Post-Holiday Email/SMS Deliverability Reset
The post-holiday period presents a critical window to restore email and SMS performance after the chaos of peak season campaigns. Many brands emerge from the holidays with damaged sender reputations, bloated lists, and disengaged subscribers that threaten long-term deliverability. This guide draws on proven strategies from deliverability experts to help marketers repair their sending infrastructure and rebuild subscriber engagement in the new year.
Rebuild Trust Through Controlled Recency Rewarm
After the holidays, I've learned to assume one thing is broken, even if revenue looks fine: trust. High-volume November and December sends stretch inbox tolerance, especially for brands that mix promotional urgency with SMS. I saw this firsthand years ago while working with a retail client that had record holiday revenue, then watched January open rates quietly collapse. Nothing "failed" overnight. Deliverability just eroded.
From my perspective as founder of NerDAI, January recovery isn't about sending less, it's about sending differently. The biggest mistake I see is brands going dark for two weeks and then blasting again. That resets nothing. What worked best for us was a controlled re-warm that treated January like a new relationship, not a continuation of Q4.
One measurable win came from segmenting by recency and restraint. We paused promotional email to anyone who hadn't opened or clicked in the last 30 days, even if they bought during the holidays. Instead, we sent a short-value message to the most engaged 20 to 30 percent first. No discounts. No countdowns. Just useful content tied to what they purchased in December. Deliverability signals improved within days because engagement density went up immediately.
For SMS, we applied the same principle but even tighter. Only recent clickers and buyers received messages in the first two weeks of January, capped at one send every five to seven days. That pacing alone lifted reply and click-through rates enough to stabilize carrier trust.
The trigger metric I watch closest is not opens or revenue, but inbox placement correlated with engagement per send. When engagement per thousand recipients rebounds, revenue follows naturally. January doesn't need to be loud to be profitable. It needs to be respectful. That mindset shift has consistently helped us protect deliverability while keeping revenue steady across ecommerce, subscription, and local-service brands.
Purge Dead Weight And Reintroduce Value
You've got to accept that January will be slower, but you can minimize the damage. We focus on list hygiene starting December 26th. Anyone who ignored our last ten emails gets suppressed immediately. That usually cuts our list by 12-15%, but sender score improves within 48 hours.
Our re-warm schedule runs two weeks minimum. Week one is pure engagement content - no asks, no CTAs to product pages, just useful information about communication trends, industry reports, video tutorials. Week two introduces soft touches like customer success stories or feature updates that don't feel like sales pitches. By week three we're back to regular promotional cadence but watching bounce rates and spam complaints like crazy.
For SMS, we're even more conservative. Those subscribers cost more and burn faster if you abuse them. We cut frequency by half in January and only text about genuinely urgent stuff or exclusive offers that feel like insider access. We've found that SMS subscribers who engaged during holidays will tolerate continued outreach, but ones who went dark need space.
Where we maintained revenue was doubling our focus on customer marketing. Existing Nextiva customers got targeted campaigns about expanding their platform usage, adding seats, or upgrading tiers. That's warm traffic that doesn't hurt deliverability and converts at 3-4x higher rates than cold prospects. We also leaned into partnerships and co-marketing plays that gave us access to fresh audiences without burning our house list.
Prioritize Intent And Ease Off Volume
January deliverability repair starts with restraint, not clever messaging. After peak volume, inbox providers watch behavior closely. The fastest way to recover reputation is reducing frequency while improving signal quality.
The first step is segmenting by recent intent. Only people who engaged in the last thirty days should receive proactive campaigns. Everyone else moves to quiet reactivation tracks. That alone lifts open and reply rates, which inboxes reward quickly.
FREEQRCODE.AI helps here by identifying real world engagement, not just opens. QR scans show intent that email metrics miss. Someone who scanned a package insert or in store sign in December is still warm in January, even if they ignored a sale email. Messaging those users keeps revenue moving without spamming cold lists.
Next comes content tightening. One clear message per send. No stacked offers. No urgency stacking. Deliverability improves when users act instead of skim.
Finally, rebuild trust gradually. Small sends, consistent timing, and clean unsubscribe paths signal respect. FREEQRCODE.AI supports this by giving marketers alternate touchpoints that reduce pressure on inboxes while keeping engagement active.
Repair works when volume drops and relevance rises. Revenue stays steady because the right people still hear from you.
Use Calm Copy And Clear Subjects
After the holidays, filters are strict about hype and punctuation. Replace pushy words like free, urgent, and winner with clear value statements. Keep subject lines and SMS short, honest, and specific. Limit symbols, all caps, and emojis, and avoid link shorteners that hide final URLs.
Give real context, such as why the message matters today. Test copy with a spam checker and run a small send before full launch. Rewrite your next message with simple, calm language.
Secure A2P Approval And Compliance
Carriers now require brand and campaign registration for A2P 10DLC, and unregistered traffic can be blocked or surcharged. Make sure your brand profile, use cases, sample messages, and URLs match real sends. Keep opt-in proof, STOP and HELP handling, and quiet hours in place. Watch vetting scores and throughput tiers, and adjust volume to stay within limits.
Update filings when brand names, websites, or message flows change. If using toll-free, complete verification to prevent filtering. Finish or update 10DLC registration before the next SMS campaign.
Harden Authentication And Enforce DMARC Plus BIMI
After the peak season, inbox providers tighten filters, so strong authentication matters. Verify SPF includes only active senders and stays under the DNS lookup limit. Sign all mail with 2048-bit DKIM and rotate old keys. Set DMARC with aligned domains and move the policy from none to quarantine or reject as data supports.
Add BIMI with a verified logo and a VMC to build trust and lift opens. Review DMARC reports weekly to catch drift or spoofing early. Start an authentication audit this week.
Reset Consent And Offer Real Choices
Heavy holiday sends can tire audiences and raise complaints, so a consent reset helps reputation. Offer clear choices for topics, frequency, and channel, so people get only what they want. Use double opt-in for SMS and for risky email sources to confirm consent. Send a welcome note that sets the pace, content types, and how to reach a preference page.
Remove inactive or unconfirmed contacts fast to lower bounce and spam rates. Keep time-stamped consent records to satisfy checks by carriers and mailbox providers. Launch a consent renewal drive today.
Monitor Blocklists And Remediate Fast
Seasonal spikes can trigger blocklist hits that hurt delivery long after volume drops. Check IPs, sending domains, and link domains against major lists each day. If listed, pause the source, fix the cause, and follow the list’s steps to get delisted. Clean data by removing traps, hard bounces, and risky signups.
Warm new IPs or subdomains slowly, and keep complaint rates below set limits. Share clear proof of change, such as DMARC enforcement and tighter targeting, when asking for delist. Run a blocklist check before each major send.