Have you started sending holiday
emails yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Holidays are that time of year
when people shop the most, and chances are that your small biz can benefit
greatly from that. Successful email marketing is an amazing tool to reach out
to your target audience and turn them into buying customers.
If done right, that is.
If you’re sending emails just to
send them, it won’t yield the results you need.
If you really want to impress
them, stick to these holiday email marketing tips:
Plan in advance
A good marketing strategy is the
first (and perhaps the only) thing you need to generate sales. A large number
of marketers who know how to make a killer email holiday campaign start
planning as early as August. But it’s not late now either.
Email marketing should be at your
to-do list if you want results. There is no excuse – make a plan and stick to
it. Let’s take a look at some of the tips on how to grab the attention of your
target audience through holiday emails:
Focus on mobile
The first practical advice is to
focus on mobile, and for a good reason. More and more people are checking on their
mail and viewing it from the mobile devices. To put things into perspective, it
has been reported that in 2014 that more that 50%
traffic was mobile during holiday seasons. Below are a few tips on how to make
sure that your emails are mobile-friendly:
Use an email template that is mobile-optimized
With the AddressTwo Email
Marketing tools you will be able to preview what your email will look like
on mobile and on desktops.
Keep it short and snappy
Three sentences on your computer
may look like 6 sentences on your mobile device. So, make sure there isn’t too
much text, otherwise people won’t even bother to read it. You emails need to be
catchy and a bit personal, something people can relate to. Something short but
powerful that will make them want to know more.
Make it simple
The best email promotions are
simple with a clear layout. If you have too many colors or use 5 different
types of front people may get distracted from the main goal. And that is – to
take some kind of action.
Run a social media promotion
Prior to actually creating an
email campaign, run a promotion on Facebook, Instagram etc. If you want your
customers to respond to your holiday emails, first you have to remind them of
who you are. Just to get their attention. So that when they receive an email
from you, they’ll know who you are and they will be more likely to take action.
Make them engage with you on
social media. Engagement is the best way to get closer to you customers and
stay on top of their mind. Run a holiday photo contest to make your followers
engage. Alternatively, offer buy-one-get-one-free promotions to spur
engagement.
Use proper CTA
A call-to-action is supposed to
make people buy something, so you need to make it catchy and simple. For an
eye-catching call-to-action you can visually emphasize it. Also, you don’t have
to use CTA just once – use it several time throughout your email.
The paradox of choice – stick to one
If you want to lead your
potential customers to one single action, make sure you lead them with one
single thought in mind. Even though you may have several products you’d like to
offer, stick to just one, or to several relatable ones. You need to hack into
the psychology of a buyer’s mind. Sometimes less is more, and in this case it
seems to be truer than ever. People get easily confused if they need to choose
between several things.
Pay attention to the subject line
Last but not the least – make a
killer subject line. Since the subject line is the first thing people see when
they get a new email it’s worth investing some thought into it. How many times
did you not open an email because of a crappy boring headline? Probably more
often than you can remember. The same goes for your subscribers. If it doesn’t
spark their interest, they won’t open it. There will be so many emails anyway,
why would they waste time on reading yours? Because you have to offer them
something others can’t. So express that in your subject line. You can do that
by asking a question – questions resonate well with customers. And, of course,
add some holiday spirit to it!
