Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday and the lead-up to the holidays are a busy time for everyone. As consumers spend more time on mobile devices, is your brand designing communications for the digital-first paradigm? An omnichannel communications strategy can help win hearts and open wallets during a crucial time for your business or non-profit organization.
Deloitte forecasts that holiday retail sales will grow 4 to 6 per cent in 2022 compared with the same period last year. It’s a lot of money in motion: retail sales between November 2021 and January 2022 totaled $1.39 trillion according to the US census bureau. Shoppers are starting earlier too amid inflation and stock availability concerns: 25% of began holiday shopping in September according to a survey by Bankrate. Another 25% began in October while 40% plan to start shopping in the final two months of the year.
Many shoppers plan to take advantage of deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to offset rising prices. About 49% of shoppers plan to shop during Thanksgiving week according to Deloitte: 8% on Thanksgiving Day, 29% on Black Friday, 16% on Small Business Saturday and 30% on Cyber Monday.
And it’s not just businesses getting in on the action. Giving Tuesday is next up on the calendar: 35 million US adults participated in 2021 with total gifts of $2.7 billion.
Engage audiences on their preferred channel with integrated campaigns
It all adds up to a big opportunity to engage customers on their channel of choice. An integrated email and SMS marketing campaign can alert your audience to Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals, limited-time promotions, or the opportunity to donate before the tax year-end. A unified communications platform like OpenTextTM Notifications alongside OpenTextTM Exstream and OpenTextTM Experience CDP make it easy for marketers target them with personalized offers, enabling relevant cross-sell or up-sell opportunities, better re-marketing campaigns and tailored win-back offers.
Start conversations to encourage conversions
Email, SMS, and push notifications can be used in tandem to guide conversions. Based on your audience preferences, habits and interests, marketers can design personalized campaigns with digital journeys that convert. According to research, 84% of people in the US say they expect companies to send them reminders and 90% say they are more likely to do business with companies that do.1 And it’s convenient to get communications while on the go. Half of U.S. adults check their mobile phone within five minutes of waking up and on average, Americans check their phones 344 times a day – once every four minutes. The three most appreciated message types from businesses include appointment reminders, booking confirmations, changes or cancellations and shipping or delivery updates.
- Wakefield research.
