The 3 Stages of Holiday Email Love
Here are three steps to take to bring subscribers on board for a successful email marketing campaign this holiday season.
Here are three steps to take to bring subscribers on board for a successful email marketing campaign this holiday season.
Every year many marketers — especially retailers — see a spike in subscribers during the holiday season. It’s a logical spike given the discount nature of the email channel, coupled with the seasonal deal extravaganza that is currently underway. But typically every year brands see a disproportionate number of subscribers disengage as soon as the holiday season ends. A recent blog post talks about this phenomenon and tactics to consider for capitalizing on the influx of customers.
New email subscribers are not a guarantee just because more customers are visiting your site, shopping your app or hitting the stores. You still need to give them a good reason to sign up. Many brands will leverage an email mini-series, specific to the holiday season, to capture the shopper’s attention. Consider elements like daily deals leading up to, and beyond the holiday, to get them on board. Other tactics like interstitial pages, in-app subscription options, or POS registration are additional ways to capitalize on the holiday season.
Once you have acquired these holiday shoppers, consider treating them differently from others acquired throughout the year. After all, it’s a special time of year. You are offering a different experience at every other customer touch point, so why should your welcome series be any different? You want this customer to stay engaged even after the holidays – there is no better time to start sharing your year round value proposition from the very beginning. Augmenting your welcome messaging during the holidays really demonstrates the commitment you are making to your subscribers, which makes for a stronger long-term relationship.
I know what you were thinking! But what I am thinking is a brand evangelist. Consumers are emotionally charged during the holidays – often stressed, too – and if you can recognize and address the difference in mind set for a customer during a holiday subscription versus any other time of year, you can really land yourself a customer for life. As with any of your marketing efforts, relevance is the key to long-term successes – and recognizing holiday-brain is certainly an opportunity to be relevant at every touch.
So grab the egg nog (and the rum of course) and start inviting new subscribers in for a taste of the holidays with your brand. They may just stick around if what you’re offering is inviting…that means you have to put away that fruit cake!