HOW TO KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING AFTER THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS OVER
The holiday season is a busy and prosperous time for lingerie store owners.
Business is booming, your products are flying off the shelves, and it seems like everyone is coming in for a bra fitting before their holiday parties. As exciting as the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is, business tends to slow down when it’s over – making it necessary for lingerie store owners to figure out new ways to keep their customers consistently coming back for more in the new year.
Keeping the momentum going
So how do you keep the momentum going after the holiday season is over? One of the best places to start is your email list. An email list is a goldmine for any lingerie store owner. It’s full of current and potential customers who have expressed specific interest in your business and products. Your customers are selective about who they want to contact them, so that they wouldn’t have given you their email if they didn’t want to be contacted by you. Why not reach out now?
Your email list is a powerful marketing tool
Unlike social media, email marketing provides you with a direct line of communication to your customers. No need to spend money on ads on Facebook or Instagram to reach your audience because an email list is one that you own. You can create tailored content for your subscribers, send it whenever you believe is best, and then track the results (open rate, bounce rate, etc.) to see how your emails are performing. If email marketing wasn’t a priority for your brand in 2018, 2019 is a good year to change that.
Personalized content is key
On the other hand, if you’ve been tracking your email efforts for a while and you’re always looking for new ways to better your efforts, you’re a step ahead of the game. An Epsilon Marketing study showed that 80% of the consumers they polled were more likely to do business with a company that offered personalized experiences. Additionally, the same study showed that consumers valued customization and service (32% and 32%, respectively) over any other personalized feature: discounts/offers (16%), specific products/services (8%), and convenience (7%). This study proves something that successful content marketers already know: personalized content is the key ingredient for building relationships with customers, and a necessity for keeping customers interested and engaged in a brand.
Use personalized emails to your advantage
On a larger scale, online retailers (like Nordstrom and Amazon) utilize personalization in almost every email they send. They understand the importance of connecting individually with each customer by using their name, sharing new products with them, keeping them updated on their order, etc. and email is how they do it. Consider borrowing inspiration from a favourite retailer if you find an email template that you like. You could change the messaging and the layout to reflect your branding or use it as a starting point for your own personalized content.
Post-holiday email ideas for lingerie store owners
Here are a few ideas of emails to send after the holiday season is over:
1. Thank your customers for shopping with you during the holidays (a simple thank you can go a long way)
2. Share a big win with your email subscribers (did you donate a portion of proceeds to charity or host a holiday event?)
3. Send emails about girlfriend parties and fitting events to your brides-to-be
4. Check in on the customers that got a bra fitting with you in November and December (also consider sending a short survey along with it to see how their experience was at your store)
5. Share new products with them – new year, new bras. If they didn’t have time to make getting new bras a priority over the holidays, now is the perfect time for them to come in and get pampered.
6. Share the benefits of shopping at your store – they might not know that you offer bra fitting, that you carry a wide range of bra sizes, that you have a selection of nursing bras, sports bras, swimwear, etc. Give them another great reason to visit your store.