4 Step Ecommerce Holiday Marketing Guide - Mother’s Day
Which Gift Giving Holiday is Number 2 In Revenue Generation?
Christmas is the mother of all holidays for getting some well deserved time off, but also for driving consumer sales numbers through the roof.
Did you know? Christmas is simply massive and in 2021 generated almost $1,000/person. So which one comes in second?
Valentines Day? Wrong
Easter? Wrong
Fathers Day? Way Wrong.
No, it’s Mother’s Day.
FACT: According to the National Retail Federation, the average per person spend for Mother’s Day in the US was $220.48. Yes per person. Not just per mother. It’s a huge opportunity, especially for brands that have strongly female focused products.
With Mother’s Day quickly approaching, here’s a 4 step refresher on building your holiday marketing guide. Can’t do it all? Do what you can and start today!
4 Step Holiday eCommerce Marketing Guide
-
Here are just a few of the “Offer Types” you can use:
Guaranteed Delivery by Mother’s Day
Free Shipping
Product Collections
Specific or “Available Now Only” Product Offers
VIP for a day
Gift wrapping
Gift cards
-
For Mother’s Day we have many people we can focus on when crafting the messaging and finalizing the offers.
Here are the key people to not forget:
Mothers - that one was easy
Grandmothers
Daughters - many are mothers also!
Mother’s who shop for themselves - I kind of snuck that in, but many people like to treat themselves or just find a deal that’s perfect for them
-
Mind the rules and only include in your email lists those who have subscribed to email and or SMS messaging. SMS is more effective typically, but email is the cheap beast to count on for many of your most important offers that you want to hit on over and over.
Here are some lists to pull using your marketing messaging tools:
People who have bought from you in the last three months
People who bought in the 90 days leading up to last Mother’s Day
People who regularly get your emails (Budget Tip: If the list is going to bust your budget, look at your open stats and only send to those who have opened an email from you in the last 1 to 3 months! But don’t ignore last year’s shoppers!
Enrolled subscribers who have been to your site in the last 60 days
That should give you enough people to send emails to.
Don’t ignore SMS. SMS has an open rate of 98% versus 20% for emails as of the March 3 article of “Campaign Monitor”. Even if you only choose to send it using SMS only to your VIP or most active customers, give them a nudge to get them to budge. Another tip is to really focus on SMS when you have a limited release item that will be sold out fast or where the offer is a service like free shipping that is expiring that day. SMS is the killer tool for these situations.
-
Pick a 2, 3, or 4 week cycle. (For Mother’s Day, I like a 2 week cycle. Not too long and not too short.)
Here is a cadence you can build for Mother’s Day (or just about any holiday) using a 2 week cycle starting with 14 days out:
Day 14 - Teaser email about Mother’s Day - Remind everyone about this upcoming holiday and of the importance of Mother’s in our lives and in our world. Include meaningful quotes and stories that are on brand for your business. (NOTE: Each Mother’s Day some will have lost their Mother or not want to celebrate this. Give them a chance in your initial message to unenroll from your Mother’s Day promotions. If you do this they don’t have to unsubscribe from all of your future messages, and you can even message them using a non-Mother’s Day approach during your Mother’s Day Promotion.) - [Email]
Day 13
Day 12 - VIP Customer and Sales Reps Mother’s Day Message - Use images and share your main promotion with free or expedited shipping. If you can do it, pitch gift wrapping for up to 2 days before your Guaranteed Delivery date for the holiday. (Discounting it is up to you, but a simple gift message and a classic single choice wrapping paper can add meaning to many who are sending something special to their ultimate hero!) - [Email and SMS]
Day 11 - Mother’s Day to Non-VIP’s Announcement - Send the above messaging without reference to VIP Customers who had an extra day to get a jump start on taking advantage of your offers - [Email]
Day 10 - Mother’s Day Messaging Opt-Out Email - Do not send them the Mother’s Day promotion, but make them the same offer of any discounts or limited time free shipping. They are your customers, they just didn’t want to have to listen to a bunch of content on Email. [Email]
Day 9 - Offer Reminder to all non-Opt-Outs and Last day for Free Shipping - You can use copy from one of the above message with a change of imagery, or if they didn’t open it, just resend your original email again—to them it’s new! [Email]
Day 8
Day 7 - Last day for Guaranteed Standard Delivery - Send to all on your list, even if they have purchased. Remember to call out the expiration, but also all the lovely Mother’s in our lives. NOTE: Don’t end your offer! With the last day for Expedited Delivery, remind them that it’s their last chance to purchase the offer for themselves! [Email]
Day 6 - Gift Cards Make a Perfect Gift - It’s too late to use standard shipping, but it’s the perfect time to pivot to a gift card. Make it easy to buy and to take care of Mom! [Email]
Day 5
Day 4 - Last Day for Expedited Delivery - If you offer this, make it clear that it is ending. Send this as an to all purchasers non-purchasers during the campaign and an SMS to non-purchasing VIP Customers and Reps. Don’t forget to encourage them to “Treat Themselves”. [Email and SMS]
Day 3
Day 2
Day 1 - Last Chance - Send to all non-purchasers and SMS to non-purchasing VIP Customers and Reps. It’s not to late for an electronic gift card! Wow Mom and let her choose her favorite items. [Email and SMS]
Mother’s Day - Happy Mother’s Day - Message all who are not unsubscribed and wish them a great Mother’s Day. Tie it to your brand, but remember that Mother’s are the reason for the day! [Email]
That’s it for our quick guide. Make sure you are using an email system now (or very soon) that not only integrates with your shopping cart tools or CRM, but also that can handle your Email and SMS from a single location. Any savings you may have by dividing this will be lost is time, data you can use later, and ultimately in profitable revenue. Which is what we are about here.
Top suggestions for email clients right now are Klaviyo and Active Campaign. Both are powerhouses where you can build, edit and run campaigns efficiently and with excellent data to use as you grow and tune your business.
If you would like a simple to use Holiday Ecommerce Marketing Guide just let us know.
If you would like to talk to someone about making your sales, marketing, and operations work together just click here to set up complimentary Business Blueprint conversation about your business.
If you would like complementary Holiday Ecommerce Timing Planner just click below to request it.
