The ONE thing to do to boost your marketing before Christmas

I don’t know if you knew this, but Christmas is coming up pretty soon. 

(Ha! If you’re a product-based business, you’re probably not thinking about much else, amiright?)

And, having worked with small creatives for 11 years, I know that mid-October is when things start to feel kind of… intense.

So I’m not here to give you a whole new marketing plan to implement, or loads more to do.

Yes, I’m obsessed with email marketing. Yes, I really hope you’ll join The Better Business Collective when it opens in January, where I teach email marketing for product businesses.

In the meantime, I have one teeny tiny request…

The ONE thing I want you to do to boost your email marketing for next year: make sure you’re enabling customers to opt in to marketing emails when they order with you this Christmas.

You don’t have to email them now. You don’t have to have a fancy welcome sequence.

All you need to do is have a checkbox that they can tick if they’re happy to receive offers and inspiration when they’re buying their Christmas gifts, decorations, treats and more.

Why is this step so important?

One of the things email marketing is great at is cultivating that loyal repeat customer base that’s just so valuable for small businesses. It’s easier and cheaper to retain a customer than acquire a new one, and having them on your email list makes it happen.

You’re focused on sales right now, sharing your Christmas products. I don’t want to distract you from that. This little step means you can keep generating sales, sharing your social media posts, but also know that you’re building an email list that you can use and enjoy next year. You’re welcome, future self.

And? It’s not going to take you very long. The majority of retail website providers make this really easy, and I’ve linked to a couple of tutorials below to help you get it done.

(If you’re feeling positive and motivated, there are a couple of bonus actions you can take, too.)

How to collect email addresses at checkout

Here are links to tutorials on some of the main ecommerce platforms my clients use. (Have I missed yours? Let me know and I’ll add it in!)

• Shopify
• Squarespace
• Woocommerce
• Weebly

Don’t get overwhelmed with Email Service Providers

Because I don’t want you to get overwhelmed, at this stage, you don’t need to put your subscribers into Mailchimp or figure out your email service provider. (That’s the app or service you’ll use to actually send out your marketing emails.)

You just need to have permission to send emails in the future. This is the big opportunity at Christmas: you’re simply capturing the increased number of people buying from you.

Extra Credit

If you’ve got that fresh feeling and really want to go to town on building your email list, and getting sales through it this Christmas, here are a few ways you can jump on board the email marketing success train:

• Choose an Email Service Provider (Mailchimp, Shopify marketing, Klaviyo and Convertkit are all good options) and make sure the subscribers are importing automatically
• Create a “welcome sequence” – two or three emails that are sent out to your new subscribers after they join your list to tell them a bit more about who you are and how you make their lives better
• Add a pop-up sign up box that appears when customers have been browsing for a little while
• Send 4-6 email newsletters between now and Christmas, sharing your products, promoting your last order dates, and wishing your customers a merry Christmas
• Encourage your social media followers to sign up to your newsletter list too

You might find my free cheat sheet handy – it includes 30 inspiring email subject lines to help you get that next email ready to go. Download it now.

So, without wanting to add loads to your to-do list (I usually like taking things OFF your to-do list!), I hope you’ll get permission to email your customers next year. You’ll thank me later.