I Made a Personalized Email Campaign to Boost Holiday Pre-orders
In email marketing, it is important to strike the right balance between reminding customers of your brand and not bombarding them with spam emails. In my quest to help improve marketing at a Flower Shop, I endeavored to find that perfect balance when designing this email campaign. To achieve this, I used my creativity, previous experience working at the shop, and input from the owner.
The Holiday Rush
In the florist industry, there are three major holidays that account for the most products sold: Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas. Florists must order enough wholesale flowers in advance, and then busily create flower arrangements for customers in the week leading up to the holiday. Having a list of pre-orders is useful in knowing the demand for flowers and can help inform florists how many to order from wholesalers and ensure customers that their order will get made first.
I contacted the owner to ask if she ever sent reminder emails to previous customers and she told me that Teleflora –the large flower delivery network that she is part of– sends out automated emails. She also told me that some customers complain about those emails since they are an automated, impersonal marketing service and not directly from the local flower shop. I also asked her, in an ideal world, how early should customers pre-order to make it easiest for the shop and she said one month.
Making It Personal
When designing my email campaign I had two main goals: make something personal from the local flower shop, and schedule it in such a way that felt like a gentle reminder and not too pushy.
For the first goal, I combined the idea of a promotional email with a newsletter. The owner doesn’t have time to write a regular newsletter but likes to write long paragraphs on her social media pages about what’s happening in the shop and this seemed like a nice compromise between the two. In my template layout, after informing the customer that a holiday is coming up and encouraging them to pre-order, I left a blank space for the owner to write her own personal thoughts that she can customize based on current happenings. I followed that up with a photo of the owner and the design team so customers could see the faces behind their purchases. I couldn’t find recent photos of everyone together, but the owner could easily update the photo to the most current team.
For the second goal, I followed the advice of the owner and didn’t send too many reminders. I decided to only send two emails: one month before the holiday, and two weeks before the holiday. One month is ideal and leaves a bit of time to alter the wholesale order to meet demand, but I knew from experience that within two weeks, the flowers arrive at the shop and the designers are busy making arrangements. Two emails per holiday totaling six emails in a year seemed like an unobtrusive number that could possibly expand in the future if results seem positive.
Email Templates
Below you will see the email templates I designed for the different holidays using Mailchimp. In each email I left a blank space that the owner can customize in the style of a newsletter. In addition to the templates themselves, I also wrote a subject and preview text for each email.
Valentine’s Day:
Send: one month before
Subject: Pre-Order Your Valentine's Day Flowers Now 💜
Preview Text: Only 1 month until Valentine's Day! Don't forget, and get your order in early.
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Send: two weeks before
Subject: Don't Let Valentine's Day Sneak Up On You 🌹
Preview Text: Only 2 weeks left until Valentine's Day! Pre-order your flowers today.
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Mother’s Day:
Send: one month before
Subject: Pre-order Your Mother's Day Flowers Now 💜
Preview Text: Only 1 month until Mother's Day! Don't forget, and get your order in early.
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Send: two weeks before
Subject: Mother's Day Is Just Around The Corner 💐
Preview Text: Only 2 weeks left until Mother's Day! Pre-order your flowers today.
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Christmas:
Send: one month before
Subject: Pre-Order Your Christmas Flowers Now 💜
Preview Text: Only 1 month until Christmas! Get your order in early.
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Send: two weeks before
Subject: It's the most wonderful time of the year! ⛄
Preview Text: Only 2 weeks left until Christmas! Pre-order your flowers today.
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Conclusion
Using Mailchimp, I made a personalized email campaign for a Flower Shop to boost holiday pre-orders. I found the correct timing to send the reminders to customers and added a personal touch by combining a promotion email with a newsletter format. With well designed holiday themed emails and a strong marketing campaign, I hope this will add value to the company by boosting their sales ahead of the busiest holidays.
