5 Tips on How to Engage Customers on Valentine’s Day

No matter what industry you are in, Valentine’s Day is a great marketing opportunity and a great reminder of your brand; not to mention the boost of your sales. In fact, over $17.5 billion was spent on Valentine’s Day in 2016 in the US alone.

You can use this fifth most celebrated holiday* (*Wonderslist) and increase customer engagement of your app, your brand recognition and remind your users how much you love them!

1.Clichés are Clichés for a Reason

There is nothing wrong about going old school! Like your valentine expects you to buy roses and chocolates; your customers will never get bored of your Valentine’s Day offers and campaigns. With push notifications;

• Notify your customers about exclusive Valentine’s Day offers/ free gifts etc.
• If they purchased an item, send the `perfect match’ item to complete their purchase
• Remind your customers their abandoned carts or saved products by sending them a “loving” reminder

Let’s see how usual V-Day push notification campaigns work in numbers: Last year, one of the leading e-commerce apps in Turkey sent 5 Push Notifications during the Valentine’s Day period. These Valentine’s Day themed push notifications achieved a 6,2% open rate, when an ordinary campaign open rate was 2,3% in February.

2. Put a Smile on Their Faces

In addition to building usual campaigns; you can add some humour to your messages and maybe push some boundaries. Ikea Australia took out a campaign with a coupon for a free crib for babies born on November 14- exactly 9 months from Valentine’s Day. Did you find it a bit cheeky? Well at the end of the day, it’s Valentine’s Day!

3. Target Outside the Box

We already know how a successful segmentation and targeting strategy can boost your engagement and sales. How about using a different targeting method this time?

Last Minute Buyers: Men

Let’s be honest. A significant amount of last minute buyers consist of men so why not target them all and send last minute mobile coupons or promotions? And since most of them might still have no idea what to buy, some gift ideas you send them in these desperate last days, might turn into great sales results (and brand love).

Neglected Singles

Sometimes it’s not all about the money. It is already a hard time for single people with the usual pressure of finding a date, so why not send your customers – maybe only women- love notes, poems or funny Valentine’s Day messages via in-app pop ups. Give them a reason to check your app on Valentine’s day!

4. Get Engaged (not Literally!)

Engage your App with your Social Media Account

You can start a poetry competition or  Valentine’s Day contest such as giving a coupon for the most romantic picture and use both channels to promote and increase customer engagement.

Use Location

Since consumers are now spending more than 85% of their time on their smartphones, and 76% of smartphone users rely on their phones to find the nearest store; providing them tailored campaigns at the right place, at the right time is more crucial than ever. Therefore this is a great time to catch your last minute buyers wandering around your shop or even your competitors’ shop via location based campaigns.

Re-engage

Don’t forget your customers who haven’t made a purchase from you for a while. Remind yourself with interactive surveys/Valentine’s Day contest and catch your customers when they are inactive by using Mobile Marketing Automation wisely. Speaking of which, last year a Netmera customer- one of the biggest e-commerce apps in Turkey-, achieved a 7,6%  open rate from their Valentine’s Day campaign on 13.02. They sent push notifications to the segment who opened their app but not purchased anything within the last 7 days, and this was the most successful campaign on February in terms of open rates.

5. Be a Couple with Another Brand

You can team up with another brand and create your own unique marketing campaign. You can give a discount to your customers from a flower app or a free ride from a ride booking app when they make a purchase.

This will not only please your customers and get a competitive advantage; it will also increase your brand recognition with the help of other app’s marketing activities you collaborated with.

Make sure you show your customers that you are there for them with the most personalised campaigns at the right moment; or you care about them with some reminder of your love with discounts, promotions or love letters. Add some “love” to your campaigns!