Have you noticed the volume of monthly emails you receive from your favorite retailer have increased significantly just after Halloween? As retailers step up their game in anticipation of Holiday sales, their one email a week/month has turned into two or three.
Internet statistics support this growth worldwide, reporting that early season marketing emails have increased over 70% compared to last year. So far, open rates remain fairly stable indicating subscribers of all types of retail newsletters continue to accept this increase with open arms.
If you’re in the retail email marketing race because the majority of your sales occur in November and December you’re not alone. There’s plenty of competition and the email marketers who captures the subscribers eye and wallet, wins.
So, how do you stand out?? Let me show you how. . .
- Holiday emails are not equal, and timing is everything. Start your campaigns at the beginning of the Holidays, right before Halloween. At this stage your you’re looking to attract and maintain interest for future sales and want to keep the momentum going. Expect a decline in open rates on certain days; Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday. Compare your data from last year’s Holiday’s email campaigns to make intelligent marketing decisions. Was you emails better received on Black Friday, or were your subscribers occupied with mass shopping and early in-store deals?
- You’ve heard it before, segment your list. You will get better open rates, click-throughs and referrals. A focused message sent to a targeted group within your list, is the most powerful email tactic available to you. Using segmentation you can target your non-active subscribers, the ones, for example who purchased once during the year, to those subscribers who purchased bathing suits for their winter vacations last week. Segmenting your list is a great way to market: mailing personalized segments with triggered mailings, you can’t go wrong.
- Do your emails yell “this is urgent, do this now?” Create emails that have a sale deadlines, offers that expire, coupons that are only valid with an in-store purchase or free shipping if they buy now. Use call-to-actions that require your subscriber to visit your landing page to fill out a form to receive a coupon or a free in store consultation.
- Friend- a- tize your messages. Create offers for your customers that are easy to get. You might offer free gift wrapping – include a check box to select the color, a box of candy- ask if they want that to ship to a different address, or recommend a complementary product to go along with the one they just purchased, add a link to the wallet that matches the purse they selected, with a simple checkout- out method for all.
- Always send a confirmation when someone buys; use please and thank you for best results. Explain your return polices in your confirmation letter so you know they read them.
- Keep up with technology. You read marketing emails on your mobile device, why would your customers be any different? Use the right template for the right campaign, and if you’re not a designer, contact Dundee, we have the template you need.
- Encourage your list members to share their good deal with their friends on social media. Add social media sharing icons in your message, make it easy for them to pass on your coupons and share your in-store sales with others.
- Keep in mind the Internet could make your company a world-wide retailer. State your international policies online, preferably on the landing page associated with your email campaign. If you don’t ship overseas or rather not deal with our bordering neighbors, say so.
- Just because your call-to-action ended your sale on bathtubs on December 15, it’s no reason to stop sending your marketing campaigns on December 15. Make sure some of your offers cover January too. Remember, shoppers never stop shopping until that last return has been exchanged, upgraded or refunded and most of that takes place in January. Have offers ready and keep those campaigns coming for those post-Christmas sales. Dundee allows you to create triggered emails so you can send a follow up offer to a purchase on your time table.
- And what about gift cards? Offer a 5% – 10% discount on an after Christmas gift card purchase. Don’t let those cards expire as they represent not only a purchase, but an opportunity to up-sell with complementary items.
- Suggest to the savvy shopper that they deserve a gift too. When you have those special personal items on sale, target those readers who fit into that segment. Target your female members with offers especially for them, perfume, jewelry, hot cocoa. Whatever you sell, sell it to your list members.
- It’s never too late to start a Holiday Campaign: everyone likes something fresh and new. If you missed the October rush, don’t disappear, you have several weeks to catch up.
