Email Marketing Nuts and Bolts

Ok, let’s talk turkey: this holiday season, if it gets to be December 24th and you’re two steps away from sending your 55th email of the season to “All Subscribers” you certainly may have gotten every message you wanted across, but you also might not have any subscribers left!

The holidays are a tough balance for email marketers: consumers want deals and email marketers want to send them every deal they have on the planet, but most subscribers don’t want their inbox stuffed fuller than a Thanksgiving turkey from November through to New Years!

Here are 5 suggestions for Engaging (and Saving) Subscribers During the Holidays:

Analyze recent campaigns and see what’s working –If you take some time to look through your tracking results and see, for example, that your open rates are better with “exclusive” subject lines or your click-through rates are higher in more graphic-rich emails then design the rest of your emails with these elements in mind.

Keep an eye on increased holiday sends -“Every fatigued subscriber who opts out in December is someone who won’t see your emails at all next year,” warns email marketing expert Suzanne Norman. If you immediately started mailing 5x a day on Black Friday, then keep tabs on your unsubscribe rates, and tone it down a notch if rates start to spike.

Make your emails as colorful and assorted as your Thanksgiving plate! – Make your subscribers want to open your emails. Whether you use dynamic content to populate each email for your subscriber’s preferences; offer new and exciting reasons to open your emails; or send them flash sales or contests, the more variety in the campaign the more your subscribers will want to engage.

Use your sign-up page to promote exclusive holiday offers only subscribers receive. With the right incentives, you might build your list and be able to reach out to a whole new customer base throughout 2011.

Make it easy for everyone to spread your holiday cheer! Add a “ShareThis” button, or highlight the “Forward to a Friend” feature. With people relying heavily on social networks for shopping ideas and advice, having your content in this space puts you a step ahead of the competition.