Holidays are the most profitable season for eCommerce businesses. They are typically the peak selling period for retailers worldwide. In fact, many retail businesses rely heavily on this season to sustain their cash needs for the full year. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies for celebration and gathering.
Around this time of year, it’s important to pay attention to changes in consumer buying behavior. This will directly impact your email marketing tactics.
As a marketer, how do you prepare for major holidays? Are you getting the most out of your email campaign efforts?
Here, we list down the 6-step sequence to a powerful email launch campaign. You’d definitely want to apply this method for the next big eCommerce dates to double your revenue.
Step 1: Amplify your event with hype builders
Before the upcoming holiday/launch event, you need to build your momentum. The question above - “How do you prepare for major holidays as a marketer?” is as important as “How do you prepare your customers?”
Inform your audiences about the upcoming sale. Get them excited, get them interested. The goal is to make sure that they whitelist your email.
Do not create an email blast telling your list on launch day itself (e.g. on Black Friday itself) that you have a sale going on. It’s a big “no-no”. Doing so will increase your unsubscription rate.
This first step also helps segment your customer list into the most excitable customers and most engaged prospects.
Step 2: Build your priority list
Once you have identified your key customers, you have to start understanding who are going to spend the most money on your holiday sales/launch. Know who your VIP customers are.
There are different ways in which you can execute this email sequence. You can invite your high-value customers to skip the queue. You can emphasize the exclusivity and perks of being on the VIP list. You can also intrigue them to join your list with a “mystery offer”.
Step 3: Build an early sale launch
Create an early access launch for your identified VIPs 1 to 2 days in advance from the launch date. This will further build trust and make them feel valued like they are part of the privileged community.
During this priority list launch, you can use a unique VIP code in your email campaign. Since the code they would get is not available to the general public, it would entail exclusivity. Furthermore, it would encourage them to actually use the code custom-made for them.
Step 4: Send email campaigns during launch
At this stage, you have already built enough excitement. You’ve already capitalized on your most excitable customers and VIPs. It is now time to act upon the remainder of your list.
The email campaign you need to send during launch should be well-designed to target the larger segment of your subscribers.
At this point, it’s also helpful to retarget your priority list that has not purchased yet.
An evergreen technique is to use eye-capturing subject lines. Another tip is to use human faces as they’re proven to convert well (especially for lifestyle brands).
Step 5: Create emails that showcase social proofs
Some of your audiences are still unsure about making their decision.
There are a lot of uncertainties that could hinder a purchase. This is where social reminders come to play.
76% of customers are more likely to trust content shared by peers (rather than by brands). 63% are more likely to end at checkout if the product has reviews and ratings. People trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
So, let your early bird customers help you with your email content. The goal here is to crush objections through positive statements from real, delighted customers.
Step 6: Close the sale with an urgency
Your launch is ending soon. This is the best time to push some more. Create a sense of urgency and harness the effectiveness of FOMO (fear of missing out).
Time is of the essence. Highlight on the offer and the remaining time. You can use a countdown timer to clearly show how much time is left to grab the offer before it’s gone.
At this point, you can also target products to upsell based on customer’s interests and past behavior.
Now that you’re equipped with the ultimate holiday prep guide, the next launch would be more exciting!
We love to give you more insights into your email strategies (not just for holiday/launch dates). Learn something valuable from other DTC brands we hand-picked for you:
