Cyber Monday Is Over, But The Iron Is Still Hot!
93% of all ecommerce retailers sent a marketing email on Cyber Monday. That’s a stat that shouldn’t really surprise anyone as it is the biggest online shopping day of the year and the sales this year were estimated to be over $2.2 billion, which is over 20% higher then Cyber Monday 2012. However, the stat that I’d really like to see is, what percentage of companies sent promotional emails in the days immediately following Cyber Monday? I bet that the drop off was pretty significant and while I couldn’t find any solid supporting data, I did look at my own email inbox(es) and I have received twice as many promotional emails on Cyber Monday then I’ve received in both of the days since Cyber Monday ended.
Now I’m sure there are simple explanations for the decline such as merchants are fulfilling orders, managing customer service issues, etc., etc. But in my opinion not sending promotional emails in the days immediately following Cyber Monday is a huge mistake. Why? Well as the title of this article suggests the preverbal “iron is still hot” aka customers are still in the mood to spend!
Believe it or not, some of us actually had to work on Cyber Monday and didn’t get a chance to shop for the best deals online. With a few exceptions from some merchants, by the time I got around to shopping, most of the Cyber Monday deals were over. No huge discounts, no free shipping, no free gift bag (that I’ll never use) with my purchase. I was out of luck. But the emails that came in from the companies who did send promotions after Cyber Monday were a welcome site for my sore online shopping eyes.
While I’m sure that most eCommerce merchants have a very strategic marketing plan for the holiday season, I’d argue that this is the one time of the year for you to break some of your standard marketing rules and over due it on the promotional email just a bit. So send those emails with frequency, blast deals daily on Facebook and Twitter and offer the free gift bag on more days then one (even if some of us don’t use it). When your customers get in a position to shop online this holiday season you’ll be sure to be at the top of their inbox!
Happy Holidays!