Email Marketing Ideas for the Holidays
by Elana Birnbaum - November 7th, 2012 11:30 am
Your email marketing campaign is perhaps the most solid means for promoting your Ecommerce business, especially for the holiday season. Email marketing is the art of creating a lifelong customer, rather than a onetime sale. For this holiday season, you want to make sure your lifelong customers, your onetime customers, and your “just browsing” customers know what you have to offer this season.
The reach and accessibility of email marketing remains a powerfully effective tool. Don’t ignore your email mailing list; use it as a tool to increase site traffic. The holidays are the best time to contact the people on your list because your consumers are already in “buy mode”. They’ll be looking out for those daily deal emails to make their holiday purchases.
Subject Line
The key to an effective email campaign is in the writing. Your subject line is the most important component of each email blast. Your consumer is most likely flooded with tons of emails every day. Most retailer emails will never get opened in their customer’s inbox, so how do you separate yourself from the pack? A strong subject line for the holidays. Use percentage discounts (“Take 30% off…”), along with the appropriate seasonal terms (“Cyber Monday,” “Black Friday,” Holiday Deals”). Also, make sure to take advantage of some call-to-action keywords like “Save,” “Today Only” and “Buy Now.”
Subject Line Examples:
Save 30% — This Cyber Monday
Black Friday Super Sale! 30% Off All Items
30% Off All Orders — Today Only!
Budget
Determine in advance the number of emails you can afford to produce. How long does it take to draft up one email? Do you have a team designated to email marketing, or one employee who does email marketing as a side project? Make an effort to send at least a weekly email out to your customers leading up to the Holidays.
Design
The design, content and strategy for your campaigns need to be prepared well in advance of your distribution dates; take into account any last-minute changes and final edits. Email is a powerful visual medium, so render your graphics festively. Your regular designs should be spruced up for the holiday effects with appropriate graphics (ornaments, candy canes, snow, etc.).
Analyze Data
Collect your data and utilize your metrics for even more strategic targeting on the next holiday. Don’t simply send out email blasts, try and find patterns in what works and what doesn’t. Does “Free Shipping” work better than “25% Off”? Also, make sure to add Google Analytics email tracking to each distribution. Additionally, use your company’s email service provider to gather any other metrics for additional analysis on open rates, click through rates, conversion rates, etc.
Don’t save your email marketing campaign until next season and miss out on potential traffic. Capitalize on your email list now because your competitors are definitely planning on it. Be festive in your design, be competitive in your discounts, and be smart with your data once the emails are sent.
Related posts:
- Dynamic Strategies for Successful Email Marketing
- Email Segmentation: Tips to Improve Conversion
- Search Engine Optimization and Email Marketing To Benefit Your Business
- E-commerce Marketing: Back to Basics
- Google’s New Webmaster Tools, Benefits of E-mail Marketing and A Checklist To Boost Online Checkouts