How to Recover Your Email Deliverability After Heavy Holiday Sending
The Post-Holiday Hangover You Didn’t Plan For
The holidays were wild. Sales rolled in, your campaigns were firing nonstop, and Klaviyo was your second home.
But now?
Your open rates tanked.
Your click rates dipped.
Your emails are quietly getting shoved into the promotions tab or worse, spam.
Relax. This isn’t a death sentence. It’s classic post-holiday deliverability fallout, and with the right recovery plan, you can bounce back fast.
This guide breaks down exactly how to clean up the mess, rebuild sender reputation, and get your emails back where they belong: your customers’ primary inbox.
Why Your Deliverability Tanks After the Holidays
When you send heavily during Q4, two things happen:
1. Your sending volume spikes hard
Inbox providers notice sudden changes. To them, “new behavior” = “possible threat.”
So they get suspicious and throttle you.
2. You hit cold and unengaged subscribers
Holiday hype brings one-time shoppers and freebie seekers. These folks open less, click less, and train inbox filters to distrust your messages.
3. Your list got bloated fast
You likely gained subscribers through:
pop-ups
holiday giveaways
seasonal discounts
ad traffic
Great for growth… not so great for engagement quality.
Result? Your sender reputation dips. But the fix is straightforward when you tackle it strategically.
The Step-by-Step Plan to Restore Your Inbox Placement
This is the exact recovery sequence I use with Shopify clients inside The Profitable Inbox™.
Step 1: Pull Back on Sending, Strategically
You don’t need to go silent. But you do need to stop blasting your entire list.
For the next 7–14 days:
Only send to your most engaged segment, such as:
opened email in the last 30 days
OR clicked email in the last 60 days
AND hasn’t bounced or marked spam
This shows inbox providers, “Hey, people like my emails.”
That’s what rebuilds trust.
Step 2: Clean Up the List You Hammered All December
If you skip this, nothing else matters.
Inside Klaviyo, create a segment for at-risk subscribers like:
No opens in 60–90 days
No clicks ever
Only subscribed during holiday promos
Only entered via giveaways
These folks drag your reputation down.
Next steps:
Suppress those who haven’t engaged (start with 90+ days).
Keep “holiday-only” subscribers in a separate warming segment.
Only reintroduce them once your main deliverability stabilizes.
Step 3: Fix Your Engagement Signals ASAP
You need opens.
You need clicks.
You need inbox providers to see positive engagement quickly.
Make your next 2–3 sends hyper-clickable:
✔ Questions
✔ Polls
✔ “Reply and tell me…”
✔ Buttons near the top
✔ Curiosity-driven subject lines
And if your subject lines feel stale?
You’ll want this: 10 Subject Line Power Swaps That Sell (This fits perfectly with this stage of your recovery.)
Step 4: Warm Your List Back Up in Waves
Think of this like easing back into the gym after not stretching for three weeks.
Here’s the warm-up sequence:
Start with your hot audience (0–30 days engaged)
Gradually expand to 60 days
Then 90
Finally, test older segments in small batches
If any wave tanks your open rate, stop and pull back. That segment needs more warming or suppressing.
Step 5: Audit Your Holiday Flows (They’re Probably Overfiring)
Many brands forget to turn off or adjust:
daily deal flows
holiday abandonment logic
post-purchase sequences triggered by gift buyers
seasonal automations that continue into January
Too many automated sends right after Q4 = a one-way ticket to Spamville.
Do a quick cleanup:
✔ Reduce flow frequencies
✔ Tighten segments
✔ Turn off irrelevant seasonal steps
✔ Re-check your Smart Sending windows in Klaviyo.
Step 6: Improve Your Email Content Quality
Creating inbox-friendly content is half the battle.
Do this for the next 30 days:
Keep emails short and clear
Reduce the number of images
Avoid ALL CAPS subject lines
Use plain-text-like styles
Move CTAs above the fold
Avoid overly promotional words (especially after heavy Q4 sending)
High-value, low-hype emails rebuild credibility fast.
Step 7: Monitor Your Metrics Like a Hawk
Instead of watching all your data, focus on these three:
1. Open Rate Trend (Are we climbing back up?)
2. Click Rate (Are people interacting again?)
3. Spam & Bounce Rates (Are they decreasing?)
Don’t expect overnight miracles, but do watch for week-over-week improvements.
Want Help Keeping Deliverability Healthy All Year?
If you’re tired of playing “guess who hates my emails today,” you’ll want The Profitable Inbox™.
Inside the membership, you get:
✔ Monthly deliverability audits
✔ Engagement workflows
✔ Inbox placement strategies
✔ Live Q&A for troubleshooting
✔ Templates that don’t trigger spam filters
Your email channel can be a predictable sales machine when deliverability isn’t holding you hostage.
Join us and let’s fix that long-term.