Christmas and the holiday season are coming around. The average email marketing program starts sending their holiday emails around 19 October. It is time for customers to be merry and take out the wallet to become even merrier. In most of the shop windows there are some Christmas promotions or decorations. But why?
Themed promotions spice it up
Within email marketing there is not a strict separation between those who go all out on the Christmas theme and those who don’t. There is always that group that just wants to “Christmas it up a little”.
In my own experience special promotions and themed emailings can work to break email fatigue and help spice up the communication a bit. A different design and message every now and again can keep your campaigns more interesting over time. But it can also have direct impact on your sales and conversion, even when only changing small things in the design.
Hat on or hat off?
Less than half of marketeers regularly test their offers or creative. With the increase in frequency and volume during the Christmas days, this would be a great time to test that email creative. You could imagine there would be a clear difference in results between Christmas themed and non-Christmas themed emailings.
Christmas raises the bar
38% of retailers use a different (Christmas) design in their emails during holidays. That number is climbing year over year. It is a clear signal that, on average, changing the design works to increase results. Christmas themed messages usually act like a reminder for holiday shopping, they are generally used to increase conversion. The holiday season is when the most personal spending is taking place. So you especially want people to go to your store, not the competition.
The question would not be “(Christmas) hat on or hat off?”, because Christmas messages drive conversion. More a question of choosing the right Holiday elements and optimizing them. So keep you Christmas hats on, but also put on those testing gloves! What do you think, is Christmas a good time for you to test?
PS: If you want to know more about Holiday campaigns, be sure to check out Chad White’s the Retail email guide for the holiday season for some last minute Holiday insights.
Takeaway: Using Holiday elements can increase your results, but don’t forget to optimize and test that Santa design!
