Top 8 tips for email marketing campaigns this Christmas

With Christmas fast approaching, consumers will soon be splashing the cash on gifts and presents for their loved ones. While this provides ample opportunities for retailers, it also throws up the challenge of standing out in such a competitive crowd.

However, email marketing can get your products or services right in front of the eyes of potential patrons and encourage them to make a purchase. But in order to make the most of this tactic, here are eight top tips on implementing a successful campaign this Christmas.

1. Use progressive profiling instead of historical data

There isn’t much point in using your subscribers’ historical data at this time of year, as they will be shopping for other people more than themselves. Therefore, it is much more effective to simply ask your subscribers what kinds of products they want to buy with progressive profiling emails instead.

2. Add seasonal content to triggered emails

It isn’t that difficult to do, but adding seasonal images and content to your triggered emails can make a huge difference. Along with getting subscribers in the mood, they will also remind consumers of essential purchases and with any luck, then take action on your site.

3. Prepare for the worst-case scenario with an apology email template

Due to the masses of traffic that could bombard your website over the festive period, there is a chance of outages. So, make sure you have an apology email template ready and waiting to go just in case your website can’t cope with demand.

4. Implement preview text correctly

B2C marketers criminally underuse the preview or snippet text that appears under your email subject line in the inbox view of many major clients. However, this effectively gives you a second subject line to support your email content, so use it correctly.

5. Utilising all available data to your advantage

To get subscribers excited about Christmas, search social media sites like Pinterest to see what is trending. But when your target market starts showing an interest on your site, use this data in email campaigns to persuade them to convert.

6. Avoid sending emails to inactive subscribers

Even though it might be tempting to contact subscribers that haven’t engaged with your emails in a while, this is a pointless exercise. A much more beneficial approach is to identify the seasonal shoppers among your subscribers from previous years and re-target them.

7. Send mobile-friendly emails

Every year, more and more mobile users are turning to their smartphones during the festive period to stay up-to-date with the latest deals and product releases. For this reason, you should fully embrace mobile as part of your email strategy and strive to meet the unique requirements of this growing audience.

8. Don’t forget about delivery

As the big day approaches, make sure you include your order deadlines for standard and express delivery. Even though Christmas falls on a Friday, the last day most retailers will be able to send out their products is the 22^nd December.