The festive season is almost upon us. Keeping in mind that the season is also about shopping and gifting, it is time for businesses to kickstart their marketing campaigns so that they can maximize lead generation and sales just in time when the shoppers hit the online market.
As per a recent report, an average consumer spends $1,226 on holiday gifts. With the thriving trend for retail online purchases and high consumer confidence, this isn’t a shocker. With this data at hand, businesses know that customers now are really confident about festive shopping and spending and that they are open to buying more than ever. However, this does not mean that they are not going to be smart shoppers in this very festive season.
In fact, customers go for online sellers who offer competitive and attractive deals on great quality products. As per a report, 65 percent of consumers plan to browse online and then go into a store to buy. So, as a business owner, you must really understand the dynamics behind successful marketing/campaigning before starting to incorporate it.
Email is the top holiday marketing channel for 55 percent of brands. Email marketing being a vital element for marketing campaigns should be your priority this festive season and you must tap into it by all means. Marketers also agree that email is one of the best channels for promoting festive sales and offers. Hence, you must not wait to start promoting your holiday offers but launch the marketing channel at the earliest.
Did you know that 22% of people plan to start their festive shopping in October? As a business owner or a marketer, you will need to get things rolling for the holidays just in time and choose the best way out to gain a head-start on the rush. So, what is it that you can do in the festive season to attract customers with effective email marketing content? Let’s find out in this blog post below.
The preparation
Festive email campaigning is crucial in many ways. It helps you increase brand awareness for your business and its availability for the festive season. The click-open rate for your emails will help you determine the prospective sales percentage for the season. Targeted email campaigning also helps in true lead generation and in driving more conversions.
You will have to start off the task by developing a strong festive email list. Make sure that your email list consists of leads and not everyone out there. A strategic and thoughtful list will help you increase the click-open rate of your campaign emails. Once you are done with the list and are ready to send out the emails, you will be a step closer to converting your email subscribers into your customers.
Starting a blog and sending the blog posts as reading suggestions is a great way to offer some value. You should also figure out the right time to send your emails because this is really important. For high open rates and click-through rates, you must send out your campaign emails between 8 pm to midnight and on weekends. If you are inclined towards sending them on weekdays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays will do.
Here are some more tips to help you kickstart your email marketing campaign for the upcoming festive season:
1. Use great email heading and crisp copy
Your target audience is also the target audience for your competitors and several other business verticals. This means that they probably receive several emails that ask them to buy stuff or subscribe to services. So, there is a need to stand out and at least make sure that your emails get a higher click-open rate than others. To do that, you will need a striking email heading/ short and attractive subject line that captures the attention and has great content to keep them hooked onto your offer.
Did you know that emails with “tomorrow” in the subject line are opened 10% more than those without it? So, try to create a sense of urgency such as ‘Limited time offer’ or ‘Shop tomorrow to avail 30% Discount’ so that the receiver becomes curious to open and check out the email.
For the content part of the email, you must use visuals because they are processed 60k times faster than text. So, you can use fun and attractive GIFs or videos to impress your leads. However, don’t overdo it and be subtle yet impactful. You are sending out emails for the festive season, so you must not forget to add the usual festive graphical elements in your copy such as snowflakes, Santa Claus, ribbons, stars, candies, etc.
2. Optimize for Mobile
People are hooked to their mobile devices all the time. This means that most of them are going to be shopping for gifts through their mobile devices. Hence, you will have to figure out the mobile optimization of your emails so that they appear as impressive as you intend them to on all platforms.
Your website should also be optimized for mobile browsing so that your customers can easily shop with just a few clicks. Make sure that your forms and checkouts are seamless as well. If you are going to offer a festive eBook upon submission of a form, you must keep the number of fields in the form as minimal as possible. Always remember that when you optimize your website and emails for mobile browsing, you have to strive to make things simpler.
3. Send out gift buying guides
If you are planning to send out emails to a fresh list of subscribers, begin with offering them some value before you ask them to make a purchase with your business. You can begin by sending them a ‘Festival Buying guide’ or a guide similar to ‘Festival Shopping for beginners’ or ‘Here are the best gift options for your family & friends’ or something along the same lines. This is similar to packages available on the market for Valentine’s Day gifts.
However, don’t forget to plug in the links to your products/services as recommendations so that the guide readers can check out your offerings too. This is a great opportunity to provide them with quality information on gift buying as well as increasing your sales.
4. Offer discounts and special offers
This technique is a classic one; sending out attractive deals, discount coupon codes, and special deals for email subscribers who visit your store through the link in the email. You can also incorporate the same for new as well as repeat buyers. Send out an email with a great offer to help get people to visit your online stores such as an exclusive discount, a special giveaway, or just a complimentary service.
Conclusion:
When it comes to promoting your business for the festive shopping times, email marketing serves as a great channel. It helps you increase the overall sales, drive brand awareness, and increase reception for your next email marketing campaign. So, make sure that you follow the tips mentioned above and make the most awaited sale time of the year your annual best.