Revamp Your Email Funnels: 5 Automation Fixes to Boost Conversions Before Q4

The holiday season is right around the corner, so we have to ask… have you thought about your email marketing strategy for Black Friday/Cyber Monday and other important holiday events? In our 16 years of serving clients at MAC, we’ve learned how critical email marketing is for maximizing holiday sales. A recent Salesforce study indicated that global online sales during the 2024 holiday season reached a record of $1.2 trillion, with U.S. online sales totaling $282 billion. This is a 4% increase from the previous year. The brands that reach shoppers with the right offer at the exact moment of intent will win the cart. Smart automation lets you deliver that kind of one-to-one relevance to thousands of contacts in minutes… without increasing resources or overhead significantly. Revamping your email funnels is essential because:

  • Shoppers are already searching. Mid-September, many people start searching for “gift ideas” and “best deals.” (Some people begin even earlier!)
  • Inboxes are more competitive than ever. Retail emails spiked significantly in the six weeks before Black Friday last year.
  • Frequency tolerance is higher. Customers in buying mode can handle more emails… as long as each one feels useful (a.k.a. not a mass eblast that sends the same exact message to thousands of people).

In this blog post, our MA/CRM experts at MAC are here to share five automation tips that will elevate your email funnels, helping you hit your sales targets for Q3 and Q4 with ease!

Tip #1: Prioritize Data Cleansing and Strategic Audience Segmentation

In 2025, you can’t send mass emails to your entire list anymore. People expect messages that feel personal, even from brands. Segmentation is the key to this! According to HubSpot, segmented email campaigns achieve 30% more opens and 50% more clicks than non-segmented campaigns. Here are our tips to cleanse your data and segment your contacts strategically:

  • Remove bounced or inactive contacts. Then, populate missing fields so tokens work correctly.
  • Build micro-segments such as “VIP customers” or “openers in the last 30 days” inside HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, or whatever CRM you are using.
  • Prioritize segments that show clear buying signals. (Ex. Leads who clicked a pricing page or repeated buyers with a high average order value.)

Goodbye inaccuracies and duplicates! After completing these steps, you will set the stage for higher conversion rates and a more impactful email marketing strategy.

Tip #2: Personalize Content with Dynamic and Interactive Elements

First-name tags/tokens alone will not move the needle anymore. Today, email platforms let you swap in entire blocks of text, images, or offers in real time so that every reader sees something crafted just for them. This technique is called dynamic content. You can leverage the data you already have such as industry, location, or last purchase to create different versions within the same email, but tailored to each audience. But why go to the trouble? Research aggregated by Litmus shows that adding interactive or dynamic elements can lift click-to-open rates by 73%. Below are a couple of ways to put that power to work:

  • Product carousel tied to purchase history: Here’s a concrete example… an outdoor gear retailer can insert a miniature scrolling gallery that surfaces hiking boots to shoppers who recently bought backpacks, or insulated parkas to customers who live in colder ZIP codes. The carousel updates automatically as inventory and customer data change, giving every subscriber a storefront experience inside the email.
  • Single question poll for zero-party data: Publish a quick poll: “Which gift category interests you most this season: gadgets, wellness, or home décor?” The act of answering supplies zero-party data (information a customer freely gives away). Your follow-up emails can lean into the chosen category, and the poll itself keeps readers engaged because they get to interact rather than just read.

Put these tactics together, and you create a two-way conversation that nudges every subscriber toward the action you want them to take!

Tip #3: Implement Triggered Nurture Campaigns

Once a flow is live, emails can fire at the exact moment a contact takes (or fails to take) an action, so your team keeps selling while you sleep. So, what sequences should you implement? Here are the top three we suggest:

  • Welcome series: A short, high-energy sequence that greets brand-new subscribers and converts them from “curious” to “customer.” The trigger is simple: someone joins your list or downloads a lead magnet. Use a friendly subject line like “You’re in! Here’s your next step” so the message feels like a personal reply, not a promotion.
  • Abandoned cart sequence: A time-boxed reminder that nudges shoppers who added items to their cart but did not finish checkout. Pair the email sequence with an SMS reminder for high-value carts so customers who prefer texting still receive the prompt.
  • Education drip for B2B leads: A multi-email curriculum that moves a prospect from first download to sales conversation. The trigger is usually a content offer, such as a whitepaper or webinar sign-up. Keep each email laser-focused on a single takeaway. When readers see steady, bite-sized wins, they are more likely to book that call.

Build these three flows now and your funnel will keep the conversation moving, even when your team logs off for the night.

Tip #4: Test Timing and Frequency

Timing and cadence shape how often your emails land at the very top of the inbox. The right moment varies by audience and region, so rely on data rather than a gut feeling. Here’s how to optimize for timing and frequency:

  1. Study the heat map in your platform’s reporting dashboard. If opens spike at 7 a.m. for New York contacts and 9 p.m. for Los Angeles contacts, split the list by time zone and schedule accordingly.
  2. Turn on send time optimization (STO) for a two-week test. Compare the open and click rates against your current batch send to confirm the lift.
  3. Increase cadence gradually in Q4. If you normally send one email a week, try moving to two for a month, then three. Track unsubscribes and spam complaints after every increase.
  4. Segment by engagement. Place contacts who have not opened in 90 days into a “low frequency” lane and only send them high-value offers or re-engagement campaigns.

Tip #5: Protect Deliverability With Ongoing Hygiene

Even the best offer will underperform if it lands in spam. Deliverability depends on sender reputation, list quality, and proper authentication. Here are the steps to maintain a good deliverability score:

  1. Run a re-permission campaign every six months. Anyone who does not click or confirm stays suppressed until they opt in again.
  2. Warm up volume before holiday spikes. Add no more than 15 percent additional sends each week so mailbox providers see a steady rise, not a sudden surge.
  3. Authenticate and monitor. Verify that SPF and DKIM pass on every send, then publish a DMARC record so providers can reject spoofed messages.
  4. Watch the scoreboard. Keep hard bounces under 1% and spam complaints under 0.1%. If either number climbs, pause and fix the underlying issue before the next blast.

Following these best practices keeps your messages front and center, builds trust with mailbox providers, and ensures every campaign reaches the people who want to hear from you.

Ready to Revamp Your Email Funnels?

For 16 years, MAC has been helping marketers turn email automation into predictable revenue. 1,400+ companies have already trusted us to fine-tune their tech stacks and drive growth. 

If you’re ready to squeeze every dollar out of Q4, let’s talk. We can audit your current funnels, surface quick wins, and map a launch-ready automation plan.

Schedule a consultation with us today and see what a refreshed funnel can do for your bottom line!

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Picture of Samantha Warren

Samantha Warren is a digital marketing expert with over six years of experience in crafting 360° campaigns that marry creativity with strategy. She has helped clients in a variety of industries, including e-commerce, technology, and healthcare, to reach new heights with their marketing initiatives.