It may sound daft preparing your email marketing for Christmas already – I mean we’re not even into summer yet – but if you’re a business which relies on the Christmas period to see it through the following year, you need to start planning now.
With Christmas 2011 a distant memory, now’s the perfect time to start reviewing last year’s email marketing efforts. In this article we’ll give you a few questions to ask yourself and some hints and tips to get yourself in place; ready for this year’s holiday season.
Reviewing Christmas 2011 – Ask Yourself:
- “Where did the time go?” – How much time did you spend planning and writing your campaigns? What could you have done to make the process smoother?
- “Which campaigns performed better?” – Did free delivery offers perform better than online codes? Were emails sent in the afternoon read more than those in the evening?
- “Which campaigns travelled furthest?” – Were some emails forwarded more than others? What was it about them that made them so viral?
- “Which campaigns caused the most anger?” – Identify the email which had the largest unsubscribe rate and try and work out why it was so resented.
- “Which campaign was the most successful?” – Find out which email made the most amount of sales or drove the most amount of traffic to your website.
And finally – review what your competitors did. Hopefully you will have subscribed to their email list (if you didn’t – make a note to do so this year!)
These questions should take you all summer to answer fully. This isn’t back of a matchbox stuff - this is a full-on detailed analysis which could take a few weeks. The reason you need to start it now is because you may have to end orders of certain stock, make tweaks to your website’s interface or start building up a social media community. Only you will know what you need to do!
Planning Ahead
So you’ve reviewed last Christmas. You’re probably wondering just how many emails should you send over the festive period? This is a tricky question and one that is specific to your business. We all know supermarkets start promoting Christmas early (some as early as September!) – but if you start too early you could run the risk of antagonising your subscribers.
Bear in mind that most retailers send their emails out on the last Monday of November because it achieves a good result – but then that’s when there is most competition! If this appeals to you, be aware that you’ll be competing with potentially dozens of others.
Stand Out
It’s crucial to stand out from the crowd in a cluttered Christmas inbox – so make sure your subject lines are eye-catching, mobile-friendly and easy-to-share. In 50 characters or less you need to say why they should open it and how they can take action.
If you are offering free delivery, don’t be afraid to shout about it – it doesn’t cheapen your brand like discounts could.
Go Social
Social network use explodes over Christmas, with people sharing festive videos, sending e-cards and using hashtags. Embed sharing buttons in your email if you can – if someone’s connected to Twitter whilst they are in the shopping mood they are more likely to tell the world what they have bought. Also, if you have a great offer, people are more likely to share it with their friends so they can take advantage too.
As you can see, Christmas email marketing is a fine art – but the earlier you plan, the better your chance of success.