- We're talking about how to prepare your email subscriber
list for the holiday season here on The Journey.
Isn't it hard to believe that the holiday season
is upon us again?
It feels like just a few weeks ago
we were digging out our sandals just for the summer.
Well, it's time to start pulling out the winter gear
and now it's time to prepare your holiday email
subscriber list.
But before you gear up to send out
your Black Friday messages,
let's get your email list and email strategy ready
for holiday sales with these five tips.
- Starting with, clean up your email subscriber list.
The first thing to do to get your email list ready
for the holiday promotions is to clean up and remove
any inactive subscribers.
Think of it like doing a deep clean before we start
putting up the holiday decorations.
And start by segmenting your list into people
who haven't opened in more than 90 days.
And if you haven't emailed in more than 90 days,
well then you'll need to start with people
who haven't opened in the 90 days before that.
It could even be up to a year since they last opened.
- Next, you'll send that group of subscribers
a special series of emails to ask
if they still want to hear from you.
Send at least three re-engagement messages
to the segment of the list,
removing anyone who didn't click to stay on the list
from that segment.
And after sending them those three emails,
they've never clicked to stay on the list, remove them.
This might be painful if you're focused on the list size.
But a smaller sized list actually helps with your engagement
and deliverability.
You're paying to send these emails that are ending up
in the spam folder and trash bins.
All while hurting your deliverability to the people
who really want to see your messages.
Time to let them go.
- That's right Nealey.
And it's time to update and fine tune your automations.
Set aside some time to review all of your running
automations and transactional messages to ensure
that they're up to date and they're helping to drive
improved conversion rates.
Now a good example of an automation or funnel
is your welcome series or an upsell series of emails
after someone buys a smaller product.
And when you're reviewing these,
just to make sure that they've got relevant dates and offers
that align with your upcoming holiday promotions.
Oh, and don't forget to check your links.
- Exactly.
And while you're doing that, rethink your call to actions
within your transactional emails.
Transactional messages are emails that are sent
based on someone's activity.
The difference is that they are related to their specific
shopping and purchasing activities.
Transactional emails include order confirmation messages,
shipping confirmations and delivery confirmations.
Can also include abandoned cart emails.
- And in these messages you can include cross sells.
So like other products that customers who have purchased
this have also bought this, that gets me every time.
And upsells, including accessories and services related
to their new product purchases.
And your transactional messages are also a great place
to remind your customers of deadlines.
Like, you know, the last day for ground shipping
and time for holiday delivery.
- And speaking of dates, another thing you'll need to do
to get your email marketing strategy ready for the holiday
season is to mark important dates on your calendar.
Including anything you need to do for those dates
like update messages in your automations
and transactional messages.
As an example, in your abandoned cart email,
you may add some text or a graphic with your shipping
deadlines for holiday delivery.
Simple as a gentle nudge to remind someone
that they don't have a lot of time if they're planning
on gift giving.
After that initial deadline has passed,
you want to update that text and graphics promote
expedited shipping.
And if all the shipping deadlines have passed,
then you may want to promote a gift card instead.
- And when the holidays are over,
don't forget to take all of those mentions back out
of your automated emails and transactional messages.
Very important.
And set a reminder now in your favorite task management
system or on your calendar.
It's easy to think now that, oh, I won't forget.
But after the hustle and bustle of the holidays,
goodness, updating those messages
will likely be the last thing on your mind.
- And then you really want to make a plan
for the holiday season.
So speaking of using a calendar,
also be marking important dates on your calendar
for your business operations too.
You'll be less stressed about meeting your deadlines
and your lists will get well put together emails
with plenty of time to make their shopping deadlines.
One of the most important things to anticipate this time
of year are your last minute shoppers, i.e, me.
You'll need to factor in processing or production
and shipping time for all your shipping methods.
- All right, you can use these tips for any holiday
that resonates with your business.
From Valentine's day to mother's day and beyond.
Happy holidays indeed.
- But hey, your journey doesn't end here.
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Thanks for watching.
This is The Journey.