Jack Frost nipping at your nose? Summer has come to a close and many marketers have already locked in much of their Holiday Planning. Whether you have all of your plans finalized or you haven't even started, there are several things that you should do to make sure this season is stellar. Making significant changes to your program during the holidays can be difficult and chaotic, so we are presenting The 12 Top Tips for the Holidays... that you can implement now without significant heavy lifting.
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Holiday SeasonThe 12 Top Tips for the Holidays. Creative Testing(that you can implement without significant heavy lifting!) Have new creative components been tested and implemented? Which navigation layouts worked best? Did you Jack Frost nipping at your nose? Summer has come to a test animation? Was it effective? Have you seen any lift in close and many marketers have already locked in much of engagement when images and copy are balanced a their Holiday Planning. Whether you have all of your plans certain way?finalized or you haven't even started, there are several things that you should do to make sure this season is stellar. Making Communication Planningsignificant changes to your program during the holidays can Are there any trends for day-of-week or time-of-day that have be difficult and chaotic, so we are presenting The 12 Top been seen since last holiday? Frequency will increase over Tips for the Holidays. that you can implement now without the holidays but knowing your strongest deployment times significant heavy lifting. could help you better understand key times to launch your Before we get to the Top 12, it is important to take a step back strongest promotions.and focus on two components: Subject LinesWhat holiday programs from last year Which subject lines have been strong performers? Review tone (heavily promotional, playful, conversational, etc.) to worked/didn't work? see if your subscribers react differently to various subject For this step, compare your intended communication plan line approaches. A more advanced approach would be to from last year to what was actually mailed and ask yourself: determine if there are specific segments of your audience that open based on subject line tone. Perhaps purchasers open What were the successes (and failures) and when did more frequently to playful subject lines and non-purchasers they happen? want the heavy sales pitch to convince them to open. Also Leverage this insight to determine which promotions are 'must review short versus long subject lines. Many marketers tend haves' for holiday success based on the previous year's data to take the "kitchen sink" approach by including every detail and which programs should be dropped. about the promotion in the subject line. Using a shorter Where did we go off plan and why? subject line may help you to stand out in the inbox.Were there underperforming emails that required you to increase frequency to meet revenue projections? Were there Featured Productsunexpected shifts from competitors that forced you to become Have you tested the number of products, price points, and/more reactive? Expect that there will be last minute emails or product categories that are featured in your email over the that will need to be developed no matter how rock solid your past year? Review the data to determine if there are patterns communication plan appears to be. Plan for some flexibility pointing to the optimal mix.based on trends from your competitors. Tis the season for Segmentationeveryone to bring out their best ideas! Have you changed your segmentation strategy in the past What have we tried since? year? As you are increasing mailing frequency, it is important to review what has been working and could potentially be It would be shortsighted to only use last year's holiday consolidated or dropped to streamline your production performance data as a guide for the upcoming season. Spend processes and gain some flexibility for those last minute some time reviewing how your email program has evolved mailings.over the year and determine if there are successes that could translate into a strong holiday season. A few areas to focus Now that we have properly reflected on the past year, let's on are: get to.
1-888-BRONTO1 bronto.comThe 12 Top Tips for the Holidays.
Email Production Preparations Review your email production processes and determine if any efficiencies can be gained. Regardless of how much pre-planning you have done, changes will need to be made and resources will be needed. Meet with your extended team (marketing, designers, production, ESP team, et al) to discuss the entire production process from program conception to post-deployment analysis. This may seem like a chore but identifying any disconnects and making sure all teams are working together in the most ... [download for more]
