Email Marketing Q4 Holiday Planning: Why You Need to Start Now [with expert recommendations]

As the long-awaited summer of 2021 continues to brighten our days and spirits across most of the country, it’s likely that you’re more focused on squeezing in time at the pool or the beach than preparing your Q4 email marketing campaigns. But—we encourage you to find time for both!
While advanced planning for upcoming promotional periods is always recommended, it’s important to start even earlier this year for two key reasons:

1. Shoppers are likely to start making their holiday purchases earlier
2. Privacy changes on the near horizon may impact the insights you rely on for planning and measurement

— Kait Cummings, Email Marketing Strategist at Tinuiti

Holiday Shopping Starts Earlier in 2021

Image Source: eMarketer

 

 

Shipageddon 2020

Impressively, USPS, UPS, and FedEx all managed to maintain on-time delivery rates between 93% and 98% during the “Cyber Five”—Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday Eve, Cyber Monday—and the week before Christmas. But those whose packages were late still remember.

It’s important to clarify that advertisers will still be able to send emails, including promotional emails, to ‘Hide My Email’ users. They just won’t know exactly who they’re sending that email to. We’re not yet sure if users will always have the same ‘pseudo email address’ ingrained into their profile, or if it changes every time they opt to hide their email.
— Leah Lloyd, Group Director, CRM & Email at Tinuiti
Have a specific threshold you’d like to reach with your promotion in regard to number of purchases, total revenue, or another metric, and are open to extending your sale another day or longer if that threshold isn’t met? Design that email ahead of time so you can alert subscribers that a sale has been extended as quickly as possible, and aren’t left scrambling to craft one at the last minute, risking lost sales.

Apple iOS 15 Privacy Changes will Impact Email Marketing

— Kait Cummings, Email Marketing Strategist at Tinuiti