Fall has finally arrived! Maybe for you, that means finally feeling a cool crisp in the air, or leaves beginning to change. If you’re an email marketer, it brings to mind one thing; the holidays are right around the corner! Today we are looking at getting your email marketing ready for the busiest season of the year in the eCommerce world.
To help you prepare for this busy season, let’s look at two simple strategies that will help you stand out in the crowd.
Bring Value to Your Customers.
Let’s look at your product. Most shoppers admit that they begin their holiday shopping in October. Hopefully, you have the inventory you need to head into this season. Now is when you can focus on what deals or offers you want to provide to your customers. Do you have products that haven’t moved well throughout the year? Maybe you have a new product that could do well with a holiday launch when all attention is on eCommerce.
Take time to analyze your audience to see who your best customers are. Consider creating some VIP lists that could benefit from emails that give them first access to your deals. This method allows you to A/B test your deals, offers, and design for your broader audience when it comes to announcing to everyone.
Remember, your email will be competing for attention among hundreds, so take time to create that value the customer is looking for. This doesn’t have to look like the crazy 50 to 75% off deals you often see. When many brands report an influx in subscribers, you don’t want to create discount hounds that will stop interacting with you once the season is over. Consider instead options like bundle products together to create greater value for a set price, or maybe you have some products that can be turned into a unique holiday gift.
A big option to consider is free shipping. In fact, 83% of consumers agree that Free Shipping is the best holiday promotion.
Communicate Well
The first step in communicating well is building up your cadence with your normal email marketing schedule. Your subscribers are about to have their inboxes flooded with emails from every list they have ever subscribed to. You want to help your audience become accustomed to an increase in messaging from you. Slowly start building up your cadence in your emails over the next few weeks, so it is not a shock when you go from 2 emails a week to say 3 or 4.
Take time to look at the upcoming holiday season and decide which days you would like to communicate. Set the plan on how you will communicate well in advance.
An excellent method is to think about this as a season, not just one day or week, like a Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Build suspense with your emails.
- Announce the offer ahead of time
- Send reminders (before and during)
- Launch of the offer
- Send a last chance email
Communicating well extends to the creative process as well.
- Does your subject line clearly communicate what is inside the email?
- Ensure you are sticking to the best practices and avoiding language that will alert spam filters or create a false sense of urgency.
- Pay attention to your content that appears above the fold. Once the customer has opened your email, don’t lose them by not having an attention-grabbing hero image.
- Ensure your copy, and additional content is consistent throughout the email.
- If there is an offer for free shipping, make sure to include information about that, is there is an offer, make sure you clearly state that offer and how to obtain it (do they need a coupon code?)
Hopefully, we have helped you prepare a little better for this upcoming season. If you need a little more help preparing your email marketing, contact us here at Ballistic Agency. We want to help you optimize your eCommerce.
Happy emailing and Happy Holidays!
