Published: September 25, 2024
Consumer motivation to buy and willingness to spend peaks just as the year begins to wind down. By that time, your business needs to be in full promotional gear to take advantage of the annual holiday shopping spree.
The National Retail Federation says that the holiday season accounts for approximately 19% of total annual retail sales. Retailers aren’t the only ones who benefit from increased business in November and December—service-oriented brands that help people prepare their homes for visiting family or throwing seasonal parties typically see an uptick, too.
The holiday season—and its key shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM)—represents the biggest opportunity for businesses to meet or exceed their annual sales goals. In 2023, the top 100 users based on order value on the Mailchimp platform saw a 325% spike in their daily order value during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend compared to their average daily order value.
Every business wants a piece of that holiday pie. But to get your fair share and then some, you shouldn't wait until late autumn to implement your holiday marketing strategy.
Planning your holiday marketing campaign
Whether you operate as a brick-and-mortar shop, an e-commerce site, or a combination of both, now is the time to begin planning for your business to generate the maximum holiday sales this year.
During this pre-promotional stage, focus on things that will help your campaigns succeed during BFCM and the rest of the holiday season.
- Build up your customer database: Adding more contacts is the easiest way to reach a wider audience. Encourage social media followers, website visitors, phone callers, and in-person shoppers to subscribe to your mailing list.
- Develop a lead-generation landing page or popup form: Make it easy for people to join your mailing list by directing them to a stand-alone landing page—which lets you collect valuable contact information, even if you don’t have a website—or by adding a customizable popup form to your existing site. Beyond the basics of name, address, email, and phone number, ask about visitors’ product or service preferences so that you can generate targeted messaging between now and the end of the year.
- Implement the right marketing infrastructure: Everyone prefers personalized attention over mass messaging. Delivering that takes significant effort unless you have an email marketing platform that automates, integrates, and analyzes customer data for your business.
- Create a holiday marketing calendar: Make a plan for when your business will send promotional messages to generate traffic. But remember, you'll need more than one email, SMS message, or social media post to keep the orders coming. Be ready to communicate with your audience before, during, and after your holiday sale events.
Holiday marketing at its best
The competition for consumer attention during BFCM and the rest of the holiday season is fierce, and your audience’s email inbox will be crowded. In 2023, the volume of emails sent in November on the Mailchimp platform was 18% higher than the average send volume between January and October. That's why a multifaceted marketing approach provides several opportunities to connect with your audience. Combining it with messaging that personally resonates with each customer will make your business stand out from the crowd.
Email marketing that sticks
Part of your appeal as a small business is the personalized attention you can provide to each customer when they make a purchase. Your customers expect you to carry that personal touch over to your email messaging, but writing individual emails isn’t always possible or scalable—especially during the busy holiday season.
Fortunately, many platforms allow you to automate your email marketing while still giving you the flexibility to craft targeted messages that reach individual customers at exactly the right time, no matter where they are in their customer journey. And if you use Mailchimp, you’ll even have access to powerful AI tools that can help you save additional time by generating automations and fully-built emails that you’ll only need to review and publish.
Email is a valuable way to communicate with customers throughout the year, but there are a few types of messages that can be particularly useful around the holidays.
- Welcome customers to your brand: As you add names to your customer database, new subscribers can receive one or more introductory greetings that showcase your brand and build excitement for upcoming sales and events.
- Celebrate the date: Make customers feel special by sending them birthday, anniversary, or seasonal greetings that include a preview of upcoming holiday items or exclusive offers.
- Educate the user: Use consumers' browsing or purchasing history to help them understand the benefits and features of the products or services that interest them.
- Request the customer’s presence: Invite your best customers to join you for special BFCM events or take advantage of promo codes.
- Share the news: Send an email to inform customers when your BFCM sales begin and end—and to pass along any applicable details about shipping rates, expected delivery times, or item availability.
Landing pages that drive sales
Many people may visit your website over the holidays in search of gift ideas. But consumers’ time and patience are often limited in the hectic weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. If visitors have to dig through all your offerings to find the perfect gift, they may get overwhelmed with choices and leave your site without buying anything.
You can avoid that situation by directing customers' attention to the things you know they want or need. For instance, a focused BFCM email campaign may encourage recipients to visit a distinct shoppable landing page where they can quickly find what they want and buy without distractions.
There are several ways to use these purpose-built landing pages to drive sales on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and beyond.
- Introduce your newest merchandise
- Highlight best-selling products
- Encourage customers to stock up on favorites
- Create urgency due to limited quantities
- Offer a special promo code
A shoppable landing page allows even a business without a full e-commerce shop to generate online sales, letting you take full advantage of the holiday buying season no matter the size of your business.
Social media that drives traffic
Social media is a marketing channel that works overtime during the holidays. Consumers spend extra time scrolling through their Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram feeds, and you want to get their eyes on your products.
Publishing organic posts about the latest trends, new merchandise, or time-sensitive discounts keeps your existing customer base updated on everything related to your brand.
A platform like Mailchimp can help you prepare for BFCM by allowing you to manage your social posting in the same place as your other marketing. In addition to keeping you from getting overwhelmed maintaining your social profile during the year’s busiest shopping days, a streamlined solution like this also analyzes your campaigns so you can reposition future ones for more success.
Retargeting ads that convert
There’s no reason to lose a customer just because they don’t make a purchase while visiting your website. You can advertise to them as they browse other sites by using Google remarketing ads. This promotional tactic helps drive sales by targeting recent visitors to your website, offering them a real-time reminder of your product—and an easy way back to it.
Transactional emails & SMS messages that nurture
The holiday shopping season may be a customer's first impression of your brand, so make it a positive one by communicating with them at every opportunity. Automated transactional emails and SMS campaigns are key parts of this strategy. These targeted messages can be triggered by specific actions and will strengthen the relationship between you and your customer.
- Account opening: Welcome customers to your business with a special offer.
- Order: Send a purchase confirmation and thank your customer with a private extension on a current sale.
- Abandoned cart: Encourage your customer to complete the sale with an added incentive such as a discount or limited-time sale.
- Purchase feedback: Send a follow-up to find out how the customer liked their item and to suggest other gift ideas.
Purchases that multiply
When a customer puts something in their shopping cart, you know they’re already interested in your products. What a great time to offer them a discounted price on a package deal for related items or multiples of the same thing. The customer can enjoy the additional items themselves, get a gift for a friend, or buy products for multiple people in one transaction.
Up- and cross-selling at checkout is an easy way to increase your share of the billions of dollars of annual BFCM e-commerce transactions. Another way to boost your holiday sales is to send purchasers a follow-up email or SMS message featuring more deals on bestsellers or products that go with their original order.
Programs that reward
Last but not least, encourage additional purchases throughout the season by rewarding customers for shopping at your store. Consider the following incentives:
- Ship purchases for free when the total reaches a specific limit.
- Add a deeper discount over a certain spending level.
- Offer a future promo code to folks who refer a new customer.
Ready, set, go!
Time flies—November and December will be here sooner than you think. Gear up for your holiday promotions and set the stage for your best-ever holiday in terms of sales.