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Email is a goldmine for businesses: people who shop via email tend to spend money as much as 138% more than those who don’t. During key shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, email campaigns can significantly increase your revenue in the last quarter. However, sending a few random emails to your list is not enough to make a difference. To see results, you would like to be strategic in the way you connect with potential customers.
Here are nine hacks to improve your holiday email marketing strategy and increase sales.
1. Prepare your holiday marketing emails now
– It’s later than you think. This is one of my favorite quotes from the TV series “Mad Men”. Although Roger Sterling’s character alluded to the “finite nature of life” and urged us to enjoy each day more, I often think of this quote in relation to my business. This also works great for holiday email marketing.
Many business owners underestimate the effort needed to create effective email campaigns. Almost 46% of consumers start your holiday shopping before November due to shipping issues, so you don’t need to email too late. Give yourself enough time to resolve on offers, recipients, and frequency of email messages.
2. Slowly increase your email volume
Your sending cadence has a huge impact on your email deliverability. Depending on how often you have been sending emails over the last few months, start slowly increasing your pace. Any sudden increase can trigger spam filters, so turn up the volume to prevent your emails from ending up in spam. It’s natural to send more emails during the holidays, but in the meantime, visit your list repeatedly to build trust with your email service providers.
3. Offer exclusive holiday deals
People love to feel special, especially during the holidays. So consider how you possibly can reward your email subscribers for being a part of your club. For 40% of consumersemail is a treasure trove of discounts – they check their inboxes specifically looking for brand-related offers. During the holiday season, your prospects could also be even more likely to shop via email, so show them relevant offers to increase engagement and sales.
4. Review your email list
The junk folder is the last place you would like your holiday emails to go, but a cluttered email list could cause this to occur. High bounce rates and spam complaints can make you appear to be a spammer, stopping your campaigns from reaching your inbox.
Use an email verification service to get rid of outdated contacts and make sure your email list is healthy. As Google purges inactive accounts and Yahoo tightens its posting rules, your data needs to be up-to-date for your campaigns to be effective.
5. Make the most of automation
Automation doesn’t just save time; it may well also increase your email conversion rate during the holiday season. Almost 40% of individuals who click on an automated email are making a purchase, so if your resources allow, arrange the right emails to send out at the right time. The most engaging are welcome emails, back in stock emails, and cart abandonment emails. Automating them now means you will not leave any money on the table.
6. Ensure smooth operation across devices
Your emails may look great on your computer, but do they display accurately on phones and tablets? Adobe Predicts 2024 Holiday Shopping Season Will Be ‘Most Mobile Ever’, Breaking Record $128.1 billion was spent via mobile devices.
A broken image or poorly formatted text can turn off customers, so ensure to test every email before sending it. You don’t desire a minor accident to prevent someone from making a purchase. Plus, it leaves a bad impression on your brand and may result in your future emails not being sent or being deleted.
7. Create a sense of urgency with your topics
During the holiday season, inboxes are so full that your subscribers can simply scroll through your email topics, so you would like to make sure each one is click-worthy. It’s sensible to avoid overused spam words like “free,” “buy,” and “urgent” and find other ways to convey the value you are offering and instill a sense of urgency. Calls to motion like “last chance” or “don’t miss this opportunity” work well for my business. We encourage you to experiment with less common approaches.
8. Consider a timer
Countdown clocks add even more urgency to your campaign, so test them during the holiday season and measure their effectiveness. Add them to your website and marketing emails to give people a quick visual representation of your offers and build anticipation.
9. Monitor metrics and adjust them quickly
Finally, don’t just arrange holiday email campaigns and forget about them. Instead, monitor performance metrics in real time. Track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, and be ready to adjust if results are poor. You can all the time tweak your offers, improve your copy, and test different shipping times to make your campaigns more effective.