With pumpkin spice and everything nice in full effect, it’s hard not to think about the holiday season. And with Halloween just around the corner, the holidays will creep up right before our eyes — and EVERYTHING will be about Holiday Marketing Campaigns. ?‍♀️

With all the ads, emails, commercials, songs, and more, it might seem out of control. However, when done smart, a seasonal Marketing campaign can actually be effective — even memorable. This holiday season, branch out of your normal Marketing efforts. From automated conversations to emails, here’s how to use Chat Marketing for the holidays.

Facebook Ads

The holiday season is prime time for advertising on Facebook. But since the official kickoff to Holiday Sales starts on Black Friday, it’s important you start planning well in advance. “Start advertising at least two weeks before Black Friday. This way, you’ll prep your audience and generate website traffic to retarget to,” says Anna Tutckaia, Head of Demand Gen at ManyChat.

The Black Friday to Christmas weeks will be flooded with advertisers so your cost per miles (CPMs) and cost per clicks (CPCs) might rise. Knowing the business of ads, Tutckaia suggests, “Think of how you can optimize your page to boost conversions. Include an offer bundling it with free shipping and fast delivery.” Keep in mind, a strong ad will be clear, straightforward, and leaves no room for misunderstanding. Make sure the ad copy has actionable verbs and use call-to-actions (CTAs) such as “buy now” or “shop now.” Using action-oriented CTAs will help increase the likelihood the prospective customer will click on the ad.

Tutckaia also shares a learning lesson, “From my experience and tests, we’ve seen more people click ‘buy now’ when we used $20 off versus 20% off.”

Facebook Messenger

Move over Santa’s little helpers. Cheerful elves aren’t the only ones helping with gift-giving this holiday season. The helping hands of gift purchasing this holiday season are Messenger bots.

Retailers expect holiday shopping to be the busiest time for them. In fact, the National Retail Federation says retailers earn about one-fifth of their annual profits from holiday shoppers, with 60 percent of Sales coming from online purchases, according to the 2018 Deloitte holiday retail survey. Yet the shopping experience is evolving and consumers are now going to interact with a chatbot during their gift search more than ever.

So what can you do to maximize the shopping experience? Have your Messenger bot, using a platform like ManyChat or Drift work for your business. You can set up your bot to give quick replies and auto-responses to the customer. To better understand what the customer is shopping for, you can provide a quiz that will then guide them to the best product to purchase. At the same time, you can capture emails and phone numbers for additional communication platforms. A Messenger bot gives the e-commerce store the chance to engage with the customer instantly, capitalize on their interest, and then convert them to make a purchase.

Text Messaging

The holidays are a time of festivities, but can also be a time of stress. To help alleviate some of the stress, you as a business can make customers’ shopping experiences easier by always communicating with them. Let’s say you capture them from your Messenger bot: You can continue the conversation with a promotion code to get them to finalize their purchase. You can also use text marketing to deliver their receipt post-purchase, track information, and deliver content to help them de-stress from the holiday chaos.

An example for Black Friday:

“We’re thankful for your opt-in. In exchange, we want to save you from the holiday chaos and help you make the most of your Black Friday shopping: store.com/getyourgifts

(Hint: You can shop from bed and avoid the traffic.)

Or

“Thanks for being such a valuable customer. Here’s a $50 off code to use on Black Friday. See you then!”

Remember, text messaging is a form of permission-based Marketing. You may have their number, but that doesn’t give you the right to constantly text them. Make sure to send a friendly SMS asking them to opt-in so you adhere to the FCC guidelines.

Email Marketing

So the conversation through the bot went silent? The text conversation was sent, but you’re not sure if they are receiving it. You might as well send an email. You’ve been able to understand what the shopper is looking for. So you can create an email campaign targeted to their exact needs. Send them the product they are considering to purchase with a more in-depth video to help them make a smart holiday purchase. Or shoot them a festive note with a discount that guides them to the website or Messenger bot to finalize the purchase.

Other Ideas

Beat the rush: Give your audience the chance to beat the holiday rush and bring them into the store early with a Black Friday preview sale. You can even offer additional discounts to them for helping you spread the word about the event.

Get personal: Send a holiday video from your team to their home. Just build a friendly relationship so they’ll feel more welcomed by your business.

Don’t forget emails: Emails are great to chase cart abandonment, offer free shipping promotions, help with gift tracking, and provide festive content to help them forget about the holiday madness.

Chat Marketing allows you to communicate with your customers in various ways using different channels. So you’re sending the message and they’re listening on their preferred medium.

Read more: How to Make Your Chatbot Successful in the E-Commerce Market