Competition is fierce during the holidays for consumer dollars, so businesses have to be savvy if they want to carve out their share of the market. Email campaigns are one of the most effective ways to market your business around the holidays, but people’s inboxes are also flooded with email campaigns from every other business. That doesn’t mean your campaign can’t be effective, it just means you need to have a good strategy in place. Here are 6 tips for an effective holiday marketing campaign.
1. Start Early
The closer you get to certain holidays, the more likely your email is to get lost in the onslaught. Many larger retailers will send out several emails a day during holiday season, so be sure yours gets in before the rush. For the US Holiday season, GoDaddy recommends starting your holiday campaigns between the 1st and 15th of November.
2. Segment Your Email List
Targeted marketing works, so if you want to get the best response from your email campaigns, create a number of emails designed to appeal to different types of clients for customers These can feature different products and services for different types of clients or be segmented by age, gender or other demographics that work best. As much as possible, however, you want to create emails that appeal specifically to the people you are sending them to.
3. Personalize As Much As Possible
The smaller your business is, the more ability you have to your campaigns. This can include something as simple as creating a field that automatically fills in the recipient’s name at the top of the email rather than just sending a “blanket” email. The more your clients and consumers feel the email is intended specifically for them and not just a blast to all of your clients and consumers, the more likely they are to open it.
4. Spend Some Time with The Subject Line
Only 20-40% of your emails will ever actually get opened, but the subject line will be read much more frequently. If you want your emails to actually get opened, it is important to take some time to carefully craft a subject line that will make people want to open the email. Your subject line may be the most important component of your entire email.
5. Get To Know All Of The Features Of Your Email Program – And Use Them
Email programs like Outlook, for example, offer a number of features you may be completely unaware of. One of these features is the ability to recall emails if you send information out erroneously. Something as simple as a minor typo has the potential to be a major scandal, so make sure you are using all the tools at your disposal – or at least are aware they exist.
6. Authenticate Your Emails
Authenticating your emails accomplishes two tasks. First, it helps provide additional security for your clientele and it also helps ensure that your emails end up in their inboxes and not in their spam folder. According to the Online Trust Alliance report, 50% of the top 100 retail companies in the U.S. lack proper email authentication and security. Be better than the big guys.
In spite of overflowing inboxes, email continues to be one of the most effective marketing strategies for businesses large and small. The smaller your business is, however, the more time you want to take carefully crafting your campaign to ensure sure it gets noticed. A good, strong subject line and as much personalization as you can accomplish will go a long way towards getting a good ROI on your time and energy.
