With email marketing being utilized more and more each day, we are always looking for ways to keep our fingers on the pulse of our burgeoning industry. The holidays are upon us, and we thought it would be both timely and informative to poll our clients and friends to help keep you “in the know” regarding trends and benchmarks as it relates to holiday correspondence - cards, invitations and other communications vehicles.

Please take two minutes to complete our Holiday Correspondence survey, which can be accessed by clicking here. In exchange for your time, we’ll offer you two things:

• Insight into what other pioneering companies are doing to communicate with their target markets this holiday season.
• A 10% discount on Greg Cangialosi’s (Blue Sky Factory’s president), newly released book “The Business Podcasting Book”, a primer on all you need to know about integrating the emerging social medium of podcasting into your marketing mix.

You will receive a discount code at the end of the survey so you can stay in the marketing know, at a discount.

We thank you for your time and we look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Summer is over and we all know what that means: holiday season is almost here. Now is the best time to gear up for your holiday email marketing program! Early planning gives you the time to test your emails and work out any kinks in your program before the season really kicks into full swing.

To help you with the process, we’ve created a list of some of the best tips around. Incorporating these aspects into your program will help to increase your open rates, sales, and general good cheer during the email-heavy holiday season.

Ask for permission – Start building up your list now by using an opt-in form on your site. During the opt-in stage ask for the subscriber’s interests so you can send the most relevant emails. Be sure to tell new subscribers exactly what communications they will receive and how often they will receive them.

Build up frequency – Increasing frequency all at once can decrease your chances of successful deliverability. According to the EEC, the largest online retailers increased their email frequency by a staggering 47% last holiday season. Start now and slowly build up to a higher frequency to ensure that your subscribers receive your message.

Perfect your subject line – Make your subject line clear, state the offer, and include your company name. If you can, offer an incentive for the subscriber to click on your email. Discounts and free shipping offers yield higher interests among consumers.

Make your message relevant and viral – The more relevant your message is to your subscribers, the more likely they will be to click on links and make purchases. Viral messages are emails that beg to be forwarded, such as holiday tips or a series of stories. These not only help distribute your message, but also increase the likelihood that your subscriber clicks through to your landing page.

Segment your lists – Once you begin the program, track the actions of your subscribers through your reporting. Those who click through to your site might need a further incentive to make a purchase, and you can send them a special offer email based on that. If you have statistics from previous holiday seasons, use the information about the different kinds of buyers to segment. For instance, you can offer early buyers an incentive to shop early with a sale just for them, or offer late buyers guaranteed shipping by a holiday date.

Enhance relationships – Not all holiday emails should be about sales promotions. This is a good time of year to boost relationships with customers and colleagues by sending goodwill messages. Thank your customers for their business, and remember to also reach out to prospects and partners.

Keep these tips in mind while you are planning your holiday email program, and don’t forget, the sooner you start planning, the better!

Sources:
Five Holiday E-Mail Marketing Do’s and Don’tsBy Stefan Pollard, The ClickZ Network, Sep 26, 2007http://www.clickz.com/3627120

Email Stat Centerhttp://www.emailstatcenter.com/

“Boost Holiday Email Response: Give Subscribers What They Want” WebinarReturn PathAugust 28, 2007http://www.returnpath.net/holidaywebinar07.pdf

We’ve been having very fall-like weather in Baltimore recently, which made me realize how close the holidays are. And you know what that means - time to start planning your holiday email campaigns!

I recently attended a Holiday Planning Webinar by Return Path and took away some great tidbits. For example, did you know that 12 out of the top 20 days to send email are all related to Christmas, with December 26th being the #1 day? This means that your recipients’ email inboxes will start to get very full very quickly. Here are just a few tips I learned from the webinar to help you get your email noticed:

• Work up to the holiday sending frequency gradually so recipients come to expect your emails and recognize you in their inbox.
• Show recipients your “most popular” items. This makes their selection easier and gives them confidence in the product.
• Make their holiday shopping easier. Show products that can be used together. For example, instead of promoting one item of clothing, highlight a whole outfit.
• Keep your reader’s attention by offering holiday tips or telling a story through a series of emails. Recipients will look forward to your next email.
• 80% of adults shopping for holiday gifts also buy something for themeselves. Show them that’s ok by sending an email that says “Don’t forget a gift for yourself this holiday season.”

For more great tips, listen to a recording of this webinar. My #1 tip is start planning now because before you know it, we’ll be eating turkey and caroling our way to the malls.

The holidays are upon us, and that means our inboxes are flooded with the typical “Last Chance to Save/Get Free Shipping/Have your Gift Shipped by [date]” holiday emails. With everyone competing for the same inbox space, it is crucial now more than ever to have your holiday wishes stand out.

In his article “Winning Holiday Email Tactics,” published by iMediaConnection, Spencer Kollas outlines his “10 Secrets of Savvy Holiday Marketers.” Below are these ten tips, as well as how Publicaster can help you implement them:

1. Get Permission - Build your email list by using an opt-in mechanism, like the one offered in Publicaster under Account Manger. Once subscribers do opt-in, be sure to tell them what they can expect to receive from you, how often and why they will be receiving it. And, of course, to stay off the “naughty” list, always provide recipients with an easy and obvious way to unsubscribe.

2. Stick to the Subject - Use subject lines that break through the clutter and clearly state who the email is from. Include a recognizable company name or identity in the subject line and Friendly From name. Keep the subject line short, relevant and use it to create urgency.

3. Don’t Follow the Crowd - Test your emails! Don’t assume that because everyone else sends on a Monday and uses a “Sale! Sale! Sale!” subject line that you should too. Every customer is different and will react to different offers. Publicaster allows you to test your emails and deliverability options by using the Random feature in Manage Segmentations. Send your email with Variable X to a random 50 recipients and your email with Variable Y to another random 50 recipients and see which performs best. Use this information when launching to the remainder of your list.

4. Make it Personal - Use the information you have to customize your holiday greetings. You can easily customize greetings using our Personalization feature in the Email Set Up> Add New Email module. A very simple personalization is using the recipients first name within the body of the email, which you can easily do in Publicaster when setting up your email. If you don’t have enough information about your recipients to do this successfully, make information gathering one of your New Year’s Resolutions. You will thank yourself come next year’s holiday season.

5. Be Responsive - Everyone seems to be in a rush around the holidays, and customers expect their online inquires to be answered quickly. Make sure you and your team are prepared for the increased holiday traffic. If you aren’t, customers will simply move on to the next email in their inbox to get the response.

6. Keep it Short and Simple - In between decorating, buying gifts and planning parties, people have little time to waste during the holidays, so be sure your email is clear and concise. Put your email to the Five Second test: Can a recipient name your call to action within five seconds of reading the email? And just as important, can the recipient easily click through to find what you are promoting?

7. Make a Suggestion - Use the information on past purchases or actions to tailor your message. If you know the customer recently purchased one of your products or services, why not send them an email marketing an product accessory or follow-up visit? Or, if you know the recipient clicked through your email to view Product A, but never purchased, why not send them an email that highlights this product and gives them more information, or perhaps a exclusive offer for this product? Again, this can be achieved using our Segmentation tool within Publicaster.

8. Remember to be Relevant - Consider sending some purely goodwill emails instead of always sending a sales-related one. Such goodwill emails can help to make recipients more receptive to your promotional emails. Send tips on how to relax during the holidays, ideas on saving time while doing your holiday shopping or share some holiday recipes.

9. Enhance Relationships - The holidays aren’t just all about sales and business. Take this opportunity to connect with your customers to spread some goodwill. A simple holiday greeting to thank them for their business will go a long way, and will keep you in the forefront of their minds when they are making holiday purchases. And don’t forget to also reach out to your prospects, suppliers and partners - everyone appreciates some holiday cheer! If you would like Blue Sky Factory to design a holiday greeting for you, please contact us at 1-866-216-BLUE.

10. Tie it all Together - Start planning now to integrate all your marketing efforts by using a common theme. This will help to pull all your channels together and make your brand more recognizable to your recipients.

With these ten tips in mind, it’s now time to begin designing and testing your holiday emails to ensure a successful holiday season.