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The holiday emails are starting to trickle in - the season is upon us! Make your email programme stand out in the inboxes throughout the coming months by taking steps to simplify the lives of shoppers. Here are some tips to get you started:
Carefully consider your timing. Think about the phase of their holiday prep in which your subscribers are operating. This recent Pottery Barn Kids email gets it right by presenting email holiday décor, stockings, and free shipping options - all things on the minds of subscribers now, before gift shopping feels urgent. These Gymboree and Janie and Jack emails focus on dressing the kiddos for photos, right around the time Christmas card pictures need to be taken.
Get personal. Consider sending out personalised thank you cards with special discounts to customers that have been loyal throughout the year. In addition, think about sending non-promotional greeting cards or e-cards to foster the relationship between your brand and your subscribers, like this 2007 Club Monaco message.
Include a holiday navigation bar. Pack your navigation with relevant messaging that makes it easy for subscribers to find everything they need on your site. Call out order deadlines, popular shopping categories and shipping options that make their interaction with your site direct and easy. Nordstrom and Coach did some work with this trick last year.
Organise your messages the way they shop. Help customers by breaking down their shopping lists into categories for them. Send a series of messages - i.e. Barney’s gifts for him, her and babies. Alternatively, grid price range categories or recipient demographic categories into individual emails, keeping it all nice and neat... like a beautifully wrapped present. Urban Outfitters and Red Envelope did a nice job with categorised grids in 2007.
Invite them to come in. Make sure to include store locators, special holiday orders and in-store pick-up offers. Getting customers into your stores, as Williams-Sonoma strived to do last year, can strengthen relationships with your brand as well as allow customers to save money on shipping and to choose gifts once shipping deadlines have passed.
Gift Services Footer. The Gift Services Footer (or, as I adoringly call it, the GSF) keeps your holiday templates under control. Layering gift card promotions, order-by dates, gift-wrapping offers, and more can be too much for one little email. Avoid overwhelming layercakes by fitting an average of four messages into the space of one with the GSF, as did Disney Shopping and CB2.
Add helpful touches to your templates, structure your holiday programme to meet their needs at each milestone, and entice subscribers with offers that show how you’re there to help. If you provide customers with a simpler holiday shopping experience, they’re likely to feel the love and reward you with loyal patronage.
Lisa Harmon
Principal
Smith-Harmon, Inc.
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