Q4 - most specifically BFCM - is everything. It’s our Super Bowl. There are no moral victories. You need to win. If you don’t, honestly, it’s not good.

We had two “real” BFCM’s while building For Others. I have vivid memories of waking up at 4:30am MT during Thanksgiving in Colorado to prep the site for the day ahead.

I'd set midnight alarms to update site messaging that corresponded with our 12:01am emails and texts. 

Yeah, we were bootstrapped as f*ck.

Anyway, I’m beginning to discuss BFCM with clients and I wanted to get my thoughts together as BFCM is approaching.

After all, this is what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Here are six lessons I learned from previous BFCMs that can help you and your brand this BFCM.

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1. Fresh Creative is a Non-Negotiable

Stale product imagery kills holiday performance.

Historical For Others stat: Revenue was down -69% in 2024 when compared to BFCM 2023, mostly because we didn’t refresh any imagery.

What you can do right now: 

• Decide which product bundles you’re going to offer and make a plan to get the imagery you’re going to need.

• Aside from bundling, you can spice up your existing catalog just by changing the background color of the images on your best selling PDPs.

  • Either contact your retoucher to do this via Photoshop, or schedule a real studio shoot. If you want a hand with your shoot, respond to this email and I can send you some past work!

2. If You Don’t Have Inventory, Don’t Even Bother

Being out of stock on best-selling SKUs during BFCM is revenue suicide.

Historical For Others stat: Due to funding challenges, we were low stock on a lot of our best sellers in 2024. I don’t have a stat on this, but it killed us.

What you can do right now: Look at historical data: What SKUs moved the fastest during BFCM last year? What’s been selling well this year? Make sure those products are well-stocked throughout the entire holiday season.

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3. Hit Up Your Web Dev and Design Team(s)

Small changes yield big results. Now is the time to invest in a few website upgrades.

Historical For Others stat: our website popup during BFCM 2023 yielded a 8% CTR, which was 4x higher than what we typically saw during a normal period.

What you can do right now:

• Make plans to gamify your Gift Guide. Add widgets to draw attention to best sellers or low-stock SKUs.

• Tap your designer to build out website banners for the gift guide, interstitial elements on the homepage, whatever makes sense for you and your brand. 

If you don’t already, invest in a Digital Gift Card and link it in your main navigation. If you need a Shopify app recommendation, I like Rise.ai. Respond to this email if you want an intro to their team.

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4. Gradually Increase Your Offers As You Approach BFCM

Early access isn't just about offering first dibs; it's about creating genuine exclusivity with the right incentives, audience selection, and promotional strategy.

Historical For Others stat: We offered 25% off two weeks early to the following segments: Top Customers, Brand Ambassadors, Friends & Family.

What you can do right now:

• Align on the discounts and deals you’re going to offer and who you’re going to offer them to.

• Block off time to look at your audience segments in your ESP. If you don’t have your subscribers well-segmented, now is a good time to do that.

5. Go Crazy with Bundles

This is when you can move through SKUs that didn’t sell as well as you had hoped earlier in the year.

Historical For Others stat: Our AOV was up 84% during BFCM 2023 when compared to the rest of 2023, and a lot of that can be attributed to our bundling strategy.

What you can do right now:

• Develop a Bundling Strategy.

• Once you align on the bundles, start building out the PDPs in your Shopify. There are a ton of solid bundling apps in the Shopify App store to choose from.

6. Roll Out The Red Carpet For Your Top Customers

Send them emails a week before anyone else, send them plain text emails from the founder, show up at their house– whatever you have to do.

Historical For Others stat: Our Top Customers, Brand Ambassador and Friends & Family segments made up 42% of our BFCM 2023 revenue.

What you can do right now:

• Make sure your audience segmentation is in a good place

• Start designing emails, SMS messages and plain text emails so they’re ready to go before things start to get really crazy.

BFCM is everything for eCommerce brands—there are no moral victories, you need to win.

Start preparing now. Your Q4 depends on it.

The six nonnegotiables: fresh creative that doesn't look stale, bulletproof inventory on your best sellers, strategic website upgrades that convert, gradual offer escalation leading to Black Friday, smart bundling to boost AOV, and VIP treatment for your top customers.

Which strategy will you implement first? Shoot me an email ([email protected]) and let's chat about your BFCM game plan.

See you next time ✌️