tis the season to start your holiday email planning

Baltimore, Maryland

Blue Sky FactoryDriving Email Marketing Performance

‘Tis the Season to Start Planning Your Holiday Email Campaigns

September 2, 20092:00 to 2:45 PM

Copyright 2009 Blue Sky Factory

About Blue Sky Factory

Blue Sky Factory is both a full & self service ESP.

Design, execute, and track your email marketing

communications with Publicaster.

www.blueskyfactory.com


http://www.blueskyfactory.com/

The Holidays are Approaching!

90% of major online retailers increase their emailvolume during the holiday season1

The most popular email days of 2008 came in the weeksbefore Christmas, with #1 being Cyber Monday1

1 Smith-Harmon “Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season”


Our Agenda

1. Plan: Getting Started with your Holiday Campaigns

2. Be Creative: Ideas to Cut Through the Clutter

3. Get Results: Suggestions for Delivering Optimal Results

4. Best Practices: Tips to Remember During the Hustle and Bustle

5. Q & A


Plan


A Few Decisions to Make

• What will be the main call-to-action of your campaigns?

• Will you design the emails in-house or outsource?

• What are your goals for this year’s holiday campaigns?

• How will you measure success this year?


Planning Your Creative

• Brainstorm creative ideas now

• Get suggestions from all departments

• Offer a prize for the winning idea

• Review other companies’ holiday campaigns from

last year for ideas


Review Last Year’s Campaigns

• What worked, what didn’t work

• Which campaigns got the highest/lowest:

• Open rate, Click through rate

• Conversion rate, Forward rate

• Unsubscribe/Complaint rate

• What day(s) did you send on? Was that successful?

• What did your competitors do?


On average, retailers began their 2008 holiday

campaigns 67 days before Christmas, which was nine

days earlier than during the 2007 holiday season1

1 Smith-Harmon “Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season”


Develop a Schedule

• Plan frequency and number of campaigns

• Develop a start date, based on internal due dates

• Work backwards, leaving time for testing

• Review your schedule with other departments’ email schedules so there is not a clash


Be Creative


Timing is Everything

• Promote early bird specials to encourage subscribers to shop early

• Create urgency closer to the holiday• Only X more days until Christmas!• Guaranteed shipping by X date

• Create a countdown (e.g. 12 Days of Christmas)


Timing is Everything - example

Smith-Harmon, “Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season”


Retail-Specific Ideas

• Give your recipients “insider status”, special deals just for them

• Daily/weekly sale item just for email subscribers• Option to forward, encourage others to sign up

• Triggered emails for abandoned shopping carts


Retail-Specific Ideas - example



A Little Help for the Holidays

• Showcase gift ideas by budget, gender and age

• Make their decisions easier by presenting gift items together

• Promote the “most popular” gift items

• Link them to friends/family wish lists


A Little Help for the Holidays - example



Be a Holiday Resource

• Ideas for “holidays on a budget”

• Eco-friendly holiday purchases & gift ideas

• Relevant holiday tips, how-to guides• Cooking, recipes• How to stay healthy this holiday• Guide to a stress-free holiday• Travel tips• Party planning


Spread the Love

• Make your emails viral, encourage sharing• Forward to a Friend, Share With Your Network• Give a “family & friend” discount, reward for

referring a friend• Prompt subscribers to submit their own holiday

tips, recipes, money-saving ideas, best traditions• Be interactive by showcasing a game, quiz, survey• Offer free downloads, like wallpaper or a music mix


Spread the Love - example

http://www.g1440.com/holiday08/


http://www.g1440.com/holiday08/

Spread the Love - example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBntR_5JIoo


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBntR_5JIoo

Don’t Forget About Me

• 80% of adults shopping for holiday gifts also buy something for themselves1, so incorporate “Don’t forget something for yourself” into your emails

• Prompt subscribers to create a wish list and share with family & friends

1 Return Path, “Boost Holiday Email Responses: Give Subscribers What They Want” webinar, 2007


Take Time to Say “Thanks”

• Not always about the hard sell

• Use the holidays to show your appreciation and further build the relationship

• Get your subscribers in the holiday mood with caroling, holiday jokes, fun facts


Take Time to Say “Thanks” - example


Post-Holiday Emails

• Don’t forget to follow-up with subscribers after the holidays

• Survey buyers about their purchases

• Complement their holiday purchases with accessories

• Encourage gift card redemption

• Spend your holiday cash (gifts for you)


Post-Holiday Emails – example



Other Creative Ideas

• Think outside the box (e.g. horizontal scroll)

• Send a series of emails to tell a story, tied together

with similar creative

• Keep your normal email template, but add a holiday

header/footer

• Differentiate your brand from the clutter - stand out

through design, timing or offers

• Use subscriber profile info to personalize emails


Other Creative Ideas - example

2650 pixels wide


Other Creative Ideas - example



A Few Things to Keep in Mind

• Speak the language of your subscribers, maintain tone

• Keep the economic times in mind

• Holiday content must be relevant

• Balance between offer and value-added content


Get Results


45.2% of consumers open an email because of the subject line1

1 Return Path's Fourth Annual Holiday Email Consumer Survey, 2008


Holiday Subject & From Lines

• Your subject line should:• Reflect the email’s content• Break through the clutter• Create urgency

• Alternatives to “Free Shipping” in the subject line

• Use recognizable brand name in subject line and from name/address


Ensure Your Lists are Top-Notch

• Make sure only true opt-in subscribers are included in your email campaigns

• Identify non-responders in your lists and run a re-engagement campaign now

• Segment list based on activity/engagement

• Holiday specific opt-in list


In 2008 retailers increased their send volumes onaverage by 43% during the holiday email season1

1 Retail Email Blog, “Retail Email Index”


Frequency Considerations

• Remember the expectations regarding frequency you set up front with your subscribers

• Consider setting up a separate opt-in just for the holidays

• Use a preference center to set expectations about messaging and frequency, give options

• Set up a holiday unsubscribe option


Timing Considerations

Smith-Harmon “Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season”


Is Your Reputation Jolly?

• Take the time now to make sure your IP reputation is in good standing, work with your ESP

• Ensure you are subscribed to all available Feedback Loops

• Set up authentication records (Sender ID, SPF, Domain Keys)

• For more on authentication, visit our blog:http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/industrytrends/three-ways-to-improve-email-deliverability/


http://blog.blueskyfactory.com/industrytrends/three-ways-to-improve-email-deliverability/

Best Practices


Check Your Email Creative

• Take the time now to ensure your email renders well across all email clients

• Plan for blocked images, use of preview pane

• Ensure your call-to-action is prominent (5 second test)

• Offer a mobile version of your email

• Add SWYN features to your email creative


Be Sure to Include…

• Snippet text & View in Browser link

• Alt tags on all images

• Opt-out link, subscriber preferences link

• Physical mailing address

• Email Design Guidelines:http://www.blueskyfactory.com/resources/BSFEmailDesignGuidelines.pdf


http://www.blueskyfactory.com/resources/BSFEmailDesignGuidelines.pdf

Final Tips to Succeed this Holiday

• Test, test, test

• Subject lines• Offers, calls-to-action• Timing, date/time• Landing pages• Creative aspects

• Use this holiday to plan for next holiday

• Subscribe to your competitors' emails to generate ideas for next year


Questions?

Thank You!

Q&A – please submit your questions now

Joanna Lawson-MatthewAccount Manager, Blue Sky [email protected]

www.blueskyfactory.com - webblog.blueskyfactory.com – blog@blueskyfactory, @joannalm - twitter


mailto:[email protected]

Credits

Many of the statistics and images you saw in this presentation were provided to us by Smith-Harmon.

Please check out their “The Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season” report, written by Chad White, here:

http://www.smith-harmon.com/


http://www.smith-harmon.com/

tis the season to start your holiday email planning

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