How to Make Your Emails Stand Out From the Crowd During the Holidays

John W Hayes

Brace yourselves; things are going to get pretty crazy around here very soon. The holidays are just around the corner, and marketing teams around the globe are gearing up for the busiest and (hopefully) most lucrative time of the year.

The holidays represent a time for marketers to shine. Make no mistake, the success or failure of your holiday marketing campaigns can make or break your organization as you drive Q4 revenues and build your customer base for the new year ahead.

You know this, and so does every other marketer worth his or her salt. This represents one of the biggest challenges facing marketers during this busy time. The entire marketing world is fighting for a share of the holiday marketing pie, making it incredibly difficult to stand out in a highly competitive market.

So how can you make sure your organization stands out from the crowd during this incredibly important time? Well, there is no getting away from those ever-present email marketing best practices, and during the holidays they are more important than at any other time.

7 Tips to Stand Out from the Crowd During the Holidays

1. Segmentation: When your customers’ inboxes are overflowing with everyone else’s marketing campaigns, it’s all too easy for your campaigns to be overlooked. This is especially true if your campaigns appear irrelevant or poorly targeted. Careful segmentation will ensure you only send the right emails to the right people. It will also allow you the opportunity to create more highly targeted campaigns, helping you engage your lists more efficiently.
   
2. Subject Lines: Again, it’s all about hitting the right people with the right message. Your subject line should leave your recipients in no doubt what your email is about. Subject lines should be tested and optimized whenever possible. The best email subject lines tell the full story. Try and think of your subject lines in the same way an editor writes a newspaper headline.
   
3. Timing: Emails should be sent at a time that suits your subscriber (not your marketing or sales department). If emails are left unread because they are sent at the wrong time of day, they will quickly be lost in the flood of competitive marketing messages vying for attention. Testing can help you decide when the optimum time to send your campaigns is. It’s also a good idea to check your website analytics and send campaigns around the time when your website gets its most engagement.
   
4. Frequency: If your lists are carefully segmented, there really shouldn’t be a problem with sending emails every day (or even multiple times per day).
   
5. Get Smart(er): Marketing automation technology like iContact Pro can help you target subscribers based on previous engagements with your email campaigns, social media activities and websites. Workflows will help you increase touchpoints while retaining relevance and persuading customers your organization understands their real needs. Smarter marketing helps build trust and makes your organization more likable. Remember, people buy from people they like.
   
6. Mobile: Mobile-friendly email marketing isn’t just about delivering emails that render well on mobile devices. Your entire online strategy needs to be mobile ready. A mobile-friendly email that sends traffic to a nonresponsive website is doomed to failure.
   
7. Add a Little Eggnog: OK, it’s the holidays. Don’t be afraid to have a little fun. Careful use of holiday-themed graphics in your creatives or emoji symbols in subject lines can help your campaigns stand out from the competition.

How will you ensure your email marketing stands out from the crowd during the holidays? Share your comments below.

This post first appeared on the iContact Email Marketing Blog.

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