Think Outside the Inbox
Test sending messages that alert recipients to in-store events, special holiday hours, new holiday merchandise, and holiday sales.† While most shoppers dread the trip to the mall, others prefer the offline shopping experience for buying gifts. Nurturing this experience through email can prove profitable. The inclusion of printable coupons allows one to track the program and quantify results.
Understand Holiday Shoppers
During the holidays men are likely shopping for jewelry and handbags and women are purchasing items like electronics and tools. Besides Scrooge, everyone is looking for the perfect gift for their loved one and not thinking about themselves. It makes sense therefore to modify your usual segmentation and targeting strategies to account for this. I especially like categorizing content/merchandize as 'Gifts for Her,' 'Gifts for Dad,' etc.
Manage Message Frequency
During the holiday season almost all marketers will increase the frequency of their emails. This usually makes good sense since consumers make so many more purchases during this time of year. But senders who go overboard on messaging may find themselves dealing with a holiday hangover of list attrition. Be careful about increases in frequency and carefully monitor for signs of fatigue – unsubs, complaints, drops in response rates, etc.
Leverage Free Shipping
A favorite offer for all direct marketers, free shipping has long been relied upon to fuel online sales, especially around the holidays. Now it is mandatory. If you are not playing the free shipping card, you have already seen many of your online sales diverted to brick and mortar alternatives or to other sites that are shipping for free. Offer free shipping now, and continue to use it liberally throughout 2010.
Keep Testing
Some marketers diligently test all year long and then try to apply learnings to the holiday season and expect lifts in performance. This is not a wise strategy. When the inbox gets crowded it is especially important to continue optimizing message creative, offers, subject lines, segmentation, etc. to determine the best ways of breaking through the clutter.
Decorate Transactional Messages
Just because a consumer has made a purchase or signed up for something in the past few weeks does not mean they have fulfilled their holiday wish list, nor does it mean that they won't be making purchases into the New Year. Make sure to leverage the open power of transactional messages and include up-sell and cross-sell promotions.
Get in the Holiday Spirit!
Copy and creative that is festive will resonate with holiday shoppers. Use words and images that are related to the holidays to catch the attention of holiday shoppers are in the frame of mind to look for holiday sales and offers.
Cater to Last Minute Shoppers
Many holiday shoppers will be waiting last minute to purchase gifts as they hold out for sales or make sure they have enough discretionary income. Remember, a week before the holiday is not too late to reach a potential customer.
Keep in mind the dates that saw the biggest online holiday spend the past few years:
2006 - Wed, December 13th - $666.9 million 2007 - Mon, December 10th - $881 million 2008 - Tues, December 9th - $887 million
Plan Beyond the Holidays
With so many tactical issues to address, the rush of the holidays can be overwhelming for many email marketers. With the rush to reach holiday shoppers, many don't plan for the days after December 25th. It is important to think carefully about leveraging the increased action around the holidays to increase the long term value of your programs. For example, take advantage of increased media spend in other channels to build your list – including opt-in forms on landing pages and the like.
