# Zak Cassady-Dorion

Zak Cassady-Dorion works in DTC ecommerce marketing, with a focus on retention and planning for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Zak also speaks and hosts the DTC Revenue Rocket podcast.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/zak-cassady-dorion/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakcassadydorion
- LinkedIn followers: 2,483
- Topics: artificial-intelligence, ecommerce, ecommerce-retention, ai-in-ecommerce
- Based on 11 dated posts, latest 2026-10-09

## Summary

Useful for DTC ecommerce brands that need concrete Black Friday and retention planning before peak season.

- Best for: A DTC ecommerce brand with a Q4 retention or Black Friday sequencing problem.
- Not for: A B2B software or developer tooling brand seeking technical buyers and product led demand.
- Check first: Confirm audience job function, seniority, industry, and country, plus partnership terms and pricing.

### Takeaways

- Black Friday lands six weeks after October 15, so deciding work is done or not.
- Audit Klaviyo flows, deliverability, segments, ad audiences, and site changes before traffic peaks.
- Send postcards after Cyber Monday to turn first time buyers into repeat customers.

## Main ideas

- **Do the peak-season work before the peak**: Zak argues that Black Friday results are decided weeks in advance. The six-week plan in the panel announcement covers email flows, deliverability, audience segments and site checks before the rush, followed by direct mail after Cyber Monday to encourage another purchase. The focus is on getting specific work done ahead of time, not waiting for the event to fix a weak plan.
- **Make seasonal campaigns stand out**: Zak sees sameness as a creative problem: if every brand sends the same BFCM email, another tips list is unlikely to stand out. They praise a MySpace-inspired campaign where brands could create profiles and share content—a recognizable format people can take part in, rather than another generic seasonal post.
- **Give new retention channels a fair test**: Zak’s BFCM panel announcement connects email and SMS preparation with a post-purchase question: how can a first order become a repeat order? A separate podcast post promotes direct mail credits from PostPilot and repeats guest Ben Walter’s advice not to underspend on a new channel. Together, the posts suggest testing direct mail as part of retention planning; the offer comes from a vendor featured on the podcast.
- **Use AI, but keep confidence in check**: In a September recap, Zak writes, “Don’t let AI scare you. Let that excite you.” The post also shares Nick Selman of Shoplift’s warning that being “confidently wrong” is dangerous in ecommerce. Zak’s BFCM panel announcement presents Klaviyo’s AI agent as a way to audit flows and build campaigns faster. Together, the posts pair enthusiasm for AI with Selman’s reminder to take care when it affects the customer experience that drives revenue.

## Work to read

- [BFCM Starts Now: the case for doing the peak-season work in mid-October](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zakcassadydorion_bfcm-blackfriday-ecd-activity-7513629544763830272-fQg7)
- [A September recap: agency award, conference speaking, and podcast season two](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zakcassadydorion_heres-a-little-september-recap-kbos-activity-7511505157382316032-q5E2)
- [Why another BFCM email loses, and the MySpace throwback one software vendor built instead](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zakcassadydorion_bfcm-myspace-ecd-activity-7513999953036259328-RkOJ)
- [The podcast offer: 500 direct-mail credits, tripled live to 1,500](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zakcassadydorion_ecd-ecommerce-klaviyo-activity-7513647176141500416-jaL6)
- [Retail Club in Huntington Beach: three days on the Klaviyo stage boardwalk](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zakcassadydorion_ecd-ecommerce-retentionmarketing-activity-7510710324438753280-6C_k)

## Brand relationships

- **Klaviyo** (disclosed_partnership)
- **PostPilot** (disclosed_partnership)
- **Shoplift** (mention)

## Partnerships

The brand activity described is collaboration with Klaviyo and PostPilot: a free BFCM panel moderated with both companies, a PostPilot guest episode of DTC Revenue Rocket with a listener card-credit offer, a PostPilot MyBFCMSpace profile, and Klaviyo naming ECD Digital Strategy Agency Partner of the Year for the Americas. A buyer can explore podcast, event, or co-marketing collaboration. Confirm availability, pricing, terms, and booking steps directly; no public sponsorship policy, rate card, or partnership inquiry route appears in the posts.

## Alternatives

- Vira Sadlak: For the same DTC retention and BFCM campaign, consider Vira Sadlak if the priority is improving email flows and campaign execution. Their posts discuss reviewing discount-code flows, keeping campaigns and flows consistent, using content blocks, and strengthening price-drop and back-in-stock automations. Vira’s practical email-automation guidance is a closer match than a broader Q4 plan spanning deliverability, audiences, site changes, and direct mail.
- Ben Walter: Consider Ben Walter when the need is specifically adding direct mail to an ecommerce retention program or building agency and technology partnerships around it. Ben Walter's posts describe helping agencies plan and run direct mail, including identifying partners and making agency teams more capable of delivering the channel. That partnership-focused perspective may suit a brand whose immediate task is finding a direct-mail implementation route.
- Mike Gleba: Consider Mike Gleba if the priority is diagnosing a weak ecommerce retention program and making the business case for fixing it. One post describes an $8 million-a-year brand with weak or missing flows, no recent campaigns, and low pop-up conversion, illustrating the cost of underinvesting in retention. Another emphasizes the value of agency community and learning from peers. Mike may be a better starting point for a diagnostic conversation than a seasonal campaign-planning session.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/