July BFCM checklist

It's never really too early to start preparing for Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM).

July is a great time to lay important foundations so your BFCM campaigns can be as memorable and effective as possible.

Here are 5 tasks you can do to prepare for BFCM as early as July.

1. Conduct an audit of your past performance

Even before you begin planning your BFCM marketing strategy, it's worth looking at what's been working-and what hasn't. Use Klaviyo custom reports to analyze your first 2 quarters of this year and your BFCM results from last year.

You should take into account:

• Revenue-which promotions outperformed others
• Clicks-what does your audience take action on? (this will help you drive design decisions)
• Opens-which subject lines piqued curiosity
• Revenue per recipient (RPR) for flows and campaigns

Focusing on these metrics will help you determine which types of offers work best with your audience. It'll also set your team up to make informed creative decisions for email and SMS design and copy.

2. Check out your competitors' BFCM messages from last year

Use Milled and Really Good Emails to gather your competitors' BFCM email and SMS strategies from last year.

Notice:

• Creative quality-how memorable and clever were the campaigns?
• Campaign cadence-how often did they send?
• Subject lines-would they stand out in a crowded inbox?
• Incentives-what kinds of discounts are they offering? Or are they offering alternatives like free shipping?
• Brand alignment-which elements would work well for your brand?

3. A/B test your messaging

July is a great time to A/B test your messaging, so you know what resonates with your audience by the time BFCM prime time rolls around. As you're gathering insights from your past performance and your competitors', start experimenting with incentives, subject lines, design, CTAs, etc.

4. Begin increasing trust with inbox providers

Come November, you want inbox providers to regard you as ultra-trustworthy, making July and August the perfect time to lay groundwork with them.

Target highly-engaged segments ahead of the season-this way, you'll make sure your messages are landing in as many inboxes as possible.

Pro tip: Check your deliverability insights in Klaviyo to identify areas for improvement prior to BFCM.

5. Figure out if you'll need support

BFCM is a huge undertaking. Depending on your bandwidth, ambition, headcount, and budget, it might be worth your while to get some extra support.

Related content:

• 15 Black Friday Cyber Monday email campaign examples and results
• 2024 BFCM calendar
• 6 steps for a BFCM SMS marketing plan