Some of the most shopping people will do during the year will happen in the next month. So how can your business make sure you are a part of the biggest shopping season of the year? While email marketing has been looked down on by marketers for a few years now as a less effective way of marketing, it has actually resurged as an extremely effective method. Most customers will check their emails for promotions before deciding where to shop, and it could be the one place that reminds customers your product is a good fit as a gift for others. Here are some holiday email marketing tips for your business to follow.
Personalization is key
One of the most effective ways of advertising, and something that customers have come to expect from businesses, is through personalization. By working with a machine learning startup, businesses can set up computer programs to analyze data and give recommendations to artificial intelligence, which can then create and send out personalized emails to customers. It will send emails when the customer has put stuff in their shopping cart but didn’t finish checkout offering discounts likely to get them to come back. It can send marketing ads targeted towards families vs single individuals. It can even send emails to customers who haven’t come in a while and offer an extra promotional savings to come back. This type of email marketing will benefit your company and keep customers happy.
Build a strong, quality list of customers
A business is going to have a much better conversion rate from customers getting emails than they are from random people stumbling onto their website. That’s why it is so important to build a strong, quality list of customers who opt-in to receive the emails and who are most likely going to be long-term customers. Here are some ways you can build your email list:
- Offer a promotion: A good promotion and a promise to keep customers up to date with the latest promotions is going to be the easiest way to get customers to sign up.
- Advertise to customers on your site: If someone has been on your site for more than 10 seconds looking around, an auto pop up ad offering an immediate discount in exchange for an email is one great way to get customers on your list who are truly interested in your product.
- Use social media: Use social media to advertise your promotion for signing up for an email club.
- Post perks upfront: Customers who know they are going to get a free meal on their birthday or who know how often they can expect to get emails are more likely to sign up right away. Transparency is important in our society, but especially if someone is going to sign up for an email service.
- Advertise with bloggers: Bloggers who post deals online are always looking for more things to post about. Give your company information and what promotion is being offered in exchange for an email, and have them post it on their blog. All their followers who are interested in the perk will sign up immediately.
Look at the data
The best part about email marketing is the ability to see exactly what happens with the emails you send. This data can be used to then focus your future marketing efforts to ensure a better conversion rate. One nice thing about machine learning is the ability to record and analyze this data on its own without any human having to look it over. The machine will then pump out future recommendations based on how the emails have been taken in by customers. The information, such as whether or not the email was opened at all, how many times it was opened, and whether or not a customer clicked the links to get to your website, will help you determine what should be changed in your future holiday marketing emails.
Take advantage of all opportunities
There are many different opportunities to offer a great deal, and it’s your company’s job take advantage of them. For example, sending emails telling customers exactly how many days there are left to order and have a gift arrive before Christmas is extremely helpful to them, especially as we near the 25th. In all communications with customers, offering a discount or promotion of sorts peaks a customer’s interest.
Make your call to action clear
One of the most important parts of an advertising campaign is the call to action, though it is even more important in an email to a customer. If they open the email but don’t understand what exactly it is your company wants them to do, they definitely aren’t going to buy anything. Make it clear exactly why you sent the email in the first place and what you want them to do after they’ve opened the email up.
