With the exception of the 2008 recession, holiday sales have increased yearly since 2002. Even the 2020 pandemic saw an increase in holiday spending. Despite what might be happening with the rest of the economy, shoppers have made it clear that their holiday traditions stand firm.
Smart brands respond to their customer's behavior and actions. With personalized content and ease of use at the top of shoppers' minds, successful holiday marketing campaigns can not only help your business bring in more sales but create more loyal customers as well.
For many business owners, an average of 35% of their yearly profits come from holiday shopping. Some even eclipsed the total they had made thus far. It’s evident this is when business owners should put their best foot forward and use their most effective marketing tactics.
A holiday email marketing strategy is exactly what is needed to help ensure high holiday sales.
Zoek sent over 1 million emails last year, so we know what it takes to create an email campaign designed to be opened and acted on. We’ll walk you through how holiday marketing can benefit your business, examples of successful campaigns, and tips to increase your holiday marketing strategy results.
The Importance of Holiday Email Marketing Campaigns for SMB
Email marketing continues to be the best way to rise above the noise and get directly to your audience. In fact, it’s often the first thing people do in the morning.
According to OptinMonster, 58% of users scan their email before they check out social media or the news.
”Email marketing is table-stakes for any ecommerce brand. What makes it so valuable, especially during the holidays, is that it is an opt-in channel. That means consumers choose to receive brand communications and look to it for holiday deals and product discovery.”
— TRACY PUCKETT, CONTENT MARKETING MANAGER, OMNISEND
A strong holiday email marketing strategy isn’t just good for consumers who already subscribe to you, though, it’s also an excellent want to find and discover new customers.
Email marketing allows you to segment your customers into different lists based on their information to send highly personalized content. Since 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide specific and relevant offers, welcoming your new customers with offers only sent to their inbox is a great way to build up your list.
Regardless of if you’re targeting a new audience, a loyal one, users in need of re-targeting, or anyone in between, every type of business could benefit from a holiday email marketing strategy.
5 Suggestions for a Successful Holiday Marketing Campaign
If you’re eager to get your piece of the online sales pie during the holidays, then you need to up your email marketing game. The following suggestions will help you create higher-quality emails your audience can’t help but open.
1. Segment Your Customer Email List
During a time when sales are crucial, sending personalized emails could help you receive up to six times higher transaction rates. That’s because the more relevant your email is to someone, the more likely they will engage with it.
Organizing your email subscribers based on certain factors lets you create targeted emails for your holiday marketing campaigns. Here are some examples of holiday email segmentation strategies:
Location: Segmenting your list by location allows you to suggest products or services based on weather, news, and other location-based factors.
Purchase history: Users can be sent emails of similar or complimentary products, referral information, and discount codes.
Email metrics: If subscribers have stopped opening your emails, you can segment and target them with a re-engagement campaign by offering exclusive discounts or offers.
On-site activity: Abandoned cart email campaigns are among today’s valuable and effective forms of email marketing.
2. Focus on Your Subject Lines
The subject of your email is possibly the most important few words in your entire email. During the holidays, when every business sends emails, our inboxes are overwhelmed with hundreds of messages. Being the first impression, it has to make your user feel like they need more.
When it comes to the holidays specifically, here are a few tips to improve your subject line text:
Use holiday-themed emojis such as 🎁🕎❄️
Utilize power words such as “get,” “exclusive,” “the last call,” etc.
Provide specific information about a sale or discount
Be short, concise, and to-the-point
3. Send Emails at the Right Time
Determining the right amount of emails to send and when is always a balancing act. You want product awareness and top-of-mind, but you don’t want your audience to feel annoyed by constant emails. And while we usually agree to limit your emails to once a week during non-holiday times, it’s alright to spam your audience a little from November to January.
On Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021 alone, over 116.5 million emails were sent, resulting in over $10 billion in combined sales. Users know it’s sales season, and they’re actively looking for emails that can point them toward deals worth their time.
According to our statistics, the first two weeks of November are the most crucial time for holiday emails, with the week after Thanksgiving is the second busiest. Opening and click-through rates drop significantly after December 22nd, with most holidays now passed or almost over.
4. Optimize for Mobile Shopping
According to SearchEngineLand, 62% of U.S. consumers aged 21-45 said they used their mobile phones for their entire shopper’s journey. To accommodate these types of shoppers, a few changes can be made to your email (and website).
First, your website must be easy to navigate on mobile. Regardless of how well your email is crafted or how often it’s clicked on, a problematic website experience can make or break your sale. Including actionable items such as buttons, links, or tabs in the natural area your user's hands are located will increase your website engagement.
Most users hold their smartphones the same way - fingers wrapped around the back of your phone (or around a phone grip), leaving your thumb to do all the work. Creating menus, buttons, links, etc., all within thumb’s reach, is essential in creating a mobile-friendly website design.
Once you know your website is easy for mobile shoppers, here are some tips to optimize your emails:
Ensure all call-to-actions are clickable buttons
Limit your image and video size for quicker loading times
Utilize white space and contrasting colors for better readability
5. Promote Your Email List on Social Media
Social media continues to be the best way to amplify your branding and content. Over the last few years, it has become an increasingly important role in worldwide holiday shopping. A survey revealed that approximately 28% of shoppers planned to use social media to search for or purchase holiday products, making it the best way to send traffic directly to your email list.
Here are a few ways you can advertise your email list on social media:
Host and advertise a subscribers-only giveaway
Offer discounts or exclusive offers for signing up
Put your email subscription link in your link.tree or other bio link directory
Post about previous email-only offers your subscribers received
Key Takeaways
Even if you don’t already have a strong email marketing strategy in place, planning out just a few weeks of email marketing can be beneficial.
This year, due to financial hardships, some customers might be less eager to overspend on Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales. Therefore, deals, discounts, and freebies will be crucial in driving more sales this holiday season. Focus on segmenting your list and sending personalized content as often as possible; your email marketing efforts will pay off!
Give our graphic designers a call if you need custom graphics or emails to help add some holiday flair to your branding! We’re available for any kind of visual design request your business needs.