Imagine walking into a toy store and seeing a shiny red button on a table.
Go ahead, push it.
A metal ball above your head rolls down a track and your eyes follow it around the store to see where it ends up.
Instead of a single message your customers may forget, triggering a series of emails around your holiday marketing becomes more effective in sustaining your audience’s attention. An email automation series reinforces your message over and over, while simultaneously building excitement about what’s coming next.
Learn to help your marketing stand out from the noise of the holiday season with an automation series.
Meanwhile, the ball is still rolling…
Provide real value every step of the way
The ball falls off the track and trips a lever. This lifts a cage off a wind-up monster truck, which zooms forward, aimed at a ramp…
To keep your audience reading, each email in the series should provide consistent value and work towards solving your customer’s problem. By spreading the overall solution across multiple emails, you can better hold their attention and explain how your products offer the right solution.
If the toy store needed more in-store customers, the email series should set up a problem of holiday shopping, then offer a different solution in each succeeding email. For example, how shipping delays could interrupt the joy of the holidays. The email series could detail an alternative solution, such as shopping in-store and getting the toy the same day. Paired with an in-store coupon, this provides value and builds excitement about the business at the same time.
Meanwhile, the monster truck hits the ramp and launches into the air…
Build deeper excitement about your business and products
The truck flies across the store high above your head and lands in a net, which ignites a nearby torch…
Recommended for You
Webcast, December 18th: Optimizing Customer Engagement with User Intent
A movie scratches the surface of a topic, while a mini series has the time to go much deeper. This depth leads to higher levels of excitement and understanding; just think of how much you love “Stranger Things.” Expanding your email into a series lets you cover a wider range of solutions to a single problem, providing a deeper satisfaction than a simple answer.
The toy store needs to convey three different benefits of shopping in person. Instead of quickly highlighting the benefits with simple bullet points, each could be broken out into a separate email. The first could cover the in-store discount, the next could outline the benefits of testing a toy before buying, and the final email could introduce the store’s helpful employees. With separate emails for each point, there are more opportunities to convince the customer.
Meanwhile, the torch heats the air inside a miniature hot air balloon. A teddy bear looks out across the store from inside the basket…
Tease what’s coming next to maintain engagement
The teddy bear pilots the balloon to the center of the store, towards a clown figurine holding a large pin…
Just like the mini-series that keeps you guessing at every turn, building excitement in each email requires a mixture of solving a problem and detailing your product’s benefits, paired with a tease of what to expect in the next email. As long as each email provides value, the customer’s curiosity can hold their attention through the series.
Unboxing videos have exploded into a trend of their own online. Instead of listing the three hottest toys of the year, a toy store could use three separate videos and sprinkle the content across a series. At the end of each email, a tease of the next toy to be unveiled will act as an enticing cliffhanger.
Meanwhile, the clown punctures the balloon and it crumbles. The teddy bear separates from the basket and starts falling…
Slow down the free fall of your customers
Why bother with an email series? Like the teddy bear, your customers are in trouble. Not only do they have a problem that needs solving, but they’re also so busy that they don’t have time to look for a solution. Instead of making them search for you, your email series can present multiple solutions until they recognize the answer to their specific problem.
Knowing your customers well helps to solve the right problem with the right product. Prior to the boom of the holiday season, or as soon as you can, conduct a survey that uncovers the essential needs of your customers. The toy store may discover the main problem is last minute gifts, not shipping costs. This helps refocus the email series to what’s truly important to your customers.
Which brings us back to the teddy bear currently plummeting towards the ground…
“Save the teddy bear already!”
The teddy bear falls into a large funnel, which soon turns into a slide that loops and turns down towards the floor. The teddy bar slips off the slide and lands on a fluffy pillow beside the cash register. You walked into the store needing a gift anyways, why not get the teddy bear with a backstory of adventure?
Spreading your message over a series of emails keeps your audience more engaged with your business and helps you stand out from the holiday marketing noise. Start an email automation series that builds excitement about your business and informs your customers about your products to boost your sales this holiday season.