Congrats!! You made it through the Cyber Weekend fury. While you may be tempted to sit back and relax, it’s time to prepare for the rest of the holiday season. Not to worry, we have you covered with 7 steps for success this holiday season!

1. Reflect on Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) campaigns
   
   Before you finish your turkey leftovers, check to see how your messages fared during Cyber Weekend. Check on your open, click, and unsubscribe rates. Checking on these metrics is vital to ensure your messages are going to the inbox and not landing in spam. 
    

2. Set up a post-purchase flow to nurture the relationship between any new and existing customers who purchased during BFCM
   
   Make your new customers loyal ones and your loyal customers brand evangelists by fostering relationships using a post-purchase flow. This flow can be a simple thank you, a request for review, or instructions on how to use a product.

3. Set up a browse abandonment flow
   
   You will likely have shoppers that, for one reason or another, abandon their browsing as they shop for the holiday season. Set up a browse abandonment flow to recapture these customers and encourage them to follow through with their purchase. 

4. Set up a welcome flow
   
   Give all those new subscribers a warm welcome to your brand with a welcome flow. This is one of their first impressions of your brand, so make sure to capitalize on the moment!

5. Build key segments for the remainder of the holiday season:

• BFCM browsers

• Last year's holiday purchasers

• This year's holiday purchasers

• VIP customers

• Non-opted-in EU contacts
  
  Targeted messages are your key to turning browsers into loyal customers. Segmentation makes it easy to personalize your messages.

6. Establish a sending schedule and cadence leading up to New Years
   
   If you don’t have one already, create a regular sending cadence to your subscribers. How often you send will depend on your specific brand, but you shouldn’t send more than one email a day to your customers, and around one SMS per week. Remember, customers will receive flow messages in addition to campaigns. Make sure you have smart sending turned on and map out the customer journey to ensure you aren’t bombarding them with messages

7. Develop a content strategy
   
   Just like with Cyber Weekend, be sure to develop a content strategy in advance. A good idea is to push big-ticket items earlier rather than later. Once it’s down to the wire, focus on digital items like gift cards, discounted overnight shipping, or offer curbside pickup if you have a brick-and-mortar location.

Follow the above and you’re sure to attract customers that will stick with you long after presents are opened. For a more in-depth look, check out the Holiday Marketing Crash Course.

How are you planning for success this holiday season?