Email Marketing Calendar Generator
Pick a month, your kind of store, where you sell and how often you send. You get a dated plan of campaign emails, key retail dates with their lead times, and a working idea for every send.
October 2026: 10 campaign emails, 3 key dates.
Thu 1 Oct
Key date
Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins
Tie this send to Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins only if it fits your brand. If it does not, send a normal email this day.
Tue 6 Oct
Key date
Early access: Prime Big Deal Days
Subscribers get the Prime Big Deal Days offer first. Say when it opens to everyone.
This date is announced each year. Treat it as a window and do not state it in copy until it is confirmed.
Thu 8 Oct
Teaching
A simple routine in three steps, in the order to apply them
Tue 13 Oct
Key date
Prime Big Deal Days
The Prime Big Deal Days offer is open. Lead with the offer and the end date, best sellers first.
This date is announced each year. Treat it as a window and do not state it in copy until it is confirmed.
Thu 15 Oct
Product
Your best seller, with the before-and-after questions people ask about it
Tue 20 Oct
What customers say
Three real reviews that answer a common worry, with the customer’s first name
Thu 22 Oct
Offer
One clear offer with an end date. Say what it applies to and what it does not
Tue 27 Oct
From you
A short note from you: why you started and what you are working on
Thu 29 Oct
Teaching
One ingredient explained: what it does and who should skip it
Sat 31 Oct
Key date
Halloween
Tie this send to Halloween only if it fits your brand. If it does not, send a normal email this day.
How the plan is built
The generator uses the same planning rules as Tilly’s email calendar agent, in the same order:
- Key dates first. Retail moments for your country (Black Friday, Mother’s Day, Boxing Day and so on) are computed from their rules for that year, never typed in, so a moving date like US Thanksgiving is always right.
- Lead sends. A shopping event gets an early-access send 7 days before and a main send on the day. A gift moment gets a teaser 10 days before, a main send 5 days before and a last call 2 days before, so there is still time to deliver. Other dates get one send on the day.
- One campaign a day. If two key-date sends land on the same day, the more important keeps it and the other moves a day or two earlier, or is listed as skipped.
- Regular sends. The rest of the month fills on your cadence’s weekdays (Tuesday and Thursday at two a week), kept at least two days clear of any key-date send.
- A mix. Each regular send takes whichever type is furthest behind its share: teaching and product emails most often, then customer stories and offers, then a note from you and new stock. The same type never runs twice in a row.
- An offer cap. Two offers a month, one more for each shopping event in the month, never more than four, so the list is not trained to wait for a discount.
A worked example
A home and living store in the US, sending twice a week, plans November 2026. Singles’ Day, Wednesday 11 November, gets an early-access send on the 4th and a main send on the day. Black Friday is Friday 27 November, so early access goes out on Friday 20 November, and Small Business Saturday is folded into the same sends because it falls a day later. Cyber Monday is 30 November, with early access on Monday 23 November. Thanksgiving, Thursday 26 November, gets one send.
That leaves room for only one regular email, a teaching email on Tuesday 17 November, because every other Tuesday and Thursday sits within two days of a key-date send. November is crowded; a quiet month like March fills almost entirely with regular sends.
Common email calendar mistakes
- Planning only the sales. A list that only hears from you when there is a discount learns to wait for one.
- Sending gift emails on the day. For anything that ships, the useful sends are the ones with time left to order.
- Treating announced dates as fixed. Prime Day and similar events are announced each year; plan a window, and never state the date in copy until it is confirmed.
- Forgetting flows. Welcome, abandoned checkout and post-purchase emails run on their own. The calendar is for campaigns on top of them.
- No room for the unplanned. Leave a slot for news, a restock or a problem you need to explain.
What it does not do
It plans with the curated retail dates for the US, Canada and the UK, plus a shared list for other countries. It does not add public holidays, Ramadan, Eid or Hanukkah, which need proper calendar conversion; add them yourself if they matter to your customers. It suggests what each send is for, but not the copy. The email calendar agent does the rest: it adds public holidays for every country you sell to, writes each email for your customer personas and drafts them into Klaviyo for your approval.
For November in detail, use the Black Friday Cyber Monday planner.
Questions people ask
How many marketing emails should a Shopify store send a week?
There is no right number for every store. Two a week is the default here and a common starting point. Send more only if people keep opening and few unsubscribe; the planner goes up to five.
Why are some weekdays skipped?
A regular send is dropped if it falls within two days of a key-date send, so people do not get two campaigns back to back.
Can I download the plan?
Yes, as a CSV file you can open in any spreadsheet or import into a planning tool.
Where do the dates come from?
From rules, not a list of dates: the fourth Thursday of November, the second Sunday of May, Easter computed for the year. They are the same rules Tilly’s calendar agent uses.
Does it include my country’s public holidays?
Not in this free tool. The Tilly calendar agent adds them from a holiday library for each country you sell to.
Written by Tilly. Free to use with no sign-up. The tool runs in your browser, and nothing you type into it is sent or stored.
Want this done on your own store?
Paste your store URL. The first pass of the audit is free, needs no sign-up, and shows what to fix on your pages and products.