3 new AI features to amp up your BFCM campaigns

Black Friday Cyber Monday has become a digital explosion of customer data and messages.

Klaviyo customers alone sent 376 million messages during the peak marketing hour on Black Friday 2023. While this is the most bustling time of year for ecommerce businesses, two things are clear. First, you need to ensure that your emails land in inboxes. A close second is to capture subscribers’ attention with creative subject lines.

As holiday message volume skyrockets, maintaining solid deliverability and cutting through the noise is critical. Klaviyo has always had tools that make it easy for brands to understand their email deliverability and create eye-catching subject lines. Now, Klaviyo is even more powerful with AI that automatically repairs your sending reputation and creates subject line A/B tests that encourage people to open.

AI is no longer a “nice to have”—it’s your secret sauce to dominate BFCM this year. Klaviyo’s latest AI features aren’t just time savers, they’re revenue drivers. They effortlessly optimize your deliverability and accelerate campaign creation, so you can focus on building meaningful relationships with customers.

Below, learn how 3 new Klaviyo AI features give you an edge by addressing key BFCM challenges.

1. Drive up deliverability with reputation repair AI

BFCM presents a unique challenge for email marketers. As inboxes flood with promotions, email and internet service providers tighten their filters to protect users from spam. Your carefully crafted campaigns risk getting lost in the shuffle—or worse, labeled as junk.

Klaviyo’s reputation repair AI tackles this challenge, ensuring your crucial holiday messages land where they belong: in your customers’ primary inboxes.

How it works

Reputation repair AI:

1. Automatically generates segments of unengaged profiles for exclusion
2. Provides real-time deliverability scores on a 0–100 scale
3. Gradually adjusts the unengaged window until you reach a “good” deliverability score

How to use it this BFCM

During BFCM

During BFCM, monitor your deliverability score. If your score drops below 50 (poor), reputation repair AI will automatically kick in. You will see a new card in the campaign builder prompting you to exclude unengaged profiles to boost your deliverability score.

As your score improves, AI will gradually adjust the unengaged window until you reach a deliverability score of 75+ (good). Reputation repair AI is enabled by default, but you have the option to turn it off any time.

For critical BFCM announcements, create hyper-engaged segments of subscribers who’ve opened or clicked in the last 48 hours. Then, use reputation repair AI to dynamically adjust segments based on real-time deliverability data, removing unengaged recipients.

After BFCM

Post-BFCM, use AI’s insights to refine your strategy for the coming year. Compare the performance of different engagement windows (90-day vs. 180-day vs. 365-day) and adjust your year-round segmentation accordingly.

Analyze deliverability by domain and create targeted re-engagement campaigns for domains that experienced significant dips.

BFCM AI marketing tip: Keep in mind that AI learns from each campaign, continuously improving its recommendations. Regular use throughout the year will result in more refined and effective strategies when BFCM rolls around, giving you a competitive edge in the crowded holiday inbox.

2. Calibrate faster with automated subject line A/B testing

An eye-catching subject line is critical for whether or not customers will open your email. But getting your subject line right, especially during the busy holiday season, is sometimes one of the most difficult steps in creating emails.

Klaviyo’s automated subject line A/B testing uses AI to optimize open rates, which is crucial when inboxes are flooded with holiday offers.

Svenfish uses Klaviyo AI to create and test top-performing subject line copy on demand. “I love how AI helps us analyze what subject lines have worked in the past, and gives us concise inspiration,” says Sreevats R., product manager at Svenfish. “I almost always use it to generate subject lines.”

How it works

1. You input a few words for your subject line.
2. AI generates a variation to the A/B test.
3. You choose test options, such as personalization, length, or emojis.
4. Klaviyo sets up the A/B test automatically.

So, say you’re launching a BFCM campaign for winter coats, and your initial subject line is “BFCM Sale: 50% off all coats.”

The AI might suggest, “❄️Wrap up warm for less this BFCM | 50% off coats.” It then tests both versions, sending each to a small segment of your audience. The winning version automatically goes to the remainder of your list, maximizing opens and potential sales.

How to use it this BFCM

To squeeze every ounce of performance from this feature:

BFCM AI marketing tip: While AI is powerful, human oversight ensures your subject lines make sense in context. Always assign a human to refine AI’s suggestions and prevent misunderstandings.

3. Rev up campaign creation with Email AI

Klaviyo’s Email AI is your personal design assistant, capable of generating full email templates from simple text prompts. It recognizes a wide range of inputs to create emails and copy that are tailored to your brand.

How it works

For BFCM, Email AI shines in creating themed content for different campaign phases. For instance:

1. During the early-bird phase, you could prompt the AI with “Create a teaser email for our upcoming BFCM sale, highlighting limited-time exclusive deals.”
2. For the main event, you could try “Design a high-energy email showcasing our top 5 BFCM offers.”
3. As BFCM winds down, you could use “Generate a last-chance email template emphasizing urgency and scarcity for remaining deals.”

Email AI also excels at personalization for different customer segments. For first-time buyers, input “Design an email welcoming new customers to our BFCM sale, featuring entry-level products.” For VIP customers, try “Create a template for our top spenders, highlighting premium BFCM offers and early access.”

BFCM AI marketing tip: While AI brings efficiency, maintaining brand authenticity is crucial. After generating a template, always review and adjust the content to align with your brand voice. Add your unique touches—whether it’s your signature humor or a personal note from the founder—to keep the human element in your AI-assisted emails.

How to use it this BFCM

Understanding the art of prompts is key to unlocking Email AI’s full potential. Well-crafted prompts can drastically reduce the need for manual edits, saving you precious time during the BFCM rush. The more specific and contextual your instructions, the more closely the AI-generated template will align with your vision and brand guidelines.

Let’s break down the elements of an effective BFCM email template prompt:

1. Specify the email type. “Create a BFCM promotional email.”
2. Set the tone. “Use urgent, exciting language to drive immediate action.”

BFCM AI marketing tip: Note that certain elements (like product blocks, images, links, and buttons) are not fully configured by the generation tool. You must add these elements manually after selecting a generated section.

Start using Klaviyo AI for BFCM today

Klaviyo AI features aren’t just time savers—they’re revenue drivers. By streamlining subject line testing, email creation, and deliverability optimization, you can focus on crafting standout offers that convert.

Don’t wait for the BFCM rush. Start experimenting with these AI tools now to optimize your holiday marketing strategy.

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