The holiday season is a few weeks away, which mean consumers will be on the lookout for as many deals as possible! This is the perfect time of the year to re-engage with in-active subscribers, build a database, increase brand loyalty and to hit sales targets via email and sms marketing!

There are summer sales, Black Friday, Cyber Monday specials, Christmas specials etc. people are about to spend and with email and sms campaigns your company are bound to drive more sales!

Email and SMS marketing delivers your offers directly to your customers, potential customers. Here are a few tips to ensure you have the best sales November and December ever!

Email tips:
  1. Clean and up to date email list
  • This is crucial to minimize deliverability issues.
  • Having a clean and up to date list is far more important than only having a big database in numbers.
  • Ensure the data you use is permission based and that you have unsubscribe buttons on each campaign.
  • Managing your data correctly is of utmost importance.
  1. Clear and strong call to action
  • Every campaign has a goal in mind, e.g. drive traffic to a website, increase brand awareness, increase sales, build a CRM database etc.
  • Let your Call To Action guide and define your content… what is your goal, build your message around that.
  • Do not use to many CTA’s, it might distract individuals and they might end up not clicking on anything.
  1. If you plan a series of emails, tell a story
  • A story will have a beginning, middle and end.
  • Build a series of email campaigns around a story that will resonate with your audience, get them excited and eager to receive the next one
  • Ensure that you mention to them when they can expect the following emailer and then stick to what was said.
  1. Shorter content
  • Emails are often read on mobiles, besides the importance of responsible designs; ensure your emails aren’t too long.
  • Short and catchy emails will always capture an individual’s attention.
  1. Know your audience
  • Understand your audience and their needs
  • Create content that will resonate with your target audience – dynamic content.
  • Personalised catalogues and highly targeted messages will show your customers that you understand and care about their needs.
  1. Track, measure and optimize
  • Ensure that you track all your campaigns and measure the results
  • Understand how your customers are consuming your content and where they are clicking most
  • By understanding your results you’ll be able to optimize your future campaigns to drive better results.
SMS tips:
  1. Updated database
  • Ensure your SMS database is clean and up to date.
  • Ensure your data is opted in.
  1. Segmented database
  • A segmented database will allow you to send interest-specific SMSes to people who want to receive them.
  1. Identify yourself
  • Add your company name in your message.
  • Contacts might not know who it is from otherwise.
  1. Don’t be intrusive
  • SMS is personal and can be intrusive, therefor, tell the customers the benefits / value they can receive via your sms message
  1. Amount of characters
  • Do not use more than 160 characters; generally this is the amount of characters you have to work with. If you use more than 160 characters chances are it will move into 2 messages.
  • Punctuation and the Opt Out section forms part of the 160 characters.
  1. Opt out message
  • It is important to always include this in your SMS marketing campaigns.
  • This will ensure you follow the correct legal protocols and will reduce frustration for customers.

 

Each email address or mobile number is an individual looking for particular products or services. Treat them with respect and provide them with relevant content that will add value to their lives. Remember each email address or mobile number represents a person with buying power, satisfy their needs and they are more than likely to buy from you!

References

Email and SMS Holiday Marketing Tips