Let’s face it: keeping your marketing 100% relevant can be tough. After all, everybody is different and there’s no way to know the lives of every individual customer. That’s why marketing is effective when it plays on a common experience. Something shared that people, regardless of background, live through together. One of the most powerful and lasting of these experiences are seasonal changes, and the cultural events that surround them.
Seasonal marketing serves several purposes. For one thing, it engages customers and gives them new reasons to buy from you. It also shows customers that your company doesn’t exist in a “marketing vacuum” – an endless void of pop-ups, emails, and calls-to-action.
Instead, seasonal marketing shows that you operate in the real world, and experience real events the way your customers do. It helps your company appear more relatable and human, all while working to increase your conversion rates. Seasonal marketing demonstrates the relevance of your products year-round, and keeps customers coming back for more.
The Importance of a Spring Seasonal Marketing Strategy
Spring is traditionally a time of change. Nature is returning to full bloom, temperatures are starting to rise, and people are emerging from their domestic cocoons to experience more of the world. Spending increases too; last year, consumer spending rose by nearly 20% between January and April.
A full, in depth analysis of spring holiday marketing is available in our Spring Seasonal Marketing Guide. However, we also wanted to offer you a few of these strategies at a glance, to show you how valuable the Spring Guide really is. Let’s take a look.
On-Site Gamification and the Easter Holiday
Although a Christian holiday, Easter has become a more secular celebration over the years. Over 80% of Americans celebrate the day, and NRF predictions for last year’s celebration valued Easter spending at $18.2 billion.
One fun way to engage customers in the holiday spirit is a virtual Easter Egg hunt. Creating one is simple and fun. The first step is to choose an incentive. While it’s okay to offer an incentive for finding a certain number of eggs (5 eggs = free shipping), it’s often more effective to offer a tiered incentive. For example, offer customers 5% off for every egg they find, with a maximum of 5 eggs (i.e., 25% off). This keep participants engaged and encourages users to explore more of your site.
Your incentive doesn’t have to be huge, and your budget doesn’t have to be large. The important thing is to make it fun for people to shop on your site and encourage people to engage with your products and pages.
Leveraging Urgency for Mother’s Day Shopping
Mother’s Day always seems to sneak up on shoppers. While holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s day have a set calendar date, Mother’s Day falls on the second Sunday of May… not exactly the catchiest timing. In fact, 75% of Mother’s Day shoppers buy gifts with 2 weeks or less to spare. Nearly 1 in 5 shoppers waits to purchase their gift within the last 48 hours leading up to the holiday.
At UpSellit we talk a lot about urgency. One of the simplest ways to implement urgency is with a standard timer, counting down the number of seconds, minutes, or days left to take advantage of a deal. Another related idea is to keep a timer on all pages counting down to Mother’s Day, reminding shoppers of the hard deadline set by the holiday. The concept of the timer accomplishes two important things:
- It reminds users about the holiday itself
- It creates a sense of urgency as the date approaches
Low Stock Alerts and Father’s Day
The vast majority (77%) of people celebrate Father’s Day and spending has increased dramatically over the years. In fact, between 2010 and 2017, overall spending shot up by over 50%, hitting a record $15.5 billion in 2017.
As with Mother’s Day, Father’s Day often catches people off-guard – making it an ideal time to implement urgency tactics.
Banners that read “selling out quickly – order soon” or “going fast – hurry!” light a fire underneath shoppers and combat consideration time.
For the greatest effect, display the inventory quantity still available, along with the number of people viewing the item. Low stock alerts are a powerful urgency tool that pair well with the pressure of gift-buying on Father’s Day.
This is Only a Preview
Want to learn more? These strategies and many others are included in UpSellit’s Spring Seasonal Marketing Guide. It’s packed with new insights and fresh ideas to refresh your spring strategy. It’s a great resource and it’s totally free! Make the most of the season and download it today!
