How to Use Video in Email Marketing

For years, marketers have said video would be the next evolution in email marketing, but the challenges of implementing it have held it back. Email clients not supporting it, file size restrictions and video production time have been too much to overcome.

Instead, we’ve gotten animated GIFs and static images with overlay play buttons. While serviceable, it’s not the video experience we imagined.

Animated GIFs result in static animation and looks less like a video. Images with an overlay play button make it clear there’s a video to watch, but the user has to click out of the email to view it — often to a third-party site like YouTube — and take another action to drive them to your site.

Now, 98% of email clients support video, the number one type of content to inspire consumer research, and the time has never been better to bring new life to your email marketing with video. Here are ways to incorporate video in your email marketing program.

Using Video in Automated Lifecycle Messages

Automated lifecycle messages already have higher-than-average email engagement, and video provides an opportunity to engage and entice email subscribers further. While video could work in just about any lifecycle message, consider these opportunities:

Welcome series: Instead of a generic welcome graphic, include a welcome video featuring the company founder, showcasing products, reinforcing a lifestyle or communicating what the company is all about.

Post-purchase series: These emails are designed to enhance the customers’ purchase experience and build customer loyalty. You can thank customers and introduce other types of post-purchase content such as how-to or resource sections, product review requests and customer service info.

Lapsed-purchase series: Lapsed-purchase messages are sent to customers who’ve made a purchase but haven’t returned in a designated period of time. Reengage them with your brand and products through video by introducing new or trending products and styles.

Combining Social Media and Email Videos

Videos are popular content on social media, with 60% of internet users aged 18-64 watching video on social properties other than YouTube.

Repurpose some of your most-liked videos, such as Instagram Stories, into emails. This is a great way to reduce content production time while still providing content you already know appeals to your customers.

Here are two other ideas for weaving social media and video into your email marketing.

Social invite messages: You’re probably used to seeing those generic “connect with us on social” emails found in a welcome series. Instead, use videos from your social media accounts to take these messages to a whole new level by showing off what shoppers can expect when they visit your social pages.

Unboxing videos: You can also use user-generated unboxing videos of customers opening your carefully branded packaging. These videos are a great way to showcase products and the joy of the purchase experience. To take it a step further, add value to cart abandonment messages, building the feeling of anticipation and excitement from a potential purchase.

Promotional Emails and Other Uses

Video can be used in virtually any message you send, but the trick is finding ways to use the video to actually add value to the message. Here are a few ideas for adding video into your promotional email mix:

Tell your brand story: Video can help you tell your story and humanize your brand. Use it to take consumers behind the scenes of an event, like employees volunteering, office life, company outings and photo shoots. Content like this can serve as a wonderful complement to a promotional email.

Top-rated products: Top product emails are a great way to harness the power of social proof in marketing. Instead of using static images to list your top products, incorporate a video element to showcase one or all of the products, customer testimonials, or build anticipation as you “reveal” the top product.

Daily deals: Have a daily deal offer for a specific product or category of products? Use video to demonstrate what makes the product so great or show customers using the product.

Lights, Camera and Most Importantly, Action!

One of the common challenges for retailers when it comes to video is finding the time and resources to create content. While uniquely-created content can be doable for some, don’t feel like you need reinvent the wheel.

Use content you already have, such as videos posted to your social networks or ones that live on the ecommerce or resource section of your site.

When it comes to the optimal video length in email, Playable CEO Bob Hitching recommends keeping them to 10 seconds or less. This fits in nicely with things like Instagram, SnapChat and TikTok videos. The shorter length also help marketers source and create content.

But what about those pesky 2% of email clients that don’t support video? For subscribers using those clients, you’re in the same position you are now: The first frame of the video will display as a static image. A good practice, whether the email client renders video or not, is to ensure this first frame supports your overall email message.

No matter the type of message, video can enhance the email experience and make your brand stand out from the crowd — if you use it effectively. But like all tactics, overuse can lead to subscriber fatigue. Find emails that can most benefit from the use of video and take advantage of the content you already have to give your emails an extra punch.

Video may have killed the radio star, but it will do wonders for email marketing.

Top Marketing Podcasts of 2019

As host of the Commerce Marketer Podcast, I conduct a lot of interviews. But choosing my favorite episodes is like choosing a favorite child (if my kids are reading this, I love you both the same). However, I forced myself to choose some of the episodes that really resonated with me for one reason or another.

Here are some of my favorite marketing conversations from 2019, in order of episode number. I hope you enjoy.

1. Episode 043: Super Bowl Commercial Recap Roundtable

   More than 100 million people watch the Super Bowl each year, but the commercials have become the must-see event within the event. This episode discusses the Super Bowl from a marketing and entertainment perspective. We’ll revisit the commercials, halftime show, and even how we interacted with our mobile devices during the big game - after all, what good is a $5 million commercial if everyone is checking their Instagram feed?

   Why I chose this episode: This episode was a three-person roundtable. The guests were fun, brought great perspective, and episodes like this are just fun to do because no one takes themselves too seriously.

   >> Listen Now <<

2. Episode 046: Email Deliverability: Everything You Need to Know

   Did you know that having good email deliverability does not mean your emails reach the inbox? Understanding email deliverability is crucial, yet many marketers do not fully understand what goes into it.

   Why I chose this episode: My guest, deliverability expert Chris Kolbenschlag, tackles myths, best practices, things marketers shouldn’t do and other elements around email deliverability in an easy-to-understand manner — which is what I love about this episode.

   >> Listen Now <<

3. Ep. 050: How Lifecycle Email Marketing Is Like a Fine Wine

   This episode discuss how one compani built their email program from the ground up using lifecycle email marketing to drive nearly half of their 2018 email revenue. We cover the strategies behind triggered campaigns, how to avoid the pitfalls of email fatigue with segmentation, mistakes made with their lifecycle campaigns, and lessons learned.

   Why I chose this episode: My guest was Ben Argov, president of International Wine Accessories (IWA). Ben and I met several years back and he is one of the nicest people I know. Ben is honest about what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be improved in his email program. What made this one special was that he sent me a spreadsheet of his email metrics to help guide the conversation. If you’re into email marketing, this episode is a must-listen!

   >> Listen Now <<

4. Ep. 054: How Ikonick Uses Modern-Day Marketing to Drive Success

   I’m joined by Mark Brazil, co-founder of the canvas art company Ikonick, to discuss how he created a multimillion-dollar business in less than two years by combining email, video, social, and influencer marketing. Mark covers everything from social media, email marketing, content marketing, storytelling strategies, and how they measure success.

   Why I chose this episode: I met Mark while speaking at a conference in Quebec City in early 2019. After our initial conversation I knew I had to have him on the show. Mark is brutally honest, in a Gary V type of way (after listening you’ll know why), and shares some amazingly useful insights. This episode is great for entrepreneurs, and email and social media marketers alike. I forgot to mention, this dude is funny as heck!

   >> Listen Now <<

5. Ep. 059: How Vera Bradley Designs a Modern-Day Retail Experience

   I’m joined by Harry Cunningham, vice president of retail brand experience at Vera Bradley, to discuss what goes into designing modern-day brick-and-mortar stores that appeal to consumers. Harry explains some of the driving forces behind Vera Bradley’s redesign of their storefronts, explains how the store design revolves around solving shopper challenges, and shares everything you can think of when it comes to the in-store experience.

   Why I chose this episode: It’s such a cool topic — and one I find fascinating. Harry is an engaging speaker and really brings you into his world of how he approaches store design concepts through stories that demonstrate the how and why he makes the decisions he does.

   >> Listen Now <<

6. Ep. 60: The Behavioral Science of Marketing

   Nancy Harhut is a behavioral science marketer and chief creative officer at HBT Marketing, discusses how marketers can use behavioral science — like “eye magnet” words, the Von Restorff Effect, proper use of charts and images, tactile experiences, and landing page techniques — to nudge their customers and encourage purchase decisions.

   Why I chose this episode: Again, this topic is fascinating! This was a topic I had been wanting to cover for some time, and was fortunate enough to mention it to another guest of mine who coincidentally knew someone. That someone was Nancy. And boy, did she deliver! Nancy discussed so many tactics in an easy-to-understand manner, while providing specific use-cases for each. This episode has so many practical takeaways for marketers.

   >> Listen Now <<

Find out more about The Commerce Marketer Podcast

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My Five Favorite Marketing Posts of 2019

I write a lot of content throughout the year, but some pieces stand out to me more than others. Here are the five articles from 2019 that really resonated with me. I hope you enjoy.

1. Behavioral Science: The Magic That Turns Prospects Into Customers

   If you ask a hundred people what makes a good article headline or email subject line, you may get a hundred different answers. After all, it’s subjective, isn’t it?

   Not entirely, as many marketers know. There’s a science behind what makes a consumer open an email, click on a call to action (CTA) and make a purchase. Whether it’s writing an attention-grabbing headline or getting someone to “click and convert,” this article outlines ways any business can begin using behavioral science to improve their marketing.

   >> read more <<

2. Cyber 10: The Holiday Shopping Sprint You REALLY Need to Prepare For

   The holiday season is upon us, and, once again, it’s expected to set online sales records to the tune of $142 billion, according to eMarketer estimates. As online sales rapidly increase year-over-year, trends evolve and retailers adapt.

   Marketers need to look beyond the Cyber Five -- a historically high time for holiday online sales -- and instead prepare for the 10-day period that stretches from the Sunday before Black Friday through the Tuesday following Cyber Monday. >> read more <<

3. How to Use Social Proof in Email Marketing

   Retailers constantly seek ways to stand out in crowded inboxes and influence subscribers to make purchases, some of them by offering deep discounts. But for companies that either can’t or don’t want to shrink their margins, finding another way to influence purchase decisions inside emails is essential. This is where using social proof in your email marketing can be a powerful sales tactic.

   Luckily for companies — especially online retailers — they already possess a lot of content that can be used for social proof. Here are a few ways retailers can utilize this content in their email marketing programs to influence purchases. >> read more <<

4. Want to Win Back Lapsed Purchasers? Focus on Customer Experience

   Lapsed-purchaser campaigns, also known as win-back campaigns, are a staple in many retailers’ email marketing programs. These automated emails are sent to past purchasers who have not repurchased in a certain period of time, and the strategy typically consists of several incentivized messages that often increase in value from one email to the next.

   Time and time again, I see retailers consider these messages a high priority. And for whatever reason, they’re almost always deemed a much higher priority than implementing post-purchase messages.

   There’s a fundamental flaw with this approach … >> read more <<

5. Which Day Should You Send Your Marketing Emails?

   Which days are best for sending marketing emails and which days are most popular for retailers? Should you send on the same high-volume days as other retailers, or send on lower-volume days so you can more easily stand out in the inbox?

   Now, you may finally have an answer. >> read more <<

There you have it, my five favorite (for whatever reason) articles of 2019. To see more of what I’ve written, be sure to check out the Press page in the navigation.

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The Best Day to Send Your Marketing Emails

Which days are best for sending marketing emails and which days are most popular for retailers? Should you send on the same high-volume days as other retailers, or send on lower-volume days so you can more easily stand out in the inbox?

Now, you may finally have an answer.

I am signed up for hundreds of retailer email programs and monitor my inbox for daily send volume. While each retailer will have their own unique requirements, here are some tools you can use to help you determine which days might be best to send your marketing emails.

2019 Email Marketing Sends

2019 marketing email send volume broken down by day and month. Check out which days were the most and least popular days to send marketing emails.

2018 Email Marketing Sends

2018 marketing email send volume broken down by day and month. Check out which days were the most and least popular days to send marketing emails.

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2018 Email Marketing Sends - By Day and Month

Top Email Send Days of 2018

The chart below reflects the daily email send volume of 2018. The daily lifts and declines reflect the average number of emails retailers sent on that day of the week compared to the overall number of emails sent during the entire year.

For example, retailers sent 8.61% fewer emails on Sundays than the average number of 2018 daily email sends. As you can see, Thursdays was the most popular day for retailers to send marketing emails, followed by Friday and Tuesday.

Weekends were the least popular days to send marketing emails, with Saturday being the day of the week where the fewest emails were sent.

Continue reading to see monthly and daily breakdowns. You can view 2019 results here and see how daily send patterns changed. Stay tuned for ongoing 2020 updates.

Does this chart tell you that you should avoid sending marketing emails on weekends? Absolutely not. Again, each business will have their own unique circumstances. Some retailers might look at this as an opportunity to increase their sends on lower-volume days as a way to stand out in an otherwise crowded inbox, especially during the holiday season. Others may choose to follow the crowd and send on those higher send days.

Test your email send days, but remember, people do shop on the weekends.

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Monthly Email Marketing Sends

This monthly and daily breakdown is based on monthly results. The lifts and declines are based on the average number of sends for that day compared to the average number of emails send that month.

In this example, January’s highest send patterns are slightly different than the daily sends for the entire year. You’ll continue to see these daily shifts throughout the year.

View 2019 results here

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2019 Email Marketing Sends - By Day and Month

Top Email Send Days of 2019

The chart below reflects the daily email send volume in 2019. The daily lifts and declines reflect the average number of emails retailers sent on that day of the week compared to the overall number of emails sent during the entire year.

For example, retailers sent 8.32% fewer emails on Sundays than the average number of 2019 daily email sends. As you can see, Thursdays was the most popular day for retailers to send marketing emails, followed by Friday and Tuesday.

Weekends were the least popular days to send marketing emails, with Saturday being the day of the week where the fewest emails were sent.

Continue reading to see monthly and daily breakdowns. In 2019, Fridays saw a decrease in email sends while Tuesdays saw an increase compared to 2018. You can view 2018 results here and see how daily send patterns may have changed.

Does this chart tell you that you should avoid sending marketing emails on weekends? Absolutely not. Again, each business will have their own circumstances. Some retailers might look at this as an opportunity to increase their sends on lower-volume days as a way to stand out in an otherwise crowded inbox. Others may choose to follow the crowd.

Test your email send days, but remember, people do shop on the weekends.

Monthly Email Marketing Sends

This monthly and daily breakdown is based on monthly results. The lifts and declines are based on the average number of sends for that day compared to the average number of emails send that month.

In this example, January’s highest send days are slightly different than the daily sends for the entire year. You’ll continue to see these daily shifts throughout the year.

View 2018 Results here

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Keys to a Great Unboxing Experience

Unboxing is more than opening a package

Unboxing is about providing a branded, aesthetic opening experience that builds excitement. The customer purchase experience shouldn’t end when the package arrives — that’s when the experience really just begins. The way customers feel about your brand after the purchase determines whether they become repeat customers or remain a one-time buyer.

The unboxing experience is an essential part of that journey and influences those feelings. This can be especially true for online-only retailers, as this is the only physical touchpoint the brand has with the consumer.

Click below to read my thoughts on the makings of a great customer unboxing experience, which includes:

• The package

• Product wrapping

• Packaging materials

• Inserts

• Samples

Click here to continue reading

Using Behavioral Science in Marketing

What is Behavioral Science in Marketing?

Behavioral science in marketing focuses on how people think, feel, and make decisions, then applies those insights to influence engagement and conversions. By using cognitive biases, social proof cues, and decision-making shortcuts, marketers can create more persuasive messages and higher-performing campaigns.

Using Behavioral Science in Marketing

If you ask a hundred people what makes a good article headline or email subject line, you may get a hundred different answers. After all, it’s subjective, isn’t it? 

Not entirely, as many marketers know. There’s a science behind what makes a consumer open an email, click on a call to action (CTA), and make a purchase. Whether it’s writing an attention-grabbing headline or getting someone to “click and convert,” understanding that people rely on certain decision-making defaults helps marketers nudge them to take a desired action. 

In this article, I discuss how to use behavioral science to improve marketing campaigns. Topics include:

• Strategies to write effective headlines and subject lines

• Using social proof

• Content and landing pages

• Choosing compelling images

• Use of charts and graphs

• Principle of authority

• The science behind pricing

• CTA colors

• The science behind “possession” and how it can reduce returns

• Tactile experience

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

How to Use Free Shipping to Boost the Power of Your Holiday Emails

People love free stuff, and that includes free shipping. Shouldn’t you use this powerful incentive to pump up the performance of your holiday emails?

According to Deloitte’s 2018 retail holiday survey, the three most appealing incentives to shoppers last holiday season were price discounts (95%), free shipping (75%) and free gifts (52%). That same report also showed that free shipping is the second-most common reason why consumers turn to ecommerce, with convenience being the first.

This appetite for free shipping has made it a powerful promotional tactic during the holiday season, and last holiday season it became a major focal point in many email promotions.

But free shipping is more than just casually appealing to consumers — it can be the difference between a sale and a lost customer. Twenty-two percent of holiday shoppers flat-out refuse to pay for shipping during the holiday season.

And last year, it showed. Each week during the holiday season saw a year-over-year increase in orders that were shipped free, with some weeks reaching as high as 85%. Even the week before Christmas, a time when standard free shipping is no longer available, more than two thirds of orders were still being shipped free.

Free Shipping Emerging in Holiday Emails

The term “free shipping” was spotted in the subject lines of many holiday emails throughout the season. Looking at my own inbox, with hundreds of daily emails, it was one of the top three advertised discounts almost every day, from mid-November through the end of the month. On Cyber Monday, the largest online shopping day in history, it was the second-most common discount advertised in subject lines.

Not only was the term used in the subject line, it was often a focal point of a holiday email, either the front end of the subject line or the primary incentive. To no surprise, this focus carried over to the email body, where the incentive was often more prominent than discounts.

Pitney Bowes reports that 79% of consumers view free shipping as more important than fast shipping. Early in the season, when shoppers have time to wait for deliveries, offering free shipping can serve as a great add-on shopper enticement. But as Christmas approaches, free shipping can turn from an add-on to the primary incentive.

Late in the season, procrastinators have fewer fulfillment choices. Many retailers used free shipping (including expedited), not discounts, as the primary incentive and were able to attach a minimum spend on the order. Late-season shoppers need fast shipping, but also value the cost.

When preparing your holiday email promotions, you’ll want to make free shipping a staple of your strategy. Here are a few ways to incorporate it into your holiday email marketing strategy:

7 Free Shipping Ideas for The Holiday Season

• Reduce or remove the qualifying minimum spend thresholds during the holidays. It’s a gift-giving season, and the majority of people self-gifting may spend past that threshold anyway.

• Include banners or other prominent email call-outs to promote your free shipping offer. If you remove or lower the qualifying spend threshold for the holidays, be sure to promote this as well.

• Using free shipping as THE incentive. This will be especially useful during seasonal lulls, and also as the season winds to a close and procrastinators are looking for value.

• If you can’t remove minimums for the entire season, use free shipping in flash sale promotions. This allows you to give consumers what they want but attach a sense of urgency to complete the purchase. A side benefit of time-sensitive flash sales is that they can keep people opening your emails throughout the season.

• Offer select free shipping promotions for email subscribers only. You can promote email-only holiday incentives on other channels, such as social media, prior to the season, helping you grow your email list.

• Test the placement of the term “free shipping” in the subject line of your holiday emails. Use them to front-end a subject line, with capital letters to make it stand out, and make the subject line only about free shipping.

• Don’t ignore the preheader text. If you have a lot to convey in your subject line, use the preheader to call attention to free shipping.

Set Your Emails Free

Free shipping will be hot this holiday season! Consumers expect it and retailers will promote it. Since holiday discounts run for nearly two full months, using free shipping as an add-on or stand-alone promotion will provide your program with another to keep your promotions fresh in customers’ eyes.

Use their expectations to your advantage. If you choose not to, that’s fine, too. After all, the best part about all of this advice is that – you guessed it – it’s free!

3 Holiday Promotions That Keep Subscribers Opening Your Emails

There’s no shortage of promotions retailers can choose when planning their holiday email marketing strategy. However, the holiday season is long, so retailers need to find ways to not only increase sales but also keep subscribers opening their emails.

Here are three kinds of promotions that I expect will be heavily used by retailers throughout this upcoming holiday season to accomplish these goals.

1. Category and Daily Deals

Category-specific sales, promotions where one category of products is discounted, have been an increasingly popular holiday promotion over the past several years. With Black Friday sales now lasting the entire week for many retailers, category-specific sales are a way to keep the discounts new and exciting, which keeps consumers checking their emails.

If you do plan to offer daily deals, there’s no need to leave them a mystery. Consider letting people know early on which categories will be on sale and when. This approach allows the consumer to better plan their purchases.

Sure, they may want to wait two days to purchase sweaters at an additional discount, but many will want to consolidate purchases, especially if there’s a free shipping threshold they need to reach. Use a sense of urgency in your marketing by reminding people that items may sell out quickly to encourage order consolidation.

Offering daily category sales can also help you plan additional ad campaigns and year-end promotions later in the holidays. By knowing that one category of products didn’t sell as expected, you can begin to offer deeper discounts on these products throughout the season or feature them in year-end closeout promotions.

2. Free Shipping

Free shipping has quickly become a consumer expectation. According to Deloitte, it was the second-most appealing discount to shoppers last holiday season, behind only price discounts.

This likely explains why, according to eMarketer, there was a year-over-year increase in holiday orders that were shipped free, starting with Black Friday week and continuing through Christmas Day.

Last season, there was a noticeable increase in retailers’ advertising free shipping as a primary incentive. Consumers will once again be drawn to free shipping, and you’ll want to be ready to take full advantage of it.

As the season begins to wind down and expedited shipping becomes necessary, consider offering free or upgraded shipping as the primary incentive, not as an add-on to another promotion. You may want to lower or remove the spend threshold to qualify for these offers, as many retailers did last season.

In a lot of cases, you may find consumers spend above the previous threshold as they round out their gift buying. Just be sure to promote free shipping in both the subject line and email body copy.

3. Buy Online Pick Up In-Store (BOPIS) is for everyone

Whether you’re an omnichannel retailer or not, BOPIS affects you. Forty-one percent of consumers used this service last holiday season, and 50% of consumers decided where to shop based on whether BOPIS was a fulfillment option.

If you are an online-only retailer, you need to account for your competition who offer it — and maybe even alter your free shipping strategy to account for it. If you’re a retailer who offers it, you’ll want to use this to your advantage.

According to the NRF, the No. 1 reason consumers chose BOPIS was to avoid paying for shipping. If you’re an omnichannel retailer, promote BOPIS as a stand-alone incentive, potentially offering a discount, gift card or free gift for BOPIS orders.

As the season winds down, focus on those holiday procrastinators by encouraging a sense of urgency and pitting free in-store pickup against costly next-day shipping offered elsewhere.

Source: National Retail Federation, “2018/2019 Winter Consumer View,” Jan, 2019

But this value-add does not have to be saved until the end of the season. Consider giving the service a little customer-friendly pizzazz, such as by offering free gift-wrapping on these orders or in-store coupons at time of pick-up to encourage unplanned purchases, or even by providing complimentary hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and holiday cookies.

If you offer BOPIS, be sure to promote it wherever you can:

• In a dedicated section of your emails

• Embedded into your primary email creative

• Even in lifecycle messages, such as in a welcome series.

And, of course, clearly provide a link to a store locator in your emails, such as in the header or navigation bar.

Wrapping It Up

The holiday season is long, but by planning promotions that can last the whole season and provide competitive differentiation, you can keep subscribers opening your emails and be ready to earn as much of the shoppers’ wallet as possible.

Top Holiday Email Marketing Planning Resources

Email marketers are always looking for holiday-related content, and I provide a few pieces this time of year. Between sifting through and analyzing tens of thousands of holiday emails in my personal inbox, charting daily emails received, identifying recurring themes, looking through the previous years' online sales data, reading industry analysis, interviewing podcast guests, and talking to industry peers, I am left connecting dots with what retailers and email marketers will be promoting this holiday season.

As a former email marketing consultant, I know email marketers are always looking for as many actionable holiday resources as they can get. So here you are — a collection of my holiday resources (so far — there's more to come), including articles, podcasts, and webinars, all in one place. I will continue to update this as items become publicly available. I hope you find these to be useful!

2019 Holiday PLANNING RESOURCES:

Cyber 10: The Holiday Shopping Sprint You REALLY Need to Prepare For (article, GrowWire)

3 Holiday Promotions That Keep Subscribers Opening Your Emails (article)

Five Often-Overlooked Holiday Email Marketing Tips (article)

How to Use Free Shipping to Boost the Power of Your Holiday Emails (article, Multichannel Merchant)

Holiday Email Lookbook - 2019 Edition (download)

The Most Important Things to Know About Holiday Email Planning (article, Multichannel Merchant)

Ready, Set, Sell: 7 Tweaks Retailers Can Make Now to Maximize Holiday Profitability (article, Brainyard)

2019 Consumer Insights: 6 Trends Dominating This Year’s Holiday Shopping Season (Whitepaper, Shopkick)

Holiday Webinars:

Holiday Email Marketing Trends, Tips, and Tactics for 2019 (Bronto Marketing Platform)

Call-To-Action! Top 2019 Holiday Email Marketing Trends and Tactics (RetailWire)

Holiday Email Marketing 2019: Trends, Tips and Tactics (Retail Dive)

Holiday Podcast:

The Commerce Marketer Podcast: Ep. 061: Preparing Email Marketing for the Holidays

Listen on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts

2019 HOLIDAY RECAP:

2019 Holiday Season Takeaways and Ecommerce Marketing Action Items

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Five Often-Overlooked Holiday Email Marketing Tips

As the holidays approach, email marketing teams are busy determining promotional schedules, designing messages, and inputting coupon codes into their e-commerce platforms, among a slew of other items. With all of this work happening behind the scenes, there are a few holiday items that all too commonly fall by the wayside. When preparing your email marketing program for the season, don’t overlook some of the items that can help you deliver a better customer experience and generate more sales. Here are five items not to overlook this holiday season.

1. Optimize transactional messages

Messages like order and shipping confirmation messages are some of the most read email messages. At a minimum, be sure these messages are branded, aesthetically appealing, and have clear and obvious customer service information. To make these messages do more for you, include other elements, such as product recommendations, suggested upsells or cross-sells, sister brand promotions, a customer-only promotion, and a callout to subscribe to your email marketing program. Remember, all customers receive these messages, not just email subscribers.

2. Audit lifecycle messages

Consider your current lifecycle messages, their automation rules, and how they impact the customer experience during the holidays. For instance, let’s say your welcome series spans four days and withholds new subscribers from receiving promotional emails. Do you really want to withhold new subscribers from marketing emails on Black Friday or Cyber Monday?

You may want to make adjustments to the series, which could include:

• Sending only the welcome message and suspending the series.

• Create a new welcome series that reinforces holiday content, such as gift guides, hot products of the season, extended return policies, BOPIS services, or other value-adds.

• Continue to send the welcome series, but allow subscribers to receive promotional messages.

This is just one example. Look at your other automated messages. Do you have a purchase anniversary message sent each year on Black Friday, offering a worse incentive than your Black Friday promotion? I receive one of these each year, and it provides no value to me as a subscriber. Do you need to adjust the timing, number of, or discounts with your abandoned cart messages? Remember, automated messages should never be considered “set it and forget it.”

3. Audit forms

You are going to receive increased traffic during the holidays, so be sure to audit each of your forms to ensure they work properly. These include embedded email subscription forms, pop-up signups, manage preference pages, and unsubscribe forms.

To audit the forms, go through the process of accessing the form like a web visitor, email subscriber or customer would. Do they display (and not display) as they should, do they close properly, are the landing pages correct, and do the desired actions (e.g., list assignment) function appropriately? You want to ensure the forms are not only functioning properly, but they are also assigning contacts to the correct lists.

When you are auditing your forms, don’t forget to test on mobile devices. Last year, for the first time, more than half of all retailer web traffic during the holidays was from smartphones. Ensure you test the forms not only on a laptop but also on smartphones.

Be sure to document where each of these forms lives on the backend, which employees have access to them, and how customers access the forms. This will give you the ability to quickly identify and resolve any issues that might arise during the season.

4. Preach your differentiators

During the holiday season, why should someone choose to shop with you and not someone else, especially seeing as many retailers are matching deep discounts with one another? You need to give consumers a reason to choose you by preaching your competitive differentiators. Some of these customer-first differentiators include free shipping, free returns, extended return policies, price matching, satisfaction guarantees, and buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS).

Prominently advertise these value-adds with banners or dedicated sections of your email, on your websit,e and your social pages. And when it comes to email, prominently showcase these in high-consideration messages, such as welcome, abandoned cart, and browse recovery messaging.

By focusing on what the customer wants and how you, as a brand, can deliver that can mean the difference between securing a holiday sale or losing it to your competitor.

5. Plan for the unexpected

Things rarely go as planned, and good email marketers prepare for those times. When it comes to the holiday season, there are a few specific ways to prepare for those “what if” moments, whether that be a slow website, lagging sales, or errant promo code.

• Prepare back-up promotions: Projections are just that, projections. If you find your sales through the season are lagging, sending another promotion can help jump-start those orders coming in. Create emails that utilize alternate incentives (such as tiered discounts, or free shipping with no minimums) or tried-and-true discounts that you know will resonate with your customers. By preparing these promotions in advance, you will prevent those last-minute scrambles and rush errors from your creative team.

• Promo codes: Set any promo code you plan on using in your e-commerce platform before you need it. While you may not need to use some of the alternate or extra promotional codes, it provides the ability to easily deploy email campaigns as needed.

• “Oops” message: Websites and e-commerce platforms have become more reliable, but there is still one of those “oops” moments each year. Some of these include a slow or crashed website, a wrong promo code, and order processing errors. Creating an anticipatory email ahead of those moments will allow you to send a correction email as soon as possible. When errors like this occur, every second can cost you a sale.

Planning for the holidays means more than just creating a few emails and sending them off to your subscribers. It is ensuring all aspects of your program is optimized, and you are prepared for every scenario. Making sure every “I” is dotted, and every “t” is crossed means you are doing everything you can to maximize your holiday sales.

The Most Important Things to Know About Holiday Email Planning

The holiday shopping season is upon us and, like last year, this year is expected to once again break online sales records — reaching $142 billion, according to eMarketer. For companies big and small, email marketing is going to have a significant hand in helping drive those record sales.

But planning for a long holiday season takes consideration and time. Regardless of whether you’ve already started the planning process or not, here are some of the key things you need to prepare your email marketing program for a successful holiday season.

Gray November, Cyber Monday, and the Cyber Ten

Gray November is no longer a trend — it’s the norm. But this year it becomes a bit longer. There are fewer days, only 27, between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Plan for a long month leading up to Black Friday Week.

The Cyber Ten

Last year, 19% of online holiday revenue was generated from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, often referred to as the Cyber Five. Not surprisingly, these five days were the top five online sales days of the entire holiday season.

Twenty-three percent of Cyber Five sales came from email marketing. Looking at my inbox, the Sunday before Black Friday received the lowest number of emails for not only the entire week but for the following nine days. There is an opportunity to jump on early sales by increasing your email sends on this day.

But this year you should look beyond these five days and focus on a longer period. The ten-day period from November 24th to December 3rd will be an extremely busy shopping period. Let me introduce you to the Cyber Ten!

Here’s why:

• The day after Cyber Monday was the sixth busiest shopping day of the year, generating nearly $3 billion in online sales. This was only a slight difference from the fifth-busiest day.

• The day before Thanksgiving saw year-over-year growth of 32% and generated $1 billion in incremental sales. Expect this to be a major online sales day this year.

• Black Friday has finally morphed into Black Friday week, with many sales kicking off on the Monday before.

• The Sunday before Black Friday also saw an increase of $1 billion in incremental sales, meaning people were not only excited about the early deals but they shopped them.

Cyber Monday

Each year, Cyber Monday sets the record as the largest online sales day in history (nearly $8 billion in 2018). This year will be no exception. Your Cyber Monday email strategy should be to plan early and plan late.

• Last year more than half-a-billion was spent online by 7 a.m. PST.

• The most active shopping period of the entire year was from 7–11 p.m., ringing up $2 billion in online sales during that time.

• Last year, the Bronto Marketing Platform saw a 21% lift in year-over-year Cyber Monday emails sent, totaling more than a half-billion emails in one day. Plan on sending multiple emails!

• Many email marketers tend to relax a bit the day after — don’t. Remember, the day after is one of the biggest online sales days of the season.

Hot Promotions Of The Season

Throughout the holiday season, most retailers will run a multitude of discounts. According to Deloitte, the three most appealing discounts to shoppers last holiday season were price discounts, free shipping, and free gifts — and these were certainly noticeable last year.

Here are a few messaging strategies that were prominent last year, and that I expect to see this season too.

Daily deals

With holiday deals starting early, daily deals have always been a way to keep subscribers checking their emails. By offering special discounts on specific products or categories of products, subscribers may check their email more often to ensure they’re not missing anything.

One trend from last year was promoting categories that would be on sale throughout the entire campaign. For many of those that offered a week’s worth of daily deals (often coinciding with Black Friday week), they promoted at the onset which categories would be going on sale, and when. This way, subscribers who were planning on making a specific purchase could plan accordingly.

Free shipping

Free shipping became a major focal point in promotions last season. As mentioned, consumers found free shipping to be the second-most appealing promotional offer. This is likely why, according to eMarketer, there was a year-over-year increase of holiday orders that were shipped free, starting with Black Friday Week and continuing through Christmas Day.

As the season inched toward a close, free shipping — including expedited shipping — turned from an additional incentive to a primary one. While many retailers stipulated a minimum spend for the order, not all did. With free shipping, you have options to test.

Use free shipping as both an add-on incentive and a stand-alone one. Seeing as holiday discounts run for nearly two full months, using free shipping as a promotional tool may provide your program with another way to prevent your promotions from going stale.

Buy-online pickup in-store (BOPIS)

Forty-one percent of consumers reported using BOPIS last holiday season, and its year-over-year usage increased by 47% from November 1st through December 19th. According to the NRF, 64% of consumers choose BOPIS to avoid paying for shipping fees, which echoes consumers’ desire for free shipping promotions.

If you have the capability, promote your BOPIS service in your emails, on your website and in any other marketing channel you use — especially as the season winds down.

Last year, I saw retailers offering discounts for online and BOPIS-only orders to secure an immediate sale while still driving customers in-store, where 85% of shoppers said they made an unplanned purchase while picking up BOPIS orders.

Five Holiday Subject Line Strategies You Should Use

Knowing the inbox will be crowded throughout the holiday season, retailers must catch their subscribers’ attention. Emojis, even after all of these years, continue to be a good way to gain inbox attention. Here are a few ways to effectively use emojis in your email messages.

1. Use one single emoji to start the subject line. This can catch readers’ attention without being overwhelming or distracting.

2. Use repeating emojis to make the email pop. Don’t worry, this won’t cause deliverability problems.

3. Use emojis to bookend subject line text. In the same vein, using, increasing and decreasing sized emojis as you move toward and away from the text can make the text stand out even more – even if the emoji lacks color.

4. Include repeating emojis in the preheader text. This not only stands out in the inbox pane but also allows you to use more text in the subject line.

5. Use an emoji in the “send from” name. This is used far less often but adding color to the sender name can make your email stand out.

Three Other Notable Holiday Marketing Tips

• Ensure your emails and website are mobile-friendly. Mobile generated nearly 40% of online revenue last season and accounted for more than half of all retailer web traffic for the first time. It also accounted for more than $2 billion on Cyber Monday alone.

• The new benchmark is $2 billion. Last season, only four days (12/22-12/25) failed to reach the $1 billion daily benchmark but none missed by more than $120 million. It seems that $2 billion is becoming the new benchmark, with 26 days reaching that mark in 2018 – that’s nearly double from the year prior.

• Send on the weekends. According to my own inbox analysis, most Saturdays and Sundays in November recorded the lowest volume of email sends for the entire month. Even with lower send volumes, every day in November still recorded online sales of $1 billion. Bump up your email sends on these days to take advantage of a less crowded inbox.

There you have it, some Rudolph-approved holiday tidbits to help guide your email marketing program this holiday season — you didn’t think I’d forget the obligatory holiday cliché, did you?

Cyber 10: The Holiday Shopping Sprint You REALLY Need to Prepare For

The holiday season is upon us, and, once again, it’s expected to set online sales records to the tune of $142 billion, according to eMarketer estimates. As online sales rapidly increase year-over-year, trends evolve and retailers adapt.

Take Gray November, for example. Over the past couple of years, we have seen those signature stand-alone online shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday morph into a month-long series of discounts leading up to those days.

And now, within Gray November comes another consumer shopping evolution that will become a holiday season norm — the Cyber 10.

In this article, I discuss why marketers need to look beyond the Cyber Ten and pay attention to the Cyber Ten. Topics include:

• Which days make up the Cyber Ten

• Why the Cyber Ten is no longer a trend, but an annual occurrence

• Which days in the Cyber Ten are seeing the biggest year-over-year growth

• Why Cyber Monday, even with all of the changes, remains king

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING

How to Use Social Proof in Email and on Your E-commerce Site

Retailers constantly seek ways to stand out in crowded inboxes and influence subscribers to make purchases, some of them by offering deep discounts. But for companies that either can’t or don’t want to shrink their margins, finding another way to influence purchase decisions inside emails is essential. This is where using social proof in your email marketing can be a powerful sales tactic.

Luckily for companies — especially online retailers — they already possess a lot of content that can be used for social proof. Here are a few ways retailers can utilize this content in their email marketing programs to influence purchases.

How to Use Product Reviews in Email Marketing

Product reviews matter to consumers. Sixty-five percent of consumers check product reviews before making a purchase. When it comes to Gen Z, 67% of them read three or more reviews before making their first purchase. You’ve worked hard at collecting reviews, and now it’s time to put them to good use.

Look at the elements of product reviews you can use, including the actual rating, customer quote, and even a piece of user-generated content (UGC), like a picture or video. From here, you can use these elements to showcase top-rated products for different categories or sets of products. Using one or all of the elements can make the customer feel confident in their decision to purchase from you.

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Here’s an example from HalloweenCostumes.com that combines all of these elements in the recovery section of the email.

A great part about using product reviews in emails is that they fit well in a variety of email messages, from promotional emails to automated lifecycle messages like a welcome series or abandoned cart messages.

How to Use Social Media in Email Marketing

Social media provides a brand with the ability to engage in back-and-forth communication with consumers. It has also given brands a new outlet to let customers advertise and spread brand awareness for them. When someone shares a picture using a brand’s product on social media, it provides some level of brand and product credibility.

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Secondary content:  Include user-submitted photos as secondary content in each of your emails. You can even start a hashtag to showcase how customers use your products, such as in this example from Crocs.

In this email, the main content is their standard promotion creative, but they use UGC as secondary content to showcase how these products fit into their customers’ lifestyles.

Entire email: UGC does not have to be reserved for secondary content. As you can see in this example from Gone For A Run, the entire email is built by featuring a few of their customers from social media. Using customer photos like this provides an easy — and relatable — method for promoting products.    

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Influencers: We can’t talk about social media and not mention influencer marketing. If you do use influencers, find ways to incorporate them into your email promotions.

You can do this by creating an email where they showcase products, such as their favorites or top trends. And when it makes sense to do so, consider putting messages like these into your lifecycle messaging series.

Top posts: Monitor your social feed for your most engaging posts. If a specific post receives more than the average number of likes or comments, you know it has engaged your audience — use these actual posts in of your messages.

If an outfit posted on Instagram is popular, feature that post in your emails with a screenshot of the actual post or show the outfit itself. Using screenshots or referencing the social media post might prove more effective as it directly ties the social aspect to the promotion.

How to Use Your Employees in Email Marketing

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Customers trust your employees. Whether walking into a sporting goods store or a wine retailer, employee recommendations are trusted. This trust can be a powerful sales tool, so find ways to incorporate your employee product recommendations into your email marketing.

You can see in this example from REI that they humanize the email by showing staff pictures, names, locations, and quotes about why they recommend the products.

One great place to use recommendations like this is with browse recovery emails. Showcasing employee recommended products for the same category of products subscribers were viewing on their website can be a great tool in helping the customer decide on a product to purchase.

The Social Proof is in the Pudding

Using social proof to drive email conversions works. One company tested this by isolating website browsers based on the category of products viewed. They sent these consumers a “top-rated products” email based on that specific category and sent other non-category browsers a generic marketing message.

The social proof-driven message saw significant increases in all major email metrics, including an almost 8,000 percent lift in revenue per email. Even better, this email had only 3% of the volume of emails sent compared to the generic message — but it drove 140% more revenue.

Social proof comes down to finding the right opportunities to incorporate it. Look to your social networks, product reviews, and your employees to serve as proof for why they should purchase from your brand.

Trust me, they’re open to suggestions.

Read more of my thoughts on using social proof here