Test or Freeze? How Smart Brands Win BFCM Without Breaking the Funnel

Should you lock everything down during BFCM—or keep testing?

In this episode, Kayle Larkin (Elevar) sits down with Mia Umanos (Clickvoyant) and Kristina Toth (Hannaford) to unpack the real tradeoffs of code freezes vs. experimentation in Q4.

You’ll hear why treating Q4 like a lab for behavioral data changes how you plan, how to keep tests safe without risking your checkout, and why most CRO programs fail when they ignore decision science.

We also cover:

• Why Q4 is the one moment you can’t afford to stop learning
• How to design tests that reveal customer psychology, not just click-through rates
• What to freeze (tech + payment flows) vs. what to test (messaging, promos, urgency cues)
• Guardrails and signals that tell you when to roll back

Whether you’re heading into your first high-traffic season or your 14th, this episode shows you how to balance safety with learning—and why the insights you capture now fuel Q1 and beyond.

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