‘Tis the season to be tactical about your holiday ecommerce marketing campaigns; depending on your industry, this might be the busiest time of year for your business, and you should hopefully already have a solid email marketing plan underway. If you’re looking for some last-minute help before you press “send”, here are some of our “must-do” tips to ensure your holiday marketing campaign is as successful as possible.
1. Gift Guides
Gift guides are typically very popular amongst subscribers. You can offer these in a variety of filters, with the most straightforward being price. I typically budget a price for each person on my Christmas shopping list, as do most people; filtering your products by price is an easy way for your subscribers to quickly find what they are looking for within their search criteria. Work with your marketing team to come up with a list of the best products for each of your gift guide categories.
Here are some sample filters for your gift guides that are sure to please (and help!) your subscribers:
- Gifts for Her/Him
- Gifts for Kids (with additional filters for age ranges)
- Gifts for Co-Workers/Secret Santa parties
- Stocking Stuffers (ie: “Perfect Stocking Stuffers under $5”)
- Shop by Personality/Interests (ie: “Shop for the Gardener”/”Shop for the New Mom”)
- Product Type (ie: “Top Tech Gifts”, “Home Décor”, etc.)
- Top-Rated (ie: “Best Sellers of 2013”)
2. Make your Campaign Mobile-Friendly
Nothing frustrates me more than shopping sites that aren’t mobile-compatible. Your online subscribers are looking for convenience to help get them through this already-busy season – don’t turn them away with websites that won’t work on their smartphones! Read through this awesome infographic from Sparked.com for the official stats; scrolling to the bottom shows you the big brands (Kohl’s, Amazon.com and Macy’s) who have already integrated their holiday experience through mobile apps. Make sure your company is on this mobile-sales bandwagon, and you too can have your part in the estimated $34.2 billion in sales this year!
3. Abandoned Cart Program
The majority of today’s online shoppers use their carts as “storage” to save gift ideas for later. You should make sure you have some sort of Abandoned Cart program in place to save your customer’s cart items and remind them to return (and eventually make a purchase!)
4. Offer Contests/Promotions
Based on this year’s MarketLive Survey:
91% of online shoppers say they would take advantage of free standard shipping offers
If you are planning on offering free shipping or other shipping promotions, make the offer very noticeable on your email, gift guide or website. Another great promotion to add in conjunction to this would be guaranteed delivery dates. I was recently playing around with some gift options on Amazon.com, and when I realized one item would be delivered the following day (as long as I purchased it within the next 5 minutes), I was sold!
Other promotion ideas that can entice additional conversions:
- offering date-limited discounts (ie: “Spend $50 and receive 15% off your next purchase from Dec 1 – 10!”)
- offering a prize sweepstakes for purchases made over the holiday season (ie: “Spend $50 and be entered into our sweepstakes for a dream new year’s eve vacation!”)
- offer discounts for new email signups (ie: “Sign up for our emails today and receive 10% off your next purchase!”)
5. Connect to your Customers
Sending out an annual goodwill email is an excellent way to thank your customers for their business, and remind them why they are loyal to your company and brand. You can send a simple “Thank You” eCard, or combine it with some sort of promotion (ie: “To show our appreciation for continued support, please use this 10% off coupon on your next purchase”).
Another great way to score points with both your customers and humanity is to give back to the community, by sending a donation or volunteering time at a local charity. You can post the details of your contribution as part of your email marketing campaign, or on your blog or other social media, encouraging your subscribers to do the same.
Adding these tips (along with a great holiday theme) to your marketing campaign is a sure way to stand out in your subscriber’s inbox this holiday season. Once the emails have been sent and you begin to see the response/feedback through your analytic tools, make note of what got the most results and what didn’t work as well. You can apply these lessons learned to your next “after holiday” campaigns. 🙂
If you’d like any additional information on how to make the most out of your ecommerce holiday campaign, please feel free to contact us.