Holiday Email Marketing III: Final days and follow-ups

In the first two parts of our holiday email marketing special, our panel of experts covered planning, role models, frequency and ways to stand out from the crowd.

Now it's time for them to pick out email tactics and strategies suited to the last stages of the holiday season (and beyond).

What can we do as we approach the end of the buying season?

Last-minute shoppers (especially the male version) are not a minority.

Luc Vezina, head of marketing for email service provider Campaigner notes that last year, "...nearly 17 percent of shoppers had not even started and over 50 percent had only completed half of their shopping by December 18." (According to the National Retail Federation.)

Is there anything special we can do to best serve this kind of buyer?

"If there is a time to significantly increase email frequency, it's the two or three weeks before Christmas."

But what about in-email tactics?

1. Communicate the urgency

Linda Bustos, ecommerce consultant at Elastic Path Software and author of the Get Elastic ecommerce blog suggests you remind shoppers of the need for action:

"...include how many days remain before shipping cutoff dates for gifts to arrive on or before December 24."

Luc supports that sentiment, adding:

"Effective campaigns can make finding the right product easy (for example, a campaign with gift suggestions for different budgets or family members) and will contain a call to action that reminds them that time is running out."

2. Offer gift cards

The electronic gift certificate is a mainstay of last-minute holiday shopping. As DJ Waldow, email marketing account manager at email service provider Bronto puts it:

"Make it simple for the lazy shopper. Offer a gift that does not require shipping...a gift that can be emailed."

Chad White, Director of Retail Insights at the Email Experience Council and author of the Retail Email blog, agrees.

But he also has a related tactic to help out those shopping too late for gifts to arrive on time. You might let people...

"...send an e-gift announcement explaining that a gift will arrive after Christmas."

3. Promote faster "delivery"

Chad also suggests giving shoppers faster delivery options as time runs out. For example:

• "Use overnight/expedited shipping (discounted or free)"
• "Shop at your local store - being sure to include a prominent store locator and any special store hours"
• "Buy online, pick up in store"

He notes, "...that often means including multiple messages in an email, but it can be done in a non-cluttered way as in this Target email and a bit busier Linens 'n Things email."

But how about when the holiday shopping season has passed? Do our experts have any advice on how to piggy-back on the holidays as you move forward into 2009?

Post-holiday season follow-up campaigns

Once seasonal sales have died down, there's plenty an email marketer can do to keep their email marketing success going.

1. Target the gift recipients

Both Chad and Linda advise switching emphasis to gift recipients once December draws to a close.

Linda suggests experimenting with "Get what you really wanted?" messaging, while Chad highlights product support emails:

"Brand manufactures, especially those of electronics and other complex products, might want to follow the lead of Sony. Every January, they send out a "Get a gift from Sony?" email with information and resources that help subscribers get the most out of any Sony products they may have received as gifts."

"This not only shows that Sony cares about customer service, but can lead to upsells and a closer relationship with the customer."

2. Ensure gift cards are used

Chad suggests we might also follow a trend from last year: promoting gift card redemption...

"A few retailers like Bass Pro Shops, Foot Locker and Sports Authority even incentivized subscribers to redeem their gift cards. Gift cards aren't counted as sales until they're redeemed, so retail CFOs will certainly appreciate a push on redemptions."

And, of course, gift card redemptions are another upsell and cross-sell opportunity.

3. Learn from the past and move forward

The intense email and sales activity of the last months of 2008 also gives you a lot of data to work with. Luc notes:

"Post holiday season is a great time to look closely at your email marketing metrics. Your metrics reports and analytics contain valuable data such as response and clickthrough rates that tell you which campaigns, messages and tactics worked well and those that fell flat."

He continues:

"Use this data feedback to refine your campaigns going forward, and you'll see even better results...not only for the holiday season, but throughout the year."

Linda has a similar message. Based on what you learnt, you can...

"...highlight your best deals (again, personalization and segmentation really help here) and get customers thinking about the New Year - is it going back to class, getting back to the gym or gearing up for Valentine's Day?"

Next week's final installment looks at cultural issues and has some advice for those who get no seasonal sales boost at this time of year.

More on holiday email | Tags: holiday email marketing, seasonal marketing, holiday ecommerce

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