You may already be aware of the benefits of adding automation and workflows into your everyday marketing strategy, but did you know they can also be employed during the holiday marketing season?
Setting up automated email sends can help save time during this upcoming busy season, while also providing customers and clients with the information they need. This list of five automated emails to send this holiday season is a foundation you should start laying down now, months before the holidays arrive.
Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday
Your company should plan early what discount or deal you want to provide to your customers during the biggest sales day of the year. Knowing early on will give you the opportunity to create a well-designed email, with a well-crafted subject line and plenty of time to schedule the email to go out at the optimum moment.
Resend the Email
Some automated email software allows you to resend emails, to contacts who haven’t opened that first Black Friday or Cyber Monday email, with fresh subject lines. Even if you don’t have that particular software, you can create a workflow in other software, such as HubSpot, to do the same thing.
Start with the first email, create a logic branch that if they open the email, they don’t get sent another and if they don’t they get sent a separate email, one with the same content, only a different subject line. You can also create a workflow based on lists of who opened the previous email and who didn’t.
Transactional
Emails that have invoices or receipts are common during the non-holiday months, but are essential during the holidays. Customers need a record of their transaction in their inbox, not only for online purchases, but in-store as well, as hard-copy receipts can get lost in purses or wallets during the busy shopping months. More and more point-of-sale systems offer customers options of printing or emailing—or both—their receipt.
Another benefit of a transactional email is the opportunity to offer other products or different services to your customers. Placing a “recommended for you” or similar section at the bottom of a emailed receipt—after all the important information—can help spark a customer’s imagination for their next purchase, whether as a gift to others, or to themselves.
Abandon Cart
With all the great deals going on, especially the weekend after Thanksgiving, abandon cart emails can have a huge impact on your sales, as 66% of cart conversion comes through email. If a known contact is on your site, with items in their cart, and they navigate away from the page without completing the transaction, an abandon cart email can be sent to remind them of what they were excited to order. Adding in images of the items in their cart or a discount on shipping are simple ways to attract a customer back to the site to finish their order.
Email Newsletter
Don’t neglect your company’s email newsletter during the holiday season. With all the addition emails about sales and promotions that are happening, it would be easy to stop sending your regular updates. Name and brand recognition is still important—arguably even more so—during the holidays and having your company’s name pop up in an inbox can mean the customer goes to your site first, rather than your competitor.
Automated emails save time and speak to the customer where they are in the funnel, while allowing each interaction to be personalized with pertinent information, like name or recommended items, to connect with your audience.
Need help getting started with your Cyber Monday email campaign? We can help. With our free one-hour consultation, our email experts can discuss how to make your holiday email campaigns a success.
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