The busy holiday season is right around the corner and it is time to make sure your email plans are in order. It is a great time of year to connect with your customers, but it’s also a time in which their inboxes are overwhelmed with offers. If you want to capture their attention, you have to stand out among the crowd.
To help you finalize your holiday planning, we’ve put together a check list of six things you can’t afford to forget in your emails during this holiday season. Before you hit send, make sure your emails remember these key ingredients.
- Don’t Forget to Create Holiday Gift Guides: Most shoppers have a lot of people to buy for this time of year and they will appreciate anything you can do to make their job easier. Look at your product offerings for the season and highlight the best gift ideas. Design the copy to look like editorial and highlight key items within your guide. Use email to push these guides to your audience and help ease the pressure on holiday shopping.
- Remember to Offer Something Special: ‘Tis the season to give back to your loyal customers. These people keep you in business all year and recognizing their contributions to your business during the holidays will make them feel special and continue to be loyal. Thank them for their loyalty by offering special coupons, free shipping offers, or gifts.
- Don’t Overlook Strong Imagery: A picture is worth a thousand words and it pays to invest in good product photography. Highlight your bestselling products with strong photography and use these images in your emails to help drive an emotional response no matter what your brand. Whether you are an e-commerce firm selling hip fashions through edgy Instagram filters or a non-profit trying to raise donations for the poor, a strong photo will help you tell your story from the moment your customer opens the email.
- Remember Important Shopping Days: Some of the biggest shopping days of the year take place at the end of November and in December. Consumers will be ready to shop on these days, so be sure to capitalize on their attention by emailing compelling offers. Whether you are giving deals on popular holiday gifts, offering free shipping or a percentage off, consumers will be looking for deals on these days. Think about what Black Friday (Nov. 24), Cyber Monday (Nov. 27), and even Small Business Saturday (Dec. 2) mean to your brand and incorporate this into your holiday email strategy.
- Don’t Forget to Encourage Word-of-Mouth Sharing: The holidays are a great time for friends and family to share gift ideas and to let each other know about where to find good deals. Take advantage of this enthusiasm by ensuring that your customer referral messaging is strong within your emails. Offer incentives to customers who refer a friend. Add a forward-to-a-friend button to your emails and make sure all of your emails are easy to share to social media.
- Don’t Forget to Build Your Email List: Chances are that you’ll see large increases in site traffic over the holidays, so it pays to add a holiday theme to your Web site opt-in invitation. Consider copy that reads, "Sign up for exclusive holiday deals and offers" or something along those lines. In addition, ensure that your welcome emails are tied to this holiday theme. For instance, you may want to add holiday décor to these welcome emails and a footer with the holiday shipping deadlines or one-click button to add a gift card to your cart.
