Eddie Cochran was an early rock ‘n roller, not an email marketer. Nevertheless, as the weather heats up and consumers head to their favorite beaches, lakes, mountains or backyards, his immortal lyrics probably resonate with marketers worried about how well their messages are going to be received (or if they are going to be received at all) over the next few months:
Sometimes I wonder what I’m a gonna do_
But there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues_
Take heart. Email marketers don’t need a “cure” for the summertime blues, because there is no need to suffer from them in the first place. Below are four ways to make sure you stay connected with customers during vacation season.
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**Make the most of mobile
**Good news: mobile phones go on vacation, too! While most vacationers are probably glad to leave their laptops at home during their summer breaks, those same folks won’t even consider hitting the road without their phones. More emails are opened on mobile devices than any other, so make sure your message will be as effective on a hand-held at poolside as it would have been if viewed on a desktop at the office. Having said that, you also need to ensure your wonderfully optimized email gets opened, which brings us to our next tip… -
**Make your subject line count
**Your emails are always competing with other email, other forms of media, and work-related tasks for the recipient’s attention. It gets even more challenging during the summer. For the next few months they will also be up against the all-important “piña colada or daiquiri” decision, the next chapter of the summer’s hottest beach read or the view from the mountainside scenic overlook. This means paying extra attention to your subject lines – they need to be compelling enough to overcome those summer distractions. Need inspiration? Here are “18 of the best subject lines you’ve ever read.” -
**Create a 1:1 experience
**OK, you’ve got an attention-grabbing subject line – but what about the content of your message? Is it static – one size fits all – or unique to each recipient? We’ve seen increased engagement with emails that take the form of personalized experiences that focus on the needs of individual customers. (Come to think of it, that sounds like what most vacationers are seeking, doesn’t it?) By employing dynamic content, your messages can be tailored to contextual factors like the recipient’s location and even to the current weather at the time the message is opened – a technique that has been successfully employed by Lexus and other marketers. -
**Capitalize on the summer holidays
**The holidays that bookend the summer, Independence Day and Labor Day, provide once-a-year opportunities for email marketers. Independence Day – which American consumers celebrated last year by spending almost $7 billion on cookouts, picnics and barbecues – provides a great opportunity for the retail and travel industries to tap into a festive crowd that is ready to spend. It’s still not too late to come up with ways to make your Independence Day campaign rock, or too early to be thinking about how to make a big impact before Labor Day, a holiday during which travelers alone spent about $13.5 billion last year.
Have a successful, blues-free summer!