Kick start your Valentine’s Day email campaign!
It’s time to take those put away those holiday decorations and start gearing up with your Valentine’s Day marketing campaign.
Yes, you’ve heard it right.
Even though we’re just a couple of weeks into the new year, store windows are already displaying various shades of pinks and reds.
And for a very good reason – Valentine’s Day is the second day in the entire year that records the most commercial sales, next only to Black Friday.
In 2020, Valentine’s Day sales, both online and offline combined, were projected to reach a whopping 27.4 billion dollars. (Source)
And this figure grows steadily every passing year.
This number in itself is enough to make any business owner redouble their efforts to market their products in a way to grab more eyeballs.
Now, Email marketing is a sure-shot way to pull ahead of the competition, but it’s also important that your webpage and other marketing materials are spruced up for the festival of love.
Though most of the shopping for Valentine’s Day happens a week before the day itself, you need to start your marketing push early in order to ensure that your business stands out from the competition, and the customers remember your product – when the time is right.
Paint the Town Red
Making your website and marketing materials follow Valentine’s Day color theme ( reds and pinks ) may be cliché. But then it does have it’s advantages.
It reminds your customers about the upcoming celebration and the actions that they would have to take for that day.
This acts as a push to bring about sales faster and may lead to an increase in sales because of a slightly longer campaign period.
Understandably, changing up an entire website for a short period is hard, strenuous and highly impractical. But it’s possible to make minor changes on your website and social pages. The logo can be modified, the social media banners can be updated to match the essence of the celebration and so on. Simple changes with a larger impact.
Now, getting to the email campaign, here are a few pointers to help you get started
The First Email….
… is the hardest.
So, what should the first email be? What content should it have? Should it announce a sale? Or provide discount codes to gain more customers?
Sales and discount codes are a great idea… but not for the first email of the campaign.
It’s a better choice to provide users with gift guides that would help customers in making a decision about their gift. For example, Some ideas along the lines of: “10 Valentine’s Gifts that are on every athletic woman’s wishlist”, or “15 gifting ideas for the outdoorsy man” are great. Ideas such as these help customers choose a gift in accordance with their partner’s lifestyle preferences. Such gifts are thoughtful and always a hit with the receiver.
1. Add Value With Content
It’s essential to focus on the content written for any email campaigns, and for celebrations – it’s doubly important.
The content has to be crisp and clear while helping the customers figure out what gift would match their requirements.
Creative content peppered with words that are commonly used for Valentine’s Day is a pretty common sight and is well-received.
Don’t forget, your subject line is what prompts users to open your mail. About 35% of email recipients open emails based on the subject line alone (Source).
Hence, adding an eye-catching subject line is non-negotiable.
2. Setting the Tone With the Right Template
The content is key, but it’s the visuals that do the initial talking.
Set the theme of your emails with a good email template. There are a variety of email templates that can be used as per different business needs. Choose the style and type of template that you require and get started.
If you have your own email templates, that’s great.
But if you’re on the hunt for free email templates that capture the essence of the occasion without compromising on your business values, BayEngage offers some great Valentine’s Day email templates that are free.
Check out BayEngage for 29 FREE, PREBUILT, CUSTOMIZABLE Valentine’s Day Email Templates now!
Get Your Free Valentine’s Day Email Template
3.Images That Your Customers Will Love
Images are one of the first components in the mail to catch the customer’s eye.
Images that capture the essence of the day, or of the products that you would like to recommend, or maybe just a simple countdown to Valentine’s Day. It’s all good.
Gifs are more popular than ever, and it’s a good call to add a fun and interesting one to your email.
Think outside the box as to how you can integrate images and other visuals with your brand for Valentine’s Day.
But it’s also important not to go overboard and make the emails bulky. Image heavy emails tend to trigger spam filters.
This is mainly because spammers tend to display information in the form of large images instead of plain text. Hence it’s vital to have a good image to text ratio to avoid delivery issues.
As mentioned earlier, it’s hard to go wrong with reds and pinks for Valentine’s Day.
But some brands like to take a creative leap and do the opposite by choosing dark colors and edgy themes. The right execution of this concept can lead to some really memorable campaigns and gets customers talking about it.
4.Recommend the Right Products
Valentine’s Day is one of those occasions where segmentation is a must in order to skyrocket your ecommerce sales and conversions.
Segmenting clients in accordance with the user’s action history on the website will help in recommending the right products to the right customer.
And showcasing recommended products as per your customer’s tastes definitely helps push sales if not, additional sales.
Adding the latest best-selling items and products that are currently in trend is also a good way to promote sales of those products.
5. Share Some Love Using Discount Codes
Love is definitely in the air as we inch towards the 14th of February.
Make sure you share some of it with your customers while directing the rest towards your business as well.
Offer discount codes to gain new shoppers, especially those who have abandoned their carts.
Sending out a different email campaign to attract customers who have abandoned carts is always a good idea.
Here’s a quick guide containing some tips and tricks to win-back customers using an abandoned cart email.
6. Don’t Forget The Last-minute Push
Like it or not, there will always be procrastinators.
Give the last-minute shoppers a nudge by showcasing a countdown to Valentine’s Day on your last email of the campaign.
Providing attractive discounts will definitely help push last-minute sales considerably.
Product recommendation for generic gift ideas makes it easy for shoppers to find last-minute gifts for their loved ones.
Adding an assurance of on-time delivery is very important and highly recommended in this case ( and should be definitely fulfilled!), because of the last-minute nature of the sale.
7.Dealing With the Cart Abandonment Heartache
Just because it’s Valentine’s Day, it doesn’t mean that there is no threat of cart abandonment.
With multiple competitors doing their best to showcase their products, it’s easy to lose your customer’s earlier interest. Send out an attractive abandoned cart email with the right template.
Creating a sense of urgency and providing discount codes help in gaining some of the customers back.
And here’s an in-depth post detailing the ways you can effectively combat cart abandonment and win back shoppers.
8. Don’t Leave the Singles Alone
Amidst the hearts and roses, it’s pretty easy to miss out on the folks who do not celebrate the day. It’s critical to target this section of people as well.
Valentine’s Day is a day for all kinds of love – self-love included. So push on the right emotion to promote your products to the single folks as well.
This email gives out a feeling of inclusivity and helps gain patrons for life.
Wrapping It Up
It’s important for any business to amp up their marketing strategy during celebrations. It’s also equally important to put in the thought and work to create a planned strategy and cover all aspects of the celebration.
As mentioned in this blog, it’s vital to have a great email marketing strategy, but don’t miss out on the other channels. Focus on social media and get conversations started. This creates a buzz and improves website traffic. And optimizing the webpage for the festival is non-negotiable.
Leverage the festival of love and redirect some love towards your business. But also ensure that you share some love with your customers and be repaid the remaining 364 days of the year.
Quick Valentine’s Day FAQ:
1.) What percentage of people celebrate Valentine’s Day in the US?
Based on NRF’s recent research, the percentage of people anticipated to celebrate Valentine’s Day in the US is ~50%, which is approximately 10% less than the previous year.
2.) How much does a consumer spend on average for Valentine’s Day?
The Spanish consumers top the survey with average spending of £112 for their soul mates. US consumers bag the 2nd with £110, while French come 3rd with average spending of £112.
3.) How much money will be spent on Valentine’s Day 2021?
NRF estimates that Valentine’s Day 2020 will reach $22 billion in the US.
4.) Who is the most gift-giving of the sexes? (^ of surveyed expecting to buy gift)
62% – Men, 45% -Women
5.) Average expected spend on love by country (in GBP)
Spain – £112, USA – £110, France – £107, Italy – £107, Germany – £84, UK – £49
