However, with so many competing messages in their inboxes, it can be challenging to capture their attention. But don’t worry.

In this blog, we’ll share some effective strategies and memorable subject lines to make your St. Patrick’s Day email campaign stand out, grab attention, and succeed.

When is St Patrick’s Day?

Make sure to mark your calendars. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 every year. This special day is an excellent opportunity for people of Irish descent and those who love Irish culture to come together and celebrate. It’s not just limited to Ireland, as it’s celebrated in more than 200 countries worldwide, including the United States, Canada, and Australia.

St Patrick’s Day subject line ideas

St. Patrick’s Day presents the perfect opportunity to get creative with your email subject lines, capturing your audience’s attention and enticing them to open your message. Here are some enchanting subject line ideas with emojis to make your St. Patrick’s Day email campaign truly unforgettable:

1. Luck is in the air: St. Paddy’s Sale.
2. Exclusive St. Patrick’s Day deals
3. Your pot of gold awaits
4. Go green this St. Paddy’s
5. Cheers. St. Patrick’s Day offers
6. Win big: St. Paddy’s giveaway.
7. No blarney! Dance-worthy discounts
8. St. Paddy’s: Find your lucky charm
9. Avoid the pinch: St. Paddy’s wardrobe
10. Festive St. Patrick’s Day recipes
11. Top o’ the mornin’: 17% off this St. Paddy’s Day.

Effective St Patrick’s Day email campaign ideas

As St Patrick’s Day approaches, it’s time to sprinkle some luck and charm into your email marketing campaigns. By leveraging the holiday spirit and incorporating attention-grabbing ideas, you can boost customer engagement and drive sales. To help you create a memorable and profitable St Patrick’s Day campaign, we’ve compiled a list of effective email marketing strategies you can take inspiration from.

1. Entice customers with a pot o’ gold promotion

Holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day offer brands an excellent opportunity to attract customers with special promotions or exclusive sales that celebrate the occasion. Successful promotional campaigns take advantage of the festive spirit and offer limited-time deals that encourage customers to act quickly, thereby increasing conversions.

MeUndies, a popular brand known for its comfortable and stylish underwear, has effectively leveraged the charm of St. Patrick’s Day for its promotions. The brand has designed an attractive St. Patrick’s Day sale that engages customers through an element of exclusivity and mystery.

In this email campaign, MeUndies invites recipients to participate in a secret St. Patrick’s Day sale. The visual elements and copy create an inviting aura surrounding its exclusive offer. Potential buyers are given a unique sale code to access the discounted prices on the brand’s website, further enhancing the feeling of exclusivity.

This smart approach by MeUndies not only intrigues customers but also fosters a sense of curiosity and urgency to discover what lies within the St. Patrick’s Day sale. The limited availability of the deal encourages recipients to take immediate action, resulting in a higher likelihood of sales and conversions.

2. Show off your St Patrick’s Day collection

Embracing the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day by creating and promoting a themed collection is a brilliant way to captivate and engage your customers. Themed collections can evoke the festive atmosphere of the holiday, encouraging shoppers to buy products that celebrate the occasion and resonate with their interests.

The jewelry band Pandora demonstrates the power of a well-crafted St. Patrick’s Day collection. They showcase an enticing selection of green and clover-themed jewelry items, including necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, all designed to charm and delight customers who wish to adorn themselves in the spirit of the holiday.

In its email campaign, Pandora effectively highlights the attractive, festive nature of its St. Patrick’s Day collection, inviting potential buyers to “push their luck” with its beautifully designed pieces. The vibrant visuals and relevant copy work together to steer recipients’ attention towards the charming selection of jewelry.

3. Spark engagement with a St Patrick’s Day contest

Contests and giveaways are great ways to engage with your audience, encourage participation, and generate excitement around your brand during St. Patrick’s Day. A well-designed contest can spark interest, increase brand awareness, and even boost sales.

Saladworks, a popular salad restaurant chain, offers an excellent example of a St. Patrick’s Day contest in its email campaign.

In the promotion, Saladworks invites recipients to participate in a special St. Patrick’s Day contest, giving them a chance to “Enter our Saint Patrick’s Day gold coin contest for a chance to win free salads for an entire YEAR.” The attractive prize, combined with the festive theme, encourages customers to engage with the brand and try their luck at winning.

To participate, customers need to visit the nearest Saladworks location, which provides an opportunity to increase foot traffic to the restaurant and potentially boost sales.

4. Captivate your audience with gamification and countdown timers

Gamification elements and countdown timers are powerful strategies that can be incorporated into email marketing campaigns to keep recipients engaged and motivated to take action. These interactive components can create a sense of anticipation and excitement, resulting in increased click-through rates and conversions.

Hairtamin, a reputable hair care brand, effectively uses gamification and a countdown timer in its St. Patrick’s Day email campaign. In its campaign, Hairtamin introduces a “Luck of the Irish” spin-the-wheel game, inviting customers to try their luck and win various discounts across the website. Accompanied by a ticking countdown timer, the promotion generates a sense of urgency and encourages recipients to participate before time runs out.

Hairtamin’s clever use of gamification and countdown timers captivates its audience, increasing the likelihood of customers clicking through to the website to play the game and redeem their prizes.

5. Delight your customers with holiday-themed freebies

During holidays, it’s important to add value to your customers’ lives to build brand loyalty and deepen your connection with your audience. One way you can do this is by offering free, holiday-themed printables for children. This can be an engaging gesture that sets your brand apart in your St. Patrick’s Day campaign.

Crayola, a leading brand in children’s art supplies, is a great example of delivering remarkable St. Patrick’s Day surprises for its email subscribers. They provide a variety of offerings, including free printables for coloring, a DIY game that repurposes Crayola pen lids, and an exclusive email-only deal.

In its email campaign, Crayola gives parents and children a delightful experience by offering entertaining and creative activities that celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The inclusion of an exclusive deal further encourages recipients to take action, driving traffic, and sales on its website.

Additionally, Crate&Kids is a well-known brand that provides children’s furniture and decor. This brand has impressed its email subscribers by offering them a St. Patrick’s Day surprise. They provide free printable coloring pages for kids, which brings joy to both parents and children.

In its email campaign, Crate&Kids has included a clear call to action (CTA), encouraging recipients to shop for rainbow-themed items on its website. This approach not only enhances its customers’ St. Patrick’s Day celebration with the free printables but also helps to drive traffic and sales on its website.

6. Inspire creativity with your products

During the holiday season, you can encourage your customers to be more creative by demonstrating how they can use your products to enhance their celebrations. Showcasing unique ways to utilize your offerings not only benefits the customers but also reinforces your brand as a source of inspiration and a valuable resource.

Vena CBD, a company focused on providing high-quality CBD wellness products, suggests an innovative recipe that incorporates its Full Spectrum CBD Mint Tincture into a delightful mocktail for St Patrick’s Day festivities.

By sharing such unique and appealing ideas, you can inspire your audience’s imagination and create an emotional connection with your brand. This will encourage them to explore new ways of using your products and increase their engagement with your brand. As a result, you can drive more clicks and conversions, as customers are drawn in by the novelty and versatility of your offerings.

Ultimately, promoting creativity through your products not only positions your brand as a valuable resource but also amplifies the appeal of your products, increasing the likelihood of customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

Unlock the magic of St. Patrick’s Day email marketing

St. Patrick’s Day provides an excellent opportunity to connect with your customers through compelling email campaigns. To make the most of the festive atmosphere, you can use the tips and examples provided in this blog to create an attention-grabbing St. Patrick’s Day email campaign. This will help you to engage with your audience on a deeper emotional level, strengthen your brand connection, and ultimately lead to increased clicks, conversions, and sales. So, let the luck of the Irish guide you towards a successful and captivating St. Patrick’s Day marketing campaign.

Whether you’re selling Easter-themed products or utilizing the festive atmosphere to showcase your latest collection, the key to a successful promotion is having an egg-ceptional strategy in place.

In this blog, we’ll explore a variety of Easter marketing campaign ideas, including email, SMS, and attention-grabbing subject lines. These ideas will help you breathe new life into your brand and captivate your customers for the best possible results.

Why should you send an Easter marketing campaign?

Here are some reasons why you should launch an Easter marketing campaign:

1. Increased customer spending: Holidays like Easter often inspire consumers to shop more for gifts, decor, food, and other celebratory items. You can take advantage of this surge in spending by offering exclusive discounts, promotions, and product bundles through your marketing campaign.
2. Seasonal themes: Easter-themed emails provide a chance to refresh your email copy and design, using lighthearted visuals, puns, and images that resonate with your audience. This seasonal creativity can attract your subscribers’ attention and delight them, leading to higher open rates and engagement.
3. Strengthen customer relationships: Use your Easter marketing campaign to send personalized greetings and messages of appreciation to your customers. This strategy helps build a more personal connection, strengthens customer loyalty, and nurtures long-lasting relationships.
4. Drive traffic to your website: Easter-themed emails and SMS messages with exciting offers, compelling calls-to-action, and exclusive content can drive more traffic to your website. This gives your customers a reason to explore your products and services further.
5. Showcase new products or offerings: Use your Easter marketing campaign to introduce seasonal products or exclusive promotions that may interest your audience. This tactic helps generate interest and excitement for your brand while potentially spurring more purchases.
6. Boost social media engagement: An Easter marketing campaign can also encourage subscribers to engage with your brand on social media. Leverage this opportunity by promoting Easter-themed contests or sharing content that encourages user-generated content using specific hashtags.
7. Stand out from competitors: Use the festive season to differentiate your brand from competitors with unique SMS offers, creative email designs, and standout subject lines. Easter marketing campaigns that offer genuine value and capture your audience’s attention can set your brand apart and create lasting impressions.

Engaging and creative Easter subject line ideas

Easter is a great opportunity to make your email subject lines more creative and engaging. You can use witty puns, personalized greetings, and time-sensitive offers to grab your audience’s attention and increase your email open rates. Check out these fantastic Easter subject line ideas for inspiration:

1. Spring into savings: Major discounts are hatching this Easter.
2. Your Easter basket just got better: Save 30% sitewide .
3. Hop to it. Unwrap these egg-sclusive Easter deals.
4. Celebrate Easter in style: Fresh deals just for you .
5. Indulge yourself. Our mouth-watering Easter treats await.
6. Easter basket bonanza: Curated collections for the perfect gift.
7. Crack open your Easter savings. Limited time only.
8. Last chance: Peep our irresistible deals before they’re gone.
9. Add a touch of magic to Easter with our special offers.
10. Ready, set, hunt. Reveal your mystery Easter discount inside .
11. Bloom into savings with our exclusive Easter discounts.
12. Sweet deals to satisfy your Easter cravings: Shop now .

If you’re struggling to come up with Easter email subject lines for your marketing campaign, you can use WinstonAI’s generative AI capability when building your email on Dotdigital. This feature can suggest new subject lines, adjust the tone, shorten or expand text, rephrase, and even include emojis to make your email more engaging.

7 Innovative Easter campaign ideas

Creating captivating campaigns that catch your customer’s attention and spark their imagination is important. That’s why we’re here to help you achieve precisely that. We’ve put together seven innovative Easter marketing campaign ideas that will make your brand stand out and set you apart from the competition. So let’s get cracking.

1. Create a cracking Easter sale

As the seasons change, it’s always a good idea to freshen up your marketing strategies and create new incentives for your customers to make purchases. When seasons change, it’s a great opportunity to promote your latest products and offer discounts and sales to attract more customers.

A great example of an effective Easter marketing campaign is the one created by the personalized children’s book brand, I See Me. The brand has come up with a cracking Easter sale that is sure to catch the attention of potential customers. The brand offers a sitewide discount of 30%, which is a great incentive for shoppers to make a purchase.

What’s more, the email also showcases a curated selection of personalized Easter-themed books, which are perfect for inclusion in any Easter basket. This boosts relevancy and ensures its emails appeal to customers who are looking for unique gift ideas for their loved ones. 

By highlighting its spring savings and offering personalized Easter-themed products, I See Me has created a compelling Easter sale that is sure to drive more traffic to its website and boost sales during this holiday season. Take inspiration from this strategy and come up with your own creative Easter sale that resonates with your audience and drives revenue.

2. Show off your Easter collection with MMS

Easter is a great opportunity to display your new seasonal product collections to your customers. One of the most effective ways of doing this is through Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages. MMS uses rich media, such as images and videos, to create engaging and informative shopping experiences for your audience.

A prime example of a brand that executes this strategy successfully is a children’s clothing store, SugarBabies Boutique. By sending a visually appealing MMS message, SugarBabies Boutique highlights its Easter product offerings and makes it easy for customers to visualize the potential of creating a delightful Easter basket for their loved ones. The message not only showcases the brand’s cute and curated product lineup but also employs creative Easter language for a festive touch.

In addition, SugarBabies Boutique entices customers further with the offer of a ‘SAVE10’ discount code to use on purchases, adding an incentive for recipients to act swiftly and make a purchase.

3. Throw a virtual Easter egg hunt

Easter egg hunts are a classic and beloved activity to celebrate the season. But have you considered taking this traditional event online to engage your customers?

Reese Witherspoon’s clothing line, Draper James smartly incorporates a virtual Easter egg hunt into its email marketing campaign. The email features a simple and clear design, paired with concise copy that entices recipients to visit the brand’s website and start hunting for hidden Easter eggs. These eggs contain discount codes that shoppers can apply to their purchases, adding an incentive to engage with the website actively.

The email also includes an on-brand hero image, a specific call-to-action (CTA) button, and helpful hints as to where the eggs can be found. These elements create a seamless and enjoyable virtual egg-hunting experience for enthusiastic participants.

4. Leverage Easter FOMO with a countdown timer

Countdown timers are a popular tactic you can use to create a sense of urgency among your customers. By setting a deadline for a limited-time promotion, you can encourage your customers to act quickly before the offer expires. This marketing strategy plays on the fear of missing out (FOMO) and inspires subscribers to shop promptly to benefit from the promotion. Simply add a countdown timer to your website and see the powerful impact of FOMO in action.

One brand that executed this strategy incredibly well is the sustainable denim company Frank and Oak. Its Easter marketing campaign included a countdown timer at the top of the email, emphasizing the limited-time offer. By placing the timer prominently, the brand grabs its recipients’ attention with a time-sensitive message, encouraging them to act quickly to take advantage of the promotion. The result was a successful marketing campaign that generated buzz and encouraged customers to shop promptly to avoid missing out on the deal.

5. Host an Easter-themed social media contest

Easter-themed social media contests are an excellent way to engage your audience while boosting your brand exposure and promoting your products or services. Hosting a creative contest can foster excitement, encourage user-generated content (UGC), and increase interaction with your brand during the holiday season.

For example, create an Instagram photo contest where followers share pictures of their decorated Easter eggs, Easter outfits, or homemade treats using a specific hashtag. Offer a tempting prize, such as a gift voucher or product bundle from your Easter collection, for the participants with the most creative or popular submissions. Make sure to carefully outline the contest rules, participation guidelines, and entry deadlines to ensure a seamless and enjoyable experience for your audience.

Announce the contest in your email or SMS campaigns and use attractive visuals and compelling copy to encourage your subscribers to participate. By holding an Easter-themed social media contest, you can captivate your audience, showcase your products, and foster a sense of community around your brand.

The online boutique, Little Party Dress effectively promotes its Easter social media contest on Instagram. This is done by encouraging participants to engage with the brand and offering a choice of prizes from its Easter collection. The post explains how to enter, where to find more information, and the closing date for entries. By providing clear instructions and appealing prizes, Little Party Dress ensures a successful contest that excites and connects with its audience.

6. Curate your Easter gift guides

Gift guides are an excellent way to showcase and curate your Easter product selection, making it easier for customers to find the perfect gift for their loved ones during the festive season.

The Luxury department store, Fortnum and Mason’s Easter gift guide showcases a stunning collection of Easter eggs that were expertly curated by the brand. The email campaign also mentioned that customers can visit their store to build their own Easter eggs, providing a unique and interactive experience. This is a great way for the brand to not only showcase their products but also to engage with their customers and offer them an unforgettable experience.

By curating and presenting a visually appealing Easter gift guide through your email marketing, you can effectively guide your customers to ideal gift options and entice them to explore your product offerings. This approach simplifies the decision-making process for your customers and helps boost your overall sales during the Easter season.

7. Use creative copywriting to enhance your Easter marketing

To make your Easter marketing messages more compelling and memorable, you can utilize creative copywriting techniques that capture the attention of your target audience. By using creative copywriting in your Easter marketing, you can stand out in the crowded marketing landscape and drive better results for your campaigns.

LUSH Cosmetics is an excellent example of a brand that understands the power of imaginative copywriting. The brand uses vibrant language and storytelling techniques to create a sense of wonder and excitement around its Easter-themed products.

Its email campaign, for instance, invites readers to “Spring into a world of pure imagination,” which blends the festive Easter ambiance with the brand’s colorful, nature-inspired offerings. LUSH’s copywriting is captivating, creating a mesmerizing connection with its audience that goes beyond the product itself.

Kickstart your Easter marketing strategy

Easter is a time of joy, renewal, and celebration. The season presents a great chance for you to connect with your audience and enhance your sales with innovative marketing campaigns. To make the most of this opportunity, it’s essential to develop a comprehensive Easter marketing strategy that fully embraces the festive essence and engages your customers through every touchpoint, including email, SMS, and social media. By doing so, you can increase your brand’s visibility and effectively capture the attention of your target audience during this festive season.

1. Define your goals and target audience

Email marketing is a highly effective way to communicate with your customers and drive business growth. However, to make the most of your email marketing campaigns, it’s important to start with a solid foundation. Defining your goals and identifying your target audience is a crucial step in creating a successful email marketing campaign.

When you establish clear goals, you can create content that aligns with those objectives. For example, if your goal is to generate leads, you might create a lead magnet or offer a free trial to entice people to sign up. If your goal is to increase user engagement, you might focus on creating entertaining or informative content that keeps your audience engaged.

Identifying your target audience is also essential for effective email marketing. By segmenting your email list based on factors such as location, interests, purchase history, or demographics, you can create content that is more relevant and personalized. This not only improves engagement but also increases the likelihood of conversions and sales.

Also, segmentation helps you avoid sending irrelevant or unsolicited emails that could lead to a decrease in subscribers or even negative feedback. By targeting the right audience with the right content, you’ll build trust, establish a connection, and ultimately drive business growth through email marketing.

2. Build and maintain a quality mailing list

To have a successful email marketing campaign you need to build a quality mailing list. A quality mailing list consists of people who are genuinely interested in your marketing and what you have to offer.

To create an effective mailing list, you can start by placing a custom sign-up form on your website’s homepage in a prominent location. It should be simple, easy to fill out, and not require too much information. You can also use your social media platforms to promote your email list and encourage followers to sign up. Additionally, offer incentives, such as discounts or exclusive content, to entice people to subscribe.

Preference centers are another excellent tool for cultivating a quality mailing list. By allowing subscribers to indicate their interests, content preferences, and frequency of communication, you create a more personalized email experience. This not only encourages subscriptions but also drives higher engagement and loyalty. Make sure to include preference center links in your email footers and welcome emails, so subscribers can easily update their preferences at any time.

Once you have built your mailing list, it’s essential to maintain its quality by regularly reviewing it. Make sure to remove inactive subscribers, invalid email addresses, or those who consistently ignore your messages. This process will improve your deliverability rates and prevent your emails from landing in the spam folder.

3. Personalization and automation

Personalization and automation are two essential aspects of email marketing that can help you create more compelling campaigns. 

You can personalize your emails by using the recipient’s name in greetings and subject lines, as well as tailoring the content of the email to their preferences and browsing history. By doing so, you can increase the relevance of your marketing messages, making them more engaging and likely to be opened and acted upon.

Automation, on the other hand, involves leveraging marketing automation tools such as Dotdigital to optimize campaign workflows, send targeted messages at the right time, and track campaign performance. This saves time and helps your marketing strategy by analyzing subscriber behavior and engagement patterns. 

With automation, you can streamline your email marketing efforts, ensuring that messages are sent to the right people at the right time, and with the right content. Ultimately, this will lead to higher open and click-through rates, increased conversions, and improved ROI.

4. Optimize for mobile devices

It’s more important than ever to optimize your emails for mobile devices. With the majority of email users accessing their emails on mobile devices, it’s crucial to make sure your emails are mobile-friendly. This means using responsive email templates that can automatically adjust to different screen sizes, ensuring that your emails look great on any device.

Another important consideration when optimizing for mobile devices is the length of your subject lines. Keep in mind that mobile screens are smaller than desktop screens, so a long subject line might not display properly and could potentially get cut off. You don’t want to lose the attention of your audience before they even open your email, so make sure your subject lines are short and to the point.

Testing your emails on different devices and email applications is also important to avoid formatting issues that could hinder the success of your campaign. By testing your emails on various devices, you can ensure that they look great and are easy to read, no matter how your audience is accessing them.

5. Measure and analyze results

One of the most important aspects of any email marketing campaign is to measure and analyze its results. This is crucial to understand how your campaign is performing and to make any necessary adjustments for better results in the future. 

To begin with, you need to track key performance email marketing metrics such as open rates, click-through rates (CTR), and conversions. These metrics will give you an insight into how your audience is interacting with your emails. 

For example, open rates will help you understand how many people are opening your emails, whereas CTR will help you understand how many people click on the links within your emails. Conversions, on the other hand, will help you understand how many people are responding to your call-to-action (CTA) and taking the desired action.

Once you have collected the data, you should analyze it to identify trends or areas of improvement. For example, if you notice that your open rates are low, you may need to work on improving your subject lines to make them more compelling. Similarly, if your CTR is low, you may need to improve your email design or the placement of your CTAs.

Start creating successful email marketing campaigns

A cohesive, well-rounded strategy that encompasses these five steps is essential to achieve success in email marketing. By defining clear goals, understanding your audience, curating a quality mailing list, personalizing content, implementing automation, and optimizing mobile devices, your email marketing campaigns can drive exceptional results and contribute significantly to your business’s growth.

This is where the principles of responsible marketing come into play. Customers need to trust your brand will treat their data with respect, and crucially, won’t sell it on to third parties. Big players in the digital world such as Apple and Google have taken steps to enhance user privacy and security. Apple’s iOS 17 introduced a new privacy feature called link-tracking protection, which has altered the way marketers use customer data. Google has also announced its plans to phase out third-party cookies by 2024.

With data privacy such a hot topic for consumers, how can you adjust your email marketing to meet this need? Enter preference centers.

What is a preference center?

A preference center is an online portal where your customers can manage their communication preferences. This may include updating their email address, opting in or out of various communication channels (e.g., email, SMS, push notifications), and letting you know how often they’d like to be contacted. 

You may have heard us talking about human-to-human marketing, this is because we need to remember there’s a person on the other side of our communications, and the easiest way to find out what they want, and therefore will respond to, is to ask them. It’s that simple.

Benefits of preference centers

Preference centers are essential tools for providing personalized experiences to your customers, which significantly contribute to the growth of your marketing. Let’s explore some key advantages of implementing preference centers in your marketing strategy.

Enhanced customer engagement and retention

By allowing customers to choose their preferred communication methods and tailor the content they receive, you can improve customer satisfaction levels and boost engagement. Customers feel more in control and valued as their unique needs are being catered to, which increases the likelihood of retention and brand loyalty.

Better quality customer data

Using preference centers, you can collect accurate zero-party data about preferences which will enhance your understanding of the customer. The ability to segment customers based on their preferences can lead to more success in targeting demographics with customized marketing efforts.

Improved deliverability and open rates

Customers who opt-in to receive content from you through their preferred channels are more likely to open and engage with those messages. Consequently, you can expect improved email open rates and better deliverability with fewer spam-related issues.

Reduced unsubscribe rates

Many customers unsubscribe from email lists for several reasons, including receiving too many emails or irrelevant content. A preference center allows customers to change their subscription without completely opting out, reducing overall unsubscribe rates.

Greater compliance with data protection regulations

Preference centers help you to comply with data protection regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) more easily. They provide greater control to customers over their data and clarify consent, ensuring that your marketing strategy adheres to legal requirements.

What makes a good preference center?

Like a one-to-one with thousands of subscribers, a good preference center shows that you’re a brand that cares about your customers’ experience. You want to get to know them so that you can take that data and work to ensure their experience is a positive one.

Most unsubscribes are due to email frequency or irrelevant content. By allowing your subscribers to determine this themselves you can be sure to drastically reduce your unsubscribes. When implementing a preference center, be sure to show it to consumers at the point of sign up, and have it visible in your emails. Allowing subscribers to reduce and tailor the emails they receive from you will cut down on those blanket unsubscribes.

By discovering what your customers want, you can easily tailor your marketing efforts to meet their needs. The more you meet their needs, the more likely they are to convert. And the more they convert, the healthier your bottom line is.

What should a preference center allow subscribers to do?

• Share the frequency they are most comfortable with e.g. daily, weekly, or monthly
• Inform brands about areas of interest such as departments, e.g. dresses and knitwear
• Identify the channel they prefer to hear from brands on, e.g. email, SMS, or WhatsApp

A smart preference center is a massive data-gathering tool. So, while you’re letting customers tailor their experience, don’t forget to collect the data you need to create personalized email perfection.

How to utilize your customer’s preferences

Once you have this valuable insight into your customers’ preferences, utilize what you know to segment your content. There’s no point asking people what they’re interested in, only to ignore it. Utilize segmentation to make this easier. Segments allow you to create segments of people in your database based on criteria you choose, in this case, their preferences.

You can then easily create content that responds to these preferences and split your content sends accordingly. You can also use dynamic content to show customers who have expressed an interest in dresses and show others who have expressed an interest in knitwear different blocks in your email.

4 preference center best practices with examples

Preference centers offer a variety of opportunities for data collection, whether it’s during newsletter sign-up, in welcome emails, or as part of account set-up. These email preference examples and best practices will inspire creative ways to incorporate preference centers into your marketing strategy.

1. Offer incentives during sign-up

Sports nutrition brand, Science in Sport, starts its preference collection simply. Using a sign-up incentive, it makes it clear that shoppers will benefit right from the beginning of this relationship. The brand also uses the opportunity to gather its first preference from customers. By asking “What is your preferred sport?”, the brand can use this information to send products specifically associated with running, cycling, or triathlons.

You don’t always need to collect every piece of information immediately. By gradually collecting customer information in the same way as Science in Sport, you don’t risk overwhelming your audience and potentially ruining their experience.

2. Empower subscribers to control their content

Spotify, on the other hand, allows customers to control the content they receive on an account level.

Once an account has successfully been created, customers can choose what they hear about. For each topic, listeners can also choose whether these communications come in the form of an email or a push notification. By diversifying its marketing channels, Spotify is increasing its chances of successfully engaging customers.

3. Enhance personalization in your email preference center

To ensure customers don’t miss their chance to build customer experience, MATCHESFASHION uses its welcome program to push preferences to be submitted.

This preference center not only outlines what each newsletter covers but also states the day that it’ll land in customers’ inboxes. This helps build anticipation for the latest announcements and product launches. It also allows shoppers to follow their favorite fashion designers. This information can then be used to deliver personalized edits every Monday and Friday as part of the ‘WOMENSWEAR JUST IN’ subscription.

MATCHESFASHION also goes on to confirm whether customers would be interested in receiving marketing via phone and post, as well as membership to its loyalty program.

The overall result: endless opportunities for shoppers to personalize their experience.

4. Retain customers with triggered popovers

Don’t miss a single chance to let customers tell you what they want. J. Crew doesn’t.

When customers click ‘unsubscribe’ in email, J. Crew gives shoppers a final opportunity to tailor its communications. This offers a chance to save the relationship. Customers can either choose to adjust the frequency of their emails or specify the products they would rather hear about.

It’s what you do with the data that counts

The secret to successful marketing is all about the quality of the data you have. The better the data you have, the better the experience you can build with your customers. By creating intelligent, personalized journeys for customers and putting the customer first, you’re creating an engaged fanbase, dedicated to your brand.

To make things easy for you, we’ve compiled a list of six Valentine’s Day email examples that can be adapted to your brand. These examples use effective techniques to evoke the spirit of the season and entice your audience to engage with your offerings.

1. Make hearts flutter with your best-sellers

Nothing speaks volumes about your brand’s offerings more than your top-performing products. This Valentine’s season, why not create an email campaign that recommends your top-performing products to entice customers and help them make confident purchasing decisions?

You can take inspiration from the well-known MAC Cosmetics Valentine’s Day campaign that displayed a range of lipsticks perfectly matched for the romantic occasion. With a captivating email design and on-theme copy, the email campaign directly addressed the desires of its audience, inspiring them to indulge in the perfect lipstick shades to make its Valentine’s Day celebration even more special. Besides, who can resist the appeal of a 30% off special offer on their favorite makeup products?

2. Share a Valentine’s gift guide

Gift guides have become a popular and effective way for brands to showcase their products and help customers make purchasing decisions during special occasions. BarkShop, an online store for dog lovers, created an excellent Valentine’s Day email campaign that offered a curated collection of Valentine’s gifts for dogs.

BarkShop’s pawsome gift guide combined eye-catching visuals, playful copy, and persuasive calls to action to both amuse and entice its subscribers. By highlighting an assortment of Valentine’s Day-themed toys and treats, BarkShop made it easy for dog owners to choose the perfect gift for their furry friends.

You can learn from BarkShop’s strategy and create a gift guide that resonates with your target audience’s needs and desires. Whether your brand caters to pet owners, gadget enthusiasts, fashion lovers, or any other niche, a well-crafted gift guide is invaluable in driving conversions and boosting your brand’s reputation during this season of love.

3. Entice with engaging interactive content

Email marketing has evolved into a more interactive conversation with customers, where you can create engaging content to make your emails more interesting. For instance, you can add interactive content such as quizzes or surveys to attract customers who enjoy learning insightful revelations about themselves or simply having a good time.

If you’re looking to strengthen the bond between your brand and customers during Valentine’s Day season, you can learn from Moosejaw’s email marketing strategy. The brand’s captivating email campaign featured a quiz that revealed customers’ love language. The visuals were custom-made and told a heartwarming story that made it difficult for customers to resist taking the quiz. By trying out this strategy, you can entice customers with engaging interactive content and encourage them to engage with your brand.

4. Share the love beyond promotions

While promotional emails have their place in your Valentine’s Day marketing efforts, it’s essential to remember that this occasion is about fostering emotional connections and showing appreciation. Whether you’re a for-profit business or a non-profit organization, you can use the spirit of Valentine’s Day to create warm and genuine connections with your audience without exclusively focusing on sales or fundraising.

Charity: Water exemplifies this approach with its personalized Valentine’s Day e-cards for donors, supporters, and fundraisers. By expressing heartfelt gratitude for its community’s efforts and making each card unique, it inspires people to continue supporting the brand’s cause and strengthen its connections with existing supporters.

From sharing heartwarming stories and testimonials to offering valuable content such as love-themed recipes or DIY gifts, these messages can show your audience that you care about more than just selling products or services.

By embracing this powerful method of expressing gratitude and affection, brands and organizations can reinforce their connection with email subscribers during Valentine’s Day. This approach not only strengthens the bond with existing customers and supporters but also showcases the thoughtful and caring nature of your organization to potential new audiences.

5. Embrace the power of storytelling

Valentine’s Day is an ideal time to create an email campaign that shares real-life love stories or memorable moments related to your brand and customers. This can be done by harnessing the power of storytelling to share emotionally compelling content that captivates your audience’s heart. By doing so, you can evoke feelings of warmth and affection in your audience.

Warby Parker, known for its stylish eyewear, created an impactful email campaign that skillfully merged visual storytelling with a touch of romance and humor. Its visual narratives engaged customers, drawing their attention to the brand’s products while also evoking lighthearted enjoyment.

You can encourage subscribers to share their unique love stories using a dedicated hashtag to foster organic social buzz. By doing so, you not only raise brand awareness but also strengthen social media engagement in a heartfelt way.

Remember, you don’t always have to focus on selling a product or service through your email campaigns. Instead, invest in creating an emotional connection with your audience that’s sure to leave a lasting, positive impression on your brand.

6. Be creative with your copywriting

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to let your creativity run wild with your copywriting. Innovative and witty email copy can entertain subscribers, make your brand memorable, and show that you think outside the box.

Beardbrand, a premium grooming brand, seized the opportunity to get creative with its Valentine’s Day email campaign. Playfully acknowledging the more traditional marketing techniques, Beardbrand crafted its email subject line and email copy to pique curiosity and grab attention.

Your brand can follow Beardbrand’s approach and incorporate clever copywriting concepts for your Valentine’s Day emails. Think of unique ways to address your audience, showcase your products, and perhaps even make them laugh. By being imaginative with your copy, you can leave a lasting impression and make your brand stand out in a sea of promotional messages during the Valentine’s Day season.

Capture hearts this Valentine’s Day

Whether your audience consists of hopeless romantics or practical shoppers, these six Valentine’s Day email examples will help you craft messages that resonate with emotion and drive sales. Remember, a successful email campaign during this season of love is a balance of presenting your offerings and showing genuine appreciation for your customers. By adapting these examples to your brand’s tone of voice and values, you’re on your way to deepening those customer connections and making the most of this Valentine’s Day.

In this blog post, we’ll explore practical tips to leverage email marketing for ecommerce, creating personalized shopping experiences that leave a lasting positive impression.

Crafting compelling campaigns

Through the use of data analytics and dynamic content blocks, you can elevate the relevance of your emails, increasing the likelihood of converting recipients into loyal customers. As you plan your campaigns, it’s important to think about how you can increase your use of the following elements to make them more effective:

1. Personalized product recommendations

Tailor your emails based on customers’ past purchases, behavior (on your website and in your emails), and preferences. Utilize data analytics to recommend products that align with their shopping history, increasing the likelihood of conversion or AI recommendations to predict what they may be most likely to purchase next.

2. Exclusive deals

Create a sense of urgency by incorporating exclusive deals in your email marketing campaigns such as for VIP customers vs. new subscribers who haven’t purchased yet to nurture them in a relevant way

3. The power of storytelling

Infuse your email marketing campaigns with compelling stories. Share narratives that resonate with your audience, connecting on a deeper emotional level. Whether it’s the journey of a product from conception to creation or customer success stories, storytelling adds a human touch, making your emails more engaging and memorable.

Nurturing customer loyalty

Loyalty programs and personalized journeys take center stage in nurturing customer loyalty. The strategic use of emails to communicate exclusive benefits and perks, encouraging customers to remain devoted to your brand as well as key messages sent at the right time for that subscriber, are critical to increasing your results.

1. Loyalty programs

Implement a customer loyalty program to reward repeat purchases. Use email marketing campaigns to communicate exclusive benefits, discounts, or early access to new products, incentivizing customers to remain loyal.

Periodically remind customers of their loyalty program status and highlight the rewards they can unlock with their continued engagement.

2. Surprise and delight with unexpected rewards

Go beyond the expected loyalty program benefits by occasionally surprising your customers with unexpected rewards. It could be an exclusive discount, early access to a sale, or a personalized thank-you gift. These unexpected gestures not only nurture loyalty but also create delightful moments that customers will remember and appreciate.

3. Personalized email journeys

Map out personalized customer journeys based on their interactions with your brand. Segment your audience to deliver targeted content, ensuring each customer receives messages aligned with their unique preferences and behaviors.

Enhancing the shopping experience

Enhancing the shopping experience extends beyond the functionalities of your website—it reaches into your email communications. To create a seamless and memorable customer journey, consider employing the following tactics:

1. Interactive content and product showcases

Engage customers with interactive content such as quizzes, polls, or product showcases. Showcase new arrivals, bestsellers, or curated collections to provide a visually appealing and immersive shopping experience.

Use engaging visuals and compelling copy to entice customers, prompting them to explore your brand further.

2. User-generated content and testimonials

Feature user-generated content (UGC) and customer testimonials in your emails. Authentic reviews and photos create a sense of community, instilling confidence in potential customers and reinforcing loyalty among existing ones.

Optimizing for success

Ensuring your campaigns are optimized comes in various forms. From the way your email renders in the recipient’s mailbox to continuous testing and learning from your previous campaign results, moving your email strategy and tactical implementation forward is essential to increase your ongoing success.

1. Mobile optimization

Ensure your email marketing campaigns are mobile-responsive. With an ever-increasing number of customers accessing emails on mobile devices, a seamless mobile experience is crucial for driving conversions.

Test your emails across various devices to guarantee a consistent and visually appealing presentation on both desktop and mobile platforms.

2. Ensure accessibility in your design

Make sure that your emails are accessible to individuals with temporary, situational, and permanent disabilities. You can use clear, readable fonts, provide alt text for images, code for screen readers, and structure your content logically. A more inclusive design not only broadens your audience reach but also aligns with ethical and user-friendly practices.

3. Strategic A/B testing

Conduct regular A/B testing on different elements of your email campaigns, including subject lines, visuals, content, and calls to action. Analyze the results to identify the most effective strategies for driving engagement and sales.

Mastering email marketing for ecommerce involves a delicate balance of strategic planning, personalization, and a customer-centric approach.

Email marketing for ecommerce final thoughts

By implementing campaigns in these, and other, areas, you can drive sales, nurture customer loyalty, and create personalised shopping experiences that resonate with your audience.

Remember, every email is an opportunity to strengthen your connection with customers and guide them on a journey that goes beyond transactions, fostering lasting brand loyalty in the competitive ecommerce landscape.

In this blog post, we will explore the differences between EDM marketing and email marketing to help you understand which strategy suits your needs best and when to use them to get the maximum impact.

What is EDM marketing?

Electronic direct mail (EDM) is a digital marketing strategy that marketers use to promote products or services to existing and potential customers who have opted-in to receive emails. It focuses on building and nurturing long-lasting relationships with current customers and potential leads. The primary aim of EDM marketing is to keep recipients engaged and informed, eventually driving them towards a specific action or goal, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a service, or attending an event.

What is traditional email marketing?

Email marketing is a form of digital marketing that utilizes email as a channel to distribute information and promote communication. This strategy targets a larger audience and includes newsletters, press releases, announcements, and promotional offers. The primary objective of email marketing is to acquire new customers, retain existing clients, maintain open communication with the audience, build brand awareness, and boost sales.

Understanding the key differences between EDM and traditional email marketing

While both EDM marketing and email marketing involve sending electronic messages, they cater to different objectives. Here are the most significant differences between the two strategies:

Personalization and targeting

EDM (electronic direct mail) uses data to target specific segments by delivering personalized and relevant content. This involves dividing the audience based on their interests, past behaviors, or demographic information, and tailoring the message to suit these segments.

On the other hand, traditional email marketing also uses email personalization and segmentation techniques, but the messages created are often more general to reach a larger audience. The goal is to appeal to as many recipients as possible without compromising the message’s effectiveness. 

Content strategy

EDM marketing uses customized content that forms a strong connection with the recipient. This could involve stories, insights, or exclusive offers that evoke an emotional response or provide value. 

In contrast, traditional email marketing uses content such as promotional offers, news, or updates about the brand, catering to a broader audience while still generating interest.

Metrics and measurements

The success of EDM marketing is determined by measuring engagement rate, customer retention, and the lifetime value of customers. It assesses how well the campaign builds a long-lasting relationship with the audience. 

On the other hand, traditional email marketing metrics typically focus on open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and bounce rates. This helps marketers drive immediate sales and enhance brand impact on a larger audience.

Combining EDM and email marketing for a holistic approach

Combining EDM marketing with email marketing can create an effective and all-encompassing marketing strategy. By integrating different tactics, channels, and approaches, you can create campaigns that resonate with your target audience, foster loyalty, and drive action and conversion. 

Here are some steps to help you successfully merge both strategies:

Define your objectives

It’s important to clearly outline the goals you want to achieve with your marketing campaigns. This could be increasing sales, engaging with existing customers, or expanding your audience reach. Having this clarity will enable you to make informed decisions about whether to focus on EDM marketing, email marketing, or both, depending on your current objectives.

For example, if your goal is to increase product sales while also engaging with your existing customer base, you might create an EDM marketing campaign with exclusive discounts for loyal customers. You can complement this with an email marketing campaign that promotes a site-wide sale for a broader audience.

Align your messaging

To create a consistent and memorable customer experience, it’s important to align your messaging, tone, and content across both EDM marketing and email marketing campaigns. This harmonization establishes a cohesive brand identity, making your communications easily recognizable to your audience. By aligning your messaging in both EDM marketing and email marketing, your customers can gain a clear understanding of your brand, offerings, and unique selling propositions, which sets you apart from competitors.

To achieve alignment in your messaging, it’s crucial to ensure that your brand tone of voice and style remain consistent across all communication channels employed in both EDM marketing and email marketing efforts. This consistency fosters trust and credibility with your audience, strengthens relationships, and increases the likelihood of achieving your marketing objectives, such as conversions, customer retention, or brand awareness growth.

Strategically integrate campaigns

Integrating your EDM marketing and email marketing campaigns can be extremely beneficial. By incorporating targeted content into your email newsletters, you can increase engagement. You can also use email marketing campaigns to create interest and drive engagement for exclusive offers or events.

For instance, if you are organizing an exclusive event for a small group and want to generate more interest and engagement, you can send an invitation to the rest of your contacts to join a waitlist to gain access to the event. 

This tactic not only grabs their attention but encourages them to opt-in for future communications and builds your email marketing list. You can categorize this audience based on their interests and keep engaging and targeting them in the future with relevant content.

Keep the cadence in check

To maintain a consistent and impactful presence in your audience’s inbox, it’s essential to strike the right balance between EDM marketing and traditional email marketing campaigns in your marketing calendar. 

To ensure that your audience is engaged and not overwhelmed, we suggest using a combination of EDM marketing and traditional email marketing campaigns. For example, you could send a monthly newsletter featuring personalized content and customized offers for the recipient.

Alongside this, you could send weekly email marketing updates that showcase general promotions, industry news, or company announcements. This way, you can maintain a comfortable pace for your audience and keep them up-to-date with your latest offerings.

The bottom line

In conclusion, while both EDM marketing and email marketing have their unique advantages, a successful digital marketing strategy requires a balanced and adaptive approach. By understanding the differences between these two approaches and knowing when to use each, you can optimize your marketing efforts and achieve your desired results. 

So, it’s important to assess your marketing objectives, target audience, and budget before deciding which approach to choose. By doing so, you can tailor your marketing efforts to effectively reach and engage your audience, and ultimately drive conversions and revenue.

1. Optimize your website with a signup form

It’s important to think of your website as your digital storefront, as it’s the perfect place to start collecting email addresses and growing your marketing lists. To capture the attention of your target audience, you can integrate a data capture popover to high-traffic areas such as your homepage, blog posts, or even within the checkout phase. You can use these smartly timed overlays to invite new visitors to sign up for your marketing emails.

When adding forms to your website, consider including attractive signup incentives such as a discount code or exclusive member access for email subscribers. This way, you not only gain their email address but they also get something in return. It’s a win-win situation.

2. Create gated content

Gated content refers to resources such as ebooks, whitepapers, or exclusive webinars that are only accessible to users who provide their email address, fill out a form, or complete a survey. By requiring users to provide their contact information, gated content can help expand your contact lists, which can be a valuable asset for future marketing campaigns and sales efforts.

Dotdigital’s pages and forms are powerful tools that can be integrated into your website to create custom landing pages that capture essential customer data and insights. This data can be used to personalize your marketing campaigns and improve your overall customer experience, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates. 

Creating gated content can help marketers generate leads, build brand awareness, and position themselves as experts and thought leaders in their industry. By providing valuable resources that are only accessible to a select group of users, you can establish trust and authority with your target audience, which can lead to increased loyalty and advocacy over time.

3. Leverage social media

If you want to increase your email list subscribers, leveraging social media is a great way to do it. You can promote your email lists for marketing through your various social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

One way to do this is by pinning a tweet or creating a Facebook post that highlights the benefits of subscribing to your marketing list. Make sure to include a call-to-action (CTA) and a link to your signup form in the post. This will make it easy for people to sign up and become part of your email community.

Facebook lead ads can also help you attract new subscribers. You can directly sync contacts from your Facebook lead ads into your Dotdigital account. Facebook lead ads are connected to an ‘instant form’ that collects customer information, such as email, phone number, and custom preferences. Once customers click on your ad and fill in this form your data is seamlessly synced. From there, you can add these contacts to a nurture campaign to engage your new audience.

4. Offer a customer loyalty program

Another effective way to encourage people to subscribe to your email marketing list is by offering them a customer loyalty program. By providing limited-time offers or special deals that are reserved for subscribers, you create an enticing incentive for potential customers to sign up and be part of your email marketing list.

This strategy not only helps increase the perceived value of your product offering but also helps build strong relationships with your existing customers by rewarding their loyalty. When your subscribers feel like they are getting something special that others are not, they are more likely to remain engaged with your brand and continue to open and interact with your emails.

To make the most of this strategy, it’s important to ensure that the discounts and promotions you offer are relevant and valuable to your target audience. Consider what types of offers would be most appealing to your subscribers and align with your brand’s values and messaging. Additionally, be sure to communicate the terms and conditions of the offer, including any expiration dates or limitations, to avoid any confusion or disappointment.

5. Host online events and webinars

Hosting online events and webinars is a great way to engage with your audience and provide them with valuable information. By offering live Q&A sessions and other interactive features, you can create a sense of community and build trust with your audience. Additionally, hosting online events provides an opportunity to collect email addresses, which can be used for future marketing efforts.

To ensure maximum attendance, it’s important to promote your events across various digital channels, such as social media and blog posts. You can also use Dotdigital tools to manage registration and send reminder emails to those who have signed up. When promoting your event, make sure to choose a compelling topic that piques their interest and curiosity, and communicate the benefits of attending.

6. Encourage referrals from existing subscribers

One effective way to grow your email marketing list is by encouraging referrals from your existing subscribers. Word-of-mouth marketing can be a powerful tool, and by incentivizing your current subscribers to refer their friends, family, or colleagues, you can tap into this potential. 

Consider developing a referral program that rewards both the referrer and the new subscriber with exclusive discounts, bonus content, or access to members-only events. This not only helps expand your email marketing lists but also fosters a sense of community among your subscribers. 

To make your referral program even more effective, you can also provide your subscribers with pre-written messages or social media posts that they can easily share with their network. This can help ensure that the referral process is as seamless as possible and increase the likelihood of new subscribers signing up. 

7. Optimize your email sign up process for mobile devices

Mobile devices have become an integral part of our lives. With more and more people accessing the internet through their smartphones and tablets, it’s important to optimize your email sign up for mobile devices.

To ensure that your sign up popovers are mobile-friendly, you need to make sure that they are responsive, functional, and fit mobile screens. You should also ensure that your signup forms are adaptive and easy to fill out on a mobile device.

By optimizing your email sign up process for mobile devices, you can ensure that your marketing lists grow with new subscribers. This will help you reach a wider audience and increase your chances of converting them into loyal customers. 

8. Strengthen your email lists with marketing automation

Email marketing automation is a powerful tool that allows you to communicate with your audience through personalized and targeted emails. This helps to strengthen the relationship between your subscribers and your brand. With the right approach, you can use automation to retain your existing subscribers and attract new ones, ultimately strengthening your email marketing list.

Here are three ways you can use email marketing automation to strengthen and nurture your email list:

Automated welcome emails

Make a great first impression with new subscribers by sending a personalized welcome email. This initial touchpoint allows you to thank subscribers for joining, highlight the value they can expect from your future communications, and prompt them to whitelist your email address. Welcome emails generally have high open and click-through rates, making them an essential component of your email marketing strategy.

Behavior-triggered emails

Dotdigital’s email marketing automation platform allows you to send behavior-triggered emails based on a subscriber’s specific actions, such as browsing history, previous purchases, or form submissions. By delivering personalized messages tailored to each subscriber’s needs and interests, you provide value, which in turn enhances engagement and helps retain your existing subscribers while adding new ones.

Re-engagement campaigns

Keep your email list active by initiating re-engagement campaigns targeted towards inactive subscribers. You can even use Dotdigital’s remail feature to automatically resend a campaign with a new subject line to anyone who hasn’t engaged with it after a set number of days. This can help you rekindle a subscriber’s interest and prevent your email list from stagnating.

Remember to monitor and analyze performance

To achieve long-term growth, it’s essential to regularly monitor and analyze the performance of your marketing list-building strategies. This involves analyzing the results of your campaigns to determine how engaged your list is and how well your tactics are delivering high-quality leads. By doing so, you can gain valuable insights into what is working and what is not, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your marketing efforts.

It’s also important to experiment with new ideas and techniques to ensure that your email lists for marketing continue to grow and generate the desired results. This can involve A/B split testing different email copy and subject lines, or exploring new channels for list-building. By continually testing and refining your approach, you can stay ahead of the curve and ensure that your marketing efforts are always effective and up-to-date.

It’s time to grow your email marketing lists

Growing your email marketing lists is important for all marketing teams. By implementing these eight powerful strategies, you can increase your list size and improve the quality of your leads. Focus on customer needs, maintain a consistent content strategy, and keep your subscribers engaged. With the right approach, your marketing lists will become one of your most valuable assets in driving growth.

We’ve selected ten email and SMS examples from this year’s Black Friday marketing frenzy. These examples demonstrate how marketers can effectively engage their target audience, create a sense of urgency, and entice customers with time-sensitive deals. So let’s dive in.

1. Make your Black Friday email promotions pop with countdown timers

During Black Friday, customers receive a lot of promotional emails. To stand out from the crowd, marketers need to find ways to quickly capture their customers’ attention. One effective method is to use visuals and images to make emails more appealing. By incorporating visually attractive countdown clocks in emails, readers are more likely to engage with the content. These clocks help in keeping the message fresh in the minds of the readers which makes it harder for them to forget about it.

Virgin Atlantic’s Black Friday email provides a prime example of how to effectively leverage a countdown timer in an email marketing campaign. They ingeniously combined an animated countdown timer with a boarding pass, a visually attractive approach that made the brand’s email stand out from the competition.

This strategic use of a countdown timer significantly increased Virgin Atlantic’s email click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate, as customers were visually reminded of the fleeting nature of the exclusive Black Friday deals. When customers see the countdown timer ticking away and that an offer is ending soon, they are more likely to feel motivated to grab the discount before time runs out.

2. Use engaging and captivating MMS campaigns

During the Black Friday sales period, MMS messages can be a powerful tool to engage customers. With MMS, you can integrate images, audio, and video into your text messages, providing a more immersive experience that goes beyond plain text.

Starface is an expert in using MMS for Black Friday promotions. They create a sense of urgency by offering limited-time deals that are valid only from the message’s delivery until midnight. With discounts of 25% on patches, 50% on skincare products, and a buy-one-get-one offer, Starface creates an irresistible value proposition that grabs customers’ attention and encourages them to act quickly.

3. Give your Black Friday promotion a heartwarming twist

During Black Friday promotions, it’s easy to only showcase attractive discounts and deals. However, by incorporating a creative and heartwarming twist to your Black Friday promotions, you can truly capture the hearts of your customers. Such promotions go beyond mere financial incentives and tap into the emotions and values of the target audience, solidifying customer loyalty for the long haul.

To execute these promotions successfully, marketers need to understand what resonates with their audience and align it with the company’s core values. A heartwarming twist can mean supporting a charitable cause, giving back to the community, or providing exclusive, emotionally engaging content. The possibilities are endless, yet the objective remains the same: to forge a deeper connection with customers and inspire them to advocate for the brand.

Thortful, a card marketplace, added a unique twist to its Black Friday campaign. From November 24 to 27, they introduced “Thortsgiving”—a celebration that gives back to its creators. This unique take on a Black Friday message sends a powerful message to customers: Thortful is not just a place to buy meaningful cards—they are a tight-knit community that stands by its creators and supports small businesses.

By taking this approach, Thortful skillfully establishes an emotional connection with its customers. The campaign is an excellent example of how marketers can leverage holiday promotions to not only drive sales but also cultivate deeper connections while remaining true to its core values.

4. Create memorable copy

Writing memorable copy is important during the holiday rush. With so many messages fighting for attention, your goal should be to create copy that stands out and leaves a lasting impression. Use persuasive language to stimulate your subscribers’ curiosity and emotions, and create a sense of urgency that encourages them to take action. 

For instance, Coach was able to successfully target its SMS subscribers during Black Friday by weaving a sense of urgency into its message. They emphasized that it was the final chance for customers to save big on their purchases before the deals disappeared. The brand urged customers to act quickly and provided a convenient link to access Coach’s exclusive offers.

5. Creating a sense of exclusivity with VIP deals

A highly effective way to ensure customer retention and drive sales is by cultivating a sense of exclusivity through special offers just for VIPs or members. Providing your most valued customers with exclusive access to limited-edition products, discounts, or early shopping access can foster a sense of loyalty and privilege.

One noteworthy example comes from BH Cosmetics, who expertly crafted a Black Friday email designed exclusively for its valued members. The email promised BH Cosmetics’ VIP members an exclusive golden ticket, securing their spot on the priority waitlist ahead of other customers. This members-only campaign not only offered exceptional deals but also made its customers feel they were part of a special group, granting them special access to these incredible Black Friday offers.

6. Embrace conciseness and clarity

On Black Friday, shoppers are eager to find deals from their favorite brands quickly and effortlessly. With SMS messages having a limited character count, crafting concise yet informative content is essential. To optimize your Black Friday SMS marketing campaigns, focus on capturing the essence of your promotion clearly while delivering all the necessary information to your target audience.

BCBG’s SMS campaign demonstrates the power of brevity and clarity. During its Black Friday promotion, BCBG sent out a simple and clear SMS message to subscribers that provided all the essential information about the offer without overwhelming recipients with unnecessary details.

In just a few words, the message conveys the nature of the promotion (40% OFF EVERYTHING), the limited-time aspect of the offer, and a strong call to action (Shop now). Furthermore, by including a convenient link to access the sale, BCBG encourages recipients to click through and explore its website, thus increasing the likelihood of sales conversions.

7. Put your best graphics forward

One way to leave a lasting impression during the Black Friday email scramble is to avoid using basic, overused design templates. By creating a unique and cohesive design that stands out from generic email layouts, you can set your brand apart and draw attention to the content within.

Van’s Black Friday email campaign is an excellent example of how to merge innovative design with an engaging concept. Van’s email features a ski and mountain scene that seamlessly integrates a playful interactive game, neatly organized gift selections by price range, and a holiday playlist for recipients to enjoy.

Van’s embraces the Black Friday theme by incorporating unique black elements, such as the font and mountain illustrations, within its email design. This playful, clever approach celebrates the essence of Black Friday while preserving the brand’s distinct design aesthetics.

8. Enhance your campaigns with emojis

Emojis have become an indispensable part of modern communication, adding emotion and personality to text-based messages. If you incorporate emojis in your Black Friday SMS marketing campaigns, it can help create a more conversational and relatable tone, which can help differentiate your brand from the competition. 

For instance, Youth To The People used emojis cleverly to enhance its Black Friday SMS promotion. Youth To The People’s message added an element of excitement and visual appeal, making the content more eye-catching and memorable. 

The incorporation of the clock emoji not only delivers the sale information in a more visually engaging way but also adds an element of fun to the campaign. The emojis help reinforce the excitement surrounding the offer while also boosting the readability and impact of the SMS message.

When incorporating emojis into your SMS marketing campaigns, it’s essential to remember that moderation is key. Using too many emojis can overwhelm your audience, diminishing the impact of your core message and potentially leading to confusion or disinterest. Striking the right balance between visuals and text is crucial to ensure that your marketing communication remains clear and effective.

To achieve this harmony, consider limiting the emojis in your message to one or two highly relevant symbols that complement your text and reflect the sentiment you want to evoke. Place the emojis strategically within the message to emphasize crucial points or provide a visual break without cluttering the overall content.

9. Prioritize mobile optimization

With a staggering 76% of all Cyber Week ecommerce traffic in 2022 originating from mobile devices, marketers need to optimize their Black Friday email campaigns for mobile users. Ensuring that your promotional emails are responsive and displayed appropriately on a variety of devices will significantly enhance user experience and increase the likelihood of engagement, conversions, and success.

One great example of a mobile-friendly email campaign is MunchPak’s. It’s highly effective, with two prominent promo codes seamlessly integrated. The campaign also includes specific details about the offer’s expiration, ensuring customers don’t miss out on these exclusive deals.

10. Leverage last-minute reminders for increased action

Last-minute reminders are an effective way to make the most of the Black Friday hype and encourage customers who haven’t yet taken advantage of your promotion to act. By reminding them of the approaching deadline, you create a sense of urgency that prompts hesitating or last-minute shoppers to act before the offer expires.

For example, Nuts, a popular brand for nuts and snacks, used a last-minute reminder in its Black Friday SMS campaign. In this message, Nuts effectively communicated that it was the last chance to participate in its Black Friday sale. The use of a loudspeaker emoji further emphasized the need for prompt action.

When incorporating last-minute reminders into your SMS campaigns, make it clear that the offer is about to expire, creating a sense of urgency that prompts recipients to act immediately or risk missing out. This approach not only boosts engagement but also helps to capture sales from those who may have forgotten or overlooked your initial promotion.

Summary

To wrap up, the Black Friday promotions showcased in this blog post captivated our attention and stood out among the rest. You can take these outstanding examples as a springboard for inspiration when designing your upcoming email and SMS campaigns. In doing so, you’ll be better equipped to create captivating and engaging experiences for your customers during future Black Friday events.

Here are some examples of how you can get started with our plugin.

Classic sign-up widget

With our new “Dotdigital Signup Form” block, you can use the block editor to position a simple sign-up form wherever your theme permits – in a widget area alongside your content, or on any page or post. Use custom CSS to seamlessly align with your site design.

By default, we’ll reload the same page on submit – but you can have it redirect to a different page, or even a completely different website, if you prefer. With our very latest version, you can now opt to submit the form via AJAX, so users see a success message directly below the form, right after clicking ‘Subscribe’. 

Capture more detail

Your use case may require capturing more information. Our lists and data fields come into play here, providing added flexibility to construct many different types of form. 

Embed a survey

As an alternative to using the plugin configuration, you can now embed any of your Dotdigital surveys, landing pages and forms into your WordPress layouts using the block editor. With this approach, all the form fields are arranged and designed in Dotdigital – you simply select the form you want from a select element, inside a block.

Of course, with form options in Dotdigital, you can route sign-ups into specific lists in your account, or enroll contacts into a program.

Capture mobile numbers in a popover form

Dotdigital surveys, landing pages and forms can be set as popovers, with an option panel to tune the presentation of the modal on your website. Again, use the WordPress block editor to create timely promotions in seconds.

This is just a small selection of examples of what you can achieve with our Dotdigital for WordPress plugin. All of us in the engineering team here at Dotdigital are excited to see many more uses on your websites in the months to come.

Learn more about how to install and use Dotdigital for WordPress in our support documentation.