Source: Christina Galbornetti, V12 Group
Now that the dust has settled on last year’s Holiday email campaigns, now is the time to re-look and analyze what worked and what failed so that you can learn and apply those findings to your upcoming Holiday campaigns for 2013.
You can’t ignore the sheer revenue potential of Black Friday or Cyber Monday but its consumers who really dictate the best days to shop. Savvy retailers are responding with daily deals that motivate shoppers to buy online. Each day there is something worth buying based on incentives, discounts and rebates passed on to the consumer.
The most successful retailers are using a “digital body language” to predict intent to buy and now they’re optimizing the email experience based on that information. Strategically targeted emails with specially timed offers and incentives on specific types of merchandise can be the perfect formula for successful email campaigns. On a granular level, this might seem like a daunting task, but here are a few tips to help get you thinking.
Timing is everything: Online shopping behaviors by day of the week
Monday: Women are on a shopping “diet” from the weekend and more so focused on back to work so there’s a dip in sales. Retailers need to incentivize consumers to entice them to buy on a Monday. You’ll see discounts on women’s staples like dress pants or sunglasses. Discounts on electronics also do well this day.
Tuesday: Research shows guys do a lot of research over the weekend and actually purchase on Tuesdays so gear male oriented merchandise this day of the week.
Wednesday: It’s all about the kids and women start buying again! You will see great sales on kid’s clothes, shoes and jewelry.
Thursday: This is the highest online traffic day so it’s a great opportunity to offer a deep discount and make up revenue in volume. It’s also historically the best day for luxury handbags and other high ticket items.
Friday: Accessories and impulse buys that a little ‘pick me up’ before the weekend.
Saturday and Sunday: Both lingerie and swim wear do well on the weekends since retailers are deeply discounting these items and sales spike.
Once you have plotted out the day of the week you want to push certain product or merchandise, it’s time to focus on the offer and what will prompt your customers to act?
Blue Hornet has surveyed over 1,000 consumers across the county for 2 consecutive years to better understand behavior and views around email marketing. This type of research can offer a better view about behavior patterns can help predict future trends that retailers can use to then customize their email programs. Just to show how important the “offer” is in email marketing, here’s a breakout from Blue Hornet’s “2013 Consumer Views of Email Marketing” Report:
Offer Influence: What factors influence a consumer to purchase from an email?
Consumers say that each of these factors influence whether they will purchase from an email.
The offer is, by far and away, the single most crucial element of any email campaign. Price is a driving factor for email, followed by discounts, quality and free shipping so marketers can use this information to build the most effective campaign for their audience, and then pair it up with the best day of the week.
Marketers who are using customer data responsibility will find this pairing a huge success. It may take a few test launches to find the ‘sweet spot’, but now is the time to start. We can’t guarantee this will all work come the Holidays, but we know it’s enough power to move the needle in the right direction.
Always remember that consumers are smart and make educated buying decisions based on several factors so explore what you can do to uncover your customer’s preferences and what makes them buy from you and NOT the competition. You can use surveys, social media or even (gasp!) old school focus groups to find out what really makes them tick.
Go one step further and use V12 Group’s data and analytics services to mine key information about your current customers to tailor messages, acquire new customers and improve your marketing ROI.