Cyber Monday is the Monday immediately following Thanksgiving Day in the USA. Last year the company comScore tracked $1,028M (that's a Billion) in online sales that day. Sales were up 16% from 2009.
Cyber Monday got its name from the idea that holiday shoppers who were discouraged by their in-person weekend shopping experience would continue their shopping on-line that Monday morning.
This year Cyber Monday is November 28, 2011. Your strategy, should you decide to accept it, is to remind your customers early that morning about your jewelry store and what you have to offer. Even if you don't have an e-commerce jewelry website, you still need to get their attention.
According to our research we expect that on Cyber Monday morning, your customers will be tempted by emails from Macy's, Kay, Tiffany, David Yurman, Jared, James Allen, and BlueNile. Those sites all have e-commerce and will entice online buying.
On the other hand, we also expect Helzberg Diamonds to send an email with their typical free jewelry gift offer. In case you don't know, instead of spending a large budget on media buys, Helzberg Diamonds spends money buying jewelry to give away if the customer comes back to the local store in person to redeem their gift. Helzberg gives away bracelets or earrings valued at $15 - $35 just to generate foot traffic. This could be your loss leader strategy, too.
Are you planning on going to one of the upcoming jewelry shows? The JA NY Special Delivery Show is October 23, 2011 and JA Chicago Special Delivery is November 1, 2011. Both of these shows will have low cost jewelry vendors that even have huge signs touting "LOSS LEADER." We suggest browsing around in those booths and, instead of looking for inventory, look for ways to spend your marketing budget. Pick up a few earrings and bracelets and also look at the cheap stainless steel men's ring and men's bracelet collections.
Let's now turn our attention to the real topic for today and show you some good samples of email subject lines for Cyber Monday, November 28, 2011. Many of these ideas come from the holiday email research from the website Responsys. During the Holiday 2010 Season, Responsys tracked emails from more than 100 large retailers and published a report of holiday email trends.
Since we mentioned Macy's above, here's the subject line from the Macy's 2010 Cyber Monday email:
"Cyber Monday starts early! Get Free Shipping at $75!"
Here are some other good ones that we've created or that Responsys recorded last year.
"Best Deals of the Season: Cyber Monday Starts Now"
"Beat the Cyber Monday crowd - SAVE 20% TODAY!"
"Cyber Monday deals on Sunday!"
"Cyber Monday STARTS NOW + Free Shipping!"
"Use this 20% OFF Cyber Monday Special Any Day This Week"
"Browse Online Cyber Monday Specials - Convenient In-Store Pick-Up"
"Save 10% + Free Bracelet When You Browse Online & Pick-Up In-Store"
"Save 10% on Her Earrings + Free Men's Ring For You"
"Biggest Cyber Monday Sale Ever! Save up to 60% on Hot Jewelry Styles"
"Cyber Monday at Smith Jewelers. Avoid the crowds, stay warm, save big!"
"Cyber Week starts today! Don't miss the best values of the holidays"
"20% Off PLUS Totally Free Shipping - 3 Day Cyber Sale"
"Week Long Cyber Monday Sale! Save 10% On-line or In-store"
"24-HOUR CYBER MONDAY DEALS: Browse our FRESH OFFERS!"
"Cyber Monday Savings! Cybusters, Offers & more!"
"Today Only! All orders ship free + 20% off everything!"
"Monday Only! Save Up to 60% + Free Gift Card"
"Take 20% Off a Single Item - 1 Day Only!"
"Take 20% Off On-line or 30% Off In-store Today Only!"
"TODAY ONLY! Browse Online & Print Our 20% Coupon for In-Store Purchase"
"Cyber Week 50% Off Our Limited Special Jewelry Selection"
That last idea for 50% off with the "limited selection" is of course referring to your closeout showcase.
Just to repeat ourselves, even if you do not have an e-commerce website you should still be sending out some type of promotion this day. Instead of offering online promotions you need to explain why it's so beneficial for them to actually NOT shop online and instead visit your store.
Several of the suggestions above indicate a better offer if they browse online and then visit your store. This suggestion of "browsing" an online catalog is an emerging idea. Our research with Google AdWords is showing a large shift from people who are looking to buy right now to those that just want to browse without the pressure to buy immediately. In fact, when tracking long term sales vs. immediate sales the word "browse" seems to produce better conversions and lower costs per click in AdWords. That's why we feel it's a good idea to use it in your email marketing, on your website, and perhaps other offline marketing.
That "wraps" up this week's set of Holiday 2011 Run-Up Golden Nuggets. Have a great weekend.
