Last-minute Holiday Email Campaigns

Michael Garrity — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:45:00 GMT

Christmas may be closing in, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to slow down your marketing campaigns. In fact, now more than ever is a crucial time to make sure you’re getting your message out there. After all, there’s no shortage of last-minute shoppers still looking for the right gift for someone special.

By ramping up your holiday email campaign now you can help these wayward shoppers find their path, and earn your business a holiday bonus in the process. Here are five tips to help you craft the perfect last-minute holiday email campaign.

1. Strong subject lines
Make a striking first impression with a strong, clear, concise title for each email. These customers have been dilly-dallying long enough, and they don’t have any time to waste now. So, if they don’t know exactly what you’re offering, they may not even bother looking at your email.

A good subject line clearly states exactly what products and deals you’re promoting. Something like “50 Percent Off All Jewelry Until Christmas Eve” or “Ten Great Gifts for Kids Ten and Under” let the reader know exactly what is being offered in the shortest amount of time, which is convenient and appealing for them.

2. Shipping deals
Effective shipping promotions can do wonders for your holiday sales numbers, and that’s probably not any truer than during the final shopping days before Christmas. Customers realize they’re in a pinch, and offering deals such as free overnight shipping on orders over $50 can be a gift that keeps on giving.

Make sure these deals are clearly laid out for subscribers, because they’re going to be looking for the quickest and cheapest ways to ensure their gifts arrive before the holiday. (In fact, if your deal is sweet enough, it would probably make a pretty great subject line.)

3. Speaking of deals…
There’s no denying that daily deals are hot. These email specials will allow merchants to send out a new email to subscribers every day, which should help you move a higher volume of that particular item instead of trying to spread your efforts among larger selection of products. When you only have a few days left to market for the holidays, simplicity is nice.

4. Target, target, target
Take the extra time out to share relevant promotions with specific customers. Having an email newsletter means it’s likely that you have some information about your subscribers, so use this information to create specialized email lists and unique promotions. This will help you focus your marketing campaign so that certain segments of your subscriber lists will see the most relevant deals available to them, which should entice them to pay more attention to what you’re offering and drive more people to your site.

5. Don’t forget the deadline
Last-minute shoppers are running out of time, and don’t let them forget it. By conveying a sense of urgency in your emails, customers will feel more inclined to make their purchasing decisions immediately.

Holiday surprise! Forget the deadline and keep the deals coming
Your holiday deals don’t have to end with the holiday. Quite the opposite, as this can be a great time to strengthen your relationships with customers new and old. Reach out to your subscriber base one more time to wish them a Happy New Year and shed some light on new deals that you’re offering in the post-Christmas world. And for customers who purchased from you during the holidays, give them a special thank you in the form of a discount coupon or code that they can redeem the next time they shop at your site, which is a great way to keep them coming back.

Oh, and don’t forget to crunch the numbers and analyze the data you get back from your holiday email campaigns so you can do even better next year!

Five Steps to a Successful Holiday Email Campaign

Linc Wonham — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:00:00 GMT

As more and more consumers shift their holiday shopping to the Web, the importance of email as a marketing tool is magnified. But if subscriber targeting isn’t executed properly, the result is a campaign that underwhelms and under-delivers.

Take the example of a man shopping for women’s jewelry as a Christmas present for his wife. He might decide to subscribe to a couple of email newsletters to watch for special offers in the month leading up to the holiday.

Traditional email marketing wisdom would say that once the individual makes a purchase that originated from the email offering, the brand should target that individual with similar offers going forward. But chances are slim that the man is interested in receiving twice-weekly offers on women’s jewelry in his inbox for eternity.

Smart email marketing needs to balance targeted marketing with subscriber preferences. Below are five things you can be doing right now to achieve that balance with your Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday email campaigns.

Audit Your List
As a digital marketer, you’ll first need to focus on removing inactive subscribers. Talk to your email service provider (ESP) about moving anyone who has not opened your emails in the last 90 days to a separate IP for future sending.

The remaining addresses can be considered your “hot list.” Keep the hot list ultra-responsive by only keeping those who have opened your three most recent emails on that list. As a general rule, also avoid sending to any subscribers you haven’t sent to in six months or more, and flag email addresses that repeatedly soft bounce.

Consult with your ESP, or use a service like FreshAddress or TowerData to skim out invalid addresses and merge new contacts into your existing lists. A list audit increases your deliverability rate and helps make sure you get to the inbox.

Update Preferences
It’s also important to recheck your preference centers to allow people to immediately choose which types of email they want to receive, which types of products they’re interested in and what frequency they prefer. Make these preferences easy for the subscriber to adjust.

When people purchase on Black Friday, for example, you want them to be able to update their preferences. If they are purchasing a gift, it’s likely in a category that doesn’t interest them personally.

Audience Segmentation
Another key element to gearing up your email campaign for the holiday season is segmenting your audience into specific groups based on their past behavior. Have they purchased or searched for a particular product?

Target them with a special offer or discount for relevant items based on their history, but make sure these target offers are in line with the subscribers’ preferences.

Test Subject Lines
When it comes time to create the subject line, stick to one main idea, such as a percentage-off special or other exclusive deal. It is acceptable to mention Black Friday in the subject line, as it’s probably top of mind for many of your subscribers.

Perform A/B testing on different subject lines to determine which ones resonate with subscribers prior to the holiday. Review the social media activity surrounding your brand, and select the language and wording that your audience seems to prefer.

Offer Early Deals
Finally, consider special messaging during October. For example, offer a private sale with an extra discount for those who pre-register so that your message is widely shared with your audience prior to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The late summer and early fall months are when retailers should be gearing up for these all-important holiday email marketing campaigns. But the first step in preparing for a successful Black Friday or Cyber Monday campaign is dusting off your subscriber lists and getting them ready to go.

About the author: John Murphy, President of Chicago-based ReachMail, has been helping marketers improve their email marketing campaigns since 1999. He has been instrumental in making ReachMail a leader in email deliverability and usability.

'Net Features : holiday email campaigns

Last-minute Holiday Email Campaigns

Five Steps to a Successful Holiday Email Campaign