The holiday season is practically here. You have been working hard on your email marketing campaigns for this season and are almost ready to go.
Using email to increase customer engagement
Just before you do, here’s a “check list” we’ve prepared that we hope will be helpful in engaging as many of your customers as possible.
1. Segmenting
Make sure your emails are relevant to the subscribers. Play mix & match between your email campaign and message to the subscribers. It’s no secret Segmentation plays a big part in this process. Go over your lists and optimize it. There are several methods, here are some of the leading ones, you can apply them all or start with only a few:
- Segment by subscriber activity/behavior –active or non-active, opened, clicked, purchased in within some past timeframe
- Segmenting by sign up date – your holiday promotion might be relevant for those who signed up recently (holiday sale for first time users) or on contrary, for old subscribers (“awake them from their sleep” holiday campaign).
- Segment by Groups of interest
- Segmenting by region, state, city, and demographic data.
Segmenting your lists will help you to get better open and click rates, sending targeted holiday messages and offers, will get you better engagement and results.
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2. Subject line
Your customers are probably swamped with holiday emails and offers, you need your emails to stand out of the crowd. You have only one shot to make them open it and continue reading. It’s important you let subject lines show what is inside the letter. People appreciate coupons, sales, prices reduction – especially when they shop (a lot) for presents. Be direct in your subject line – your customers will appreciate it. Use Segmenting and think about your target audience –what are they interested in this holiday season? Use it to craft a subject line that teases their interests and gets them to want to read on.
3. Mobile friendly email campaign
Research shows that over 50% of emails are opened from a mobile device. If you haven’t made the jump to using mobile-friendly template on your email campaigns, the holidays are a good time to try it, especially if you’re sending during times where your readers are likely on-the-go and will be reading email on a smaller screen anyway.
4. Optimize delivery rates and time
Timing is not everything but it can increase your open and click rates. If you don’t already know what time and day works best with your list then A/B test it. There are dozen reports but none of them will be as accurate as A/B testing your list. Moreover it’s recommended to recheck this test from time to time. Another issue is your choice of email service providers. If you aren’t using multiple ESPs then you should, it will improve your delivery rates. Besides delivery, using multiple emails service providers is a way of load balancing email marketing costs, performance and ROI, especially useful in these times when budgets need to be super-efficient.
5. Add an SMS to your campaign
With so many emails flying to your customer’s inbox, especially during the holiday season, whether it’s a last minute deal or great concert tickets, travel or real estate opportunity-a text message, when used properly, provides marketers with an additional and compelling communications channel, for delivering poignant time –sensitive messages that get noticed on time. It’s a complimentary product to your email campaign – you will be noticed as a result, and your email won’t be just another promotional email in the sea of emails. This is an important feature you should consider when choosing your email marketing software. Make sure you choose software which combines SMS with your email campaign.
In summary
The holiday’s season is your time to shine – it’s your time of the year to boost your ROI. But you are not the only one; it’s the best time for your competitors as well, so you need to use every tip and method to make your campaign stand out: optimize your delivery rates, segment and A/B test, use a mobile friendly template, and increase it a notch – send an SMS along with it.
Happy holidays
The Ongage team
Want to learn more on how to boost your ROI via email marketing? Contact us or check out our Free DEMO
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