The one common question you will keep hearing these days is "are you ready for Christmas?"
Whether it is for personal reasons or for your business, this is the time of year when everyone is under the gun to send out marketing messages, take orders, send packages and of course, stay happy while doing it.
If you are using email marketing to keep your customers informed about your holiday deals, this is when you have to on your game.
With some of the biggest shopping days of the year coming fast, it is not too late to get a last-minute campaign out to your customers.
By sending out an email marketing campaign this week you can immediately nab holiday-busy consumers' interest, and offer them an incentive to buy from you and not your competitor.
Important dates when it comes to email marketing that you should already have marked in big letters on your calendar.
Black Friday: November 23 - The Friday after the American Thanksgiving is known as the largest single shopping day of the year. If you have a retail store you should be integrating your specials for that day in all of your email marketing campaigns.
Small Business Saturday: November 24 - With a renewed focus on small businesses, the day presents an ideal opportunity for small brick-and-mortar business owners to connect with new customers. You know, like it used to be way back in the day. Read all about it here.
Cyber Monday: November 26 - The Monday after the American Thanksgiving is the big day for online shopping as people start to look for special deals or those hard to find items that eluded them at the store all weekend. Send your emails early so people have them first thing in the morning. Remember, there will be a high volume of emails hitting the customer's inbox, so make that subject line sparkle.
Green Monday: December 10 - Green Monday is another online retail term originally coined by eBay in a 2007 holiday marketing campaign as their highest sales day in December. It is specifically known as the second Monday in December and one of the last days on which online purchases can be delivered in time for Christmas with standard shipping.Shipping Deadlines
Everyone wants their gifts delivered by Christmas so make sure you know the last day you can send your goods. Email reminders with incentives and if possible include free shipping (a big deal around the holidays).
Key Deadlines:
Monday, December 17 – Free Shipping Day. Most, online retailers will be honoring free shipping on all orders (with some weight restrictions) on this day. Your business should too and an email newsletter explaining the offer will be key.
Thursday, December 20 – For most retailers, this is the absolute last day that they will ship an item to guarantee delivery for Christmas.
Saturday, December 22 – FedEx Overnight.
Thursday, December 24 – SOL unless you know Santa Claus.
Remember that your customers will always leave things until the last minute. Keep them informed (without being annoying) about shipping deadlines and any special offers you have going on. Also, because of that procrastination, be prepared for an influx of purchases right before the deadline that you set.
Need some last minute email marketing help? Contact our sales department ASAP!
