insight: Mapp’s advice for retailers ahead of Black Friday
Posted by
As we approach the biggest and busiest shopping season of the year – Black Friday, Cyber Monday, as well as the lead up to panic Christmas shopping, marketers are gearing to tweak their strategies in order to offer consumers the most competitive, personalised deals.
At the heart of any successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday strategy is email marketing. Email is still king. Emailing your customer with the latest deals during this period will be one of the strongest tools to increasing sales performance. But in a crowded market how can you ensure your email marketing strategy is a cut-above the rest, and prevent your email from landing in the dreaded ‘junk box’?
Omar Janabi, Senior Director of Marketing, Mapp is recommending the following:
- Make it personal
“While it may seem obvious, personalisation is one of the most important factors of any customer-facing email. Marketers have eight seconds to grab their customer’s attention, so knowing exactly who your customers are, their age, what they purchase and offering a products relevant to them will help to increase ROI you require from an email campaign. Marketers should be taking the time to analyse their data and customer behaviour in order to send targeted emails”
- Determine the best Timing
“With so many brands competing against each other to provide desirable deals, timing is crucial for any successful email campaign. Brands should closely analyse the response rates of emails to determine when the best time of day is to send an email offer to their customers. Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers are meant for a quick grab and can be sent on the day itself, or a few days before. Sending your offer too early, and your customer could forget about it altogether. Sending your campaign during commuting hours and lunch break tend to lead to stronger click-through rates”
- Choose Strong subject lines
“Subject lines are the call to action for any email campaign. Weak subject lines and your email will be forgotten and most probably deleted. Brevity is key, short subject lines explaining exactly what discount is on will grab the reader’s attention, as well as putting a time-limit, for example ‘Only 12 hours to get 50% off’ – this encourages the customer to act fast”
- Test, test and test before the big day
“Last but not least, crucial for any email campaign whether it’s for Black Friday, Cyber Monday or the seasonal newsletter – remember to test! A/B split testing provides insight into how to appeal to your audience. You can test how recipients respond to the subject line and content. You could send one-half of a list segment an email with a five-word subject line, while the other half receives the same email, but with a ten-word subject line. You will receive rich insights that will help you to execute a targeted email campaign during this busy festive season.”
