Valentine's Sales Boost: Help for forgetful
Marketing and Valentine's Day are a perfect combination - it's a time when lovers around the world exchange gifts. So, there is no better time to boost your sales. It's not always easy to choose the right gift for your other half, and not everyone remembers this holiday. To help your customers, make the most of the opportunities provided by a variety of communication tools that not only help them find unique gifts but can also help increase engagement and loyalty during this special shopping season. In this article, you will discover how to use simple communication scenarios and social proof to aid not only the forgetful in choosing the perfect Valentine's gift.
Create email template with catalog-based banners
The effectiveness of email campaigns often depends on personalization. To reach our customers with unique offers at the right time, it's a good idea to plan your Valentine's Day campaign in advance and tailor its content to their interests, needs, and preferences.
Imagine a scenario: A customer receives an email with a banner tailored to a specific day of the month and their transaction history. In the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day, customers receive messages aimed at sparking interest and excitement about the upcoming celebration of love. This could include a gift guide, recommendations based on gifts bought last year, special discounts, or free shipping as the 14th of February approaches. The banners in the messages may vary depending on whether the customer has made a transaction in the last 180 days or not.
How to achieve this: Create a catalog based on a CSV file with banner links, relevant links assigned to a specific day of the month, and customer segment. Create an aggregate to distinguish customer groups later. Create a message template with a Jinjava insert so that the corresponding customer segment will be shown the corresponding banner of the current day of the month. Then, you can use this template in an email campaign by manually sending it or configuring it within an automation module.
Pro tip: This personalization can be done based on any customer attributes or activities, such as transaction history or loyalty program status.
Personalized SMS with discount coupon
To encourage your customers to make Valentine's Day purchases, prepare personalized discount codes for selected products. An SMS campaign can be an efficient way to reach users quickly and effectively.
Scenario: Customers with consent to SMS communication receive a message with a personalized discount code that they can use when shopping online: "Love is all you need. Give your loved one a special gift - use discount coupon [XYZ] for 14PLN on specially selected Valentine's Day products in our store [link]." Be sure to include a link to your Valentine's Day offer in the message. This not only serves as an effective way to reach customers but also provides them with a personalized offer, increasing the chance of taking advantage of the promotion.
Pro tip: Send messages only to those customers who are most likely to make a purchase. This way, you can reduce campaign costs and increase revenue at the same time. Use Prediction capabilities to calculate the propensity to purchase for customers who have agreed to receive SMS communications, and then prepare a segmentation of customers with the highest propensity.
Social proof mix
As Valentine's Day approaches, it's a good idea to introduce Social Proof. This solution involves using the opinions and actions of others to convince customers to buy products or services. This action is based on a psychological mechanism related to "social conformity," which states that people often make decisions based on the actions of others.
How does it work: Social Proof uses metrics with dynamic keys, allowing selected statistics on the product page to be displayed in real-time using dynamic content, adapting to the currently viewed product.
Scenario: A customer is searching for the perfect last-minute Valentine's gift for their loved one, and next to the viewed product, a message displays, " X days left until Valentine's Day, Y people in love are browsing this product, hurry up! Only Z pieces left! ". The right message based on social proof can make it easier for them to make a decision. The number of people viewing the offer, average product ratings, and product availability in the store are just a few comunications that can create a cohesive message tailored to the customer's needs.
Pro Tip: You can also increase the sense of urgency by displaying information on how many days are left for the customer to make a purchase, ensuring the product will arrive in time for Valentine's Day. Nothing motivates like a deadline.
Labeling products in the catalog as bestsellers
Highlight selected products during the Valentine's Day campaign to make it easier for customers to search for gifts, use data on the best-selling products in the previous season, and place a "Valentine's Day bestsellers" label next to the product.
How to do it: Create a catalog that will be the basis for automatic data import. The goal is to import SKUs and a number of units sold of the best-selling products. Then prepare a metric that calculates the number of purchases and create a report showing the best-selling products. Retrieve the content of the report request and set up a workflow that sends transactional data to the catalog, providing accurate and up-to-date information. In the last step, create dynamic content that will add a "Valentine's Day bestseller" label to certain products.
Pro tip: Don't just limit yourself to historical data, use data on individual customer preferences (such as favorite color) to enrich your communications with personalized recommendations of best-selling products.
Benefits
The application of the described solutions during the Valentine's season brings a range of benefits:
Valentine's campaigns based on personalization and the use of data not only increase sales effectiveness but also shape a positive brand image. It‘s an opportunity to increase revenue, and also to build a lasting and rewarding relationship with the customer. Valentine's Day is a celebration of love, and a perfect moment to showcase how unique your brand is.
Ola Wyszkowska , Junior Marketing Specialist