Six Holiday E-Mail Marketing Tips
This time of year consumers are bombarded with holiday e-mail from merchants offering everything from gift guides to free shipping. A recent Forrester Research report indicates that US online retail sales this holiday season will reach $33 billion, a 21-percent increase over last year, making your e-mail marketing campaign an important part of reaching new customers and cashing in on holiday sales.
One obstacle you are going to face in creating a holiday campaign is making sure that yours stands out among all the other ones in a customer's inbox. Small online business owners also need to consider how to build their holiday contact list and then decide how to present the mailing.
ECommerce-Guide recently spoke with Melanie Attia, the product marketing manager for Campaigner, who suggested six key tips for launching a successful holiday e-mail marketing campaign — even if you have never considered sending one before this year.
1: E-mail Marketing Is Both Easy and Inexpensive
For those new to the idea of e-mail marketing, you can save yourself time by using an online software-as-a-service (define SaaS) solution. It's an affordable strategy, for example, Campaigner starts at $25 per month per 2,500 e-mails, but will also help you deliver a professional marketing campaign to boost your brand exposure and improve consumer trust. These types of solutions offer everything you need, including step-by-step online set-up, campaign creation and delivery.
The service will also make it easy to manage your subscriber list through automated subscription and unsubscribe functions. Plus, you can also track click-through rates and ensure that your e-mails meet industry standards as well as applicable privacy and spam laws.
2: Build Your Contact List
Most merchants will want to include a check box somewhere on their Web site that allows consumers to opt-in to receive periodic e-mail. But since the holiday marketing season is upon us now, Melanie Attia said even small businesses will already have a good list to start with. “Use prior contacts and your customer database to build your marketing campaign. In the first mailing, smaller merchants should remind the recipients about who you are and where the user would have given permission for being contacted.” In this mailing it is a good idea to also ask the recipients if they want to receive future holiday or periodic mailings from you.
It is extremely important to continue contact only with those people who are interested. “Merchants need to honor all unsubscribe requests immediately. One feature of Campaigner is that it automates the process of unsubscribing contacts for you. The software will flag those e-mail addresses who have requested to unsubscribe and no future mailings will be sent to that user,” said Attia.
For those merchants who might be tempted to buy e-mail lists to spread their holiday message, we warn you: resist the urge. Attia said that buying lists of customers will have a very negative effect in terms of customer trust. “Merchants really need to steer clear of sending non-permission based e-mail. It doesn't work.”
3: Avoid Being Generic: Use the subject line to its full potential
Behind the scenes it's all about a really good fight. You really are fighting all other merchants for the subscribers' clicks and dollars. Holiday mailings can sometimes lead to multiple e-mails from different merchants sitting in a shopper's inbox at the same time. When the subscriber scans the subject headlines, your e-mail needs to be the one that stands out.
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| Getting the In-Box to Stand Out: Using an attractive non-generic subject line that is specific to you will give the subscriber a reason to click and open the e-mail. (Click for larger image.) |
To help your e-mail rank higher, Attia said you need to use the e-mail subject line to its full potential. “Don't use generic subject lines like ‘e-flyer' or ‘special discounts inside.' You need to give the subscriber a good reason to click and open the e-mail, and that means being more descriptive.” She suggests that merchants use a specific brand name or something similar that the customer would expect from you.
For holiday campaigns you can also consider subject lines related to discount percentages or dollar number reductions. Forrester Research's 2007 holiday report says that 61 percent of online consumers indicate that they are more likely to shop online with a retailer that offers free shipping, so shipping discounts will also make an attractive subject line for holiday marketing. In designing e-mail subject headers you should also avoid using the word ‘free' to help keep your e-mail out of subscriber's spam or junk folders.
(Continue to Page 2 for More Tips on Content and Delivery)
Vangie is a freelance technology writer who covers Internet technologies, online business, and other topics for over 15 years. SEO Content Writer with high-quality organic search results. Professional freelance technology writer with over 15 years experience. - Understands the technology trends in SMB and Enterprise markets. - Proficient in email marketing and social media campaigns. - Trusted and respected voice in small business marketing via e-commerce. - Knowledgeable in how to incorporate sales initiatives and assets into articles or Web content. Experienced social media marketer. Specialties: SEO. Electronic commerce, small businesses, Internet. Computers, servers, networking. Computer science. Terms, terminology. Social media, email marketing. Mobile apps. Operating systems. Software and hardware. Interviews, tips, advice, guides and feature articles. Marketing, slideshows, how-to guides. Search engine tools.
