Fri 8/14 | Ed 393 | 5 Tests to Run Before Black Friday (While There's Still Time)

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One of the biggest mistakes I see every year is brands treating Black Friday like a giant A/B test.

They're trying new offers, new messaging, new creative, and new segmentation when every email suddenly matters the most.

Get your testing out of the way now. August gives you enough time to gather meaningful data, make adjustments, and head into Q4 with confidence instead of hoping something works. Here are five tests I'd have on every ecommerce marketer's list before holiday traffic starts ramping up.

Also inside:

→ What's really capping your email output
→ The eight skills that make a marketer impossible to replace
→ The channel your customers still pick up on the first ring
→ poppi's Spider-Man drop comes with a $15 movie ticket

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It just never made it to your inbox. Until Allan.

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Every tool you use in 2026 is available to everyone.Chase breaks down why none of it is a moat anymore, and the eight skills that actually make a marketer hard to replace.

By the time Black Friday rolls around, your biggest questions should already have answers.

The weeks leading up to Q4 are the best time to experiment because there's still room to learn without risking your highest-revenue campaigns. Instead of saving every idea for November, use August and September to validate what actually resonates with your audience.

Here are five tests worth running before holiday traffic arrives.

1. Test Your Offer Positioning

A bigger discount doesn't automatically lead to more revenue. Sometimes it's the way an offer is presented, not the offer itself, that convinces someone to buy.

Compare different ways of framing your promotion and pay attention to revenue per recipient, not just clicks or conversions.

Ideas to test:

• Percentage off vs. dollar amount off

• Discount vs. free gift

• Sitewide sale vs. category-specific sale

• Buy More, Save More vs. flat discount

2. Test Your Hero Section

Your hero section sets the tone for the rest of the email. If it doesn't immediately grab attention or communicate value, many subscribers won't make it any further.

Small creative changes can have a surprisingly large impact on engagement, especially during a season when every inbox is crowded.

Ideas to test:

• Hero product vs. lifestyle imagery

• Benefit-first headline vs. offer-first headline

• One featured product vs. a product collection

• Static image vs. animated GIF

3. Test Your Segmentation Strategy

One email rarely performs equally well across every audience. The more relevant your message is to the recipient, the better chance it has of driving a purchase.

Holiday campaigns are the perfect opportunity to lean into segmentation instead of sending every promotion to your entire list.

Ideas to test:

• VIP customers vs. everyone else

• First-time customers vs. repeat buyers

• Highly engaged subscribers vs. your full list

• Recent purchasers vs. lapsed customers

4. Test Your Product Recommendations

Product recommendation blocks often become an afterthought, but they're one of the easiest ways to increase average order value and encourage additional purchases.

The right recommendation should feel like a natural next step instead of another sales pitch.

Ideas to test:

• Best Sellers

• Frequently Bought Together

• Recently Viewed Products

• Complete the Routine

• Staff Favorites

5. Test Your CTA

Everyone tests subject lines, but very few brands spend time testing the button customers actually click. A clearer, more specific CTA can often improve click-through rates without changing anything else in the email.

Keep your tests focused on one variable at a time so you can clearly identify what influenced the result.

Ideas to test:

• Shop Now vs. Claim My Offer

• Build My Bundle

• Get Early Access

• See Best Sellers

• Unlock My Discount

Black Friday isn't the time to wonder which offer performs best or whether a different audience would have converted better. Those questions are much easier to answer now, while there's still time to collect meaningful data and apply what you learn.

The brands that perform best during Q4 aren't necessarily running more tests than everyone else. They're simply running the right ones before the holiday rush begins.

eCom rebuilt every channel over the last decade and left the phone behind, filed under a call-center budget nobody wanted to own.

With Outcraft AI, a voice agent changes that, and it works because it shares one memory of the customer with the email and SMS you already send. Same brain, one more channel, catching the moments your flows keep missing:

→ Abandoned checkout, called within minutes while the intent is still warm
→ Post-purchase upsell while the buyer is still in buying mode
→ Replenishment, timed to when they actually run out

One agent, one memory, running on top of what you already send.

→ Hear a real call at outcraft.ai

poppi linked up with Spider-Man: Brand New Day for a limited-edition drop, and it's a fun one. The webbed-out cans hit Walmart, Target, and Kroger right as the movie opened, in Cherry Limeade, Wild Berry, and a brand-new Lemonade flavor. Buy four 4-packs in one trip and you score a $15 Fandango reward to go see it. A blockbuster tie-in, full national retail, and a new flavor launch all in one move. Not bad for a soda brand.