We’re sharing ideas to drive customer engagement from pre-holiday to post-holiday and every day in the season. Our Account Managers and Strategist are experts with years of experiences, so read along – they know what works and what doesn’t.
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Ashley Bailey, Account Manager, has three great tips to motivate shoppers to buy from you.‍

• Create gift guides that promote your doorbusters, steals, and CEO picks.
• Offer exclusive perks, like gift wrapping, to differentiate and provide an exceptional customer experience.
• Finish strong and continue your momentum with a ‘year in review’ to send out between Christmas and New Year’s.

Enterprise Account Manager Lindsey Grey gives her go-to strategies to maximize engagement.‍

• Use dynamic content to cater and personalize message content for ‘gifters’ (those who haven’t been to your site since last holiday). They may need more guidance in the form of category or price specific gift guides.
• Besides your entry popup for email acquisition, consider adding an exit popup or a sitewide button or banner to capture your increased site traffic.
• Create urgency: Leverage countdown timers for end of sale/promotion countdown, Black Friday countdown, VIP access countdown, free delivery countdown. Use subject lines and calls to action to highlight top-selling products’ scarcity to create a pressing need to click through now.
• Consumers favor brands that do good, so don’t wait until Giving Tuesday to communicate your involvement. Show and share your efforts throughout the entire holiday and consider promotions that get your shoppers involved.

Marisa Patton, Enterprise Account Manager, highlights creative engagement strategies to reach all shopper targets.‍

• With storefronts potentially closed or limited due to Covid-19, promote early shopping in mid-October to your full subscriber list to get ahead of online demand, inventory, and shipping.
• In mid-November, set-up a dynamic recurring automated campaign to trigger weekly messages focused on gift ideas – curating the product recommendations algorithms based on gender, categories, and price point.
• Target holiday-only buyers (last year’s November - December purchasers) with content highlighting your holiday bestsellers, seasonal gifting, and gift cards. Trigger a campaign series that starts early November and ramps up closer to peak holiday dates.
• Reward your loyal VIPs and offer them ‘early bird’ and other exclusive offers with one-time user codes.

Account Manager Vivian Ly recommends thinking outside the email box and leveraging the power of social this holiday.‍

• Tease exclusive holiday sales on your Instagram stories and posts, then ask your followers to subscribe to your emails to be the first to hear about sales.
• Create a seamless omnichannel experience by leveraging the swipe up functionality on Instagram Stories to drive traffic to an email acquisition landing page on your website.
• Update the link on your Instagram profile to drive traffic to your email sign-up page, or leverage a tool like LinkTree to include it as an option to click on when someone clicks on the URL in your profile.
• Retarget last year’s holiday shoppers on social with sales-focused ad copy to drive them back to your website.
• Create a look-a-like audience to target similar groups of holiday sales shoppers on social to generate new interest.

Keep these tips from Enterprise Account Manager, Jess Tesoroni in mind thru the season.‍

• Consumers should receive a consistent and personalized message however they interact with your brand - email, SMS, push, search, social, and display. Take the time to plan and review how each channel will present a unified message.
• Customers want to feel special, and it is imperative to deliver a personalized customer experience. Target offers to certain audiences, personalize recommendations, and much more.
• Keep subscribers engaged by mixing up your messaging. If your promotions and communications become too predictable, you may get overlooked in the inbox.
• Reach out to your Account Manager if you are struggling with something. We’re always here to help!

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We're halfway through our series, stay tuned for still more planning tips and holiday traditions from our real, retail experts!