The brands that run BFCM smoothly aren’t scrambling in November. They’ve already set up their offers, tested their messaging, and built their sends. Use this checklist to get there. Every item is tagged with when to do it, and you can skip any section for a product or feature you don’t use.
Shopper
October:
Add every BFCM offer to Offer Management. Learn more about importing discounts from Shopify here.
Turn on “AI can use this offer in conversations” for each offer you want Shopper Responses to use. If it’s off, Shopper can’t mention it.
Mark sitewide sales as Onsite Offers. Shopper mentions an active Onsite Offer before any other active offers.
In Brand Center, increase urgency and offer frequency for BFCM.
Add shipping deadlines and policy changes to the Content Library as Text Snippets.
By early November:
Test your key offers and BFCM messaging in Shopper Playground. An offer has to be active before you can test it.
After:
Dial urgency and offer frequency back down in Brand Center, along with any other BFCM changes.
Turn off or archive expired offers so Shopper stops mentioning them.
Infinity Testing
October:
Build your BFCM Infinity Testing automations and campaigns, so your AI variants have time to generate, and everything’s ready to send the moment you are.
11/24 to 12/1:
Send your pre-built Infinity Testing campaigns.
Automation Flows & Campaigns
October:
QA every flow that will fire during BFCM. Check your filters, confirm the right offer is attached, and make sure discount codes apply correctly.
Use the same offer in your popup welcome message and your welcome series so subscribers get the same code at every touchpoint. Subscriber Mapping only applies to unique codes.
Plan a different angle for Cyber Monday, like bundles to lift AOV, instead of repeating Friday or sending a “sale extended” message.
Early November:
Send a VIP early-access campaign to your best customers.
11/24 to 12/1:
Switch to SMS only for better throughput during peak sending.
Send between :29 to :30, :40 to :42, or :57 to :59 past the hour to avoid carrier congestion.
Skip time-sensitive language to avoid carrier filtering.
After:
Follow up with shoppers who browsed during BFCM but didn’t buy, before that intent fades.
Set up a welcome variant for first-time BFCM buyers, and a review request 7 to 10 days after delivery.
Popups
October:
Get every opt-in source live, before BFCM traffic picks up.
Schedule your BFCM popup changes with the Schedule tab, which lets you activate and deactivate multiple popups at once as one named event.
11/24 to 12/1:
Leave your popup on. Turning it off means missing subscribers who are actively shopping.
Offers (Automatic Discounts, CashBack & More)
October:
Create automatic discounts in Shopify, then import it in Offers. Postscript makes it available to Shopper automatically.
CashBack: Create the promotion in Fondue first. Then go to Messaging > Shopper > Settings and add it as an Onsite Offer (sitewide) or a Strategic Offer (exclusive to Shopper conversations).
Measure Your Results
Before BFCM:
Pull your 2025 BFCM numbers (revenue, earnings per message, conversion rate, and opt-ins) so you have a baseline to compare against.
During BFCM:
Watch list growth and your opt-out rate. A rising opt-out rate is an early sign you’re sending too often.
After:
Review the opt-out breakdown by tenure and purchase history in List Growth, and use it to set your January suppression and send frequency.