With millions of shoppers looking for gifts online, now is the time to strike while the holiday iron is hot! One of the ways you can attract holiday customers is through targeted email.
Research performed by Coremetrics, one of the leading online commerce and web analytics companies, shows that “Cyber Monday” was a big success this year. Cyber Monday is considered to be the first Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend when consumers get online to begin their online holiday shopping. This year showed an increase of 13.7 percent in sales compared to Cyber Monday 2008. In addition, Cyber Monday 2009 had more sales than Black Friday 2009, only three days prior, with a 24.1 percent increase in sales activity.
What does this tell us? This is clear statistical information that consumers love to shop online. And that means money for your business if you can tap into that market with a targeted email advertising campaign.
What an Email Advertising Campaign is NOT
The first thing to remember about a targeted email advertising campaign is that it is not spam. Spam is unsolicited email that contains unwanted advertising or promotions. Your targeted email list should be your own email database, or one shared from a similar business to yours who have permission from email clients to receive additional email offers.
If you have an email list, you should already be in regular contact with your customers. Your email subscribers most likely signed up to get your newsletters, promotions, sales notices, and even just updated company information. This is your targeted list that will generate the most results from your holiday email advertising efforts.
How to Take Advantage of Holiday Email Campaigns
Here are some helpful tips to get your holiday email campaign started:
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Choose your subject line carefully
The main reason a person reads an email is because of the subject line. Just like headlines are the most important part of print advertising, your subject line must capture the receiver’s attention and entice her to read the rest of the email. Use subjects along the lines of “Save 60% off Stocking Stuffers,” or “Exclusive Sales Codes for 50% to 75% off” to trigger their mouse to click on your email.
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Provide a clear “call to action”
In email campaigns, it is stunningly amazing how frequently small business marketers fail to provide instructions for what the customer should do next. Be sure you tell the reader what the call to action is. Make sure they take advantage of the sale before it ends, or ask them to visit your website today to take advantage of free shipping. Create a sense of urgency, and you will have more clicks pouring into your website from your email marketing campaign.
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Watch your frequency
Email marketing campaigns are most effective when they create an air of exclusivity. If your customers know that you rarely offer sales, they will be more apt to act quickly to buy from you this week. In contrast, if you send out too many emails with an abundance of sales, your sales rate will suffer. Find the perfect middle ground between staying at the forefront of your customers’ minds and becoming viewed as sales spam.
With holiday shopping in full swing, you can still entice buyers through targeted online marketing such as email. If you haven’t contacted your email list already, be sure you do so soon before the holiday rush is over.
