• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 6, 2020

Well, Listrak has been thinking about it, and has published a white (or rather green and red) paper titled,  Holiday Marketing Guide.

Here are some tips from Listrak staffers for brands gearing up their holiday email programs.  

Karen DiClemente, senior strategy director

With possible store closures or limited in-person shopping, be prepared to send geo-targeted emails to encourage traditional in-store shoppers to shop online.

Crisis planning is a must this year, so make sure you have an apology email template ready to go and a plan in place if your website crashes from unprecedented traffic and demand.

Megan McNamara, enterprise account manager

• Update all creative elements to a holiday theme – Email: header, footer, Social: profiles images, Website: homepage, popups. And don’t forget to review this email checklist: 
• Verify all subscription points are working correctly.
• Ensure your mobile website is functioning and creates an ideal shopping experience.
• Confirm your product files are up to date and being delivered successfully to avoid discrepancies within product recommendations.
• Review the performance of your product recommendation algorithms and adjust as needed.
• Review your cart and browse abandonment triggers and update them as needed.
• Re-stock coupon pools and unique codes for peak days and double-check expiration dates.
• Update promotion terms & conditions to match holiday offers and expiration dates.

Kyle Newton, account manager

With increased site traffic, focus on email data capture:

• Desktop Popup: Consider offering a more aggressive incentive for the holiday season to differentiate yourself from the competition.
• Mobile Popup: Consider adding a mobile sticky button to show when the entrance popup is closed out. This provides consumers another opportunity to sign up and use the offer later in their shopping experience.
• Consider your popup prime real estate, and communicate special holiday offers, exclusive sales, early access, and shipping deadlines.
• Test the timing of each popup and adjust based on your shopper’s engagement habits.
• Include an email sign-up call to action in your broadcast emails, and as order activity increases, capture through your triggered campaigns.
• Update creative across your channels.

Katherine Brown, enterprise account director

Create an “Early Access” Black Friday campaign for SMS subscribers only. Create a new Keyword and advertise via Social and Email channels. 

Kris Fulton, director client services

Help your customers transact quickly from whatever device they receive your messages. Be sure to test the customer experience from your email or SMS to purchase conversion to ensure a seamless experience.

Ryan Ogurcak, account director

Create a “12 Days” campaign, sharing a new “product focus” each day for 12 straight days. To maximize success, be sure to show the previous products in each new email creative for ongoing product awareness.

Joe Schmidt, account director

In late summer, start recurring email campaigns and push re-engagement ads on social channels. 

One More Thing

The guide also includes the personal holiday traditions of individual Listrak staff members. Let’s hope they can still have a festive time despite the restrictions we all face.