The U.S. made over $950 billion in holiday retail sales in 2023—and this number is set to grow, thanks to never-seen-before Christmas deals and discounts.
So, if you’re trying to grab a slice of that money pie and stay afloat in this economy, here are some hacks to help you plan the best Christmas email campaigns that will surely convert.
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Embrace Retargeting
Retargeting will set your email marketing campaign a cut above the rest. So, instead of blindly sending messages to thousands of people, take the time to create targeted groups based on whatever information you have about these prospective clients.
How does it help? Let’s see:
- It builds customer loyalty and trust.
- It increases conversion rates, sales, and revenue.
- It improves user experience with relevant content.
Since 76% of people are more likely to purchase from brands that personalize communications, it could very well lead to a higher ROI (return on investment).
Focus on the Content
If you want to grab and retain the attention of your target audience, you must learn how to craft a high-converting email copy.
Here are some tips to help you achieve that:
- A compelling subject line under 40 characters, personalized with the recipient’s name. It is 22.2% more likely to be opened.
- Pique interest with the preview text, encouraging subscribers to open the message with texts like, “Get in the festive mood with our holiday sale.”
- Use a big and bright CTA button. Be sure to have just the one; it can get 371% more clicks compared to emails with multiple CTAs or none at all.
- Reward your readers. Include promo codes in your messages, and recipients will keep opening all you send their way.
Write in the second person, using pronouns like you, your, and yours. It will create a sense of connection and nudge them down the sales funnel.
Go Heavy on the Visuals
Humans are visual creatures, and various studies have shown that we remember more of what we see—the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. Images have a higher open rate (30.27%) and click-through rate (2.78%) than text-based emails, which come up at 21.9% and 1.13%.
So, spruce up your emails with eye-catching visuals to convey the brand message. Keep the recipient engaged and invested to gain traction. Throw in some emojis in the subject line if it fits your ideal buyer persona. It can increase open rates by as much as 56%!
Use Human Psychology
Customer behavior insights must inform your marketing strategy. Popular strategies include:
- Foot-in-the-door technique. Utilize a double opt-in option to get people to sign up for your list. It improves email deliverability and reduces spam.
- Scarcity effect, aka Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). It can help you capture 60% of people within 24 hours!
- The reciprocity principle. When customers sign up, send them a coupon code, prompting them to purchase.
Price anchoring can help users determine or perceive value, the paradox of choice takes the uncertainty out of the equation, and authority bias creates a positive brand image—the possibilities are limitless!
Make it Responsive
7.33 billion people worldwide use mobile phones, which accounts for over 55% of all website traffic. And when you consider that 50.9% of shoppers use their devices to purchase products at least once a week, making your email campaigns mobile-friendly for a good user experience makes sense.
Mobile-friendly options include:
- Adding white space to make your message stand out.
- Making sure your emails load quickly to keep bounce rates low.
- Paying attention to font size—bigger is better in this regard.
- Using a single-column layout to minimize clutter.
- Using a mobile-friendly design that works well across devices.
Time it Right
Yes, there is a right and a wrong time to push emails.
For e-commerce, the sweet spot for high open and click-through rates is Tuesday or Thursday at 10:00 a.m. Keep this in mind while sending emails; otherwise, your email will sit pretty at the bottom of the unopened pile.
Play the Field with A/B Testing
Don’t just create one email message and call it a day. Create multiple versions of an email and tweak the subject lines, visuals, emojis, colors, font size, and length to determine which performs best with recipients. And use these insights for future campaigns—A/B testing can reduce bounce rates by leaps and bounds.
Use Christmas-themed Email Templates
Being a small business, you’re likely doing everything from inventory management to shipping and logistics on your own. Adding marketing to the mix takes a lot of time and effort.
Get all the help you need with tools like PosterMyWall. It has a range of small business email templates that can be customized according to your business values, voice, and messaging!