• Resend the winners

  Resend to non-openers after 24 to 48 h with a new subject. Bring back top emails that are 3+ months old.

• Monthly content plan

  5 content themes, one product turned into a month of angles, a named recurring series, about 1 creative send in 4 or 5.

• Tests to run

  Send time (11 AM to 2 PM), plain text vs designed, pop-up first-step ideas and button words, browse at 15 vs 45 min, sender name "Mike at Bastion", one emoji in a subject.

• Smarter splits

  Browse flow split by buyer vs non-buyer, and cart split at the $35 free-shipping line.

• New ways to collect emails

  Instagram DM sign-up through ManyChat, a pen-finder quiz, and a "What's holding you back?" question at the end of welcome.

• Launch playbook

  5 steps for limited editions: tease, real waitlist, reply booster, early access, public. Father's Day early access with a note from Mike.

• Health checks

  Repeat-purchase rate (good is 20 to 30%), 3-month payback, a monthly AI audit, a welcome check every quarter, and building to about 10 tests a month.

Nice to have 4

• Birthdays and anniversaries

  Ask for a birthday on its own step (we have few today) and add an anniversary email.

• Social follow email

  One email in the first 14 days that asks people to follow us.

• Logo in the inbox (BIMI)

  Only after DMARC is fully enforced and Mike agrees.

• Small flow fixes

  A follow-up email for the pre-order flow, a price-drop flow, and one spec-table email per material.