Five simple ways to help boost your holiday sales with email marketing

With the Christmas season just around the corner, frantic shoppers are looking for the perfect gift for loved ones, colleagues and friends. For small businesses, it’s preparing for one of if not the busiest shopping seasons of the year, writes Tamara Oppen, Managing Director of GoDaddy Australia.

The good news is Aussies are predicted to spend over $11 Billion on gift-giving this year. It’s an optimistic sign of recovery, with businesses no doubt looking to make up for lost time and revenue in what’s been a very challenging two years.

Here’s how small businesses can supercharge your email marketing skills this festive season to help boost your holiday sales and keep customers coming back all year long.

But first, why email marketing?

We’re now in a world where everyone is on the go. Thanks to smartphones, people can stay connected no matter where they are, checking product information, online reviews and ultimately shop up a storm. Checking emails has been more prominent on mobile phones than desktops since 2019, which is great news for small business owners given it’s such a cost-effective channel. Here are five email marketing strategies to help drive sales.

Hook your subscribers with a catchy headline

Imagine that you are checking your email and saw 100 unread ones. Which one do you choose to read first? Definitely an email with an optimised subject line for open rates. Personalising your subject lines by including the recipient’s name can increase open rates by 26%.

You can also use ‘power words’ such as free shipping, hot deal, limited-time-only, and Christmas Gift Guide, among others to drive more conversions. Don’t be afraid to use emojis that celebrate the festive season. Using emojis can help increase open rates by up to 45%.

Use an email address that matches your domain name to look professional and trustworthy

First impressions matter, and matching your email address with your website domain name can reassure your customers that your business is trustworthy and credible.

There is nothing wrong with free email accounts, but it’s best to save them for personal email use. Communications with your business should be with your professional domain email address.

Create a gift-guide for stress-free holiday shopping

Get stressed finding the perfect gift for your loved ones? You’re not alone! Help customers avoid this ‘holiday gift’ anxiety by emailing a convenient gift-guide that links directly to your website. Make the guide even more user-friendly by grouping products by price, product type, age group and for particular people like mums, dads, partners, co-workers and so on.

Provide reassurance for online gift-givers, especially last-minute shoppers

The pandemic has increased online shopping, including gift-giving. Roy Morgan reports that 48% of Christmas presents are likely to be purchased online, with 58% of people saying they’ll buy more or significantly more items online than they did last year.

Some dilemmas with buying online gifts are whether:

The gifts will arrive on time. One in three last-minute shopperssays they choose where to buy their gifts based on how soon they can get them, according to Google.
Gifts can be returned or exchanged easily.

You will want to address these two dilemmas in your email by clarifying the delivery cut-off dates. Make the terms of purchase very clear in your email and website, and also clearly state your return or exchange policy for transparency, helping to build trust.

Make shopping effortless with dedicated landing pages

To make your customer’s shopping experience more enjoyable, consider having a dedicated holiday gift-buying landing page on your website divided into popular categories that you can direct email traffic to. A dedicated landing page won’t just provide a better customer shopping experience, but it will help keep traffic reporting nice and clean so you can easily see how successful your email marketing campaign has been.

Hopefully, these tips can help make the holiday rush less stressful, more joyful and lead to a stellar sales period for your small business. Please remember that the extra time and effort you put into creating your email marketing campaigns, can help to go a long way for your business and maintaining that customer loyalty. Happy holidays everyone.

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