The holiday season is upon us, and marketers know next Friday marks what is traditionally one of the nation's biggest sales days of the year. A new reports from consulting firm BDO USA reveals that CMOs behind leading brands expect sales to increase this Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and email marketing strategies may be essential to yielding profits.
Retail marketers say they expect Black Friday sales to increase by 3.8 percent this holiday season. This marks a notable uptick in expectations; last year, CMOs expected sales to increase just 1.8 percent over 2008. Additionally, Cyber Monday sales are anticipated to increase by 2.5 percent.
This year could prove more profitable than last, as marketers don't plan to offer the same discounts they did in 2009. Nonetheless, Ted Vaughan, a partner at BDO USA, advises brands to maintain targeted promotions to gain an edge.
"Higher sales expectations for Black Friday and Cyber Monday indicate that 5 a.m. door-buster holiday sales are still crucial revenue drivers for the retail industry," he said.
Email marketing is the online promotional tactic that retail marketers believe will produce the most revenue this holiday season. Nearly half of respondents (45 percent) said they expect email to bring in the most sales.
Marketers planning last-minute email campaigns should remember that it's best to keep marketing messages concise. As Brafton reported, an Eloqua study concluded that directness is one of the leading characteristics of best-in-class email campaigns.
