5 Ways to Use Targeted Email Remarketing Campaigns to Drive Holiday Sales
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are like the Super Bowl of retail marketing campaigns. These events give retailers the ultimate chance to market to consumers in the hope of getting off to a good start for the busy holiday shopping season.
Every year at this time, savvy retailers finalize their game plans to get the most out of this season of buying. In 2011, Shop.org's eHoliday survey revealed that nearly 85 percent of retailers sent an email to their customers promoting Black Friday deals. The so-called "spray and pray" strategy of sending generic emails to everyone on your list is certainly the traditional approach to trying to capture the most sales. Will it work? Yes. Can you do better? Absolutely!
So, how can you drive more revenue through email in a more effective way? Retailers can add incredible relevance and revenue by incorporating more behavioral/targeted marketing into their Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaigns. Doing so will also minimize subscriber fatigue, unsubscribes and complaint rates. Below are five tips you should use to get the most out of your holiday campaigns while also building a list of loyal brand followers:
1. Figure out why people are abandoning. Get to know your shoppers and you'll find out that they're not following through with a purchase for a reason. Maybe it was an issue with their payment method of choice, maybe high shipping costs deterred them from buying. Last year payment method abandonment was tracked at around 18 percent across many key industries. Finding out why abandonment is occurring will play a big role in figuring out the best way to re-engage.
2. Engage noncarting visitors too. Just because a visitor didn't add something to their cart doesn't mean they aren't a potential buyer. During Footwear etc.'s 2011 Black Friday campaign, it ran a collection of remarketing programs based on categories consumers browsed while on its website. This resulted in an open rate three times that of its normal marketing campaigns. Clickthrough rates were also impressive at 10 times the regular rate. Conversion was three times higher as well, which generated a lot of revenue for the company.
3. Cast a wider net. Capture and remarket to email addresses in both real time and those identified via your email service provider. As much as 60 percent of your revenue recovery opportunities may be missed without using both methods.
4. Mop it up. Consumers who engage with your Black Friday marketing efforts are valuable, so don't just let them go! Follow up with them! Woodworking supply retailer Woodcraft ran a mop-up program for consumers who engaged with its Cyber Week marketing efforts. A "last chance to save" email was sent out to these subscribers, garnering a 20 percent clickthrough rate. This mop-up campaign also achieved a conversion rate nearly seven times higher than a secondary test list of Cyber Week purchasers from the year before.
5. Pinpoint "premium" nonpurchasing visitors. Retailers need to remember that a large volume of their website traffic comes with a price tag. If you paid for a visit that doesn't convert (e.g., banner ads or paid search), there's an added importance in recovering transactions from that source. Try adjusting the initial timing of the email, modifying drip cadence or changing the messaging for these "premium abandoners." These tactics can increase gross return on advertising spend.
How successful will your brand's Black Friday/Cyber Monday email campaigns be? The answer: only as successful as you make them. Going with a "batch and blast" approach can result in leaving 7 percent to 15 percent of holiday dollars on the table. Honor your subscribers' experiences on your website, act on their interests, and engage them with relevant content and offers. Not only will you bolster your email-driven sales by up to an additional 30 percent, you'll grow a customer base that will stick with you long after the holidays are over. That's the best present of all.
Angel Morales is the co-founder and chief innovation officer for Smarter Remarketer, a provider of ESP-agnostic cross-channel remarketing solutions.
