We wrote recently about what not to do with your seasonal email campaigns, so we thought we’d share a few pro-active tips for what to do. Keep these 5 ideas in mind as you’re setting the strategy for your upcoming seasonal emails.
Get your timing right.
For holiday-based emails, make sure you’re sending emails far enough in advance. Yes, there are plenty of people who may have left their gift buying until the last minute. However, recent research by Yesmail Interactive has shown that customers are less likely to open themed campaigns during the last week leading up to the holiday. In fact, they noted that 44% of marketers wait too long to send holiday-related emails. Emails sent the week right before the holiday see the lowest open rate. “For the top 50 retailers, emails sent two weeks before a holiday were opened at a rate of 16.4%, compared to 14.9% for those sent in the week leading up to the holiday. Keep that in mind for Father’s Day.
Have fun & be creative.
Showing your creativity lets you stand out from your competitors and showcase your brand. A good way to do this is to create an email campaign around a non-traditional holiday, such as National Pancake Day, National Pet Month and May the Fourth, as in this example from a recent Target email.
Subject Line: May the 4th be with you.
Personalize it.
Subscribers receive hundreds of marketing emails through the fall and winter holidays. They get promotions thrown at them left and right. It’s easy to get lost in the clutter. A great way to stand out is by using personalization, for example, by putting the subscriber’s name in the subject line. If possible, personalize your holiday emails beyond your subscribers’ names by using the data you have, such as gender, shopping department preferences, age, family size, income, product preference and average order value.
Use behavioral triggers.
Behavioral trigger marketing has the capacity to greatly improve your customer’s experience, which turn gives you a great ROI. Some of the behaviors you might look at include abandoned search activity, abandoned shopping carts, languishing wish lists, previous purchases, content viewed on the site and downloaded content. When it comes to seasonal emails, this kind of remarketing offers a means to send personalized, targeted and relevant emails to your customers. Perhaps you create a birthday email with a promo code that says “get yourself something you’ve been wanting” populated with a few top-rated items from their wish list. Take a look at your average order value and, for the promo, introduce a minimum order value just above your current average as a way to stimulate a short-term increase in average basket value. Clearly, spell out your offers in plain language—don’t hide it in the fine print. Or consider creating a holiday-themed message for automated emails as part of your cart abandonment program.
Build segments.
Segmentation is super important at any time of year. MailChimp has reported that segmented email campaigns get 14.72% more opens and 62.84% more clicks than non-segmented campaigns. Applying this practice to your seasonal emails gives you a lot of bang for your buck, whether they’re weather related or holiday related. There are many ways to slice and dice your email list, so if you’re new to building segments, check out our list of 14 ways to define and refine your segmentation strategy to help you get started. Segmentation is key for delivering the right message to the right customer at the right time. It not only improves conversion rates but is also a great way to connect with your customers and build your brand.
Beyond these 5 tips, you’ll want to keep in mind what worked and what didn’t in past campaigns. Test your subject lines, your CTAs, your button colors, your body copy length and more. Track the results and make changes based on what you see.
Need some fresh ideas for your email marketing? Get in touch with Filament to create a smart seasonal email marketing campaign for your business.
