Usually, U.S. retailers earn 20-80% of their entire yearly gross
during the holiday season. But this year, things are different.
The sluggish US economy has prompted Deloitte Research's Carl
Steidtmann to fear "the worst Christmas ever" in the retail sector.
Short of going door to door in a Santa suit, how can businesses
increase profits and prevent a blue Christmas? Despite economic
gloom, industry leaders have found that an e-mail follow up strategy
can increase sales by a cheery 35%! To weather the ailing economy,
use a follow up autoresponder during your holiday campaigns.
What Does It Do?
Follow up autoresponders follow up with your leads for you. You
create a series of messages, and decide when they should be sent,
(daily, weekly, etc.). Your autoresponder will send the messages
to each new lead automatically. With no further intervention from
you, your leads will remember you throughout the winter chill. And
this regular reminding will mean more sales during the all-important
holiday shopping season.
Give yourself the gift of a higher conversion rate! Follow up
automatically using these simple steps:
Offer Useful Information
Write your follow up messages for your leads - not for yourself.
You want to talk about your great service, but your leads just want
to know what they'll get out of it!
At some point, you must have purchased something like your product.
What were you looking for then? Was it information about pricing,
styles, or holiday gift wrapping? Maybe just a clearer explanation
of the product? Figure that out, and put the answer in your follow
up messages. That's what your leads want to know.
Personalize Your Messages
You don't open postal mail addressed to "Current Resident", and your
leads aren't going to read e-mail addressed to "Dear Internet
Friend." People are simply more likely to read messages that
address them by name.
Autoresponders let you use variables to personalize your messages.
This way, you write just one message, but Lenny Lead reads "Happy
Holidays, Lenny!" while Kate Customer reads "Happy Holidays, Kate!"
Names are only the beginning of the personalization features
available, though. In addition to full, first, and last names,
some autoresponders let you add e-mail addresses, dates, or an ad
category. The best even correct the capitalization in your leads'
names, giving your messages a much more professional look.
Track Your Leads
Get even better results from your snowballing list of leads by
experimenting with follow up content and timing. Your
experimentation will be much more successful if you have access
to proper statistics.
Only use a follow up autoresponder that offers detailed lead
statistics. Look for live, graphical stats that show your incoming
leads broken down by day / week / month, all of your active leads,
and leads who have requested removal from your list.
Broadcast Tailor-Made Offers
To get more bang for your holiday buck, look for an autoresponder
that also lets you broadcast extra e-mails to all of your leads.
Some even allow you to send tailor-made offers only to leads who
meet certain criteria.
For instance, send everyone who's been on your list for a month a
special discount. Or, notify all leads interested in a certain
product when a new shipment comes in.
Follow up messages keep leads warm. Use periodic broadcasts to
convert them to sales!
Prevent a Crummy Christmas
Businesses of all sizes have seen their sales grow by leaps and
bounds because of automated follow up. Implement your follow up
strategy now to make the best use of holiday leads! Then, enjoy
the season - your autoresponder is following up for you!
References:
Sydell, L. (2001, October 23). Holiday Online Retail, National
Public Radio's Marketplace
Covert, J. (2001, October 23). NY Fashion Designers Launch Bid to
Revive Holiday Sales, Wall Street Journal
