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Holiday Email Tips--Go Beyond Simply Sending More
Find Success in Emails that are timely, meaningful, and relevant
If you're like most businesses, you're counting on this holiday season to be a massive success. Yup, and so is your competition. It's very much a make or break time, and this means you've got some serious business decisions to make. Some decisions will require significant budget and coordination. But other decisions -- like those related to your holiday email marketing plan -- can be simpler. Note: "simpler" in the context of email does not mean "spray and pray." Simple holiday email tips mean you can put them into practice almost immediately with your brand and dignity intact.
Success can be measured in many ways, but it all ties back to revenue. And regardless of what your business is selling, email can play a very significant role in terms of revenue. But it's important to remember that impacting your bottom line requires more than just filling up inboxes. Your success depends on earning trust and putting the subscribers first to ensure they receive emails that are timely, meaningful, and relevant.
Here are five business-to-consumer (B2C) and five business-to-business (B2B) holiday email tips that go beyond simply sending more.
B2C: Be Strategically Savvy with Every Subscriber
1. Reward your subscribers and encourage loyalty at the same time! Gift cards make an ideal reward. Here's the deal: create a promotion that encourages people to buy online. It might be something like: "For every $50 you spend, we'll give you a $10 gift card you can apply to your next purchase. It's our way of saying thanks!" And of course, don't forget to feature gift cards as the perfect gift for those "hard to buy for" people on your list. Gift cards are also great as last minute gifts! Plan to make gift cards a featured theme in one of your final holiday email sends. "Still haven't found that perfect gift? Give them a gift card!"
2. Avoid offer overload. Rather than showing too many products and confusing your subscribers, group great gifts by price points. Gifts under $25, Gifts under $50, Gifts under $75, and etc. And make sure you create supporting website pages to reflect those gift items. You could also feature top-rated products. To increase the average order size, consider choosing price points that do just that. Offering incentives like "free shipping on orders over $100" might be a smart revenue boosting option as well.
3. Bring that in-store feeling to the inbox. Remind subscribers of the great customer service you offer, your money-back guarantee, your hassle-free return policy or whatever it is that makes you stand out from your competition. Make it loud and clear. Sounds so obvious, but this type of messaging might be just what your subscribers are looking for. To crank it up even more, consider the power of creating conversations by incorporating livechat technology on your website and in your email. Livechat technology is a great way to engage website visitors and email subscribers. On top of engagement, you also have the opportunity to look bigger than you actually are! It's all about engagement -- show your subscribers you care.
4. Remind subscribers about the deadline date for shipping guarantees. Include a piece of real estate in your email that reads "Get your gift delivered on time for Christmas -- buy before December 21 (or whatever the date may be)!" If applicable, it's also important to remember your international subscribers because their deadline dates would be different than domestic deadline dates. If possible, segment your list by country, and publish the single deadline date that applies. This increases the relevancy factor while also helping to avoid confusion. Best of all, you're creating a sense of urgency that's padded by the assurance their gift will be delivered on time.
5. Segment and segment again. I know you hear this all the time but are you doing it yet? During the holidays, when you've got lots of email campaigns to send, it's more important than ever that you monitor the numbers of emails any given subscriber gets. And you can do this by segmenting. Go for quality of send versus quantity of send. Minimize the risk of being perceived as an over-sender by being strategic in terms of who gets what.
B2B: Be Corporately Festive with a Cause
1. Send e-cards vs. traditional cards. Let your customers know that rather than paying for stamps and paperk, you're donating those dollars to a charitable organization. For extra fun, use this as an opportunity to make your company more human and personal -- organize an internal contest inviting employees to have their children design an image for use on your corporate holiday e-card.
2. Speaking of charities, pay it forward! Announce that for every purchase of $100 (or whatever dollar amount you like), you'll donate 5% to a charity. And remember the tax advantages of charitable donations...it's all good!
3. Develop a special holiday email series. If you know your customers are stressed over the holidays (it is the most hectic time of the year for most people), think about creating a series of three to five light-hearted emails aimed at de-stressing over the holidays. Wrap your core business messages into the series, but show your personality at the same time. For example, if your brand is very corporate in nature, this is a great time to include a photo of you or someone in your team in a Santa Suit versus a business suit. Humor goes a long way!
4. Organizing a holiday party or event? Send an e-invitation instead of a printed invitation! Similar to the holiday e-card but even sweeter when organizing an event, since you can very easily manage the flow of RSVPs. Using email makes it easy to send segmented follow-ups. For example, you can send a targeted email to non-responders only. This might be a reminder to RSVP; whereas those who responded could receive a "See you tonight" email with important last minute details.
5. Remember your mobile recipients. According to MarketingSherpa's Email Mistakes 2008 Report, 64% of key decision makers are looking at their BlackBerrys, iPhones, and other mobile devices. If you think your recipients are checking their mobile devices, offer a link to view the mobile-friendly version (which would be text only). Or consider using the very top area of your emails to include a link to a "mobile-friendly" version.
One last tip to keep in mind with all your holiday email campaigns: as always it's important to make relevancy a priority. The best way to do this is by targeting different groups within your list. This will help you continue to build your subscribers' trust, which will translate into loyalty and revenue.
So, now is the time to start working on those holiday campaigns! Ready, set, go!
