4 Do’s and Don’ts for Holiday Email Marketing Success
The holidays are the busiest time of the year for both consumers and brands. Consumers are busy shopping and brands are in full gear invading consumer’s inboxes with holiday promotions. With so many holiday emails being sent, how can brands stand out, get noticed and make an impact on their audience?
Successful holiday email campaign planning should start early but even if you are late to the game, there are a number of strategies you can implement quickly into your campaigns to make sure your holiday emails are engaging your customers and prospects.
Here are our holiday email marketing do’s and don’ts that can help you win at the holiday email marketing game.
DO USE SHORT SUBJECT LINES THAT MOTIVATE AN OPEN
The subject line is the most important element of an email message. It gives consumers the deciding factor on whether they are going to open the email message or not. Consumers prefer short subject lines with research showing that subject lines containing four to five words receive the highest engagement and open rates.
DO PREACH YOUR DIFFERENCES
With so many holiday emails and shopping choices, it’s important to constantly remind your customers and audience of why they should choose to shop with you and not go to another store. If you offer free shipping, free returns, extended returns, price guarantees, or value added services, include these in your email messages so customers are aware of them.
DO INCLUDE A PROMOTIONAL OFFER
Holiday shoppers are looking for discounts and sales in their emails. Offering special gifts with purchases, exclusive sales for email subscribers, in-store only discounts and limited time offers can help motivate customers to make a purchase from you and keeps consumers opening their emails through the holiday season.
DO OPTIMIZE FOR MOBILE
It should be no surprise that mobile email open rates have surpassed desktop email opens and click through rates on mobile and desktop devices are about equal. Optimizing your email creative for mobile devices helps deliver the best user experience across all devices and platforms.
DON’T BLOW UP THE INBOX
While it can be tempting to send out emails everyday, research shows that customer engagement actually drops with higher send frequencies. Data shows that brands who send one email per week had the highest engagement rates compared to brands who sent out two to three emails a week.
DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE
Many consumers start their holiday shopping early so don’t wait until the last minute to send out your holiday email campaigns. If you are trying to target last minute shoppers, it’s still a good strategy to start sending out your email messages early with follow up offers later in the season.
DON’T FORGET CALLS TO ACTION
Sometimes the most overlooked but most important element of the email message is the call to action. A strong call to action can help motivate consumers to take the next step. The email message should include multiple calls to action to help increase customer engagement.
DON’T FORGET TO PERSONALIZE
With all the data you can gather from customers today, marketers are sitting on a goldmine of information that can be leveraged to send personalized, relevant and timely email messages. Don’t do a batch and blast holiday campaign. Personalize your holiday offers to boost engagement.