Email

Email Marketing Tips for a Piece of the Holiday Pie

On Cyber Monday 2017, desktop e-commerce sales amounted to 3.36 billion US dollars, up from 2.67 billion US dollars in the previous year. This figure represents a 26% year-on-year growth. [source] That’s a lot of dough!  Maybe it’s time for you to get serious about your holiday email marketing.

The holidays are a time of increased marketing activity, especially to consumer’s email inboxes. If you want a piece of the holiday shopping pie, here’s a quick checklist to make sure your holiday email campaigns don’t crash and burn.

  • Review last year’s email campaigns and look for successes and areas for improvement. Which campaigns bombed?  Which were successful? Is there an apparent reason why? Use these finding to create this year’s email campaign.
  • Many successful email marketers begin retargeting campaigns during July and continue through October. Use the following tactics:
    • Ask customers to update their email addresses and contact preferences.
    • Ask for product reviews on their previous purchases. Not only will this get the individual reengaged with your brand, but it will provide reviews for other consumers to review while holiday shopping.
    • Ask customers to sign up for your loyalty program.
  • Clean your data to make sure you’re reaching your customers. Up to 17% of Americans create new email addresses every six months and 30% of subscribers change their email annually.
  • Ensure that your email is mobile friendly. During the 2017 holiday season, Shopify found that 59.6% of all Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales took place on a mobile device.
  • Consider an email design with a seasonal look and feel.
  • Pair email campaigns with other marketing efforts. Reinforce your message and deals across multiple channels, including social ads, Ad Words, direct mail, SEO, etc.
  • Target key shopping days. The holiday shopping season is more than just Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If possible, gather data from prior years to look for patterns and target important days.
  • Craft subject lines that will not only stand out in your customer’s inbox, but that also create urgency. Chances are that your email will be delivered the same day as many others. How will you stand out from the clutter?

Need more help with your email marketing campaigns? Download ANS’ email best practices guide, here:


Download the Guide

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Blog post written by Wendy Harwood.

sources: cmo, target marketing, shopify

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