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3 Strategies to Increase Engagement in Holiday Email Campaigns

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Engagement. It’s what every brand wants to get from their customers. Yet, it’s more difficult than ever. Between a constant barrage of emails and content, consumers tune most of what they see out. 

To capture their attention and beat your competition, you have to find ways to differentiate your brand from the pack. It’s especially true during the holiday shopping season, where upwards of 20% of all annual revenue is captured during just a handful of months. 

So, how do you boost engagement during the holiday season? It’s the million dollar question, and we’ve got a few strategies to help you get there.

Tap into user-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) is an email marketer’s secret weapon. Why? It’s got a ton of benefits for both the brand and the customer. 

For you, it saves you time. When your audience is creating content around your brand, it’s an awesome source of genuine content you can benefit from. It’s just one less thing for you to create. 

Promoting UGC also shows your customers you’re paying attention in a couple of ways. First, customers tend to trust the reviews of their peers way more than what you highlight about a product. That gets them more likely to buy. And second, it encourages customers to get into the action and post. When there’s a chance their content could feature in an email campaign, it increases engagement online.

To prepare for the holidays, start now. Encourage your customers to create UGC. Let them know you’d love to engage with them online and share content in your holiday campaigns. That’s a great way to start building excitement as we roll into the holiday season.

starbucks red cup

Starbucks is a great example of this. Come the holiday season, Starbucks owns the hashtags #redcup and #redcupcontest with customers from all over the world sharing images and videos of their red cups all over social media. All that UGC is shared throughout Starbucks ‘ marketing channels.

You can use Smart Banners™ to do the same with your brand, automatically and at scale. We have a variety of banner templates that allow you to pull in user-generated ratings and reviews and show stars or a small quote on a product.

For example, use UGC ratings and reviews on banners on abandoned cart or abandoned browse messages to help entice customers to finish their purchases. You can do the same to ramp up FOMO with low inventory messaging and updates too.

Be a resource

Way too many brands focus on centering content around promotion. Of course, you need to promote your products and services to make money, but you don’t want to do that to the exclusion of everything else. 

You want your customers to think of you as a trusted resource. Do that by focusing on ways you can help educate your customers and act as a resource. The more information you can provide and questions you can answer for your customers, the more likely they are to buy because you’re removing hurdles from the process. 

For the holidays, there are a couple of approaches you can take. 

One popular resource is creating a holiday gift guide. Breaking down products into helpful categories such as price and type of person (moms, tech lovers, travelers, etc.) makes it super easy to shop. 

review content box

Don’t forget that user-generated content like ratings and reviews and customer answers to common questions can also be a resource. Check out the review and question box above. It provides a ton of information that your customers will find valuable and might just convince them to buy.

You can do the same with SMS messages too.

Give your customers key info like instructions on setup and installation or tips for taking care of an item via SMS after purchase.

Add personalization to your dynamic emails

Personalizing your emails is another way to boost engagement. While you should be personalizing your emails year-round, focusing on the holiday season can bring even more benefits, especially when you couple it with dynamic emails.

Having interactive and moving content can level up your emails and make them stand out anyway. Add personalization to it, and you’ve got a whole new ballgame. 

Here are a few ways to add personalized animations and other interactive content to your holiday email campaigns:

reveal loyalty countdown timer

Remind loyalty members where they stand with their points and let them know if they are close to a bonus (which they can conveniently use this holiday season.

abandoned cart countdown circle

Re-engage customers who have left items in their cart. Use a countdown timer to add urgency or a discount to sweeten the deal and get them to take action.

Ready to start boosting your engagement?

This holiday season, you have the perfect opportunity to focus on improving engagement, which can help lay the foundation of a long-term positive relationship with your customers.

Interested in learning a few more strategies?

Check out our recent webinar: How to Avoid Holiday Email Panic and Have a Chill Busy Season.

Click here to watch today.

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