‘Tis the season for email marketing

christmas_newsletter_2014

christmas_newsletter_2014Christmas is just around the corner, so it’s time for all retail businesses to crank up their holiday season promotions – starting with the most important of all, email marketing.

Over the past few years, email marketing has grown into one of the best marketing tools in your kit. After all, your subscribers have chosen to hear from you, so they are already engaged.

Here’s 10 tips to keep them happy, while watching your sales soar:

Make sure your list is up to date: A clean list means fewer bounce-backs , and unsubscribes. Not to mention ensuring that people who have chosen to unsubscribe do not continue to receive emails.

Do what works: What products sold best over the past year? What subject lines in emails received the most click throughs? Instead of reinventing the wheel, learn from and apply what has worked in the past.

Robust website: Make sure that your website can cope with demand should the email attracted a large number of visitors at once. The last thing you need is customer who can’t get on to the site, and will vow never to return. Not a very Merry Christmas.

Go social: Blend your email marketing with your social presence to set the tone and crate a buzz. Share the email on all your social media platforms.

Get personal: Most email software allows you to personalise the message to a subscriber’s name. And consider segmenting your emails according to user behaviour, which will encourage brand loyalty and increase sales.

Give a gift: Rather than use discounts to attract buyers, think about offer a value-added gift instead. Perhaps a code for 10 per cent off – and ask subscribers to share the email.

Reputation matters: A businesses reputation can take time to build, but minutes to destroy, so protect yours by ensuring you don’t spam your customers. So don’t bombard them, and use a credible email subject line and quality content.

Respond quickly: Should there be a problem with the email (ie a broken link) or a customer is unhappy once they purchase a product via the email, make sure you issue an apology and have a bran crisis plan in place.

Timing is everything: Consider sending emails on weekend. During Q4 of 2013, emails sent on Saturdays and Sundays boasted some of the highest open and click-through rates. Similarly, emails sent later at night tended to be most engaging.

Analyse: Track your email program’s unique open rates, unique click-through rates, transaction rates, revenue per email and average order values.

Call Direct Digital Solutions on 02 9557 7623 or email us@directdigitalsolutions.com.au for email marketing that will ensure a very Merry Christmas.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *