How to Time Your Holiday Email Marketing

A friend of mine writes and manages the online marketing for a local online retailer, and asked via Facebook about how to time her holiday email marketing to her customers. I’d been tweeting (thomschoenborn on Twitter) about a webinar from Nielsen Online about online holiday shopping, and she shot me a message asking about Black Friday:

I am trying to figure out the best day to sent out our big holiday sale newsletter… This Monday before Black Friday so we can get some of those people before they shop on Friday? Cyber Monday after Black Friday? Dec. 15? What do you think?

 It’s a common question we get about timing. Unfortunately, like most interactive marketing, there’s not a cut-and-dry answer. I wrote back:

I guess it depends on what you know about your best customers. When do they usually shop? What do your analytics look like? Typically visits look like a row of jagged teeth with big traffic dips on the weekend. But not every site is like that.

One of the shopping habits confirmed by Nielsen was that, even with the economy in the tank and price sensitivity at an all-time high, people primarily shop online for convenience. Online shopping is less frustrating than hitting the mall. It’s easier to find your product on a website than in a 40,000-square-foot megastore inhabited by crazed shoppers. (Note: Even FEMA issued a Black Friday warning. *wink*)

Price is obviously important in 2008, but 50 percent of online holiday shoppers in the Nielsen Online 2008 Pre-Holiday Survey still cited convenience of some sort. Only a combined 22 percent cited prices or promotions.

Q: What is the primary reason that you shop online?

20% — Able to shop 24 hours a day

16% — Saves time

14% — Avoiding crowds

13% — Low prices 

9% — Sales, discounts, promotions

So I went on:

I guess the other thing I’d question is… why send just one? You can send one before Black Friday with a message like, “Shop today and skip the mall rush. That way, you can focus on the best part of the mall: Photos with Santa!”

And then maybe send emails every Monday  with messages with, “Couldn’t bear the mall this past weekend? Cross another gift off your list in five minutes at babywit.com!”

Convenience is not the only thing drawing people to online shopping during the holidays, but with a 50-50 chance, it’s a good way to bet. So if I were designing a holiday email marketing program without data about the list or or the retailer, I might focus on different types of convenience: avoiding the crowded mall, avoiding the commute, avoiding the lost product, avoiding screeching kids. Depending on the brand values, I would likely spin it more positively, so your customer can spend more time with family or build traditions that don’t involve the mall.

I posted on Facebook* another factoid from the Nielsen webinar, which was that 36 percent of holiday shoppers planned to spend more than half their holiday budget online. It sparked comments from two moms about their vast preference for online shopping:

I shop online as much as possible. Christmas shopping with three kids is miserable — brings out the bah-humbug in me very quickly. And then buyer’s remorse usually follows the hasty decision that was forced to make by someone needing to pee. So I happily click away at home when I can slip away for 5 minutes.

Direct email marketing is a great way to build a relationship with your customers. And showing you understand their perspective really helps during the holidays.

* Have you seen the new Pop Art page on Facebook?