We don’t wish to set you off on a panic, but Christmas is fast approaching. While it might only be October, the Olympics have now finished, summer has been and gone (all too briefly in our opinion) and the nights are drawing in. To ease you into the festive season we’ve put together a few handy tips to help make your email marketing a success this Christmas.
1) Analyse last year’s email campaigns.
To give you an idea of where you should start with this year’s campaigns, go back to emails you sent last year and see how they performed. What tactics yielded the best results? Which products or services were most popular with your subscribers?
2) Competitors.
If you are struggling for inspiration, have a look at what your competitors are doing this Christmas. Sign up to mailing lists, visit websites, see what offers other businesses in your field are running. How does their approach compare to your own?
3) Subject lines.
It is common knowledge that the festive season is a competitive time for email marketers. Your subscribers’ inboxes will be full of offers and updates and you will have to be prepared to compete for attention. Subject line is a key factor in whether a recipient will even open your email, so make it punchy, unique and intriguing enough to get those opens.
4) Design.
So you’ve got your subscribers’ attention with your subject line – now what? Make sure that when they open your email it looks fantastic. There is a selection of free festive email templates ready and available to use within our very own email marketing platform, CyanMailer. Check out the website, request a free trial or call 01268 778555 to discuss further.
But don’t forget, here at Cyan, we can also take care of it all for you. We offer two festive bundles for electronic Christmas messages, the eco-friendly alternative to the traditional greetings card. So if you’re dreaming of a green Christmas this year, call us today to discuss our standard and personalised packages. And in keeping with the season of goodwill, Cyan will also make a donation to a charity of your choice when you place your Christmas order with us.
5) Email content.
As you know, Christmas is a busy time for the inbox. You’ve got as far as getting your subscribers to look at your email which is excellent, but now make sure you’ve got some good stuff to tell them. Make your offers enticing and your updates exciting. Keep links obvious and relevant, with strategic use of images to keep the content interesting and varied. Also try personalising your email to make it a little more friendly and improve your relationships with your readers.
Your business opening hours over the Christmas period is useful information to your customers. You might like to consider including these details within your festive marketing.
6) Campaign length.
A vital thing to consider when putting together a campaign is its length. Don’t make your email too long or wordy as there is a strong possibility that recipients will simply not read it all! If you have a lot to say on a topic, provide an appealing summary or caption along with a link to where people can read more if they want to.
7) Social networking.
If your business does not have a Facebook page or a Twitter account then it is missing out on some serious public exposure. Utilising social networking is becoming more and more vital in this age of digital marketing and you don’t want to miss out!
8) Don’t bombard your subscribers.
It is tempting to send out tons of campaigns at this time of year in order to maximise the exposure your company receives. Do this, however, and you run the risk of irritating your subscribers to the point where they no longer want to hear from you at all and unsubscribe. This is bad news, so be strategic with your campaign schedule, not too much, but not too little either.
9) Remind subscribers why you are contacting them.
If you have not been in contact with your subscribers for a while, they may have forgotten who you are and that they opted in to hear from you. It can be a good idea to include in your campaign a brief explanation of where you obtained their contact details or a reminder of any other brand names you trade under.
10) Attention to detail.
In my opinion there’s nothing worse than receiving an email with a spelling mistake, missing word, grammatical error, broken link or missing image. It looks sloppy and doesn’t reflect well on your company. Take the time to check your campaign and then get someone else to check it as well. A few minutes spent before your send can eliminate embarrassing mistakes.
Hopefully these tips will get you off to a great start with your Christmas email marketing. Be sure to allow yourself enough time to send the best that you can.