How to make the most of your Christmas newsletters?

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2 How to make the most of your Christmas newsletters? Christmas season is a time of the year when companies scale up the volume of their newsletters and maximize sales. Only in 2012, online retailers increased number of sent s by 19% in comparison to In practice, this means that each company sent an average of 210 promotional s during the holiday season! Making your newsletters stand out in the holiday inbox clutter might be quite a challenge, especially knowing that your competitors are probably already thinking about their special offers for Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving or Free Shipping Day. In this Christmas guide we uncover the most effective strategies that you can put to use in best inspiration for Christmas newsletters design? Should you stop your promotional s on December 25th, or continue into January? GetResponse 2013 Christmas Guide will provide you with practical answers to all these questions. 2

3 Christmas Marketing Recipes 2013 It is timing. earned in the year. accumulated holiday savings. Businesses spend months preparing for this special time of the year, to be ready to act when the time is right. All departments work together to grab as much of the Christmas revenue pie as possible. 3

4 Pre-Holiday Preparation Time 1. Objectives and strategies Before you prepare and roll out your Christmas campaign, start by planning what you want to achieve and how to reached your goals. 2. Key dates Identify relevant holidays to focus on and create a timetable of activities. Although this handbook focuses mainly on the Christmas holiday season of November and December, you should analyze seasonal peaks. There may be special holidays that are relevant marketing campaign. These could include Day, or even It holiday. As long as it generates in your marketing campaign plan. 4

5 10/14/2013 Thanksgiving (Canada) 10/31/2013 Halloween 11/03/2013 Daylight Saving Time Ends 11/11/2013 Veterans Day 11/27/ /05/2013 Hanukkah 11/28/2013 Thanksgiving (USA) 11/29/2013 Black Friday 12/02/2013 Cyber Monday 12/09/2013 Green Monday 12/21/2013 First Day of Winter 12/25/2013 Christmas Day 12/26/2013 Boxing Day 12/31/2013 New Year s Eve 01/01/2014 New Year s Day 5

6 Another important element in preparing Christmas holiday campaigns is to examine your current and past marketing practices. Take a look at old reports to identify the strong and weak elements of previous campaigns. Think results., as well as those that need improvement. situation. Take note of what the key players in your market did in the past and assess the viability of those strategies in current market conditions. Create lines that increase open rates, and effective content that leads to amazing conversions. Make a list so you can keep them in mind when forming and assessing your holiday campaigns strategy. Ideally, you should be carrying out list hygiene the is a great time to get back on track. The processes below will help you maximize the performance and effectiveness of your holiday campaigns. remove those that no longer support your business. The holiday season is a time to distribute promotional offers more frequently, so you need to cull the bad apples that and build desire and expectation among those who are likely to order from you before Christmas. codes, or surveys asking your customers whether they are still interested in your offer or their preferences have changed. If you provide value and your offer is campaign should increase your reach during this important season. Everyone hates to see customers unsubscribe. But in reality, the quality of the database is far more engage them for a few weeks. If you get no response, consider moving center of your holiday campaigns. this the end? or 6

7 the season, especially since it may affect the deliverability of crucial ings. Through these processes, you focus only on customers that may respond to your messages and generate sales. their needs,. As a side note, list hygiene management should also improve your deliverability. data and monitored subscriber behavior from clicks and opens, this is the time to update your segmentation strategy based on these insights. interested in. Recommend complementing products or services based on the past behavior and reviews of and preferences before you launch your new campaigns. This reassures your customers that you care about them, account for their individual needs, and only target them with relevant offers that provide value. This has a positive effect on campaign success and reduces complaints and unsubscribe caused by irrelevant offers that can irritate them. important to increase your reach and attract new potential customers. So analyze your existing customer acquisition them for seasonal campaigns.. The additional subscribers you capture before the holidays may make the extra investment worthwhile! Since the world is going mobile, make sure your existing acquisition channels account for this phenomenon. Customers now search and shop while on the go. They access your website and Use this to your advantage so you can communicate with your audience effectively. Surely you their interest and potential sales opportunity. To learn how to design s for mobile devices, download our free Responsive Guide. acquire new subscribers using methods such as codes,, or. And reach out to your existing customers to offer something of value for referring their friends. Subscribers tend to be most sales may skyrocket! Finally, consider partnering with other organizations to increase the reach of your campaigns. Search for brands that offer products or services that you believe complement yours and would be a ask them to promote your brand 7

8 to their audience. Done right, you should quickly see new customers searching your site and signing up to your newsletter. To learn more, download our free 21 Ways To Build Your List. Take a look at standardized s, product purchase summaries, or cart abandonment alerts. See if they could use a fresh design, fresh copy and whether they display well on mobile devices. Are they in line with your other communications? Do they reinforce your value to customers? Make and hyperlinks in automated s customers, surely the holiday season is it! Having analyzed automated messages, take a look at promotional s that persuade subscribers to make a holiday purchase. Compare planned s to those you and your competitors have sent in the past to see if you is especially true in marketing. Part of preparing a successful strategy and carrying out an effective campaign is preparing a contingency plan. If your become obsolete, be ready to and season. Learn how to set up Automated Messages and Autoresponders with GetResponse! 8

9 8. Test s. In particular, keep in mind that many s will be read on mobile devices rather than desktop computers. holiday promotional campaigns. Exactly when should you roll out your Christmas campaigns? Christmas Arrives Early! 1. October The law of supply and demand demand, there will be a supply. For holiday shopping, this means many businesses start promoting seasonal to search shopping aisles. To avoid with gift deliveries, many consumers begin their Christmas shopping in late October before the shopping madness of late November begins. your customers in October, add a notice companies selling Christmas décor and providing gift ideas in July. Although they call it Christmas in July, true holiday shopping begins in November. Once Halloween is over, most businesses start to promote,,,, shipping,,, and. Regardless of your promotional angle, make sure your increased quantity of promotional s. as the beginning of the holiday shopping season, so take the opportunity to build expectation and desire in your customers. If you decide to participate in these events, keep your communication consistent, focus on providing 9

10 After Thanksgiving weekend comes Cyber Monday. The term originated in 2005 to persuade customers to shop online. If you your competitors probably are. Prepare an offer focused on this day of the year, so competitors Once Cyber Monday is over, the countdown to Christmas begins the most important part of the holiday season and the time for your offer to really shine. In your Christmas offer, a series of,, or. Think through how each idea goes with your strategy and choose necessarily mean the holiday shopping spirit is uncommon to see people looking for presents Christmas goodies. So sell your inventory and clear those shelves while. Inspiration for Your Christmas Campaigns related to our interests? Make sure your content, offers, bundles and special deals are Just send a newsletter or autoresponder sequence that will return information about what your subscribers are looking for as a gift this year.

11 Adapt the old English Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas for a holiday campaign that delivers a series of gifts of increasing value or a series of offers that build Thanks to GetResponse Autoresponders 2.0 you can easily set up such a campaign by creating each message delivery. There are places all around the world where holiday gifts are scarce. Show your human face and offer to share part of the income with charitable organizations to make an in poor parts of the world. Inform subscribers about this in a separate newsletter or in a banner inside your holiday promotion s. Let your subscribers help you decide which products would be most popular for Black Friday and Cyber Monday special deals. Offer your subscribers related products, upgrades, additional they bought during holiday campaigns., so make sure recipients know how to use them. CTA, banner or image to deliver the details to your subscribers. You never know a subscriber may have received a gift card that can be redeemed for your products or services. product offers that your subscribers can vote for. Analyze click rates and prepare perfectly tailored special deals that 11

12 This way you can sell out your remaining holiday bundles and make customers happy with low prices and information about how to claim what they are eligible for. newsletters that raise the bar for holiday offers. Whether you offer groceries, electronics, or interactive services, make the most out of your recommendation for all of you marketers out Play with your offers and holiday bundles, and let the customer decide what they would like to get as a 2013 Special. be fun and rewarding. Look Book Christmas newsletters? Picture 1 Sky s HD Christmas newsletter Christmas is the time of the year when 12

13 Picture 2 Starbuck s Christmas gifts newsletter Picture 3 Christmas apparel deals Picture 4 Mattel s Cyber Monday Deals Picture 5 Target s Black Friday newsletter 13

14 Picture 7 Barnes & Noble s Christmas deals Picture 6 Lillian Vernon s Christmas Newsletter Picture 8 JCP Christmas wishes 14

15 Picture 9 Backcountry s Christmas deals Picture 10 NBC family Christmas wishes 15

16 Conclusion In this Christmas Guide we aimed at introducing ping campaigns. like Starbucks, turn off the lights like Target in their Black Friday newsletter, speak to the Back Country, or send holiday wishes from your entire team like NBC. You name it. Be creative this year. Make sure your newslet ters stand out. Deliver deals and wishes that are perfectly tailored to subscriber expecta tions. We wish you great return on investment, increased sales and Merry Christmas! Authors Director of Education GetResponse Marketing Mack Gorski Education Expert GetResponse Marketing Education Expert GetResponse Marketing 16