357 - Your Last-Minute BFCM Email Checklist (Before You Hit Send)
Release Date: 11/02/2025
Marketing With Laryssa
Klaviyo makes it easy to set up a win back flow. There's a default template ready to go, so most brands turn it on, move on, and assume it's working. And technically it is - it's running. But running and working are two very different things. When I go into a new client's account and look at their win back flow, what I almost always find is something that was set up once, never really thought through, and is running on default settings that nobody ever questioned. The timing is off. The re-entry settings are wrong. The emails are leading with a discount when they should be leading with...
info_outlineMarketing With Laryssa
This month marks 10 years since I officially started Joy Joya. And I've been sitting with that for a while, trying to figure out what I actually want to say about it. There's a version of this episode that writes itself - the highlight reel, the wins, the listicle wrapped up in a bow. I didn't want to do that. What I wanted to do was be honest, because that's more useful. So that's what this episode is. It's the real version - the messy pivot, the gradual realization, the external pressures that made staying put feel untenable, and the thing I kept coming back to through all of it: email. Not...
info_outlineMarketing With Laryssa
Almost every brand sends last chance emails. End of a sale, final hours of a promotion, last day before something's gone. They're a completely normal part of any email calendar. And yet - we've all been on the receiving end of one that felt off. A little frantic. A little hollow. Like the brand was more stressed about hitting a number than genuinely trying to help you not miss something. The difference between a last chance email that works and one that doesn't usually isn't the format. It's not the countdown timer or the headline size. It goes deeper than that - into the credibility you've...
info_outlineMarketing With Laryssa
There's a lawsuit in the news right now involving a major retailer and their email marketing. I'm not going to weigh in on the legal debate - but it did make me want to talk about something I think gets overlooked when email programs are moving fast. Email is permission-based marketing. Someone gave you their address and said yes, you can communicate with me. That's not a small thing. And it comes with a responsibility that's easy to lose sight of when you're optimizing for clicks and conversions in the moment. Urgency isn't the problem. A sale that genuinely ends, an item that's almost gone,...
info_outlineMarketing With Laryssa
Lists and segments both group people. They both show you a number. They both show up when you're sending emails. So it's easy to assume they're basically the same thing with different names - especially when you're moving fast and just trying to get a campaign out the door. But that assumption is one of the most common structural mistakes I see inside email accounts, and the tricky part is that nothing breaks immediately. Your campaigns still send. Your flows still run. People still get your emails. The damage is quieter than that. What actually happens is that the logic underneath your...
info_outlineMarketing With Laryssa
Plain text emails can feel almost too simple. No design, no product blocks, no polished layout. So why do they sometimes outperform emails that took way more time to build? A lot of ecommerce brands either dismiss plain text emails as unfinished - or overcorrect and treat them like a silver bullet. The truth is more nuanced than that. Plain text isn't a shortcut. It's a strategic format choice - and when it's used well, it can change how your audience experiences your message entirely. But here's the catch: without design to lean on, your writing has to do all the heavy lifting. And if the...
info_outlineMarketing With Laryssa
Episode #375 – Is Your Welcome Discount Hurting Your Email Performance? When it comes to growing your email list, most ecommerce brands are focused on one thing: more. More subscribers. More signups. Higher pop-up conversion rates. But what if the way you’re growing your list - especially through your welcome discount - is actually making your email performance worse over time? At first, it can feel like everything is working. Your list is growing quickly, your pop-up is converting, and new subscribers are coming in every day. But underneath that growth, something else might be happening....
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Episode #374 - The Email Bottleneck That’s Quietly Limiting Your Growth When ecommerce revenue stalls, the instinct is almost always the same: we need more traffic. More ads. More eyeballs. More list growth. But what if the real problem isn’t how many people are coming in - it’s what happens after they arrive? In this episode, I’m breaking down the email bottleneck that quietly limits growth for so many online stores - and why adding more traffic on top of a weak system only makes the problem bigger. Because if your email ecosystem isn’t built to convert, recover, and retain,...
info_outlineMarketing With Laryssa
Episode #373 – Why Your Email Campaigns Might All Sound the Same Seasonal themes can make your email marketing feel cohesive and intentional - but lean too hard into one, and suddenly every email starts sounding the same. If you’ve ever planned a month of campaigns around a theme like Spring Refresh, Holiday Sparkle, or New Year Energy, you know how helpful it can feel at first. Themes give your calendar structure and make creative planning easier. But there’s a hidden trap. When the theme quietly becomes the strategy, your messaging can start to feel repetitive, vague, and less...
info_outlineMarketing With Laryssa
Episode #372 – Why Your Abandoned Cart Flow Won’t Recover Every Sale Cart abandonment automations are powerful - but they’re not a magic net that catches every abandoned cart you see in Shopify. If you’ve ever opened your Shopify analytics, seen a huge list of abandoned carts, and thought “Why aren’t we getting all of these sales back?” - this episode will reset your expectations fast. Because here’s the truth: an abandoned cart is not the same thing as a lost sale. In this episode, I explain what cart abandonment actually represents, why recovery rates are naturally lower than...
info_outlineBFCM is basically tomorrow in marketing time - that’s how it feels, right? The clock’s ticking, inboxes are about to explode, and you might be thinking, “Am I even ready for this?” Before panic sets in, take a breath. This episode is your quick hit of clarity before the chaos: a last-minute checklist to steady the nerves and drive more revenue.
🎧 In this episode, I’m giving you a fast, focused, five-part punch list you can check off in a few days - not weeks - to optimize your email, SMS, and site experience before the big weekend hits. Whether you're scrambling or feeling mostly prepared, you’ll walk away knowing exactly where to spend your energy for maximum impact.
This episode is part of my ongoing BFCM Prep Series - where we’re making sure your holiday marketing is strategic, intentional, and ready to perform. If you still want the full playbook, you can grab my 2025 BFCM Briefing at joyjoya.com/bfcm.
👉 Grab my official 2025 BFCM Briefing: a 15+ page strategic guide serious brands are using to stay ahead of the chaos: https://joyjoya.com/bfcm
💡 In this episode, you’ll learn:
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✅ The BFCM scheduling steps most brands forget until it’s too late
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✅ Why form & popup cleanup can drive last-minute signups and sales
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✅ How to verify your site + checkout flow to avoid weekend disasters
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✅ When to send SMS (and why timing is everything)
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✅ The #1 overlooked messaging detail that creates last-minute friction
🪙 In the Gold Mine segment, I’m talking about why "Hope is NOT a marketing strategy." We’ve all been guilty of crossing our fingers — especially during the holidays. I’m sharing three sneaky ways hope shows up as avoidance, how it sabotages profits, and how to turn it into momentum instead of stagnation.
👉 Ready to stop guessing and start sending with confidence? This episode gives you the quick wins you need right now - so you can step into BFCM prepared instead of panicked.
Dive deeper with the blog post: https://joyjoya.com/blogs/podcast/your-last-minute-black-friday-cyber-monday-checklist