Windsor Circle, Inc.

HOLIDAY EMAIL STRATEGY,
CONTENT, & DESIGN: BEST
PRACTICES FOR RETAIL
BEFORE WE GET STARTED…
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Everyone will receive a link to a recording of
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deck within 1 to 2 business days
Today’s Moderator:
Sarah Zibanejadrad
Inbound Marketing Coordinator
WhatCounts, Inc.
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TWEET!
Tweet about this webinar using #HolidayEmailGuide
Follow:
@WindsorCircle
@McGinity
@WhatCounts
@BritSchneider
http://ar.gy/whatcountswhitepaper
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TODAY’S SPEAKERS
Brad McGinity
VP, Sales & Marketing
Windsor Circle, Inc.
Brittany Schneider
Director of Strategic Services
WhatCounts, Inc.
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WINDSOR CIRCLE’S RETENTION
MARKETING PLATFORM
Double Repeat Buyers for Retailers!
1) Connect
2) Analyze
3) Act!
WC Promise
3 Days to “Go Live” or a
Free Month!
Amazon retains 75% of
its customers.
How about you?
Pretty Graphs Aren’t
Enough. Act Now and
Drive Revenue!
Holiday Special
Save up to 30%
Sign by Sept. 30
A LOOK BACK: HOLIDAYS 2012
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EMAIL VOLUME PEAKS IN THE
TWO WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
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FREE SHIPPING IS MORE COMMON
56% Offered
Free Shipping
in 2011
75%
65%
55%
Free Shipping
45%
35%
25%
2010
Source: Comscore
2011
INCREASED SPENDING SHOULD
COVER SHIPPING COSTS
$120
$118
$100
$100
$80
$60
$40
$20
$0
Free Shipping
Source: Comscore. Data from Holiday Season 2011
Paid Shipping
TOP 10 U.S. ECOMMERCE
SPENDING DAYS IN 2011
Units: Millions
Mon, Nov. 28 (Cyber Monday)
Mon, Dec. 5
$1,251
$1,178
Mon, Dec. 12 (Green Monday)
$1,133
Tues, Nov. 29
$1,116
Tues, Dec. 6
$1,107
Fri, Dec. 16 (Free Shipping Day)
$1,072
Tues, Dec. 13
$1,064
Source: Comscore
Wed, Nov. 30
$1,025
Thurs, Dec. 8
$1,024
Thurs, Dec. 15
$1,018
TOP 10 ECOMMERCE DAYS OF 2011
OBSERVATIONS ABOUT TOP 10
DAYS
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Black Friday doesn’t make the list
Top 3 days are “Mondays”
No weekends
No days the week of Christmas
Wednesday, Friday are least popular
HOLIDAYS AND THE VALUE OF
REPEAT BUYERS
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IR 500: 48% DRIVE 75%
TYPICAL: 23% DRIVE 58%
REPEAT BUYERS HAVE HIGHER AOV
LTV OF A REPEAT BUYER IS 4.8X
HIGHER THAN LTV OF A ONE-TIME
BUYER
REPEAT BUYERS COME BACK
FASTER, TOO.
BEST CUSTOMERS VIA DIRECT,
GOOGLE, EMAIL MARKETING
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WORST CUSTOMERS VIA
COMPARISON SHOPPING
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STRATEGY: SEGMENT BASED ON
PURCHASE HISTORY
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PRODUCT DATA: BRAND,
CATEGORY, SKU
SKU Cross-Sell
• Complimentary
Product Rec.
• 44% Open
• 14% Click
Category
Recommendation
• IR 500
• “Idea Gallery”
• No discounts
• 2X Conversion
Brand Focused
• 150% Open
• 3X Click
• 6X Conversion
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BEHAVIOR: RECENCY,
FREQUENCY, MONETARY
Big Spenders,
Single Purchase
• 47% Open
• 21% Click
• 9X Rev/Cust.
Win Back
Best Customers
• 38% Open
• 2.8% Click
• 12X
Conversions
• 41% Open
• 17% Click
• 7% Conversion
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STRATEGY: CONTENT & TIMING
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RELEVANT CONTENT
Pre-Thanksgiving
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First customer conversion at Halloween – think
costumes, candy, orange & black, freaky Friday
Weather can be a big topic – have creative and copy
for “snow”, “blizzard” and “freezing” themes ready to
go as soon as the event occurs
Shipping
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Black Friday and Cyber Monday
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Pre-Black Friday events to help user “get ahead of the
crowd”
Cyber Monday early release – just for existing
customers
Provide biggest discount/incentive for the year
Extend deals that did not sell out on Black Friday to
help people find what they missed in stores
After Christmas
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New Year offers many opportunities – health or
exercise terminology/theme
Gift a gift to yourself, you’ve earned it
Online Shipping Offers – People expect it and you
could loose up to 50% of purchases if you don’t at
least offer free shipping with minimum order value
Buy now, ship later – this lets the early shoppers get
tasks crossed off their list
Use the shipping deadline as an excuse to send an
innocent reminder email
Economic Services
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Credit card offers with discount on every order
Payment plans
Deferred payments
Altruistic Services
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% of every order goes to charity
Opportunity to select a gift (at a discount) for a child
in need upon checkout
Free gift to buyer for being so generous to their
friends & family
RELEVANT TIMING – BASED ON
YOUR AUDIENCE
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During business hours, or over
the weekend?
Pacific Shaving Company - Case Study
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Corporate domain emails received messages on
Wednesdays at 2 p.m. EST
Web-based clients received messages on
Saturdays at 10 a.m. EST
Comparing results from the previous year
Christmas campaign:
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Segment your list according to:
– Corporate email addresses
– Web-based, at-home, email clients
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121% increase in open rate
227% increase in CTR
87% increase in conversion rate
Yahoo
Gmail
Hotmail
Source: Marketing Sherpa, “Discover the Best Time to Send Email: 4 Test Ideas”.
MOBILE AND SOCIAL
Mobile
Social
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Use WhatCounts’ video in email feature to bring
user to mobile browser to view your product
video
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Facebook Offers
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Leverage the location-based service
Foursquare
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Share – special price X is only released if it gets
shared X times over then next 24 hours
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Send person to your mobile app from email if
do not have mobile optimized landing pages
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Promote signing up for SMS messages
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Count down to X text offers
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For people on the go - add Search button to
your email templates
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People spend a lot of their time on social apps,
encourage users to share your email on their
social Facebook/Twitter page
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Similar to original Groupon idea, but for social
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Facebook Questions
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Explore email-social integration - “like” us and enter
email to receive this offer and other special offers.
MOST FEATURED SUBJECT LINES
DURING HOLIDAY SEASON
Key Word
Black
Now
Sale
Save
New
Key insight:
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“Black” obviously corresponds with high interest on Black Friday
“Now” is a word often under-valued, but brings high open rates
“Shipping” and “Free” are most frequently used words; however, this did not
necessarily drive opens
“New, Sale, Save, Deal” will encourage those who want the latest discounts and
products to open
Holiday
Free
Coupon
What to do based on this insight:
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Shipping
Exclusive
Deal
Only
Gift
Today
Offer
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Free shipping is less compelling now that many users expect it for an online
experience with minimum order value
Think outside of the box - use words that complement these key performers, but
will stand out in the inbox such as “Tis’” or “Deck” to incorporate holiday
terminology that consumers will identify with
− “Tis’” identifies with “Tis’ the Season”
− “Deck” identifies with “Deck the Halls”
HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES
GOOD WILL
Alaska Airlines
Subject Line: Wishing You Warm Holiday Greetings
Delivered: December 5, 2011
Main Objective: Communicate environmental initiatives
and good will during the holiday season.
Secondary Call To Action: Plan & Book, Deals, Travel
Info, Mileage Plan, My Account
http://www.myalaskaair.com/dm?id=46ADE2C5358AD04D9D9705BD988D76FAD2BD52E83D4C6A15
HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES
PRE-HOLIDAY
Mikasa
Subject Line: Add a festive and elegant touch with
Holiday Traditions
Delivered: September 12, 2012
Main Objective: Communicate need to buy early to
prepare your home for holiday festivities.
Secondary Call To Actions: Deal of the Day, Product
Reviews, Mikasa Gift Cards
Tertiary Call to Actions: The Mikasa Promise
HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES
CYBER MONDAY
YesVideo
320px x 260px
Subject Line: Cyber Monday 40% Discount – Only
Today for Online Orders
Delivered: November 28, 2011
Main Objective: Communicate highest discount of the
year and limited time duration of discount.
Secondary Call To Actions: Featured Gift Idea,
Customer Testimonial
Tertiary Call to Actions: Home Video Transfer, Movie
Film Transfer, Slides & Photos Scanning
STRATEGIC PLANNING SERVICE
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Whether you are an email novice or expert, let our Strategic Services team
help develop a plan of action for this holiday season.
– Audience targeting
– Timing & frequency
– Campaign offers
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About us
– Analysts and consultants that work specifically in the email vertical to improve
program performance
– We are a numbers driven group, with experience as to what works well and what
should never be tried again
– You may not want to focus on the holiday, but have other pain points about your
program that you want to overcome
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QUESTIONS?
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NEXT WEBINARS
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NEXT WEBINARS
WINDSOR CIRCLE
WHATCOUNTS
Title: eCommerce Analytics - Why
Customer Retention Matters
Title: Making Money with Email
and Search: Secrets of
Internet Marketing
Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT
Reserve your Webinar seat now
at: http://ar.gy/wcwebinars
Date: Thursday, October 4, 2012
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT
Reserve your Webinar seat
now at:
http://crm.whatcounts.com/l/1
4812/2012-09-12/mt2q
http://ar.gy/whatcountswhitepaper
CONTACT US
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CONTACT WINDSOR CIRCLE
Speaker Contact Information:
Brad McGinity
VP, Sales & Marketing, Windsor Circle
(919) 822-2009
[email protected]
Windsor Circle, Inc.
111 E Chapel Hill Street
Suite 100
Durham, NC 27701
(919) 822-2009
www.windsorcircle.com
CONTACT WHATCOUNTS
WhatCounts, Inc.
3630 Peachtree Road, NE
Suite 900
Atlanta, Georgia 30326
1-866-804-0076
www.whatcounts.com
Twitter: @WhatCounts
[email protected]
THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING!
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