By forexlibrary 
Black Friday and the holidays both are quickly approaching. The big box retailers have decorated their stores with holiday decorations, and Santa will soon be lining up at the mall for hours. Your brand has two options: embrace holiday marketing or let it go. You know that your strategy will engage customers on multiple channels. Email is 40x more effective in acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter. It’s important to remember that email should not be ignored.
- Segmentation
According to DMA marketers have seen a 7620% increase in revenue due to segmented email campaigns. You can start with basic segmentation by seprating your active subscribers and inactive subscribers. This will ensure the highest deliverability and allow you to target different groups with different messaging. You can re-engage them by simply changing the subject line of an inactive segment. It should feel personal and bring up emotions. After you have all this information, you can start to explore segmentation. This will include browsing history, age, gender and browsing activity.
2. Personalization
personalization is a key component of email marketing success. It can be as simple to put the subscriber’s name in the subject or body of an email. Or more complex, like retargeting consumers with similar products or browsing history, or adding personalized content via a solution such as Marketo AI. Campaign Monitor reports that personalized subject lines are 26% less likely to be opened.
Keep an eye on your data to determine what is working for you. Personalization can help you achieve higher open rates and make your email strategy more permanent.
3. Re-engagement
Inactive subscribers can be targeted with a campaign to re-engage them in the run-up Black Friday. To avoid being blacklisted, you will need to slowly increase your retargeting campaign. The goal is to reactivate subscribers and build your customer base in time for big sales. First, ensure that these subscribers remain within the allowed time period in the various CANSPAM/CASL laws. Once that is done, you can break the segment into smaller segments and then start to email.
Sending a similar email to your active list with a different subject line and intro paragraph is a good idea. It is simple and relevant, and requires only minor changes to tailor it to the segment. After a few weeks of re-engaging subscribers, you will hopefully see a drop in the active list. Just in time to make those sales!
4. Re-emailing
In the days leading up to Christmas, another tactic is to re-email subscribers who haven’t opened your first email-sending a daily email? Wait 6-8 hours before sending it again. Then, use a query to locate those subscribers who haven’t opened the email.
Make a list of the addresses that you want to segment and then resend the email with a new subject line and hero. The email content can be kept the same. You should target those who prefer to check their emails later. It’s a win-win situation if they see an earlier email. The subject lines are also different.
5. Test
Testing is a key element of email marketing success. It is possible to continuously improve those important KPIs such as the open rate and click through rate with a test-and-learn principle. This principle is still valid during busy holidays and should be used to increase engagement.
The most obvious method is subject line testing. One simple tactic is to send two different subject lines to select subscribers and then to the winners 2-4 hours later. This will ensure relevancy and can be done every time an email campaign goes out, if necessary. Tip: Most email service providers will automatically send winning subject lines to all subscribers. This means that you don’t need to set up an alert!
After you’ve completed subject line testing, move on to content testing-test static vs. GIF within the hero image, or another content layout. To ensure fair testing, always split the A/B tests. To optimize the send time, you can also test the time of day or day of week. These should be retested every year as preferences and the database change over time. Analytics is your friend. You will be able to draw valuable insights and build upon them to create a strategy that continually improves your KPIs.
6. Mobile Optimization
Make sure that your email design is responsive. Movable Ink’s Consumer Device Preference Survey from Q1 this year shows that 73% of email was opened on smartphones and tablets and 27% on a computer. Non-responsive designs will result in high unsubscribe/spam rates, and discourage consumers from engaging with your brand. You must ensure that you provide the best user experience possible to your customers so that click through rates and conversion rates don’t decrease over the holiday period. Email continues to be the best online marketing tool, with an ROI of $38 per $1 spent.
These six email marketing tips will help you succeed this holiday season. How does your holiday email marketing differ from other times of the year? These are some ideas for how you might incorporate these strategies into your marketing strategy. Let me know your thoughts in comments.