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October orders are already part of the holiday season.
Black Friday planning usually starts with the calendar. Dates. Discounts. Send times.
I think that's backwards.
Your customers don't care about your campaign calendar. They care about what they already bought. And this year, a lot of them bought in October.
So here's my one idea for this week: don't sell your October buyers the same thing on Black Friday.
October already took a piece of your holiday season
Adobe's September forecast put US online spending for October at $95.8 billion, up 8% year over year. Of that, Adobe expected $9.9 billion during the October 6–7 Prime Day event.
Adobe describes that October spending as money spent in advance of the holiday season. Those aren't separate shoppers. They're your holiday shoppers, showing up early.
Now picture someone who bought your best seller two weeks ago. In November, they get three emails pushing that same best seller at 25% off.
At best, they ignore it. At worst, they feel stupid for paying full price. Either way, you just taught a good customer to wait for a discount.
I see this mistake everywhere. It isn't a strategy problem. It's a list problem. Most stores send Black Friday to "everyone" because that's the easiest button to press.
The October Buyer Split
Here's what I'd do today. It takes an afternoon, not a new tool.
Step 1: Pull everyone who ordered since October 1.
Make it a segment in your email platform: placed an order on or after October 1. Note what they bought. That's your October buyer list.
Step 2: Take them out of the "buy it again" emails.
Exclude that segment from any Black Friday email that features a product they just bought. They still get your emails. Just not the one that pitches what's already on their shelf.
Step 3: Give them a next step instead.
Write one Black Friday email just for October buyers. Pick what fits the order:
An accessory or refill that goes with what they bought.
How to get more out of the product.
A gift idea for someone else on their list.
Keep that email short. One product, one reason, one button. If you have a discount, it can still be in there. Just put it on the next thing, not the last thing.
You can also hold that email until a few days after Black Friday. Your October buyers already have the product. They can wait a few days.
Everyone who hasn't ordered yet still gets your regular Black Friday plan. You don't send fewer emails. You send the right one to each group.
My honest take: this one segment will do more for your November than another subject line test.
Check what happens after the order
One more thing before November gets busy.
Particle's retention team runs 140 active flows and more than 1,000 live emails and texts, and still built a weekly check that flags individual messages, because the flow total can look fine while one email inside it is broken.
You don't need their dashboard. Open your cart and post-purchase flows and look at each email, not the total. Does the cart reminder stop once someone buys? Does anything still pitch the product they just ordered? With more people moving through your flows in November, a missed stop condition reaches a lot more customers.
That's it for this week. One segment, one extra email, one flow check.
If you try the October Buyer Split, reply and tell me what you're sending your October buyers. I love automations and AI, but I'm answering these replies myself, so give me a few days.
Corné
