Holiday Service Levels & Email Marketing (Part 1)

I'm on the road this week so I've given Erin, our Director of Marketing the task of filling my shoes! I think she's done a great job talking about things to think about during the holiday season. Erin, take it away...

The holidays can be the most lucrative time of year and the speed of email marketing makes bringing those dollars in easier and faster than ever. It's also a time of year of when buyers are more stressed and often less patient when it comes to service related issues.

How do you protect your brand and increase customer loyalty when every order is time-sensitive and emotionally charged? We've put together a few helpful tips to maintain your online zen during the holidays...

MAKE IT EASY TO ORDER

Remember there are a whole bunch of new online shoppers out there that may not be the most internet savvy individuals, this is your time to carefully walk those less savvy through the process and win them over with great service for the rest of the year.

A few questions to ask yourself about your online order process...

• Can they change quantities or sizing on the shipping screen?
• Do you explain turnaround times upfront? Are the number of steps to completing an order understood so they understand how many screens they will walk through to completing an order?
• Do you let the customer know when they should expect their confirmation or transactional emails (within minutes or within days?)
• Do you include instructions for returns in confirmation emails so they can pass along to a recipient?

DRIVE RETAIL TRAFFIC

If shipping in higher volumes can be a challenge for you to fulfill or you're also looking to drive retail traffic, consider sending a "buy online and pick up in the store" email offer. One of the big electronic retailers promotes this every year with television commercials. It also provides an additional opportunity to up-sell customers in a retail location and build a personal relationship. Another chance to prove your service promise!

We didn't want to bog you down too much, so look for part 2 in a few days. Any ideas are more than welcome.

Comments

[Dr. Larry Fitzgerald]

I have found that email blitzes that require "printer downloads" or "search engine registration" reduce the number of responses. I don't use these in my email campaigns.