If you haven’t yet started planning your email marketing strategy, now is the time to get started. Done right, email marketing can contribute to as much as 20% of all your orders over any festive period, and any event dates. If you want to know how to target your current audience, and gain new leads. Here is the quick guide to event email marketing campaigns.

Essential Parts of an Event Email Campaign

The number one thing you should include in your festive email campaign is personality. This is what draws people to your brand. Aside from this, there are other things to include to improve your conversions and click-through rates. Such as:

Noticeable Subject Lines: The first thing a potential customer sees with your email campaign is your subject line in their inbox. As well as connect well with the prospect, it needs to be personal, to improve click-through rate, transaction rates and revenue.

Mobile Compatibility: Most people read their emails on the go than at their desktop at home, which is why your emails must display correctly on both mobile and other devices.

Social Sharing: Brands can benefit from improved visibility when they are shared on social platforms. So — don’t forget to include links to the most popular ones from your campaigns.

Interesting Design and Content: Firstly, be sure your email is centered around an appropriate event theme, then pay attention to your copy, making sure it is engaging enough for customers to read. This tends to be a winning combination, especially when trying to target customers who are seeking festive discounts.

The Right CTA: The call to action is the link between the email and your website. It needs to encourage customers to complete this action as much as possible. The color of the button should stand out against the background. The text should be catchy but not pushy, and only one CTA per email should be used.

GIF’s: Using a couple of GIF’s can add excitement to your campaign and even help improve click-through rates. Don’t overuse them, though, as some customers find them annoying and confusing.

Discounts and Offers: Customers automatically want discounts and offers around Christmas so they can get ahead on their Xmas shopping. While things like BOGOF can improve sales, don’t go overboard. People appreciate honesty and consistency, which, in turn, help improve loyalty and conversions for you.

In addition to the above, why not get inspired by these creative ideas as well?

Types of Campaigns to Try

While throughout the year, you can send virtually any type of email campaign out, it’s slightly different over the event or festive period. Here are the emails that matter when it comes down to Event campaigns.

1. Welcome Emails: There are lots of benefits to sending welcome emails. As well as making the prospect feel welcome and comfortable, they help create an excellent first impression as well. If they include vouchers or discount codes, they can also help build brand loyalty.

2. Promotional Emails: People love offers and discounts, which is why many people like to receive promotional emails. Sending promotional emails to your prospects and customers can improve conversions, but such emails need to be constructed well. Only include offers you think could be successful, and also consider using countdowns, sliders, or GIFs for that added sense of urgency.

3. Announcement Emails: Similarly, emails showcasing offers or unique event or typical celebration-type arrivals also tend to be successful. Customers love discounts and for brands they love, often eagerly anticipate them arriving in their inbox. Set the offer to be valid for a limited time only, as this only increases customer urgency further.

4. Cart Abandonment Emails: Because more and more people are shopping over the months running up to an event or holiday — abandoned carts seem to be higher around this time. Fortunately, this can be counteracted by sending a customer a personalized email containing a persuasive offer to win them back and make a purchase.

Make the Most of the Run Up to ANY holiday or event Sales.

The busiest time of the year for online retailers tends to be the period between Thanksgiving and the New Year, with events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday being particularly lucrative opportunities. Think Valentines Day, Easter, 4th of July, etc. To make the most of them, and improve your revenue, reach out to your customers with different types of emails. But keep in mind — every holiday — every event– is an opportunity for your retail sales.

Don’t forget these Events this year. Make Your Campain Plans early.

1. Thanksgiving Emails: As one of the major holidays in the US, Thanksgiving usually produces excellent sales for online retailers. They should make the most of this lucrative period by setting up relevant offers and discounts. Or, you might even want to set up automatic email campaigns to say thank you to customers who made a purchase.

2. Black Friday and Cyber Monday Emails: With Black Friday and Cyber Monday being perhaps two of the busiest days of the year for online retailers, it’s essential they promote all their key offers and deals with prospects and existing customers for the best chance of success. As many as 92% of customers fish around the internet to try and find them. So why not make their life easier and land them right in their inbox? It’ll work wonders for your revenue as well.

3. Christmas & New Year Emails: Christmas and New Year are always popular times for shoppers, so online retailers should capitalize on this. Emails are one way to reach out to customers during this crucial time. Just remember to keep it festive-themed, both visually, and with products being promoted. And include offers which encourage customers to make a purchase, like gift vouchers, free shipping, or decent discounts.

8 Steps in Making Your Event Email Campaigns Successful

  1. Take care with subject lines. Done right, they help improve open rates by 41%, which further enhances revenue per email.
  2. Ensure that your emails are responsive. Most people now check emails on their phone.
  3. Don’t forget social links in emails. The more people share offers, the better chance of you boosting your revenue.
  4. Use an appealing theme and catchy text to improve engagement.
  5. Offer things the customer cannot refuse, like discounts and promo codes.
  6. Use call-to-actions in the right way to improve click-through rates and sales.
  7. When customers abandon their cart, win them back with great offers by email.
  8. Up your ante when sending emails between the biggest holidays and events.
Vinod Janapala

Vinod Janapala

Product Marketing Manager

Vinod is Senior Product Marketing Manager at piHappiness - Customer Feedback App & Survey Software. piHappiness is a top customer feedback software designed to collect customer feedback on Web, iPad & Android tablets. Vinod is keen on such topics as marketing, SaaS challenges, and Personal Growth.