BFCM deliverability: the 5 checks I'd do this week (before the big sends)
Every year the same thing happens: the list is ready, the offer is ready, and then the biggest emails of the year land in Promotions or spam because sending jumps overnight. Here's what I'd check now, while there's still time:
1. Send yourself a real campaign to a Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo address and look at where it lands – not the preview, the actual inbox.
2. Check your sending domain is your own. If emails still go out from a shared domain, your From address and the signed domain don't match, and Gmail notices.
3. Grow volume step by step. If you normally email 10k people and plan 60k on Black Friday, start sending to more of your engaged profiles over the next 2–3 weeks, not on the day.
4. Build an engaged segment (clicked or ordered recently – opens alone are inflated by Apple's privacy feature) and send your heaviest days to it first. People who haven't engaged in months get the last, smallest send – or none.
5. Check unsubscribe is one click and easy to see. Complaints rise when people can't find it, and Gmail wants spam complaints under 0.3%.
If one of these looks wrong, fixing it now is much easier than in sale week.
What's on your BFCM checklist that I've missed?