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Whilst it is only early September, and the thought of Christmas carols and mince pies makes you cringe because we're all desperately clinging on to summer and ice-cream, Christmas is a little over 100 days away and as a business it is getting to that time when you need to gear up for it! If you are a business selling your products online, you may be already ordering, or have already ordered your Christmas stock and are sat eagerly awaiting the Christmas rush with your elf hat already on.

November 30th 2015- or Cyber Monday is one of the biggest days for online shopping in the entire year. It is the first Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, but is no longer just an American tradition and has made its way over to the English shores, and your online business needs to be prepared! Last year UK shoppers spent £720 million during the 24 hour period and as popularity for the day grows, this figure is expected to also grow this year. This could be a great day for all online UK businesses, and it is important to get your email marketing strategies orgainised so you can profit from this day- as well as the Christmas season as a whole!

 

So despite it only being September, we have a few of our top tips for you and your festive email marketing!

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Clear out your email database- anyone who has been unresponsive to the past few campaigns consider deleting from your systems. You could try sending them a 'we miss you here is a discount code' email, if they don't engage with this email then delete them and add new customers you have just recieved- newer customers may be more interested in your brand and therefore more willing to be repeated customers around the Christmas period!

Keep your customers updated- through social media and your email marketing- with things such as Christmas offers and discounts, and also, if you are a product led online business- with last postage days to various countries so their items arrive in time for the big day! Build a schedule and keep your customers updated throughout the holiday period- send 'Early Bird' offers perhaps, rewarding customers for shopping for their Christmas items early- and promoting longevity of your businesses Christmas sales period. Similarily, for late shoppers send an email with an eyecatching subject line urging them to buy now and they can still get products in time- if they are panic buying their presents, and know they can recieve products from you in time, they may go with your item over another brands who doesn't promise the same.

Remember to know your products- put your best selling items' photos on the email campaigns, these will reap the biggest returns as they are the most popular. Similarily, if you know your customers and can target tailored campaigns at them based on their previous purchases, this could be benefitial to your Christmas sales.

After Christmas, in that awkward inbeteween stage before New Years Eve- offer a flash sale for the end of year. Offer a discount, perhaps with free postage, and set it for a short period of time to encourage custom even after your Christmas rush, to get just that extra bit of business right at the end of the Holiday season.

Email marketing, according to Tamebay is the most profitable component for your business to promote it both online and offline. 16% of all online sales during the holiday season in the US in 2014 were driven by email marketing- which is 1% higher than a paid search (such as Google Adwords or an equivalent.)

Most of all- be creative, be original and be prepared!

 

We have our own email marketing studio which called LaunchPad, where you can send 25,000 emails per month to your email lists for £85 a month. This would be a great studio for your Christmas campaigns, you can edit emails in place, to see the emails as customers do when they recieve it, and you can have bespoke designs for your campaigns, to really be creative and exciting with your emails. Below you can see an example of an email, it is fresh and easy to read- and would look great with some Christmas spirit to bring your business the maximum business for Christmas 2015!

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Find a great video on email marketing from TameBay for the Christmas period, where we got some of our information here!