It’s coming. It’s so close you can smell the Christmas turkey. But there’s still time to squeeze a little extra from your email marketing and boost engagement with your subscribers. Here are five last-minute campaign ideas that are a doddle to compile.
Christmas postage deadlines
Got an online shop? Spare a thought for the people on your email list who aren’t superhuman. You know, the ones who didn’t have their Christmas shopping finished by 5th December. A good chunk of your customers will leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute. Do them a favour and send out an email highlighting your last order dates. It’s a simple idea that’s incredibly useful. And your readers will love you for it.
For bonus points include the name of the courier or delivery handler you use — and state whether or not your customer will need to be available to sign for their package. One simple email is all it takes. After that you should strongly consider including your final delivery dates at the bottom of every subsequent pre-Christmas email.
An irresistible offer
There’s an awful lot of money sloshing around at this time of year. But once the gifts have all been bought — many consumers tighten the purse strings. Thing is, they don’t know about the irresistible offer you’re about to dish up. That might be a one-day-only flash sale with 50% off all products, or a luxury hamper with every order over a certain value. Be creative. The aim is to make your offer so compelling that your prospects can’t resist taking action.
Quick word of caution? Don’t bombard your reader or go for the hard sell. Email marketing is an incredibly cost-effective way of reaching out. But sending too many emails – particularly at Christmas when most people are busy – can be counterproductive. Not only will your reader not act, you could turn them off your brand forever.
Extended holiday hours
If you run a high street shop and are extending your opening hours in the run up to Christmas, let’s try to get as many people through those front doors as possible. It’s easy to fire out a quick email with your Christmas opening times. Pro tip: if you have data on where your subscribers live, use segmentation to target locals rather than pestering subscribers who may live on the other side of the country.
End of year review
Marketing is about nurturing a relationship with your audience, customers and clients. An end of year review of what you have achieved, or how you have helped customers, is a nice way to build bonds. Just remember to respect your reader’s cluttered inbox. Short and sweet is the way to go. If you have lots to say, you could always write a blog post and include a link in your bite-sized email version.
Look ahead to the New Year
Alternatively you could look ahead to your next twelve months as a business. If you have something exciting planned — be it a product, service, event or new store — a teaser email is a great way to build anticipation.
Bonus tip: Create a segmented list of the people who purchase at Christmas
Everyone loves a nice surprise. Segment your subscribers based on whether or not they have purchased from you during the festive season. Now, what if you followed them up in January with a discount voucher to say thanks for shopping with you? You’ll win some serious brownie points and potentially turn a one-time purchaser into a regular customer.
Let’s wrap up…
Until the big day has passed, it’s never too late to wring the last few drops out of your Christmas marketing campaign. And with the easy-to-execute ideas above, you can stay near the front of your audience’s minds without bombarding your subscribers with the hard sell. Over to you!
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