How to Craft a Effective Holiday Email Campaign
November and December are the prime times for email engagement, and guess what? November is right around the corner even though it feels like summer just ended. There are some very eager customers out there who want to start holiday shopping ASAP. This gives you a longer holiday season, which in turn makes for a great email campaign.
Where to Begin
Set Clear Goals
What does the success of this campaign look like to your business goals? How does this campaign play into the larger picture of your holiday season?
Set KPIs
Monitoring your metrics is vital for any campaign. Make sure your tracking your revenue targets, brand awareness, and your subscriber list growth. Always look back at the historical data from past holiday campaigns to see what worked and what did not along with how you success compares over years time.
How to Craft
For specific holidays think of putting gift guides or highlighting certain products that perform well during the holiday season. You might also want to spotlight brands in your email for an easy click on the website if you carry many brands. Then monitor the data from these features to see if the brands or gifts resonate with your audience.
Content Ideas For E-Commerce
Announcements: Introduce the sale. Include dates, what the actual sale is, and a link for them to add it to the calendar.
Reminders: Remind them that the sale has started.
Nearing End: Tell them that the sale will be ending within the next x amount of days so they can buy before it’s too late.
Final Minutes: Allow them to shop for the last few minutes of the sale even if there is less inventory.
Sale Extension: If you are extending the sale, you can send out an extension along with the 3 previous ideas throughout the extension.
Gift Guides: Provide a guide on what to buy for certain age groups, genders, etc. You can also include a best-seller link.
Thank You: Thank customers for their purchase.
Promotions: These are straightforward messages that aim to inform your subscribers about what you have in stock for the season. Encourage them to view the seasonal products.
Tips
Leverage seasonal design. Add seasonal touches to your graphics, but do not go overboard with a design overhaul. A few snowflakes or presents can easily do the job.
Start scheduling NOW. If you want to use the data from your first emails this season, you have to start now. If changes need to be made it will take time, creativity does not happen overnight.
Include visual anchors. The average subscriber looks at an email for 8.97 seconds, so make sure it is easy to read. This is why we suggest putting links to popular categories for easy transfer to your website.
Emphasize discounts, sales, and promotions on EVERY email. The whole reason this season is so popular for email marketing is because people are looking for sales. Do not allow them to forget about your sales.
Feature holiday products. There are always a few products that sell well specifically well during the holiday season. Whether that is jewelry sets or sweaters, make sure those items are shown in your emails.
Create a sense of urgency. This goes for all promotional emails. You want your subscribers to think they will miss out on the products if they do not look RIGHT NOW.
Consider segmentation. Send different emails to different categories of subscribers so it is more personalized without having to send each email separately.
Email segmentation is the strategic practice of dividing your audience into smaller groups based on specific criteria. This can be demographics, psychographics, behavior, lifestyles, purchase history, or geographics.
Need help crafting your next email campaign? Send us a message! We are ready to help you and your business grow!
