Email Marketing

Last-minute Email Checklist for Thanksgiving Week

It’s finally here, the busiest shopping week of the year. In this article, I’ll review some last minute email marketing reminders and tips to make this season successful.

Manual Abandoned-cart Reminders

If you currently do not have an automated cart abandonment email program, think seriously about sending some manual reminders surrounding Thanksgiving. It may be a lot of work to pull the data on abandoned, saved carts and then execute the email. But even if you can manage to convert a few shoppers, which is likely, it is worth the effort. I’ve seen 20 to 30 percent of recipients convert off abandon cart reminders. What’s more, with the heavy online shopping days ahead, consumers are more likely to abandon and forget to place an order they had all intentions of placing. Do not miss out on these sales. If you have an abandoned-cart email program in place, monitor it closely over the week to ensure it’s firing correctly.

Free Shipping Offers

For almost every offer I’ve tested, “free shipping” usually wins out. Consumers love it. It’s easy to understand. If you don’t usually offer free shipping, think of a way to add it for your promotions this week and for Cyber Monday. If you can combine it with other discounts or offers, that’s even better.

Consider something fun for this week, like free gift-wrapping, as well. For this time of year, consumers are attracted to free, no matter how small it may seem.

Mobile Accessibility

More shoppers will check emails on their phones than ever this holiday season. Make sure your emails render well on mobile devices. Testing emails across all mobile platforms can be daunting. Consider a service like Litmus. For a reasonable monthly subscription, you can load and instantly test your email code across all platforms and mobile devices.

Litmus home page.

Litmus can test your email code across all platforms and mobile devices.

Make Sure your Emails Are Scheduled

Organize your creative, segment your lists, and ensure everything is set up and scheduled to avoid missing deadlines and deployment dates. In addition, make sure the order you send your emails is logical. For example, I received Christmas-themed emails from retailer Crate and Barrel a few days before I received its Thanksgiving promotions. This was odd, as a consumer.

Understand What your Customers Are Buying

A recent study by DealNews.com found that nearly one-half of all Black Friday purchases are from consumers buying things for themselves. Use this information to promote not just gifts and gift ideas, but also discounts or offers on your most popular items, those that shoppers purchase year around, even if it is for themselves.

Carolyn Nye
Carolyn Nye
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