Your discount is impressive. The inbox still wants to see your ID.
Your Black Friday email plan only works if the emails reach the inbox.
Most stores are preparing more campaigns, more offers and more segments than at any other point in the year. But I keep seeing the technical setup treated as something to check later.
Later is too late. If authentication is wrong or mailbox providers stop trusting your sending domain, a stronger subject line will not fix it.
That is why I am offering a 60-minute Inbox Audit this week. We will check the delivery risks that could hurt your Black Friday campaigns. The normal price is $600; sessions booked this week are $250.
Microsoft now enforces SPF, DKIM and DMARC requirements for high-volume senders to Outlook.com, Hotmail and Live.com addresses. Microsoft defines high volume as 5,000 or more messages a day to its consumer services from the same From domain.
Even if you are below that threshold, I would check your setup now. Black Friday is exactly when stores increase volume, email older parts of their list and change their normal sending pattern. That is when a weak setup becomes expensive.
Start with DMARC
DMARC is a DNS record for your sending domain. It tells mailbox providers which services are allowed to send email as you and what should happen when a message fails authentication.
It also connects two other records you may already have: SPF and DKIM. Having all three names in your DNS is not enough. They need to pass and align with the domain your customer sees in the From address.
A basic monitoring record can look like this:
v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:[email protected]
Do not copy that blindly. The reporting address has to work, and your legitimate sending services need to be identified. Starting with p=none lets you collect reports before moving to a stricter policy. Moving too quickly to quarantine or reject can block email from services you forgot were sending on your behalf.
Before you consider DMARC done, check:
Which domain your campaigns actually use in the From address.
Whether SPF passes and aligns with that domain.
Whether DKIM passes and signs with an aligned domain.
Whether the DMARC record is valid and the reports are being reviewed.
Whether transactional email, support tools and other services are included too.
Black Friday magnifies small delivery problems
A campaign report can say “delivered” while part of the email still lands in spam. That difference matters more over the next few weeks than during a normal month.
Look at your last comparable campaigns by mailbox provider. Compare Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo clicks, orders and revenue per recipient. Check bounces and spam complaints. If one provider is falling behind, find out why before you increase the frequency.
I would also send real tests to addresses at the main mailbox providers. Open them on a phone. Check that the sender name, From address and links are correct. Then confirm that replies go somewhere a person will actually see them.
None of this guarantees inbox placement. It does tell you whether the foundation is ready before you put your biggest campaigns on top of it.
I can check this with you before Black Friday
If you want certainty before your biggest campaigns go out, book a one-to-one 60-minute Inbox Audit with me, Corné van Willigen.
In one focused hour, we will review the parts of your email setup that matter most for Black Friday:
Your sending domains and DNS records.
SPF, DKIM and DMARC authentication.
Your email platform configuration.
Recent delivery, bounce and mailbox-provider results.
Your Black Friday sending plan and the risks I would fix first.
I do the review myself. You will leave the call knowing what is working, where delivery is at risk and what I would fix first before the most important email days of the year.
The normal price is $600. Book your session this week for $250.
If you would rather ask a question first, reply with “email check” and your store URL. Otherwise, choose a time directly in my calendar.
If you already know your setup is correct, good. Send yourself one final test and move on to the campaigns.
Corné
Emercify
