Email Marketing for the Holiday Season

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Email Marketing for the Holiday SeasonLisa JeffriesEmail: Lisa@RaleighwoodMedia.comPhone: 919-229-9725Online: RaleighwoodMedia.com | Facebook.com/Raleighwood | @RMG_REG

My experience:10 years in email

marketing8 years in HTML for

emailList sizes from 20-

350,000

#WelcomeToRaleighwoodMy industries:

RetailHospitalityTechnologyMediaServices

1.Email is still #1 in ROI2014 Email Marketing Industry Census

Surveyed 1,100+ email marketers“68% of companies rated email as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ for ROI…

companies are attributing 23% of their total sales to the email marketing channel”; spending just 16% of their marketing budget on email

Direct Marketing Association & Experian4,300% ROI increaseFor every $1 spent, $44.25 is average return on investment

2. Trust data, not your gutAccording to MEC Labs (a research lab focused on

how people make choices), 17% of marketers don’t track or analyze email metrics for their organization

Many platforms are free for smaller, less frequent senders (Mailchimp = >2,000 @ 6x)

All CRMs are not created equal

Thanks to all the marketers who are using email marketing platforms, we know how recipients are viewing email...

Of 4,579 tech business email subscribers:29.1% iPhone19.7% Gmail10.7% Apple Mail 88.5% Outlook 2013 + 8.1% Outlook 2010

Of 2,562 restaurant patron subscribers:Desktop: 47.2%Mobile: 52.8%

3. Speaking of data… get mobile

Having a design that looks just as good on mobile devices and tablets as it does on desktop is known as “responsive design”

Building these by hand is incredibly hard, and not all email clients respond the same

My favorites: Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor

4. Stop building emails from scratch

Use your “non-negotiables” at point of sale to always work on adding fresh contacts

Build opt-ins at many pointsContest with care and use a buddy systemRegularly perform quality audits

And build in fail-safes to your website!

5. Great lists = great open rates

How many emails do you send a year? Use your signature to your advantage.

Ask for valuable details, not their life story.Don’t assume your audience wants, or needs, to

hear from you dailyGive readers options in the footerUpgrade your opt-out with an opt-down option

6. Manage expectations at each step

Your audience is now 24/7, thanks to their mobile devices (remember that stat we shared earlier?)

Know if your audience is mostly at-work, or otherwiseUse your data to testSome tools like MailChimp will optimize your send

7. Best time to send? It depends.

Balance frequency and subscriber engagement

Build loyalty one email at a timeKnow when to follow-up and when to let it be

(take note, Lowe’s)Know why they open, too.

8. Add value or face crappy stats

9. Think Like a ReaderWrite from the perspective of the recipientWhat are their needs and wants (vs. yours)?Always include the most important information

during the busy holiday season:Business Hours, Contact Info, Location

Look like a pro: Canva.com

10. Make Things EasySet your reply addressInclude your name and phone numberWrite out your social media handles & link to

themLet people know what to expect & why it’s valuable

11. Editorial CalendarAlways work backwards from deadlines and

holidaysBlack out any dates you’ll be closed or

unresponsiveWhat dates can you capitalize on?

Gift cards, extended hours, Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday sales and events

Recycle your email, blog, and social media content between each platform.

Worried about reruns? Your audience is missing most of what you post on other channels.

Stop asking your audience to print special offers.

12. Go green!

ReportAnalyze your stats with each send, and review overall

list data, too.

Read upSubject lines still matter: keep them short and avoid

the word “newsletter”

Repeat

13. Report. Read up. Repeat.

http://mashable.com/category/email-marketing/http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/topic/email-marketinghttps://litmus.com/blog/https://www.emailonacid.com/bloghttps://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/http://blog.mailchimp.com/http://www.raleighwoodmedia.com/blog/ :-)

14. Freebie: Resources