We already warned you a couple of days ago – people are already thinking about Christmas. We know, October isn’t here yet but people are evidently getting more anxious about their Holiday shopping! Or perhaps they love to plan way ahead of time. Be it as it may, there’s someone that should already be prepared by now – you.
It’s not just a Pinterest thing. A recent report from from marketing software company SteelHouse says that almost 48 percent of the people surveyed are done with their Christmas shopping before Cyber Monday. And if that isn’t shocking enough, check this – 25 percent of them said they start buying gifts before Halloween!
With such numbers, it shouldn’t be surprising that many businesses are already preparing for the Holiday season – and some are already pushing Christmas content and promos! The competition is fierce out there, so there are some things you should be doing right now (and some that you should have done already but that’s OK, there’s still time to catch up). Here are some of them!
October – preparing for Christmas shopping
First of all, you have to review the Christmas marketing plan you used last year. The results should give you a clue as of what has worked and what hasn’t. Learning from past mistakes is key to maximize your opportunities, so you should definitely analyze your conversion rates, goals, communication plans, marketing material and email marketing strategies.
Once you’re done reviewing what you did and how well it all performed, it’s time to jump into action. The first order of business should be re-engaging with the portion of your subscribers that haven’t showed interest in you lately. This is definitely one hard step, so you’ll have to reimagine your communications to get to them. Add festive flairs, improve your content, offer special discounts and make everything you can to see them once again.
Additionally, you should maximize your efforts to get new subscribers. This is the perfect time to do so, because all new subscribers will provide some interest insights as of what they expect from you and about Holiday shopping in general. Besides, this is the perfect time to get those subscribers, since November and December will see how every business on the Internet will harass their visitors to get them to subscribe. By doing it now, you’ll get ahead and your message won’t be buried among the rest.
Another important thing you should do is encourage your subscribers to update their preferences and profiles. This is crucial, since those profiles will give you some ideas about what your customers like and ultimately will define how you segment them during Christmas shopping time.
Finally, test your email marketing templates and adjust them as needed. We’ve said that before but it’s never a bad thing to remind you that even the tiniest details in your emails make a difference. This is especially true in the Holiday shopping craze, so when that time comes, you have to be ready and have prepared the best possible communications, from subject to images and copy.
One last piece of advice – treat mobile with the importance it has in the current world. More and more people are buying with the aid of smartphones and tablets, so you’d better prepare a marketing plan that understands the importance of those mobile users and put them in the center. If you are capable of doing all this right now, you’ll have the hardest part done way before the height of the season, and you’ll have a tremendous advantage over the competition.
Remember, data has already showed us the calendar is wrong. Christmas is starting earlier year after year, so you should kickoff your marketing accordingly. In other words, Merry Early Christmas!
