Holiday Email Marketing: Tips for Delivering the Perfect GiftWith the holiday season right around the corner, that delicious holiday smell – a distinct mix of egg nog, cinnamon and pine trees – is beginning to fill the air.
For many, the start of the holiday season means scouring the stores in search of the perfect gifts, spending hours carefully wrapping them in shiny gold and silver paper, and finally heading to the post office with carload of cheer and packages.
It’s likely you’ve already begun thinking about gifts and cards for loved ones this year. Have you done the same for your customers on your email marketing list?
Preparing presents for family and friends isn’t all that different from preparing holiday email marketing e-commerce campaigns. Put your Santa hat on and follow these five tips for delivering the perfect gift and maximizing email marketing ROI:
- The Perfect Gift. Give your customers exactly what they want this year. For marketers, that means providing them with relevant copy and an enticing offer.
Study open and click-through patterns to understand the type of offers, the format and the frequency your customers prefer. If you find, for instance, if a significant number of subscribers click on a certain product but do not purchase it, send them some holiday cheer by offering a coupon for that product.
Better yet, let your customers tell you how you’re doing and what they want to see more and less of by conducting a survey. Don’t forget to reward survey participants with a special incentive.
- Gift Wrap. Remember how excited and curious you feel when given a present beautifully tied with a big sparkly bow? Make your subject linebe that big sparkly bow. Encourage subscribers to “tear open” your holiday email marketing message with a catchy, well-written subject line. Consider these tips:
- Create a sense of urgency. 10 shopping days left! A 2 day sale for our loyal email subscribers!
- Evoke mystery and intrigue. Remember the anticipation you felt as a child waiting to open up gifts? Find the special offer in this email!
- Include the most important information first. What’s the incentive for tearing into this gift?
- Holiday Cards. Think of your holiday email marketing message as you do a holiday card. You’ll achieve the best response if your “card” is personal and meaningful.
Use the information you already have about your subscribers – i.e., name, location, age – to personalize your messages. Address them by name. Consider sending customized messages to subscribers based on their age or location, for example.
If you know that a certain segment of your audience is parents of young children, include some holiday-themed family fun ideas in an e-newsletter. For subscribers in warm-weather locations, provide tips for getting in the holiday spirit without snow and winter temperatures.
- Package Delivery. The post office promises to deliver holiday packages rain or shine or snow. Can you guarantee the same for your holiday email marketing messages? Don’t let your message be left out in the cold of the junk mail folder.
An experienced email solutions provider (ESP) can maximize delivery for campaigns, ensuring messages reach customers’ inboxes. Look for an ESP that has built strong relationships with ISPs, enforces clean list policies, has sophisticated bounce processing, provides dedicated IP addresses, and complements their solution with delivery assurance consulting.
- Prepare Now. Don’t forget the not-so-fun part of the season: Waiting until the last minute means long lines at stores, slow shipping times and gifts that arrive after the holiday season.
You run the same risk with holiday email marketing. Start planning your campaign today. Make sure your customers feel appreciated this holiday season with timely, relevant, engaging offers.
