In this post, I’ll shares my top five email marketing tips that PPC marketers can implement to succeed during Q4.
Tip #1: Mention Promotions in the Subject Line
An email’s subject line is very similar to an ad title. This is your chance to capture the reader’s attention.
After analyzing the email behavior of the top 1,000 largest online retailers at MailCharts, we discovered that 59% of Q4 emails mention their promotion in the subject line. What’s staggering is that most of these promotions are actually mentioned within the first 14 characters of the email.
Where promotions first appeared in Q4 2015
Even when subscribers don’t open your email, the inbox impression is valuable. Get your offer across by including it in the email’s subject.
Tip #2: Resend Emails to Non-Openers
This is a very low-hanging fruit. All you have to do is gather a list of subscribers that did not open a recent email you sent, and re-send it to them. MailChimp analyzed the impact of resends and found that re-sending emails can increase your open rates by 8.7%.
Engagement lift from re-sending campaigns.
If you’re looking for a low-cost and simple way to improve your campaign’s efficiency, this is it.
Tip #3: Send Cart Abandonment Emails Sooner
During the holiday period, with limited-time offers, items going out-of-stock, and shipping deadlines, purchase consideration times are shorter.
To combat the rush, send cart abandonment emails earlier. This ensures your email is still relevant when it lands in the subscriber’s inbox.
The best way to determine the perfect cart abandonment timing is to look at last year’s data and examine the behavior of your own customers. Identify how long it took for most cart abandoners to return to their cart on their own—without an email prompt. Send your first cart abandonment email shortly after that.
If you need some creative inspiration, check out MailCharts’ gallery of 100+ cart abandonment email examples.
Sample cart abandonment emails.
Tip #4: Don’t Forget About Gift Cards
Most emails promote new products, deals, or promotions, but we often forget about the power of gift cards. In the past 9 years, they have been the most requested Christmas gift and in the last holiday period, $26 billion was spent on gift cards.
If your company sells gift cards, promote them in your emails leading up to Christmas. It’s easy to add a simple link at the bottom of your emails. Notice how Gap does it with their “Gift cards: Our one-size-fits-all pick”. American Eagle has a more subtle callout, right above the footer.
Example gift card callout from Gap.
Once Christmas gifts have been unwrapped, many of your subscribers will be sitting at home with fresh, store-agnostic gift cards (e.g. Visa or Amex). This is your opportunity to jump in and send subscribers an email encouraging them to “treat themselves” and get the gift they didn’t receive under the Christmas tree.
Tip #5: Send Promotions When Email Volume is Low
Email volume increases by 23% during the holidays, but there are certain holidays, such as Winter Solstice, where overall email volume remains low. Free shipping day is another holiday that is often forgotten by marketers, even though it contributes over $1 billion in online sales.
Take advantage of these two not-so-crowded holidays to connect with your subscribers.
About the author
Carl Sednaoui is the Director of Marketing at MailCharts, used by marketers around the world to optimize their email segmentation strategy. MailCharts provides persona-based email audits for both your program and your competitors’.
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