January has historically been a tricky time for retailers, with customers tightening the purse strings after forking out in the course of the vacation season.
In reality, in 2021, January noticed the second-lowest retail gross sales whole of any month—simply forward of February:
As a marketer, what are you able to do to keep away from beginning the yr with two months of ache?
In principle, it’s a easy resolution: you simply have to nail your messaging. Nonetheless, as everyone knows, that’s simpler stated than carried out.
To make your life somewhat simpler, I dipped into the Drip archives to unearth 5 of the easiest 2023 New Yr’s advertising and marketing concepts from a few of our favourite manufacturers.
High 5 New Yr’s Advertising and marketing Concepts
1. Origins: Faucet Into Widespread New Yr’s Resolutions
I’m going to begin with arguably the best of all New Yr advertising and marketing concepts: referencing your clients’ New Yr’s resolutions.
A YouGov survey performed in late 2022 revealed that 37 p.c of People deliberate to set a objective or decision for the next yr, whereas 17 p.c have been uncertain.
In different phrases, as much as 54 p.c of customers began 2023 with some form of private goal. That’s far too huge a piece of your viewers to disregard.
Step one to leveraging resolutions in your New Yr advertising and marketing is to know the varieties of targets your clients are setting.
Thankfully, there’s loads of analysis to assist us out. Based on Statista’s World Shopper Survey, well being is a typical focus, relating to every of the three hottest resolutions for People:
- Train extra (cited by 52 p.c of respondents)
- Eat more healthy (50 p.c)
- Drop pounds (40 p.c)
These resolutions show that well being touches on a number of shopper product classes. Wish to train extra? Right here, purchase these trainers. Planning to eat a more healthy eating regimen? Try this cookbook. Wanting to drop a few pounds? You’ll want a brand new water bottle for all these gymnasium periods.
And, as cosmetics model Origins demonstrates, there’s additionally a transparent hyperlink between well being and skincare merchandise.
In my first New Yr advertising and marketing instance, Origins kicks issues off with a topic line that reads like a private mantra:
That’s mainly a ready-made decision, so it’s a unbelievable inspiration for anybody who’s but to determine their targets for the yr forward.
Origins backs up this messaging within the physique copy, giving clients a transparent instruction to be kinder to their pores and skin in 2023:
After all, this electronic mail isn’t nearly discussing good intentions; it has a tough industrial edge too.
Under the fold, Origins lists a few of its high SPF skincare merchandise, every accompanied by a “Store Now” CTA:
By the way, that is the third in a sequence of resolution-themed emails from Origins. In case your merchandise are particularly goal-worthy, you could possibly run this form of marketing campaign all through the entire of January—and even test in with clients later within the yr to ask how their resolutions are going.
2. MYRO: Focus On Sustainability
Okay, certain; sustainability isn’t precisely a “new pattern”. However it’s turning into ever-more necessary as an rising variety of customers be part of the dots between the merchandise they buy and their very own internet impression on the world round them.
Our rising love for sustainable, eco-friendly merchandise has largely been pushed by youthful generations, with three in 4 Gen-Zers saying sustainability is extra necessary than model title when making buy selections.
The place Gen Z leads, older generations are starting to comply with. Between 2019 and 2021, the need amongst Gen X customers to purchase from sustainable manufacturers rose by 24 p.c, whereas their willingness to spend extra on sustainable merchandise climbed by 42 p.c.
At the moment, two-thirds of all customers say they’re glad to pay a sustainability premium when shopping for merchandise—but the identical proportion of retail executives imagine consumers aren’t ready to spend extra.
What do all these figures inform us?
That sustainability is a large deal to customers; much more so than most retailers imagine.
Sustainable manufacturers are ideally positioned to win new clients and generate extra income—they only have to shout about it. And what higher time than the New Yr, when many consumers are actively trying to change their behaviors?
Refillable bodycare model MYRO is properly conscious of this. Sustainability is on the coronary heart of its mission, with each product refill lowering waste from single-use plastic by not less than 50 p.c.
MYRO begins this New Yr electronic mail advertising and marketing instance with a powerful topic line that underlines its eco-friendly credentials and speaks to customers’ need to reside extra sustainably:
The e-mail physique continues in the identical vein, urging consumers to make eco-conscious adjustments by swapping to a refillable physique wash. The message is obvious: “It is a fast and easy method to assist the planet.”
You would possibly suppose that’s already a sufficiently persuasive argument, however MYRO goes one step additional by providing a 15 p.c low cost code simply above the decision to motion:
So clients get to profit the atmosphere and lower your expenses? That’s a reasonably compelling hook.
3. Frank & Oak: Drive Motion With a Competitors
I don’t wish to be all doom and gloom, however I’ve obtained some extra unhealthy information about advertising and marketing within the New Yr.
Seems January isn’t only a unhealthy time for retail gross sales; it’s additionally awful for electronic mail entrepreneurs. January is within the backside quartile for common electronic mail open charges by month, at 19.83 p.c—virtually 11 p.c lower than the very best month. And it additionally has the joint-highest electronic mail unsubscribe price.
If you happen to’re going to buck these traits, you might want to incentivize your viewers to have interaction along with your messaging.
The most effective methods to do this is by working a giveaway, like sustainable trend model Frank & Oak did in my subsequent New Yr advertising and marketing instance.
Properly conscious that customers are much less more likely to open emails at this difficult time of yr, Frank & Oak led with an electronic mail topic line that features a single, clear instruction:
With out saying so in as many phrases, this topic line means that there’s one thing in it for the client. It’s actionable sufficient to catch the attention and sufficiently intriguing to win the clicking.
Subsequent, Frank & Oak will get to the meat and potatoes of its marketing campaign: the chance to win a $1,000 reward card.
After all, a contest like this isn’t an automated assure of success.
Simplicity is essential in the case of working an efficient giveaway. Until the prize is actually spectacular, most customers aren’t ready to leap via a bunch of hoops, so attempt to make the specified “motion” as low-touch as doable.
On this case, Frank & Oak merely requested customers to comply with its Instagram account:
That’s proper—no “like”, share, or remark. Only a tiny little comply with in return for a possible $1,000 payday. Looks as if Frank & Oak is getting the tough finish of the deal right here.
However in actuality, there’s loads of profit to constructing your Instagram following. One examine discovered that 72 p.c of Instagram customers have made trend, magnificence or style-related purchases after seeing a product on the social media platform, with the most-purchased classes named as:
- Clothes
- Make-up
- Footwear
- Jewellery
Plus, bear in mind, Frank & Oak isn’t asking any previous particular person for a comply with. It’s particularly concentrating on individuals who subscribe to its advertising and marketing emails.
Presumably, this viewers is already fairly engaged with the model, that means there’s a great probability they’ll hold following the Instagram account after the competitors has completed.
One ultimate level: Analysis from Shopify discovered that, on common, multichannel advertising and marketing will increase income by 38 p.c, 120 p.c, and 190 p.c for every extra channel a buyer engages with. So it’s clearly in your pursuits to level electronic mail subscribers towards your different advertising and marketing channels.
4. Flamingo Candles: Add Buyer Testimonials
I believe I’ve made it fairly clear that you might want to work fairly exhausting to prise open your clients’ purse strings within the New Yr. In reality, 39 p.c of People stated their New Yr’s decision for 2023 is to save lots of more cash.
Basically, it’s your job to persuade them that saving cash is nice—however shopping for your product is best.
Doing that requires extra than simply some snappy copywriting and jazzy product imagery.
Seems customers are literally much more more likely to hearken to fellow clients than model entrepreneurs. Certainly, 72 p.c discover buyer critiques and testimonials extra credible than the issues manufacturers say about themselves, in keeping with analysis from Tint.
In my subsequent instance, Flamingo Candles leads with some easy New Yr-themed messaging, urging subscribers to take a look at its vary of slogan keytags:
That’s a stable if unspectacular opening gambit—not robust sufficient for me to incorporate in a roundup of inspirational New Yr advertising and marketing concepts.
What elevates this electronic mail is the below-the-fold part, the place Flamingo Candles features a bunch of real-world buyer testimonials:
Better of all, these aren’t simply generic critiques about how a lot individuals love Flamingo; they’re particularly tailor-made to the product class within the electronic mail.
5. Paperchase: Increase AOV With Product Bundling
We all know customers are much less inclined to open advertising and marketing emails in January than in most different months.
It stands to motive, subsequently, that you just’re additionally more likely to generate fewer electronic mail click-throughs to your web site.
This locations a higher-than-average premium on these clients who do open—and click on via from—your emails, with messaging geared towards driving the highest-possible common order worth (AOV).
Product bundling is one resolution.
Based on McKinsey, 35 p.c of purchases on Amazon stem from the retail large’s product advice algorithms. And numerous these suggestions contain some type of bundling.
Thankfully, product bundling doesn’t simply apply to the big megacorporations. Manufacturers of any measurement can use this technique to drive conversions and increase AOV.
Stationery retailer Paperchase positioned bundling entrance and heart on this New Yr advertising and marketing instance:
It is a tactic often known as blended bundling, by which the bundled merchandise might be purchased individually.
Sometimes, clients can construct their very own mix-and-match bundles from a wide selection of merchandise, giving them better management over the merchandise they select. It’s primarily the alternative of pure bundling, whereby the merchandise in a bundle can’t be bought individually.
Combined bundling seems to be extra enticing to customers than pure bundling, with researchers at Harvard Enterprise College and Carnegie Mellon College revealing {that a} swap from blended to pure bundling may cut back gross sales by over 20 p.c.
Evidently, consumers favor the flexibleness of a blended bundle, making it an efficient technique for maximizing income in your New Yr advertising and marketing.
New Yr, New E mail Advertising and marketing: Strive Drip
The New Yr is the right time to strive one thing new.
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