Clever Email Marketing Can Boost Your Holiday Sales

One of the busiest and most profitable times for a business is the holiday season. In 2017, many retailers saw a substantial jump in their holiday season sales. While offline in-person sales saw a boost, many online stores saw a much larger increase in sales. The shopping frenzy seems to start earlier every year because more people tend to shop online for the holidays, with some starting as early as October. In order to take advantage of rising shopping trends, businesses need to think ahead in their holiday email marketing strategies.

Most email subscribers rely on their smartphones and tablets throughout the day. According to Forbes, last year was where mobile was the marketing hero for holiday shopping. A majority of consumers use their smartphones to do research on products and pricing. This is the perfect time for businesses to boost their sales with enticing holiday email marketing campaigns that keep their customers interested and excited.

Effective email marketing during the holiday season is very versatile. You can capture your list of email subscribers’ attention in many ways.

 

Instant Buying Options

The holiday shopping season can be hectic, so most people are looking for convenience and a great deal. That’s why many customers will be enticed by a clever offer with a call-to-action button that allows them to instantly buy what you are offering.

 

Use a Variety of Options to Capture Subscribers

During this holiday season, businesses can find ways to grab the attention of their customers with different kinds of emails.

• Holiday sales – both ongoing and upcoming.
• Exclusive coupons that can be used online and/or in-store.
• Email invitations to specific events.
• Specialized guides to holiday shopping for everyone on their list.

Well planned holiday email marketing strategies can also be combined with other digital marketing campaigns.  For example, you can use email marketing to raise the attention of your social media events or increase awareness of a charity your business is supporting this season.

Maximizing business engagement, click-throughs, and sales while outdoing the competition may sound challenging at any time of year, and especially during this holiday season. However, it’s not as hard as you think. Engage your subscribers with the right kind of holiday email marketing campaign. If you don’t know where to begin, consider these guidelines.

 

1. Don’t Reuse Last Year’s Content – Reorganize Your Emails

The most common mistakes that businesses make when it comes to reaching out to others via email is rehashing old content. While content is king, reused content is far from it. You need to be more unique every holiday season by considering new offers, new text, updated images, and other pieces of content that will draw your customers back for more, year after year.

 

Email messages also need to be carefully planned out ahead of time — they aren’t something you can quickly throw together and just hope your subscribers like them. The type of content the email offers, the intended audience, and the timeframe of when you want to distribute the emails are all important factors to consider. Organization is the key component in starting off a successful holiday email marketing strategy.

 

 

2. Subject Lines and Openings

First impressions are always important and a little effort can go a long way.  Emails with personalized and clever subject lines are more likely to be opened than using generic ones. Adding a subscriber’s name to the subject line can help boost engagement. Other ways to grab attention early is by using emojis like stars, snowmen, and other holiday-related icons. Emoticons and emojis actually increase the chances of emails being opened.

 

In conjunction with subject lines, the starting sentence of your emails can make or break your message. Generic greetings like “Merry Christmas” and “Hello” can turn off subscribers and quickly send your email to the trash. Take the time to personalize each message through tags, text, and images.

 

3. Don’t Overload with Images and Text

While it might seem like a good idea to have a wall of text and a large flashy image, it actually doesn’t help the reader much. Sometimes large images or blocks of text can distract consumers and they miss the vital call to action or links that direct them to your products and services. Keep your holiday emails simple and on target.