Business can be very seasonal. Oftentimes, email marketers (and really, the rest of their respective marketing departments) can be drinking from the firehose during the "busy season(s)" while playing catch up when business is out of season. We went out and asked some of the brightest email marketing minds how they approach each of these “seasons” in their email marketing.
Michael Pattison 
Lead Digital Strategist Klaviyo
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
Prioritize! What are your goals? What will help you achieve those goals? Go do those things.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
Engage! Use content to keep your list engaged with your brand. If you sell rock salt and it's summer, should you tell your subscribers how to clean their walks and driveways? What are other ways to engage? How to store leftover salt! You get the idea.
Jennifer Hoth
Owner Jennifer Hoth Consulting
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
PLAN AHEAD! Make sure you are taking inventory of all triggered / behavioral / transactional well before the busy season hits. I like to make sure that any discounts offered in these emails will be as good as or better than the richest offer out there during that time so that subscribers can see the benefit of being part of the program. Also, make sure to have contingency plans in place-have evergreen templates available in the instance that you'll have to send an "oops" email, etc.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
I like to make sure we take a more proactive and experimental approach for the rest of the year. Now is the time to test, try new things, gather information etc. All of this work will also help to fuel the busy season with more insights.
Ryan Phelan
CEO RPE Origin
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
Drinking.
OK, seriously, it has to be my team. Listen, every busy season is packed with requests, processes and ensuring that projects go correctly. There's no better way to do that then to rely and lean on your team for not only support, but motivation. We're all in this together!
Personally, it's stepping out of the office and closing the door. That mental exercise of "leaving" the office comes with a discipline that when you leave the office you leave work. Working from home is tough and takes extreme discipline. That means work lives in the office and does not follow me to my comfy chair all night. You must have me time or the insanity will make you insane.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
Strategize! We're stuck in this tactic driven mentality since COVID. DO! DO! PIVOT! PIVOT! (No couch included) GO! GO! GO! We must as an industry get back to the strategy first principle. So, when the program or business is out of season, I want to step back, see the whole field and determine what's missing or what could be better.
It's also about enjoying those times. In January, for example, things were not racing like normal. Instead of stressing out that things were not busy, I took time and did my strategic vision but also enjoyed the down time. Not every minute needs to be packed with activity and down time is essential for dealing with the insane ones.
So, step back, see the whole field and chart your path.
Kelly Haggard
VP Marketing Innovation Synchrony
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
Detailed plan of action, being flexible, and reacting quickly.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
Work on optimization, planning out tests, building new use cases.
Spencer Kollas
Managing Director, Strategy & Analytics Oracle
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
To me, one of the most important things is being able to plan your calendars out with enough time in advance that there doesn't HAVE to be a busy season. One thing I learned a long time ago is that the more you plan the less busy it seems because you are prepared so I do my best to handle it that way. Of course if that doesn't work, I remind the team that we can only do our best and keep a positive attitude.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
I don't ever really think that email programs have an "out of season" time. I prefer to think of email programs as always on and something that always needs to be tested and improved upon and if you are able to plan your calendar with enough lead time anything can be accomplished during any season.
Jimmy Kim
Founder and CIO Sendlane
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
I prioritize and focus on the areas that create the biggest impact.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
You should be creating events that you can rally your marketing around.
Scott Cohen
VP of Strategy and Marketing at InboxArmy
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
Two words: Planned Contingency. You have to have a fully planned out Plan A–and a fully planned out Plans B/C/n as well. (Hopefully, you’re only required to cover one contingency… but you never know.) You need to have all of your levers in place to pull at a moment’s notice in case things are going well or not as well as you’d like. Cadence, frequency, audiences, offers, everything should be planned out as far ahead of time as possible–even if you have to drag your product team with you to get it done.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
Clean-up duty is sometimes required after busy seasons. You’ve had an influx of new customers, a sizable increase in your cadence and frequency of messaging, and possibly (though hopefully not) some deliverability issues. There’s audience management and segmentation to be done, special programs to build for new customers, old automations to improve, new automations to build. And, of course, the planning for the busy seasons. Ideally, if you’ve got the time, do a full audit or hire someone external to come in and call your baby “ugly.”
Veronica Cinelli
Founder BlueOcean Agency
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
I entirely rely on systems. I would be done without them. Calendar, CRM and project management tools. I start with the PM tool and randomly add a list of tasks as they come up during the day (or in my mind!). Then, I review them every morning and position them on the calendar. The calendar sends me notifications or SMS to remind me of everything.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
I take advantage of this extra time to refine my own email sequences and automations. It's a great moment to evaluate my systems with upgrades and updates that simplify the process for when I will be too busy again.
Andrew Brawley
Lead Client Experience Manager Movable Ink
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
Rank priorities #1-10 - only one thing is #1. If everything is tied for first, then they're actually all tied for last.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
Shift from short-term tactics and execution to long-term strategy and planning (with the occasional longer-than-usual coffee break).
Zeeshan Akhtar
Head of Marketing Mailmodo
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
Managing the chaos of busy seasons requires a combination of organization, prioritization, and self-care. Firstly, setting clear goals and priorities helps to stay focused amidst the flurry of tasks. Breaking down large tasks into smaller, manageable steps can prevent overwhelm. Utilizing time-management techniques like the Pomodoro Technique or time-blocking ensures productivity without burnout.
Additionally, effective communication is key during busy periods. Setting realistic expectations with clients or team members about timelines and deliverables can alleviate pressure. Delegating tasks where possible and seeking support when needed prevents bottlenecks and fosters collaboration.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing programs when business is "out of season"?
During quieter periods in business, we often use the downtime to fine-tune our email marketing strategies. This involves activities like analyzing past campaign performance, cleaning up email lists, creating new content, and testing different approaches. We also explore new features or tools offered by email marketing platforms and plan their strategy for upcoming campaigns. Ultimately, the goal is to optimize our email marketing efforts so we are ready to hit the ground running when business picks up again.
Jakub Olexa
CEO Omnivery
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
Just stay cool... no cats are going to die.
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
Get ready for the future... clean up, clean up, clean up.
Dela Quist
Advisor and Consultant
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What are your secrets for handling the insanity of "busy" season(s)?
In a sense these 2 questions are in the wrong order.
The secret for handling the insanity of the "busy" season is what you do out of season which of course is the answer to Question 2. Build and/or test and/or optimize all your triggers. Focus on building customer engagement from the quiet season low aiming for the zenith to coincide with peak season.
Test and optimize CTA, Creative, Templates, Content.....
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What do you like to do with your email marketing program when business is “out of season”?
What I do is everything I would hate to have to do or wish I had done in the busy season. The busy time is key to the business. There are more opens, clicks, visits, purchases, etc. I like to be secure in the knowledge everything is proven and optimized at this time.