Drive more revenue this holiday...it's not too late

The countdown to Christmas is in full swing. With less than 25 days left to make a meaningful impact on revenue, I thought I would give you some last minute pointers that you can leverage now in your email marketing strategy to drive sales and deepen the subscriber relationship. In this post, I will outline three opportunities that you can incorporate into your marketing mix now.

Leverage What Works

For most online retailers, Cyber Monday provides the momentum in holiday sales that Black Friday gives traditional brick and mortar stores. So why not capitalize on it? Last year, many retailers chose to extend Cyber Monday sales throughout the month of December. Here are a two examples:

Steve Madden extended Cyber Monday in 2009.

In 2009, Performance Bicycle had a series of Cyber Mondays.

A couple of tips if you are considering extending your Cyber Monday deals.

• Mix it up. Don't focus on the same deal week after week. The incentive will become stale and your subscribers will become disengaged.
• Keep it Monday only. Create a sense of urgency around the promotion by only offering it that day.
• Make it Work. Ensure it doesn't compete with your remaining email marketing strategy for the holiday.

Tap Into the Friends and Family Playbook

Don't just think sales, think customer enrichment. The Friends and Family Playbook allows you to create a sense of family with your subscribers while furthering engagement with your brand. Many retailers have leveraged the Friends and Family theme this year because it produces more sales and connects with subscribers. It can also provide an outlet for potentially new subscribers and customers.

If you are going to add this to your holiday email marketing program don't forget to make the incentives unique, segment your audience for testing (consider highest value customers as an initial segment), and make the promotion worth clicking through (greater discount, free shipping, exclusive sneak peeks).

Here are a couple I've received this season:

Lancome sent a limited time offer for friends and family this season.

Timberland offered an exclusive "Sneak Peek" at sale items this holiday.

What friend wouldn't want to take advantage of additional savings and free shipping?

The great thing about "Friends & Family" campaigns are that they perform all year long, so don't just add them to your holiday email marketing program, but remember them for your 2011 plans.

Put the Decision in the Hand of the Recipient

Who doesn't enjoy the awkward silence after receiving yet another Christmas sweater, especially when you wanted those leather heels you've been eyeing for more than a month? Help your customers take the guess work out of gift buying. Promoting your Wish List is a good way to engage your subscribers, learn valuable insight into their product preferences, and drive sales. Add a "Wish List" campaign to your holiday schedule, if you haven't already, and maximize everyone's happiness, including yours when the sales come in. Here are a few brands that have already promoted their wish list functionality this year.

Kenneth Cole began promoting their "Wish List" in November of this year.

Shopbop.com made a festive appeal to create a Wish List this year.

Ideally you would have already began your "Wish List" campaign, but with the amount of last minute shoppers out there, it's still not a bad idea to make a ploy to put the recipient in control of what they will receive.

Hopefully you are already seeing a lot of gain from your email marketing activity this holiday season, but add a few of these components in for some last minute revenue uplift.

Sally Lowery
Director, Demand Generation