For businesses worldwide, the holiday season presents a wealth of opportunities to drive revenue. According to PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2024 report, overall spending is projected to rise by 7% compared to 2023, with the average shopper expected to spend $1,638. This increase comes despite 59% of consumers reporting that inflation is likely to impact their holiday spending this year.
For marketers, these opportunities come with significant pressure to get things right. With competition for customers at an all-time high, effective campaign optimisation is crucial.
Fortunately, there are many different ways to optimise your holiday campaigns. Here, three marketing leaders reveal their most successful holiday email campaign and discuss what makes them engage with email marketing campaigns around the holidays.
For the team at Styrkr, who focus on providing endurance sports nutrition to our clients, our most successful peak season email campaign was about bringing value to our audience and staying true to what we know they care about.
We focused on content that goes beyond just promoting products. For instance, we shared training tips, fueling guides and endurance stories right alongside our offers. It wasn’t about pushing customers to “buy now”. Instead, we wanted our emails to feel like a resource and keep that relationship strong, which really resonated with our community.
The relatively short gap between Black Friday and the New Year meant that we were able to tap into one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions: investing in fitness and health. As a result, Black Friday sales were up by 40% and traffic was up by 60%. This campaign played a huge part in reaching these milestones.
We also paid close attention to segmentation and timing, making sure each email was tailored to where our customers were in their training or buying journey. It sounds basic, but hitting the inbox at the right moment with relevant content made all the difference.
We also teamed up with sports bloggers and athletes who we felt genuinely connected with our products. It was authentic and targeted, and it let endurance enthusiasts see our products in action through trusted voices.
As a consumer, I’m always drawn to emails that don’t feel like they’re selling to me. A good story, a bit of inspiration, or something genuinely useful always hooks me. If I’m getting extra value, not just a hard sell, I’m much more likely to engage. Plus, a well-timed, exclusive offer doesn’t hurt.
For a lot of small businesses, it’s nearly impossible to compete in the digital ad space over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s why, with our client Stormy Kromer, we took different approaches to help their dollars stretch further.
Key elements that made our peak marketing campaign for the apparel company effective included leveraging ambassador-generated content to showcase real people using the products. These ambassadors, who were selected both because of their followings and their existing relationships with the brand, resonated with our intended audience by talking about why they loved the products and the company.
Our strategy also emphasised Stormy Kromer’s small business roots and Michigan heritage during Small Business Saturday, helping them stand out during a sales-saturated weekend. The digital ad campaign we ran featured photography and language that would appeal to those who care about the quality and craftsmanship of their products, rather than the price tag.
On social media we saw strong organic engagement on Facebook and increased clicks to the website on Instagram. We also saw improvements on Google Ads, including an increase in conversion rate and a lower cost per conversion.
Around the holidays, I really like to see content that tells a story. So many big brands are able to offer great deals and small businesses often can’t keep up. If you can tell a story and get to the heart of why I should buy something, then I’m more likely to pay attention. I think it all comes down to wanting to see that connection.
Building a narrative around why a certain scarf or hat is meaningful – because it’s a family company, because you’re helping serve a local community, whatever it may be – that’s going to get people to stretch their dollar further.
At Naturepedic, we saw the most success from enhancing our affiliate program and integrating it into our email campaigns over the holiday season, boosting revenue and customer engagement. There were several vital strategies that helped our campaign resonate with the audience and led to the campaign’s success.
We focused heavily on creating educational content designed to teach consumers about the benefits of organic mattresses. Our email campaigns made sure to address both health and environmental concerns, two areas that our customers care deeply about.
We re-engaged with key loyalty partners and content creators, offering complimentary samples in exchange for reviews, thereby increasing brand visibility and credibility. We also heavily audited our existing affiliate program to identify and remove low-quality publishers, reactive inactive partners and optimise growth opportunities.
As a result of these efforts, Naturepedic experienced a significant increase in revenue generated through affiliate channels and an increase in the number of orders placed, indicating enhanced customer engagement and conversion rates.
As a consumer, the two biggest things that resonate with me are great value and a relatable story. As a father of four, deals can definitely draw me in but I’m less worried about the money saved if the original pricing isn’t in line with the quality I want.
Similarly, I’m looking for brands that resonate with how I want to shop. Buying from family businesses, sustainable companies or even local stores is how I want to spend this holiday season.
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Disclaimer: The views, information and opinions expressed in this article are those of the people interviewed and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Intuit, Mailchimp or any of its cornerstone brands or employees. The primary purpose of this article is to educate and inform. This article does not constitute financial or other professional advice or services.
