The holidays sneak up on you.
It seems like one day you’re celebrating Independence Day with fireworks on a beach, and the next you’re picking out your Thanksgiving turkey. Yet, waiting to set up a killer Cyber Monday plan can’t wait until November. And if you want to find online sales success, it’s time to think about using new and innovative tools that work with your eCommerce business.
The evolution of marketing automation has gone well beyond any simple autoresponder plan. Now you can set up a system that will respond to each customer’s behaviors. They don’t open a sales email, you send them another one 24 hours later (with a little extra incentive). They still have an item in their cart after Cyber Monday, you already have an abandoned cart strategy in place.
Online sales are growing every holiday season and marketing automation is making it easier to achieve killer Cyber Monday sales. Here’re the top three tools to consider when designing your holiday marketing plans:
1. GetResponse
GetResponse advises users to start gathering data now to understand when your subscribers are opening up their emails. They also advise that “Cyber Monday is just the beginning. Holiday sales typically continue to climb until shipping deadlines. Make sure you prepare a steady stream of email offers throughout the season.”
To achieve steady sales throughout the season, GetResponse has three key features to consider: cart abandonment, shopping cart integration, and a visual workflow editor. This editor is a drag & drop system that will easily build a unique automation system that will lead your Cyber Monday customers to the checkout.
2. MailChimp
One interesting fact that MailChimp shares is that opens and clicks actually decrease during the holidays. This actually makes sense as we are bombarded by every retailer we’ve visited during the year. No one can possibly read everything they get, even if they are looking for good deals.
That’s why it’s crucial to have a good marketing system set up early. MailChimp’s best features for Cyber Monday are: cart abandonment, shopping cart integration and a best customer option. If consumers don’t want or have time to open the hundreds of holiday emails they get every day, it makes sense to laser target your best customers with special sales or coupons.
3. Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud
During the holiday season, Salesforce tracked 3.8 million conversations about Black Friday and Cyber Monday! One major finding from that data is the “avoiding Black Friday” and “waiting for Cyber Monday” increased significantly. Good news for eCommerce!
Marketing Cloud’s features to help achieve Cyber Monday greatness include: a visual workflow editor, cart abandonment, and a B2B option. It’s more expensive than basic marketing automation, but it’s perfect if you’re in a B2B niche.
Smart Marketing Takes Time
Every eStore owner, regardless of size, should start planning for Cyber Monday well in advance. Marketing automation is a huge advancement in eCommerce and there are new tools that are both affordable and easy to use. Creating a plan now allows you enough time to do some testing and set up the perfect marketing automation system for your unique business.
Because those who win Cyber Monday, are the one’s who are planning right this minute.