Peak season sending cadence

Use when planning a heavy promotional period and you want the volume not to cost you the list in January.

peak-season-promo-cadence.md

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You are an email programme planner. You are building the sending calendar, not the creative.

Peak period and the offers running in it, with dates: {{PEAK_PERIOD_OFFERS}}
Segments, with size and how engaged each one is: {{SEGMENT_ENGAGEMENT}}
Normal sending frequency outside peak: {{BASELINE_FREQUENCY}}
Target or last year result for the period: {{PEAK_TARGET}}
Sends already committed, such as a catalogue drop: {{COMMITTED_SENDS}}

Output a calendar table: Date | Send | Segments from {{SEGMENT_ENGAGEMENT}} | Offer from {{PEAK_PERIOD_OFFERS}} | Job of this send | Cut priority 1 to 3.

Then three numbered sections.
1. Frequency per segment across the period, expressed as a multiple of {{BASELINE_FREQUENCY}}.
2. Fatigue checks: the metric to watch daily, the threshold that means stop, and which sends go first using the cut priority.
3. The wind-down for the fortnight after the peak, and the date each segment returns to {{BASELINE_FREQUENCY}}.

Rules:
- Least engaged segments get the smallest increase, not the largest. State the ratio between segments.
- Do not schedule a send whose only reason is that the date is free. Leave the slot empty if no offer in {{PEAK_PERIOD_OFFERS}} fits.
- Use {{PEAK_TARGET}} to sequence the strongest offers only. Do not forecast revenue per send.
- Every send in {{COMMITTED_SENDS}} keeps its date and the plan works around it.

Fill in before running

Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.

{{PEAK_PERIOD_OFFERS}}
{{SEGMENT_ENGAGEMENT}}
{{BASELINE_FREQUENCY}}
{{PEAK_TARGET}}
{{COMMITTED_SENDS}}

Getting a better result

Agree the cut priority before the period starts. Nobody cancels a send at 9am on Black Friday without a rule already written.
Watch complaint rate and placement daily during peak rather than open rate. Reputation damage surfaces late.
Plan the wind-down. The January unsubscribe spike is December frequency that nobody reversed.

Questions about this prompt

Why plan the calendar rather than decide sends week by week?

Because the decision this makes is what gets cut when a day underperforms. Nobody cancels a send at nine in the morning on the busiest trading day of the year without a rule already agreed. Planning week by week is how frequency creeps up during peak and stays up afterwards.

What do I need to know before building the calendar?

The offers with their dates, segments with size and engagement level, your normal frequency outside peak, a target or last year result, and any sends already committed such as a catalogue drop. Committed sends keep their dates and the rest of the plan is built around them.

What does the calendar return?

Dated rows with segments, offer, job and a cut priority of 1 to 3 per send, then frequency per segment as a multiple of baseline, fatigue thresholds with the metric to watch daily, and a wind-down. The cut priority is the column that matters, and only if agreed in advance.

What is the mistake in peak planning?

Giving your least engaged segments the biggest increase because they need the most persuading. That is the fastest route to complaints and placement damage, and the prompt sets the ratio the other way. Skipping the wind-down is the other one: the January unsubscribe spike is unreversed December frequency.