santa‘Tis the Season for Email Marketing

The holidays are right around the corner, but it’s not too late to put your Santa cap on and start mapping out your holiday email marketing campaign strategy if you haven’t already.

Last year, nearly 40 percent of consumers did their holiday shopping in December so you still have a little time to get your campaigns built and published.

Here are some tips to maximize your holiday email marketing campaign….

 

bowGo responsive

Make sure your email campaign (and website for that matter) are laid out in a responsive format. During the 2013 holiday season almost one in three purchases were made on a mobile device (phone or tablet).

 

candyBe Festive

Retailers hang garlands, decorate Christmas trees, and splash red and green all over their stores for one reason: It sends a clear signal to shoppers that it’s time to start buying gifts. You should apply this same principle to your email designs.

 

giftAlign Your Campaign with these Dates

November 27, 2014 – Gray Thursday
Gray Thursday, aka Thanksgiving, came about since Black Friday sales are starting earlier and earlier.

November 28, 2014 – Black Friday
The day after Thanksgiving (in the US); consumers shop for special Christmas deals.

November 29, 2014 – Small Business Saturday
In 2010, American Express introduced Small Business Saturday to encourage consumers to spend their dollars supporting local small businesses. Every year, Small Business Saturday is the day after Black Friday.

December 1, 2014 – Cyber Monday
Cyber Monday becomes more popular each year. This day is huge for online retailers as it appeals to the growing number of consumers who want to shop from home, or while on the go.

December 2, 2014 – Giving Tuesday
Giving Tuesday is a one-day national effort to help charities raise money online during the holiday shopping season.

December 8, 2014 – Green Monday
Green Monday is the second Monday of December and is one of the busiest shopping days of the month.

December 15, 2014 – Free Shipping Day
Free Shipping Day is a specific day in December when online businesses offer free shipping. Online retailers that participate in this shopping day event guarantee that purchases made on this day will be delivered — for free — by Christmas Eve.

December 20, 2014 – Super Saturday
Super Saturday is the final Saturday before Christmas — it is the busiest of all the shopping days during this period.

December 26, 2014 – Gift Card Exchange Day
It may be “Boxing Day” in England, but elsewhere, the day after Christmas is known as Gift Card Exchange Day. With a growing number of Americans giving gift cards, more people find themselves with cards they’d rather turn into cash, leading to an increase in traffic to gift card exchange sites the day after Christmas.

 

santaEncourage Sharing

Help your subscribers do your marketing for you by making it easy and fun to share their holiday wishes—and dangling the chance for a Christmas miracle doesn’t hurt either.

 

giftDrive Urgency

With so much going on, make sure you drive urgency, with sales expiration dates, item sell outs, and shipping deadlines.

 

Offer Gift Cards

bowIf it’s appropriate for your business, offering gift cards can increase your sales. The e-gift card has long been dubbed “the perfect last-minute gift,” but the rise of smartphones and tablets and the digital delivery of apps, games, books, and magazines mean brands have more options for procrastinators and forgetful Santas.

 

Offer BIG Discounts

Go big! Email Campaigns with larger discounts do the best.

 

 

holiday-squareUse Creative Messaging Themes & Promotion Ideas

Here are some suggested themes and promotion ideas for your campaign.

  • Shop pre-Black Friday deals
  • Shop our holiday collection or catalog
  • Shop gift ideas, gift guides & top-rated gifts
  • Free shipping, free gift wrap, and free gift with purchase offers
  • Personalize or monogram these gifts
  • Visit our holiday Facebook page
  • Cause-marketing tie-in to support a charity
  • Trending products and other customer- or social-curated lists
  • “12 Days of Christmas” campaigns
  • Shop for last-minute gifts in stores or online
  • Buy gift cards
  • Send e-gift cards and e-gifts
  • Season’s greetings messages
  • After-Christmas sales