[ Chapter 05 · Part 2 ] Email, SMS & Owned Channels

Dreamland Baby Co.

An operator spotlight from a VP of Ecommerce who owns the BFCM send calendar. What actually earned its place in the inbox and what the raw send count hides.

[ Brand contributor ]

Dreamland Baby Co. Mike Woodland VP of Ecommerce

“During BFCM, I do not believe another send is justified simply because revenue is below plan. A message needs a new angle, a real deadline or a more relevant audience. If it has none of those, it is probably just fatigue.”

This brand is independent of the chapter’s sponsor and of every other brand in the playbook.

Overperformed VIP early access “The Nov 15 VIP SMS generated $2.13 per delivered message, against $0.51 for the broad public launch and $0.14 for the final last-chance send. Exclusivity and audience quality beat reach.”

Underperformed Final broad urgency “The Dec 2 last-chance SMS: $0.14 per delivered message, 0.80% click, 1.44% unsubscribe, the highest of the event. By then, ‘Black Friday is live’ was no longer a new message.”

[ The send calendar ]

The Strongest Sends Give a New Reason to Shop.

Nov 15 – Dec 213 email · 7 SMScampaigns across the event window

Eligible customer, BFCM~4 email · 3 SMSplus triggered flows if they entered one

Owned-channel revenueEmail 8% · SMS 4%share of total BFCM revenue

The "we don't send past this" rule Dreamland doesn't add a broad send just because revenue is below plan. A send needs at least one of three things: a meaningfully new angle, a genuinely new deadline, or a more relevant audience. Narrow the audience or let automations do the work. As long as each send earns its spot with the audience, it's worth considering.

[ Campaigns vs. automations ]

Campaigns Created Demand. Automations Captured It.

Across the same Nov 15 – Dec 2 window, behavior-triggered flows earned an order of magnitude more revenue per message than broadcast campaigns.

Metric	Campaigns	Automations
{{ r.k }}	{{ r.camp }}	{{ r.auto }}

“Campaigns created demand, but automations captured it. Updating our welcome, browse, cart and checkout flows to reflect the live offer was one of the highest-return decisions we made.”

[ VIP early access ]

Timing Paired With Audience Quality.

Opened Nov 15, ~2 days before the public launch, to the Loyalty-enrolled segment. The VIP SMS wasn't the broad audience 48 hours early, it was a better audience.

Revenue / message$2.13VIP SMS · ~4.2× the broad launch

Click rate5.03%VIP SMS · ~2.5× the broad launch

Unsubscribe rate0.35%VIP SMS · under half the broad launch

VIP email ran directionally the same: 1.68% click, $0.69 revenue per recipient, 0.17% unsubscribe.

[ The cost of one send too many ]

SMS Fatigue, Day by Day.

Weighted SMS unsubscribe rate by stage (7 core campaigns, ~1.03% overall). The Dec 2 last-chance send was the weakest in revenue efficiency ($0.14 per delivered message) and the highest in unsubscribes, the clearest case where the marginal revenue didn't justify the full audience. Email showed a gentler version of the same curve (0.64% overall; 0.85% on the Dec 2 final email).

[ The 2026 plan ]

Dreamland Baby Co.

The Strongest Sends Give a New Reason to Shop.

Campaigns Created Demand. Automations Captured It.

Timing Paired With Audience Quality.

SMS Fatigue, Day by Day.

Five Changes for Next Year.