In typical human fashion, many people have jumped on to newer digital marketing strategies such as link building, social media and SEO, ditching the good old email marketing.
Despite the efficiency of these strategies, they aren’t replacements for email marketing. As a matter of fact, email still remains one of the most effective ways to generate leads. According to an Email Marketing ROI report, every dollar spent on email marketing generates $38.
Email marketing can be used to increase ROI during the holiday due to the many sales opportunities abound. It’s a matter of reaching out to prospects in relatable ways.
Here are four strategies to increase your holiday email marketing ROI.
- Make visitors feel at home
It’s common courtesy to welcome people who arrive on your territory offline. The environments might be different, but doing that online elicits the same feelings of acceptance in the visitor.
The big brands understand this strategy. They are quick to welcome visitors who sign up for their email list, with open arms. Having made these visitors feel at home, they proceed to showcase their products to them.
Consumers are on a shopping spree this festive season. Online businesses are experiencing a traffic surge. As visitors arrive your site, give them the option of signing up for your mailing list. This enables you to reach out to those who are not ready to make a purchase at the moment.
- Show appreciation for purchase
A customer makes a purchase. Your aim is achieved. What next? Continuous patronage keeps the sales train moving. Returning customers spend 67% more on the average than first-time customers. Don’t lose this opportunity by letting them go easily.
Make use of transaction emails.
Transaction emails are sent to customers after a successful purchase online. They can be in various forms such as order confirmation, shipped order notification or a “thank you” message for the patronage.
Transaction emails have high open rates. The customer has just purchased something from you. They are interested in what you have to say as it might be about the purchased item(s). Knowing that you’ll have their attention, use it wisely.
Give the buyer a reason to make another purchase.
- Present a list of similar items.
- Present a list of the top-selling items in that category.
- Put a great discount on each item.
Customers are enticed by related products with great discounts. Add a call-to-action to your message – e.g “Buy now at no additional shipping cost.”
- Follow-up on abandoned cart rates
A visitor arrives on your site. He/she proceeds to select some items for purchase. But somewhere along the sales funnel, they abandon their cart for a number of possible reasons.
Abandoned cart rates are on the high side this holiday. Customers have unlimited options to choose from. If, at the point of checkout, your shipping rate is slightly higher than that of the competition, they might leave it all behind. So, what do you do?
Follow them up with cart abandonment emails. Don’t ignore the fact that they abandoned their cart for a reason. You may not know the exact reason, but from a business point, it could be about cost. Provide a solution. Offer a coupon code to take off part of the cost. Or better still, offer free shipping.
- Create urgency
It’s human nature to desire a scarce commodity. They make the most of it while it’s available. Customers hardly hear the word “sales” and be unmoved. No one wants to lose out on something especially when it’s a good deal.
Think of it this way: if one item will be available all year round and another will be available for a limited period of time, which will you buy first? There’s no guarantee that you’ll have some money left to buy the available item when you are done buying the ones with limited offers. That’s what happens when you make customers believe that your products are always on ground.
Create urgency for your products by adding a limited time. Make customers feel that, if they don’t get them now, they may never get such amazing offers again. Don’t send limited promotion emails frequently; they lose the urgency. If they were as great as you are presenting them to be, they wouldn’t be in your store for so long.
Holiday sales make up 30% of sales throughout the year. With these strategies, your holiday email marketing ROI will be on the high side. You get to end the year in grand style, and be charged up for the coming year.
