Posts Tagged ‘online sales’
December 21st, 2009 | 
Author: 
The Client Freak-Out
I get a 10:00 pm call from a client freaking out. His holiday sales are down and he needs some kind of help. I ask how much email marketing he’s been doing. His response? “Huh?” Long pause. Silence. More pause. I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or just drive over to his house and bonk him on the head like a Three Stooges movie. When I gain my composure, I say the gentlest thing I can. “Bro, seriously, that was soooo not the right answer.” We have a little talk with some weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and I finally tell him to take two bulk emails, get some sleep, and call me in the morning.
Email Solution
As some of you might have guessed, just about noon the next day, his phone starts to ring with new customers. But why? The answer is very simple; email marketing works. For online marketing, it brings some of the fastest possible ROI. The big boys of retail know this. Of major national retailers, 55% will be focusing on email marketing during the holidays this years. Even more amazing, 75% of small businesses will be increasing their spending on email marketing for 2010.
Things to Remember
You’re still dealing with sheer numbers as well as a lot of other marketing factors, so don’t send out a lame email, and don’t send 3 to your favorite cousin and his dog Sparky, and expect to get sales. You have to be sensible. Send out a fair amount, make sure they have a clear and compelling message, and make sure your site supports the message of the email. If you can do all of this, then most people can expect to see some decent, and fast, ROI.
Time to Get Busy
There’s still time to shoot out a few emails before Christmas if you haven’t done this yet. Don’t forget, there are After Christmas Sales, New Year’s Sales, January Blow Out Sales, and all kinds of good excuses to send out a lot more seasonal email.
If you haven’t done it yet, get that email flying, there’s still time. For more details about putting the email and the landing page together, I’ll have an upcoming article.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: email, holiday sales, marketing, online sales, retail, shopping, trends | 
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Santa battles customer service problems.
Santa’s Problem
If more people are shopping online, and more companies are offering free delivery, is Santa going to be out of a job? Will UPS put his delivery service out of business? Will the reindeer get pushed to the back of the motor pool? Will this whole operation get gobbled up in a hostile takeover? Will Santa go high tech and fight back?
I don’t really care; Santa hasn’t brought me anything since I was ten. (He mumbled somethinig about me being on the naughty list.) But here’s what I DO care about: online retail sales numbers for the holiday season are projected to be up 5.4% over last year! Last year, online seasonal sales were DOWN 5.7%, so this is a huge improvement.
What does that extra 5% mean to the average small business? Well, it means we’re seeing some stirring again in consumer spending. That’s going to translate across to lots of small businesses, even those which aren’t in retail. Statistics show that people have been saving their money, instead of spending their money, for the first time in 20 years. Some experts think people are quickly tiring of living so frugally, and want to treat themselves for the holidays. So people are finally turning lose of some of that money.
What To Do
It’s critical right now to make sure your website is running on all cylinders. The navigation should be clear and concise, your calls to action should be in place, and it needs to be targeting your customers correctly. You also need to make use of your email advertising. Sending out specials and coupons in your email list, and driving those people back to your website, is one of the quickest places to see your advertising translate into sales.
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: delivery, ecommerce, holiday sales, marketing, online sales, retail, santa, shopping, UPS |
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