The holiday season has already begun and while most marketers have been planning for this busy timeframe for months, there are always ways to optimize the season in real time.
To help you take advantage throughout this time of year, we’ve put together a list of easy tips that are designed to help you maximize your engagement and drive ROI through the end of the year. Here is a list of six last minute tips for holiday emails.
- Surprise & Delight: It’s that time of year for giving and consumers will remember the brands that treat them especially well. Don’t just send the usual offer emails to your most active customers. Go above and beyond for this group and surprise and delight them. Perhaps it’s recognizing how much they have already spent and offering a special discount for them to treat themselves to a gift. Or maybe it is a special service like free delivery or a taxi service home from your store when purchasing items like televisions that are difficult to transport.
- Let Social Conversations Inform Emails: During the holidays consumers are especially active on social media. Use this engagement to help develop timely emails. If there is a particular item that is generating a lot of reviews on your site or shares on Instagram this month, then highlight these social conversations in your emails so that others can be informed of the latest trends. Chances are that if your customers are excited about your products on social media, people on your email list will also appreciate the gift suggestions.
- Make Shopping Easier for Customers: The holiday shopping season is a busy time of year, so make it easy for people to find gifts via email. Track the sales of the most popular items this year and send emails promoting these gift ideas. Anything you can do to make your customer’s life easier will be greatly appreciated.
- Promote Self-Gifting: While customers are usually shopping for other people during the holiday season, don’t forget that they often make purchases for themselves. Encourage customers to take a break from the busy shopping season and treat themselves to a little something nice. Retailer Ann Taylor has an email with the subject line, “Everyone Else’s Gifts Can Wait,” a great way to entice shoppers to take time out to buy themselves a gift.
- Ensure Your Emails Are Mobile Friendly: The vast majority of consumers in the U.K. check their emails on their mobile devices and more than half of U.K. consumers shop on mobile devices. Are your emails and landing pages mobile friendly? Make sure that the experience is user friendly no matter what the device. There is nothing more frustrating than viewing an email and clicking to make a purchase only to have technical difficulties. You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to shop this holiday season no matter what device they use.
- Promote Digital Gift Cards as Last Minute Gifts: While some people start their Christmas shopping in September, others leave it until the very last minute. Think of the people who that think they can pick something up on their way to Christmas dinner only to find that the stores have already closed or the gift they intended to buy was sold out. Help save these last minute shoppers by reminding them that digital gift cards make great last minute gifts and they can be purchased on the phone on their way to the family dinner.
