Black Friday and Christmas are just around the corner, can you believe 2020 is almost over?!

 
Dare I say it, but this year’s peak period is looking like it is going to be the “peak of all peaks” due to online shopping surging thanks to the pandemic.
 
We know how important this period is for retailers, but there is a lot more online opportunity this year with the high street crisis.
 
With that being said, it’s important to start making some small tweaks now to your marketing strategy to stand out from your competitors, so here are my top 4 quick wins that you can implement straight away.

1. Target your customers when you know they have money!

Sounds simple right, but many brands don’t take advantage of ‘pay day’ marketing through their automated campaigns.
 
We all know that automated abandonment emails are a key driver when it comes to driving a conversion from customers. These work well for both retail and travel businesses as they capture customers throughout the conversion funnel – whether that is just browsing the site or delving further by adding products or holidays to their baskets.
 
If these aren’t something that you already have in place, I’d recommend getting these activated as soon as possible!
 
A great way of utilising this data further is by implementing abandonment pay day campaigns which can trigger an automated email on pay day to mop up everyone with recent abandoned baskets that have not yet converted.
 
As well as around pay day abandonment campaigns are especially useful in the run up to peak and during the closing of a key sales period such as Black Friday.
 
We see clients increasing their monthly revenue from abandonment emails by between 2-8% by using these types of campaigns.
 
For retail clients, abandon product pay day campaigns can outperform abandon basket pay day campaigns as they are a great way to drive customers back to site and encourage them to browse further.

2. Always follow up!

So you might have your abandonment emails set up – tick! ✔️ But don’t just leave your automation there…
 
What if your customer misses the original abandonment email, or is distracted so isn’t persuaded at that moment to purchase? You need to automate a follow up email!
 
We know from our previous research that typically 30% of abandon basket revenue comes from automated follows ups, so these are great to put in place if you do not have these already!
 
Simply re-target those customers who did not engage with the initial automated abandoned email with a follow up. I would suggest updating the subject line. Also incentives can work well with these types of emails if this is something you are able to offer, such as 10% off or free delivery.
 
It is worth considering when these are triggered as well. Typically, you see retailers send the initial abandonment email the same day as the action, then the follow up is triggered two day later. However, it’s worth testing the timing before peak period to see whether a 1 or 2 day follow up works best for your brand.

3. Make the most out of the data trail your customers leave you

As always, data is at the heart of a successful marketing strategy. Utilising a customer’s behavioural data can add relevancy to your communications and ensure you are targeting the right customers, with the right content.
 
A great idea is to dynamically merge customers’ last viewed category, product, abandoned basket or even wish list items into your campaigns as an additional touch point to re-engage and make emails more personalised to the individual.
 
When testing this, we have seen that when email creatives included abandon basket product details and images they achieved a 3% higher unique click rates and increased total conversion for clients!

4. Don’t forget the power of SMS

Predominantly throughout peak periods, businesses tend to focus on using email as their preferred marketing channel as it is a proven revenue generating channel, is cost-effective and has a wide reach.
 
As this is often a preferred channel, it is important to remember that a high volume of emails are sent all over the world – so inboxes become cluttered. Over Black Friday weekend last year, our clients sent over 142 billion emails!
 
To combat the potential issue of your marketing being missed, why not send some promotions via SMS? SMS expands the reach of your conversion campaigns and encourages your customers to make that all-important purchase.
 
It is a great tool to help stand out when the inbox is crammed over busy periods such as Black Friday and in the run up to Christmas. Message delivery is often immediate so this channel is perfect for those last few hours of a sale.
 
When combined with email, SMS can increase open rates by up to 20%. It does not have to be an always on approach and can be used to target specific segments of customers, such as those with high value baskets or booking values. It can also be a great tool to secure a first purchase from new customers.

Optimising your marketing strategy for the upcoming peak period does not need to be complicated or time consuming – it is important to use what you already have and target your customers accordingly.
Small tweaks to campaigns or triggers you already have in place could make a huge difference to conversions. Also make sure you use segmentation to categorise your customers into high and low value pots so that you can ensure the content you are sharing with them is relevant.
 
Overall as well as trying out some of these simple tips, don’t forget to review what you did for the last peak period and re-use anything that worked well!
 

Top tips for Peak 2020 – Preparing for the digital storm

Download our latest infographic for more peak period tips and advice. Our special 2020 edition for peak period talks you through the essential steps you need in place in your marketing automation strategies in preparation to effectively manage and stand out when the online spending rush commences.
 

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