Klaviyo BFCM Segments: The 6 to Build Before Black Friday
Build six segments before Nov 18: engaged 30/60/90, VIPs, past BFCM buyers, unengaged, recent buyers and browsers who never bought. Each one maps to specific BFCM sends.
Sorted Agency·October 6, 2026·9 min read
The six Klaviyo BFCM segments to build are: engaged 30/60/90 day, VIPs, past BFCM buyers, unengaged profiles, recent buyers, and browsers with no purchase. Build them by Nov 13 so they have a week of data before the Nov 18 teaser. Every segment needs a "can receive email marketing" condition, and each one maps to specific sends.
Segments decide who gets the 13 sends in the Sorted BFCM calendar. Get them wrong and you either burn your sender reputation on cold profiles or leave revenue sitting in your best customers' inboxes. This post covers the exact conditions, in Klaviyo's own condition names, and which sends each segment gets. It sits inside the full Klaviyo Black Friday setup guide.
Which Klaviyo segments do you need for BFCM?
Here is the full set. Conditions use the names in Klaviyo's segment conditions reference. "Can receive email marketing" is the "If someone can or cannot receive marketing" condition set to email.
Segment
Core conditions (AND unless noted)
BFCM sends it gets
1. Engaged 30 / 60 / 90
Can receive email marketing. Clicked Email OR Opened Email (Apple Privacy Open = False) OR Active on Site, at least once in the last 30, 60 or 90 days
30 day: all 13. 60 day: core sends. 90 day: Black Friday launch and Cyber Monday launch only
2. VIP / high value
Can receive email marketing. Placed Order at least 3 times over all time, OR Historic CLV is greater than your top 10% cutoff
3 (VIP early access), plus every core send
3. Past BFCM buyers
Can receive email marketing. Placed Order at least once between dates Nov 20, 2025 and Dec 3, 2025
1 (teaser), 3 (early access), 4, 8
4. Unengaged
Can receive email marketing. Clicked Email zero times AND Opened Email (Apple Privacy Open = False) zero times AND Placed Order zero times, all in the last 180 days
Suppress from all, or 1 send max (Black Friday launch)
5. Recent buyers
Placed Order at least once in the last 14 days (full price), or after Nov 24 (sale)
Exclude from 6, 7, 9, 11, 12
6. Browsers, no purchase
Can receive email marketing. Viewed Product at least once in the last 30 days AND Placed Order zero times over all time
The rest of this post explains each condition and the judgment calls behind it.
How do you build an engaged segment in Klaviyo for Black Friday?
Klaviyo's own engaged segment guidance recommends 30, 60 and 90 day versions, defined by opens or clicks, with a subscribed-to-email condition in every segment you send to. We build all three.
Conditions for Engaged 30:
If someone can receive marketing: email
What someone has done: Clicked Email at least once in the last 30 days
OR Opened Email at least once in the last 30 days, with the filter "Apple Privacy Open equals False"
OR Active on Site at least once in the last 30 days
Copy it twice and change 30 to 60 and 90.
The Apple filter matters. Klaviyo's Apple Mail Privacy Protection article explains that MPP prefetches the tracking pixel, so an "open" from an Apple Mail user can be a machine. Without the filter, your 30 day segment includes people who have not looked at an email in a year.
Add new subscribers too. Use "If someone is in a list" with the date filter "in the last 30 days" for your main list. A profile who signed up on Nov 10 has no engagement history yet, and you want them in the teaser.
How do you define VIP customers in Klaviyo?
A VIP is anyone whose order history says they will buy again without a deep discount. Two ways to build it:
Order count: Placed Order at least 3 times over all time. Works on any account.
Predicted value: "Predictive analytics about someone" with Historic CLV or Predicted CLV greater than a dollar cutoff. Klaviyo requires at least 500 customers with orders, an ecommerce integration and 180+ days of order history for these fields, per the segment conditions reference.
Pick a dollar cutoff from your own data. Export Historic CLV, sort it and use the value at your top 10%. For a $3M skincare brand, that is a few hundred profiles at most. Small is fine. This segment protects margin.
VIPs get send 3, the Tue Nov 24 early access email. Give them the sale 72 hours before everyone else. Our early access email guide covers the build, and the D2C VIP segmentation post covers tiering beyond BFCM.
Should you target last year's Black Friday buyers?
Yes. They bought during a sale once. They are the most likely profiles to do it again.
BFCM 2025 ran Thanksgiving Thu Nov 27 to Cyber Monday Mon Dec 1. Build the segment with a buffer on both ends:
If someone can receive marketing: email
Placed Order at least once, "between dates" Nov 20, 2025 and Dec 3, 2025
If you have three years of data, add an OR line for 2024 (Black Friday was Nov 29, 2024, so use Nov 22 to Dec 4, 2024).
Send them the Nov 18 teaser with "you shopped our sale last year" copy. Add them to the early access send if they are not already VIPs. Then let them fall into the main launch sends on Nov 27 and Nov 30.
One caution. Some of these profiles bought once on discount and never came back. If they also sit in your unengaged segment, the unengaged rule wins.
What should you do with unengaged subscribers during BFCM?
Suppress them from almost everything. They rarely buy, and they are the profiles most likely to hit the spam button. Gmail tells bulk senders to keep the user-reported spam rate below 0.1% and never reach 0.3%. One bad week can push you over.
Conditions:
If someone can receive marketing: email
Clicked Email zero times in the last 180 days
AND Opened Email (Apple Privacy Open = False) zero times in the last 180 days
AND Placed Order zero times in the last 180 days
AND is not in your main list with "added in the last 30 days"
One send. Include them only in send 4, Black Friday launch. Watch spam complaints on that send before adding them to anything else.
Do not suppress them permanently in October. Run a sunset flow first. The win-back flow guide covers the setup.
Which recent buyers should you exclude from discount emails?
Two groups, two reasons.
Full-price buyers from the last 14 days. Someone who paid $80 on Nov 16 and gets a 30% off email on Nov 24 feels punished. Conditions: Placed Order at least once in the last 14 days. Exclude them from the teaser and early access, or send them a separate version with a gift-with-purchase instead of the discount.
Sale buyers during the week. Once someone buys on Black Friday, the "last call" and "final hours" sends are noise. Conditions: Placed Order at least once "after" Nov 24, 2026. Exclude this segment from:
Send 6, weekend push
Send 7, Cyber Monday tease
Send 9, Cyber Monday last call
Send 11, sale extended
Send 12, final hours
Keep them in send 13, the thank you and holiday shipping cutoff. Then hand them to your post-purchase flow.
Klaviyo segments update as events come in, so a buyer drops out of the next send automatically. Check the segment count an hour before each scheduled send.
How do you segment browsers who haven't purchased?
These are people who know your products and have not bought. BFCM is the price drop they are waiting for.
Conditions:
If someone can receive marketing: email
Viewed Product at least once in the last 30 days
AND Placed Order zero times over all time
Two variants help. Swap Viewed Product for Added to Cart to get a smaller, hotter group. Or use Active on Site at least 3 times in the last 30 days for frequent visitors. All three metric names come from Klaviyo's Shopify data reference. Active on Site and Viewed Product come from Klaviyo's onsite tracking snippet, so confirm it is installed.
Price alone rarely converts a first-time buyer. Give them proof too. Send them:
Send 2, gift guide (Fri Nov 20)
Send 5, bestsellers at sale price
Send 6, shipping, returns and reviews
Send 9, Cyber Monday last call
How should you layer segments onto the 13 BFCM sends?
Build them by Nov 13, 2026. That gives each segment time to populate and gives you a week to check counts before the Nov 18 teaser. Use them earlier for your sending ramp. Klaviyo's sending volume guidance is to start increasing volume about 2 weeks before your big send, which puts the first ramp send around Nov 9.
Should I use opens in Klaviyo engaged segments after Apple Mail Privacy Protection?
Yes, with a filter. Add "Apple Privacy Open equals False" to every Opened Email condition. That keeps real opens from non-Apple devices and drops machine opens. Pair it with Clicked Email and Active on Site so Apple Mail users who genuinely engage still qualify through clicks and site visits.
How big should my BFCM engaged segment be?
There is no universal number. Check what share of your emailable list sits in Engaged 90. If it is small, your list has a cleaning problem, and BFCM week is the wrong week to mail everyone. Start the ramp with Engaged 30, then widen each send by about 50%, the rate in Klaviyo's BFCM volume lesson, toward Engaged 90.
Can I use Klaviyo predictive CLV for BFCM VIP segments?
Yes, if your account qualifies. Klaviyo needs at least 500 customers with orders, an ecommerce integration and 180 or more days of order history before predictive fields appear. If you do not qualify, use Placed Order at least 3 times over all time. It is simpler and works on any account.
Should I exclude customers who just bought from Black Friday emails?
Exclude them from the urgency sends. Someone who bought on Nov 27 does not need "last call" on Nov 30. Keep them in the Dec 4 thank you and shipping cutoff send. For full-price buyers in the 14 days before the sale, send a gift-with-purchase version instead of the discount.
