Valentine Email Marketing Tips

• Valentine’s Day offers is one good reason to segment email lists by gender as men and women tend to buy different items
• Mention shipping cutoff dates in your emails
• Promote gift cards. Messaging like “always the perfect fit” or “for the woman who knows what she wants - even when you don’t” are ideas
• Create urgency and stress the benefits of getting things done now (and remind guys how annoying malls can be!)
• Solve their problem in your headlines and email content messaging (like “Valentine’s Dilemma? 12 No Brainer Gifts & Guaranteed Delivery”)
• Include gift finder images or links in your email if you have one
• Slip in some customer reviews for the “don’t take our word for it, take hers” touch
• Promote e-gift certificates for last-minute shoppers or hard to shop for partners
• If your email solution permits, send reminder emails right up until V-Day to recipients who haven’t opened previous messages
• If you can’t segment your list by gender, don’t assume your recipient is male
• OneUpWeb reported last year that the heaviest Valentine’s sales days are February 5 & 6 - keep that in mind
• Most Valentine shopping is done from the office during week days (nearly impossible for sweetie to accidentally spot your browsing history) - keep that in mind too
• Remember, you’re competing with 1-800-Flowers, Harry and David et.al who offer same-day shipping year round. If you can, offer free overnight shipping at the 11th hour
• Don’t forget that your affiliates could use a little help with product suggestions, banners and so on — don’t be a stranger

This is an excerpt from my post "20 Valentines Day Marketing Ideas for Ecommerce" posted January 14, 2008. Visit Get Elastic for more ecommerce articles.