The festive season is here, and despite the current hard times, shoppers will still be out in force. Habits, though, are changing as more people turn to online shopping to buy gifts for their nearest and dearest. In fact, it’s actually predicted that £1.1 billion more will be spent online compared to last year.
Competition to bring in new customers and entice the loyalty of current ones is fierce. This means it is important to stand out from the rest.
Christmas email marketing is a great way to capitalise on customers’ desire to spend, showcase what you have to offer and create an emotional bond with your audience.
Below are some Christmas email marketing ideas you could put into action this year.
Understanding the Importance of Christmas Email Marketing
Christmas is vitally important for a huge amount of businesses. It is a period of the year when nearly everyone is actively looking for things to buy, and they’re often willing to spend more than usual.
Everyone is looking for something special, so SMEs also benefit, and having an effective seasonal email marketing campaign can help them level the playing field. Social media can be used to entice a wider audience, and with email marketing, you can become more specific and targeted, improving your revenue.
With Christmas emails, you help build a relationship with your customers and help retain them, as you can use this medium to offer discounts and special items.
It also gives you a chance to thank your customers and is an added method to tap into the emotions of Christmas – generosity, joy and gratitude. With more engagement and activity, your SEO will improve as search engines pick up on your increased traffic and popularity.
Creating Effective Christmas Email Marketing Campaigns
Although you want your products to do the talking for you, a little bit of persuasion is a good thing. Creating engaging email content will help show customers the door and give them the nudge to walk through.
Personalise
It’s a small thing, but it works. Having your customers’ names in the email creates a bond between you and them. Knowing past purchases and having location-based offers are all ways to make your Christmas email marketing more engaging.
Subject Line
The subject line is the first thing potential customers will read. It needs to grab their attention and make clear what the content of the email is. For seasonal email marketing, lean into the festive nature of things – make the subject line catchy and Christmassy and highlight the deals and discounts included in the email.
Make it Festive
It’s Christmas time, so show it! Use Christmas emojis, language that evokes Christmas, appealing to nostalgia and the emotions of the holidays. Finish with clear CTAs with a Christmas spin and put it above the email fold for visibility purposes.
Segmentation
Email segmentation means you’ll effectively separate your email list into smaller subcategories. Doing this and sending out more targeted emails to specific groups is more effective over Christmas.
With email segmentation based on customer behaviour, preferences and demography, you improve your chances of conversions. Your email will also be more engaging, and, in the long run, people will stay subscribed to your emails as they trust that what’s inside will be relevant.
Timing for Maximum Impact
Knowing when to send your Christmas emails can turn a good marketing campaign into a great one. Your campaign can start as early as late October/Early November when the previous major holiday (Halloween) has passed. However, if you’ve got nothing scheduled as of yet – there’s no time like the present!
You should increase frequency as you build up to Christmas Day, but remember not to overwhelm your potential customers. It would be best if you also considered optimal sending times. Think about when people are taking breaks at work, reading emails early in the morning or just after they get home when they might do last-minute online shopping.
Post-Christmas can still be a time for lead generation. It’s a common misconception that people tend to spend less in January when it’s the opposite. Sales are everywhere during this time, and people are at home, so you can send emails during the afternoon that match the post-Christmas shopping schedule.
Festive Visuals and Design Elements
Just like with web design, the look of your emails will factor into how much people engage with the content.
Having a festive email design means including Christmas-related images and GIFs, as well as using video and emojis. Use colours such as green, red and gold that conjure up images of Christmas. Doing all this will grab people’s attention and immediately convey the Christmas spirit.
That being said, don’t overwhelm them. Keep the design clear and consistent with your brand.
Christmas Special Offers and Incentives
Affordability and value for money are key considerations for shoppers this year. One of the main holiday marketing tips you should follow is to include incentives as part of your campaign.
Limited-time offers, exclusive discounts, email-only deals, free shipping offers, giveaways, gift guides, and Christmas bundles are all forms of incentives that you can use to build engagement.
You can reward loyal customers with special offers. New customers can be enticed in with discounts. With these types of incentives, you present the message of giving that Christmas is about and convince people that your business is worth taking a plunge with.
Measuring and Analysing Campaign Success
When it comes to Christmas email marketing, it’s also important to measure the success of the campaign afterwards. There are many key performance indicators (KPIs) that you should monitor and analyse afterwards, including:
- Open rates: what percentage of people opened your emails
- Click-through rates: how many email subscribers clicked on a link in the email
- Conversion rates: how many people purchased something
With these metrics, you can assess how well your campaign worked this time. You can use these metrics to refine your campaign for the future.
If you didn’t get it right in the past, that’s okay. The best thing about Christmas is that it comes around every year.
Left it Last Minute? Get Help With Christmas Email Marketing Today
Christmas is the perfect time for you to increase your marketing efforts and build your business. During this time, potential customers are primed to buy more and be more receptive to email marketing.
Whether you’re looking for support with Christmas email marketing or need some simple advice, contact us at Maxweb Solutions today.
Posted on Friday, December 13th, 2024 in Latest News.
