E-commerce

Everyone emails on Black Friday. The sequence around it is what decides your week.

Peak season is the one time of year when your email competes with every other retailer for the same inbox on the same morning — and when a volume spike from a domain that sends monthly looks, to a mailbox provider, exactly like a compromised account.

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In short

A seasonal sale sequence is five emails across about ten days: an early-access email to your most engaged segment before the sale opens, the launch email, a mid-sale email built on a different angle rather than a louder repeat, a last-day email, and a short extension or thank-you the day after. The two things that decide the outcome are segmentation — sending your whole list five discount emails is how you lose subscribers you spent a year acquiring — and warming your sending volume in the weeks before, because a domain that jumps from 20,000 to 300,000 sends overnight gets throttled precisely when it matters. Full copy for all five is below.

10 daysNot one. The email before the sale outperforms the launch email
3 segmentsEngaged, lapsed, recent buyers. One message to all three wastes two
2 weeksOf gradual volume ramp before peak, or you get throttled at peak
0.3%Gmail's complaint ceiling. Peak season is when lists cross it

The sequence

1Email 1 — 2 days before the sale, engaged segment only
SubjectEarly access — yours opens tomorrow at {{time}}Before everyone else, because you've been here a while.

Hi {{first_name}},

Our {{sale_name}} sale opens to everyone on {{public_date}}. Yours opens {{early_date}} at {{time}}.

That's {{hours}} hours ahead, which mostly matters for {{limited_stock_items}} — those went first last year.

No code needed. The prices will be live when you arrive.

{{preview_of_best_offers}}

See what's in the sale

Why it is shaped this way: Send only to people who have opened or clicked in the last 90 days. This is the highest-converting email of the whole sequence, because it reaches people who already like you at a moment with no competition in the inbox. It also stages your sending volume, which is the deliverability half of the job — a smaller send to your best segment first is exactly the warmup pattern mailbox providers want to see before a large one.

2Email 2 — launch morning
Subject{{sale_name}} is live — {{headline_offer}}Ends {{end_date}}. Best of it is in the first paragraph.

Hi {{first_name}},

{{sale_name}} is live: {{headline_offer}}, until {{end_date}}.

The three worth looking at first:

{{product_1}} — {{was_price}} now {{now_price}} · {{product_2}} — {{was_price}} now {{now_price}} · {{product_3}} — {{was_price}} now {{now_price}}

{{shipping_deadline_note}}

Shop the sale

Why it is shaped this way: Three products, not thirty. A peak-season email is read in about four seconds on a phone in a queue, and a grid of forty items is a decision nobody makes standing up. The shipping deadline belongs here rather than at the end of the sale: it is the single most useful piece of information in a seasonal email and it is almost always buried.

3Email 3 — mid-sale, different angle
SubjectThe ones people are actually buyingNot a reminder — a shortlist.

Hi {{first_name}},

Halfway through {{sale_name}}. Rather than repeat the offer, here's what people have actually been buying:

{{bestseller_1}} — {{one_line_why}} · {{bestseller_2}} — {{one_line_why}} · {{bestseller_3}} — {{one_line_why}}

{{low_stock_note}}

{{shipping_deadline_reminder}}

See the bestsellers

Why it is shaped this way: A different angle rather than a louder version of email two. 'Still 30% off!' is the email people unsubscribe from, because it contains nothing they did not already have. What other people are buying is genuinely new information and it does the job the sale copy cannot. Suppress everyone who has already ordered — a mid-sale reminder to a customer who bought on day one is the most common peak-season own goal.

4Email 4 — last day, morning
SubjectLast day — and the last day for {{shipping_type}}Ends midnight. Shipping cut-off is today too.

Hi {{first_name}},

{{sale_name}} ends at midnight.

Today is also the last day to order with {{shipping_type}} for delivery by {{delivery_date}} — after today it's {{alternative_shipping}}.

{{single_best_offer}}

{{donation_link_or_shop_link}}

Shop before midnight

Why it is shaped this way: Two deadlines, and the shipping one usually moves more units than the discount. A customer who is undecided about a price is decided about whether a gift arrives in time. Keep this email to one offer — the last day is not the moment to reopen the whole catalogue.

5Email 5 — the day after
SubjectThat's a wrap — and one thing that's stayedSale's over. Thank you, genuinely.

Hi {{first_name}},

{{sale_name}} is over. Thank you — {{honest_specific_thanks}}.

{{what_remains_available_if_anything}}

If you ordered, {{despatch_expectation}}. If something's wrong with it when it arrives, reply to this email and a person will sort it.

Why it is shaped this way: Either a genuine short extension or an honest close, and never a fake extension — 'back by popular demand' 24 hours after a hard deadline teaches your list that your deadlines are decorative, and it costs you every subsequent sale. This email also sets despatch expectations, which is the cheapest support-ticket reduction available in peak week.

What goes wrong with this sequence

Sending the whole sequence to your whole listFive discount emails in ten days to somebody who has not opened anything since March produces complaints, not orders. Segment: engaged contacts get all five, lapsed contacts get the launch and the last day only, and people who have not engaged in a year should not be in a peak-season send at all. That last group is where complaint rates come from, and peak season is exactly when you cannot afford them.
No volume rampA domain that sends 20,000 emails in a normal month and 300,000 in Black Friday week looks like a compromised account to a mailbox provider, and gets throttled or filtered at the worst possible moment. Increase volume gradually across the preceding fortnight — the early-access send is part of that. This is the one preparation that cannot be done late.
Not suppressing buyersThe customer who bought on launch morning should not receive three more emails about the sale they already used. It reads as careless and it wastes the goodwill of the person who moved fastest. A purchase event as an exit condition takes minutes to build and is the difference between a sequence that feels considered and one that feels automated.
Fake urgencyCountdown timers that reset, 'only 3 left' on infinite stock, extensions after a hard deadline. Beyond the consumer-protection exposure in several markets, it degrades every future deadline you set. Peak season is when a list learns whether your deadlines are real.
One email doing all the workThe single Black Friday morning send lands in the most contested inbox of the year. The early-access email two days earlier reaches a nearly empty one, and it usually outperforms the launch. If you only have capacity for two emails, make them the early access and the last day.
Ignoring the deliverability aftermathThe week after peak is when the damage shows: complaint rate up, engagement down, more mail in promotions. Check per-provider placement in the days after, and run the re-engagement sequence in January rather than sending a normal campaign to a list that has just been pushed hard.

Questions

How many emails should I send during Black Friday week?

Five across the fortnight to your engaged segment, two to lapsed contacts, none to people who have not engaged in a year. What matters more than the count is segmentation and whether each email has a distinct reason to exist. Five emails with five different angles is fine; five copies of the same offer is not, and the second one is what generates complaints.

When should I start warming up sending volume?

About two weeks before your first big send, ramping gradually rather than in one jump. If your list has been quiet for months, start earlier and begin with your most engaged contacts, because early positive engagement is what makes the larger sends that follow look legitimate. This cannot be done in the last few days.

Should I email people who have never opened anything?

No, and peak season is the worst possible time to try. Sustained non-engagement is a signal mailbox providers weight heavily, and a large send to unengaged contacts during the busiest week of the year is how a sender ends up in spam for their good customers too. Run the re-engagement sequence in the quiet season instead.

Is a discount always the right offer?

No. Free shipping frequently outperforms an equivalent discount, and bundles protect margin better than a percentage off. In a week where every email in the inbox says a number followed by a percent sign, the offer that is shaped differently gets read. The shipping deadline is often more persuasive than either.

What about the after-Christmas period?

It behaves differently and deserves its own short sequence rather than an extension of this one. The audience shifts toward gift recipients and people spending gift money, and the strongest angle is usually returns and exchanges handled well rather than another discount. The post-purchase series covers most of what those buyers need.

Keep exploring

Abandoned cart seriesPeak season is when cart recovery earns most of its annual return.Post-purchase seriesWhat runs after the peak-week order lands.Email marketing for e-commerceHow the seasonal flows fit the rest of the year.Deliverability guideThe volume ramp, and why peak week is when senders get filtered.Email segmentation guideSplitting engaged from lapsed before you send five emails.All templatesWelcome, cart recovery, launch sequences and more.
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