Holiday Email Marketing IV: Not everyone buys/sells Christmas presents

Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow on October 22, 2008

Our mini-series on holiday email marketing has looked at planning and past campaigns, frequency and stand-out tactics, and tips for the days immediately before and after shipping deadlines pass.

But not every recipient is looking for Christmas presents. And not every sender gets a seasonal response boost in Q4. So...

Don't forget other holidays and cultures

In a networked, diverse world, you can't make assumptions on what the holiday season means to different people. Christmas isn't the only end-of-year festival.

Luc Vezina, head of marketing for email service provider Campaigner reminds us to give holiday email campaigns "a careful read for cultural sensitivity" before hitting the send button. He adds:

"It's widely accepted today to use more neutral and inclusive terms such as holiday season and happy holidays, rather than 'Merry Christmas,' but it's still important to double check your language."

"You don't ever want to turn potential buyers away, so take the extra step to make sure you're using language that appeals to the widest audience possible."

Linda Bustos, ecommerce consultant at Elastic Path Software and author of the Get Elastic ecommerce blog highlights the value of other gift-giving opportunities, such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.

But how do you know which festivals to feature?

Linda has some ideas for identifying customers interested in particular holidays:

"Ask them upon email signup, or ask them to update their preferences"
"Send themed emails and segment responders vs non-responders"
"Send general holiday offers with links to landing pages for Hanukkah Ideas etc."

DJ Waldow, email marketing account manager at email service provider Bronto offers a warning about timing...

"Be aware of when holidays start and end. The big one for me is Hanukkah. It changes every year."

It's a warning echoed by Chad White, Director of Retail Insights at the Email Experience Council and author of the Retail Email blog, who notes:

"Last year I saw HP promoting Hanukkah gift cards in an email a week after the holiday, which some might have interpreted as ignorant or insensitive. Normally it's around Christmas time, but last year it was early December."

[Kwanzaa is always December 26th to January 1st. You'll find annual dates for Hanukkah here.]

What about those of us with no seasonal response boost?

Many email marketers (including me) have no obvious seasonal selling opportunities. Do we need a holiday marketing plan?

Linda says "it depends," as there is no easy answer:

"In your industry, are deals and purchases typically made over the holidays? What are your decision makers most occupied in doing? Some businesses shut down for a week over the holidays - or longer. Understand thy customer and market accordingly."

Luc suggests no seasonal sales doesn't have to mean no seasonal messages:

"It's a great opportunity for B2B and services companies to reach out to their customer base and prospects with a Seasons Greetings email. Customers and business associates appreciate holiday greetings, and it helps you stay top of mind with your most important audiences."

"You can also use email marketing around the holidays to reward returning or long-standing customers with special offers and discounts to show them that you value their business and look forward to working with them in the new year."

Given the lack of business activity in many offices as New Year approaches, many B2B newsletters skip an issue or two during this period. But Linda advises against this strategy:

"It's best to maintain consistency. If you send biweekly, keep it up, or explain why your ezine is 'on holiday'."

A problem with omitting an issue is it can mean long breaks between emails. If, for example, you send monthly emails and readers only look at every other issue anyway, a missing issue means some subscribers seeing no email for 3 months.

It's hard to maintain interest and mindshare with those kinds of intervals. And will new subscribers even remember they signed up if the first issue they see arrives almost two months later?

Here's how I approach my biweekly newsletter if an issue is due out in late December...

I produce an "email lite": a short, friendly, lighthearted newsletter issue which maintains Linda's consistency of delivery, keeps me top of mind, but doesn't burden the recipient with yet more business info at a time when their attentions may be elsewhere.

Last December, this meant a simple email message with a video holiday greeting making a point about the topic covered (email marketing). You can see the video here.

That ends our 4-part look at holiday email marketing. Thanks to my four panelists for their time and super insight. And good luck to you all for the rest of Q4!

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

[This post brought to you by Campaigner Email Marketing]
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