Running a promotion campaign can be a lot of hard work and effort and so it makes sense to take advantage of the new connection you have made with both your existing customers and your new customers.  Customers can leave as quickly as they come and you need to recognise that building and maintaining a relationship with your customers is the key to strengthening the bond you have created.

Jump to today’s task – Say Thank You to your Valentine’s Day Customers

Here are some ways you can invest in your customer relationships:

Regular communication

Stay in touch with your customers.  Most likely to be in the form of a regular email newsletter, it is easy to let your customers know about new products in your range for example.  Or, ask your customers for feedback about your range.  This may provide you with an insight into other products or services that you could also offer to gain new business.

Follow up sales to give your customers a chance to tell you how happy they are with their purchase.  You can add the positive comments as testimonials in your store and use any not-so-positive comments as an opportunity.  This might mean improving a process, changing supplier or making changes to your store to enhance the customer experience.  When a customer’s issue prompts you to make a change, be sure to thank the customer.  A simple email to let him or her know you appreciate their feedback and that you have taken steps to address the issue based on their recommendations.  This small action makes the customer feel appreciated and more likely to consider shopping with you again. 

Become their ‘go to’ resource

Offer your experience and expertise freely in the form of ‘how-to’ guides, instructional videos or advice and assistance as required.  While you won’t always get an immediate return on your efforts, when your customers, or someone they know, are looking for a product or service that you offer, you are more likely to be foremost in their mind.

Write a note or make a phone call

As most communications with your customers are probably through the transactional messages of your online store or via email, stepping away from this and adding a personal interaction in the form of a telephone call or a note in the mail can be priceless in building your relationship.

Be prompt with inquiries

Show your commitment to top customer service by responding promptly to all customer queries.  In addition, make it a priority to resolve any issues immediately.  The way you handle queries and problems is an excellent opportunity to show your customers how you are different to your competitors.  Remember unhappy customers are 11 times more likely to talk about your business than happy customers.

Listen to your customers

Your customers will also provide you with great opportunities to engage further with them.  For example, a customer may have included a comment in the special comments section of the last order asking if you could race through their order as it is for their son’s 8th birthday in three days time.  Use this information as a cue to contact them in the coming week with a short note along the lines of ‘hope your son enjoyed his birthday’.  The personal touch is always remembered.

See your store through a customer’s eyes

Keep the customer in mind at all times.  Look at everything from your store front, to the checkout process and your customer service and see if there are ways you could improve.

The service you offer both during and after a sale will help determine if you have a satisfied customer.  Even if your customer is happy with the product, your customer service could make the difference between a one-time buyer and a repeat customer and also the difference between a customer and a customer that continually refers additional customers to you.

Thank your customers

Everyone likes to feel appreciated.  Certain times of the year, like Christmas, the end of the financial year, or the end of a promotion campaign, lend themselves to sending your customers a ‘thank you for your business’ communication.  You may choose to include a discount offer on their next purchase as part of your thank you.

You can choose to send your thank you as an email message, or stand out from all the other emails by sending either a mailed letter or a postcard.  Postcards are a unique and eye-catching way to ‘wow’ your customers and get them talking to their friends and colleagues that is also cost-effective.  Try InfoUSA, Vista Print or search for “postcard marketing” to find a service in your area.

You may like to use the following for inspiration when writing your thank you message:

• Thank you for your order from {store name}.  Here’s a coupon for 15% off your next order.
• We appreciate your business. Please accept this $30 discount off your next order as a thank you from the team here at {store name}.
• We appreciate the confidence you have placed in us and we look forward to providing you with the best possible service into the future.
• Just wanted to say thank you for your business!  Your personal discount code (below) is yours for free shipping on orders over $100.
• With special thanks and appreciation for your friendship, your business, and the opportunity to serve you.
• With grateful thoughts of our past business association we extend our sincerest thanks.

If you do offer a discount, think about the level and type of discount you can afford from your profit margin and also if the discount will have an expiry date or not.

Today’s Task

Select your preferred method of sending your thank you – a thank you letter, a thank you postcard or a thank you email. Develop your customer thank you. Send your thank you to all customers that purchased during your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign.

Building customer relationships takes time, but it is an essential part of your business.  Add regular customer contact, not only in the form of promotion campaigns, as part of your maintaining and growing your customer base strategy.

And that concludes the final task in the ‘How to run a Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign’ workshop.  Thank you for being part of this journey and I hope you have seen the benefits for your efforts.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 19 – Send Valentine’s Day Card to all Customers
2. 5 top tips to attract repeat customers to your Zen Cart online store
3. Zen Cart Discount Coupons – a great way to encourage new customers
4. How do I send a newsletter to my customers in Zen Cart?
5. Getting Ready for Christmas – Part Six: Inviting Customers to your Store for Christmas Shopping

Today we will be analysing the success of our Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign and looking at any lessons learned.

Jump to today’s task – Analyse your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign

It is important to spend some time analysing the information you have available so you can make an assessment on the success of your promotional campaign.  This will help you continually improve future campaigns.

Review your Campaign Objectives

Remember all the way back to Day 1 of the Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign workshop where we planned our campaign according to our objectives.  In general, promotion campaigns have one or more of the following objectives:

• increase your number of customers, and/or
• increase the number of orders placed by existing customers, and/or
• increase the order value of orders placed by existing customers.

If your objective was to increase your customer base, compare the number of new customers throughout the campaign period with the number of new customers for the previous period, or if you can, with the number of new customers for the same period last year.

If your objective was to increase the total value of each sale, compare the average value of each sale throughout the campaign period with the average value of each sale in the previous period, or if you can, with the average of each sale for the same period last year.

You might like to look at additional Reports for your Zen Cart store such as the Business Activity Report, Graphical Sales Report, Monthly Sales and Tax Summary Report or Sales Report.

Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) of your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign

While email marketing is among the most cost-effective marketing techniques available, executing a promotion campaign can be a lot of hard work.  It makes sense to ensure you see a return on your investment, even if the investment is your time only.

To calculate your ROI, insert your figures as we run through the example below.

1. 1. What was the total cost of your promotion campaign?
      Did you spend money setting up your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign?  For example, your offer may have been a free Valentine Teddy Bear with every purchase over $50 and therefore you purchase 100 bears @ $3 each.  Or, you may have offered free gift wrapping and a hand-made card and the required supplies set you back $120.

      Step back over the daily tasks to jog your memory if you don’t have your campaign notes to hand.

      Example:
      Valentine’s Day Theme Images  $39.00
      Advertising in Local Paper  $72.00
      Total Campaign Cost:  $111.00

   2. What was your profit on items sold during the promotion campaign?
      Going with just a simple calculation here, we will take the total sales value of the items sold during the campaign and subtract the overall cost of the products.Example:
      Products sold = 53 x Candle Sets @ $19.95 = $1,057.35
      Less cost = 53 x wholesale cost @ $9.03 = $478.59
      Profit = Sales – Cost = $578.76

      Obviously there are many other factors that come into calculating the cost of running your online store.  As the objective here is to calculate the ROI for the campaign, the simplified calculation is adequate.

   3. Did you exceed the break-even point?  Was your promotion campaign a success?
      Add the cost of your products to the cost of the promotion campaign and then subtract this from your total sales during the campaign.Example:
      Total Sales @ $1,057.35
      Less Product Cost @ $478.59
      Less Campaign Cost @ $111.00
      Base Profit = $467.76

How did you go?  You can see how additional promotions can quickly eat into your profit margin if you don’t keep a close eye on the true cost.

Measuring Site Traffic during the Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign

An analytics tool, such as Google Analytics, can provide you with a range of statistics on your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Information such as number of visitors, the pages they viewed, if they were a repeat visitor, their geographic location, their browser version and more is available through the easy to read reports and graphs.

Look at the incoming traffic to your online store and compare your statistics throughout the campaign period with your statistics for the previous period, or if you can, with your statistics for the same period last year.

If you haven’t yet implemented a site analytics tool, you can get started with Signing up for Google Analytics and Adding Google Analytics to your Zen Cart store.  Also take a look at the six-part series Google Analytics Demystified available at e-Commerce Optimization.

How effective has your marketing with social media been in driving additional visitors to your store?  Have you noticed a significant increase in the number of referrals from the social shopping or directory sites?  Spend some time getting to know your visitors – you may be surprised just how much you can learn and how helpful this information can be.

Analysing Other Zen Cart Metrics Available

Another source of very helpful information is your Zen Cart Admin.  Have a look at the customers that purchased during the promotion campaign.  Look at patterns such as the geographic location of your customers, the products purchased and information such when was the busiest day and the comparison of new customers vs. returning customers.

If your campaign included the use of discount coupons, there is also a report available in Coupon Admin.  This will let you know the number of times each coupon type has been redeemed in total and by customer.

Add any interesting findings to your promotion campaign notes.

Lessons Learned

What will you do differently when planning your next promotion campaign?  Was there an area of your marketing that appeared to work especially well for you?  For example, perhaps the article you submitted to the local paper actually brought in far more customers than all the time you spent on various social media sites.

Or perhaps a lesson was that the promised hand-made cards put too much pressure on getting your items ready for shipping every day.  Maybe your promotion was too successful and next time you might look at a not quite-so-attractive discount.

Make some notes while everything is still fresh in your mind so that when it comes to planning next year’s Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign you can take advantage of your lessons learned.

Today’s Task

Review your campaign objectives. Calculate the ROI on your promotion campaign. Measure your site traffic during the promotion campaign. Analyse the Zen Cart metrics available. Take note of any new lessons learned.

See you tomorrow for the last task in this workshop.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 20 – Remove Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Images and Copy
2. Day 17 – Add Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Dates in 2011 Calendar
3. Day 10 – Sending the second Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
4. Day 15 – Sending the third Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
5. Day 6 – Marketing your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign using Directory Sites

Well, Valentine’s Day has already come and gone and nothing looks worse than out of date information on the web.  Online stores, in particular, will end up turning away customers as they feel that it’s not safe to hand over money to a store that no longer looks looked after.  So, it is a good practice to remove any promotion images and copy as soon as the promotion has ended.

Jump to today’s task – Remove Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Images and Copy

Make a to-do list of the changes you need to make to your Zen Cart store to remove references to Valentine’s Day.  Start with the most visible changes and work through your list from there.

• Removal of Valentine’s Day Banners (or mark them expired)
• Removal of Valentine’s Day text and images from your Zen Cart template files
• Set Valentine’s Day Countdown Sidebox to Off
• Removal of Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate images
• Removal of Valentine’s Day changes in Email templates
• Removal (or mark as expired) promotional shipping and discounting rules
• Removal of any other Valentine’s Day copy and images.

Once you think you have finished your list, conduct a thorough review of your store pages.  Did you add any Valentine’s Day info on the Shipping page or create Valentine’s Day categories?

Save your images and your notes on changes you made throughout your store to a folder to make it easy to review when planning your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign next year. 

Today’s Task

Remove Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign images and copy.

Tomorrow we take a look at the success rate of our Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 13 – Gift Certificate Images for your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign
2. Day 17 – Add Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Dates in 2011 Calendar
3. Day 10 – Sending the second Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
4. Day 15 – Sending the third Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
5. Day 12 – Using Zen Cart Banners for your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Landing Pages

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Jump to today’s task – Send Valentine’s Day Card to all Customers

Business success is all about relationships.  Relationships with your suppliers and service providers and, of course, relationships with your customers and prospective customers.  Many customers feel that dealing with an ecommerce store means a transaction that is impersonal with very mediocre customer service.  But it doesn’t have to be that way and part of what drives customers to your online store is that you have differentiated yourself through your personal touch and true customer service.

When you think of your customer base as your most powerful marketing machine, you can quickly see how important it is to nurture that relationship.

Sending a card to your customers at Christmas tends to mean it is just another one in the pile.  Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to send a thank you card to your customers and also stand out and be appreciated at the same time.

Your customers will appreciate the gesture, especially as you have put the focus on them.  Avoid the temptation to include a sales pitch or other enticements.  This time it’s about your relationship with your customers, making that connection and building an ongoing bond. 

Creating your Valentine’s Day Card

A good way of providing links to your store without taking away from the message is to design your email to include your store’s main navigation.

Use a high quality image (optimised for the web) and keep your message simple.

You might like to review the previous email tasks in this workshop:

• Day 4 – Sending the first Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
• Day 10 – Sending the second Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
• Day 15 – Sending the third Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email

And also:

• Free Valentine’s Day Email Header Images for Zen Cart Store Owners
• How do I send a newsletter to my customers in Zen Cart?

Ways to say thank you

• Thank you for your continued business.  We wish you a happy Valentine’s Day.
• Happy Valentine’s Day.  We appreciate your business.
• We appreciate the confidence you have placed in us and we look forward to providing you with the best possible service into the future.  Happy Valentine’s Day.
• Happy Valentine’s Day.  Your loyalty as a customer is greatly appreciated.
• Just wanted to say thank you for your business!  Happy Valentine’s Day!
• With special thanks and appreciation for your friendship, your business, and the opportunity to serve you.  Happy Valentine’s Day.
• Happy Valentine’s Day.  Friends like you are the foundation of our success, and we want to know how much we appreciate your loyalty.
• Happy Valentine’s Day.  With grateful thoughts of our past business association we extend our sincerest thanks.
• Extending our sincerest appreciation to you for your business.  Happy Valentine’s Day.

Today’s Task

Create your Valentine’s Day card using the Zen Cart Newsletter and Product Notification Manager. Send your Valentine’s Day card to all customers.

Tomorrow we move to the final stages of our Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 22 – Say Thank You to your Valentine’s Day Customers
2. How do I send a newsletter to my customers in Zen Cart?
3. Day 17 – Add Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Dates in 2011 Calendar
4. Day 14 – Promoting your last-minute gift options for Valentine’s Day
5. Day 11 – More Valentine’s Day Banner Designs and Campaign Examples

Up till now we have had daily tasks throughout this workshop with some days requiring a significant amount of work.  Today we are now going to take it easy.

Jump to today’s task – Relax with fun Valentine’s Day facts and figures

Did you know …

	It is said that 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day.
	Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine’s cards with teachers, classmates, and family members.
	About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.
	The first recorded Valentine sent in 1415.  It was a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife. At the time, the duke was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.
	In the middle Ages, people believed that the first unmarried person of the opposite sex you met on the morning of St. Valentine’s Day would become your spouse.
	According to the condom company Durex, condom sales are highest around Valentine’s Day, which are 20 percent to 30 percent higher than usual.
	In the United States, 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for a romantic Valentine’s Day with their sweethearts.
	Valentine’s Day is believed to have it’s roots in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Sometime around 496, Pope Gelasius I renamed this pagan festival Valentine’s Day and moved it to February 14.
	Shakespeare refers to Valentine’s Day in Hamlet (Act 4, Scene 5) when Ophelia sings: To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day, All in the morning betime, And I a maid at your window, To be your Valentine. Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes, And dupp’d the chamber-door; Let in the maid, that out a maid Never departed more.
	According to the Ipsos-Insight for the American Floral Endowment’s Consumer Tracking Study (2004), of roses purchased on Valentine’s Day, 69% are red, 6% pink, 6% peach/salmon, 5% yellow, 4% white, 7% mixed colours and 4% other.
	NECCO added ten new sayings to their Sweethearts Conversations Hearts for Valentine’s Day, 2004. The new sayings were: 3 Wishes Ever After New You Magic Dream Charm Me Start Now New Love M Me I ? You
	The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentine cards are sent world-wide each year, making Valentine’s Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.
	Sweden is the only country that does not celebrate Valentine’s Day.
	Elton John-Renate Blauel, Meg Ryan-Dennis Quaid, Pamela Anderson-Tommy Lee and Sharon Stone-Phil Bronstein are couples who chose to get married on 14th February.
	Valentine’s Day was originally associated with the mating season of birds.
	Americans spend $655 million each Valentine’s Day on candy, making it the fourth biggest holiday of the year for confectionery purchases, after Halloween, Christmas and Easter (in that order).
	During Victorian times, it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine’s Day card.
	110 million roses, mostly red ones, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
	According to a nationwide survey conducted by Bruskin/Goldring Research for the Society of American Florists, 61 percent of men of all ages say they would like to receive flowers from a woman for Valentine’s Day.
	Until the mid-1800′s, the cost of sending mail was too expensive for the average person.  Until the penny post, most valentine cards were hand delivered.

Today’s Task

Grab your beverage of choice. Put feet up. Relax!

See you tomorrow for Valentine’s Day.  We will be sending a Valentine’s Day card to our customers.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 19 – Send Valentine’s Day Card to all Customers
2. Day 17 – Add Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Dates in 2011 Calendar
3. Day 10 – Sending the second Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
4. Day 12 – Using Zen Cart Banners for your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Landing Pages
5. Day 15 – Sending the third Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email

As we are approaching the end of our Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign, it is a good time to reflect on what you have done so far and how you might plan for next year’s campaign.

Jump to today’s task – Add Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Dates in 2011 Calendar

Next year you will be able to build on what you have done this year and each and every promotion campaign will tend to feel less like a mountain as you become more familiar with the common components of promotion campaigns.  You will also have more of an idea of how long you need to give yourself to plan and set up for a campaign and also what works best for your store and what didn’t seem to be very successful in achieving your campaign objectives.

Below is an example Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign schedule:

Today’s Task

Adjust the dates to suit you and your store. Schedule Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign dates in your 2011 calendar.

Tomorrow we get to relax with fun facts and figures about Valentine’s Day.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 15 – Sending the third Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
2. Day 10 – Sending the second Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
3. 2010 How to run a Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign
4. Day 20 – Remove Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Images and Copy
5. Day 12 – Using Zen Cart Banners for your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Landing Pages

So far in the tasks throughout our Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign workshop, we have been concentrating on setting up our Zen Cart store to support our promotions and also on marketing our promotions via email, social media and other online avenues.  However, don’t discount more traditional marketing opportunities – they can be just as, if not more, effective than online marketing.

Jump to today’s task – Using offline marketing for Promotion Campaigns

Offline marketing will mean putting yourself out there and may mean getting out of your comfort zone.  But find out what works best for you and your store and it’s well worth the additional effort and any additional expense. 

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Have some flyers professionally printed and have family and friends help distribute them.  Most work places have a lunch area or a noticeboard where they could place a handful of your flyers.
• Ask to leave flyers in your local sports clubs, social clubs, shopping mall noticeboards, community halls and parents club at your school.  Think about anywhere you have seen flyers and find out if it is OK to add yours too.
• Have some postcards printed to promote your store.  Postcards can be used for direct mailing campaigns as well as anywhere with postcard displays such as local cafés and bars and as a more memorable flyer.
• Donate a Gift Certificate for your store as a prize in a raffle for charity to coincide with a holiday or an event.   Have your URL printed on all raffle information.
• Write an article for your local community newspaper as an expert in your industry / niche.  Include your URL in your bio information.  The main focus of the article should be of general interest to readers and not read as an advertisement. 
• Ask local businesses if they are happy to have your flyers/postcards or a poster on display.  Hairdressers and clothing stores are great complementary businesses for jewellery online stores, for example. 
• Attend trade shows, conferences and conventions related to your industry / niche.  Get exposure with lots of people in your target market.  For example, bridal fairs or model car swap meets can offer fantastic opportunities for networking and advertising. 
• Look for industry / niche magazines and publications like the Yellow Pages (or the local business pages) for advertising and listing opportunities.  Many people still believe this adds weight to your credibility as a business.
• Contact your local community radio and explore opportunities for advertising or as a special interview series as an expert in your field.  Remember that it may take up to four weeks to see the results however it is worth sticking to and can be surprisingly affordable.
• Get your vehicle(s) professionally branded with your store logo, tagline and URL.  If your URL is not self-explanatory, make sure you include a tagline or slogan so people know what your business is all about.
• Finally, make sure that everything you do includes your store’s URL.  For example, all your day-to-day operational documents such as faxes, invoices, business cards, letterheads, shipping labels, discount vouchers and gift certificates should all be reinforcing your store’s URL in the minds of everyone who comes into contact with you.

Today’s Task

Think about ways to include offline marketing as a part of your store’s marketing strategy.  Start small and local and build from there if time and/or budget is low.

Tomorrow we turn our attention briefly to scheduling next year’s Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 6 – Marketing your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign using Directory Sites
2. Day 5 – Marketing your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign with Social Media
3. Day 21 – Analyse your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign
4. Day 17 – Add Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Dates in 2011 Calendar
5. Day 9 – Tips for improving your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email and Landing Pages

Today we will be sending the third email in our Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign.  This is our chance to capture those buyers that may have been too busy or still thinking and haven’t done their Valentine shopping yet.

Jump to today’s task – Sending the third Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email

We are getting very close to Valentine’s Day now and yesterday we focussed on making sure visitors to our store were made aware of our options for last-minute Valentine shopping.  Now we are going to be giving that same information to our email subscribers in the third email of our campaign.

Firstly, consider who you would like to send the third campaign email to.  You may choose to send to all Newsletter Subscribers or to Dormant Customers (>3months).  In Zen Cart Admin > Tools > Newsletter and Product Notifications Manager, the drop down menu to select audience is available after you click Send next to a newsletter. 

Either way your email content needs to be fresh and not just a repeat of your last email.  More on this in a moment.

Now when it comes to your subject line, I would recommend including something along the lines of Final Reminder or similar.  This lets your subscribers know two things – that they really need to act now if they are going to buy something from you during this campaign but also that this is the last email of this campaign. 

Moving on to the contents of your email.  Now that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, this is your opportunity to highlight the things that you can offer to last-minute buyers that will set you apart from other online retailers. 

• If you sell hand-crafted or very unique products, focus on how special these are for the Valentine recipient (perhaps something along the lines of not the usual flowers and chocolates for your loved one).
• If you offer express, overnight or weekend delivery, highlight this right along side your gift ideas and / or product info included in your email.
• Make it clear that your products are in stock and available for immediate delivery.
• Or, move the focus from products/items to online Gift Certificates.  If you offer a print version of your Gift Certificate for Valentine’s Day, they will still have something pretty to hand their Valentine on the day.

Before you start you may like to review Day 4 – Sending the first Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email and Day 10 – Sending the second Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email as well as How do I send a newsletter to my customers in Zen Cart?.

Today’s Task

Create your third Campaign Email Message. Send your third Campaign Email Message.

Tomorrow we will be exploring the use of offline marketing to expand the audience for your promotion campaign.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 10 – Sending the second Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
2. Day 4 – Sending the first Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
3. Day 20 – Remove Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Images and Copy
4. Day 17 – Add Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Dates in 2011 Calendar
5. Day 9 – Tips for improving your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email and Landing Pages

Today we are focussing on what we can offer the last-minute buyer to increase the number of sales in the last few days of our Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign.

Jump to today’s task – Promoting Valentine offers for last-minute buyers

In our last task we looked at updating our Gift Certificate images to Valentine-themed designs.  Gift Certificates make the perfect gift idea for those that have left their Valentine shopping to the last-minute.  Include information, or a link to it, on how the Gift Certificates work in your Zen Cart store and any restrictions, if applicable.

If you can, highlight the products in your campaign as “In stock – ready to ship today!” to make it clear to your store visitors the products you have that are available for delivery before Valentine’s Day.

Think about ways that you can ‘stand out from the crowd’ this Valentine’s Day.  Try to include something special like free gift-wrapping or a hand-made card with each order with the promotion of “we’ve thought of everything for you” or something similar.

Put yourself into the eyes of the potential customer.  Can I find Valentine’s gift ideas?  Are there any special offers for Valentine’s Day?  Are these items in stock?  Can they be delivered in time?  What if I need to return an item?  Can I get a gift voucher?  Will my item be gift-wrapped?  And so on.  If you can’t remember where to find the information or it takes more than one or two clicks to get to it, think about ways you can make it easier for your visitors to become customers.  Holiday time, like Valentine’s Day, is a great opportunity to attract new customers to your store.  Make their shopping experience with you a positive one and you may just have a new customer for life.

Today’s Task

Update the banners and landing pages in use for your Valentine’s Day to focus attention on your products and/or offers that are particularly suited to last minute shoppers. If you haven’t already done so, include on your home page and/or landing page information on your last shipping day if shoppers need delivery before Valentine’s Day.

Our next task coming up is the third email in our Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 13 – Gift Certificate Images for your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign
2. Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate Designs – Set 3
3. Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate Designs – Set 2
4. Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate Designs – Set 4
5. Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate Designs – Set 5

As we quickly approach Valentine’s Day, we now focus on those buyers that have left shopping for their Valentine to the last minute.

Jump to today’s task – Installing Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate Designs in your Zen Cart store

According to the National Retail Federation, total holiday spending this year is expected to reach $14.1 billion in the US.  Like previous years, men will spend nearly twice the amount women spend on the holiday.  Men, however, will tend to leave their Valentine shopping to the last-minute, even to the day itself.

This is where Gift Certificates / Gift Vouchers can make the perfect gift.  Showing much more thought and preparation than service station flowers, a gift certificate is great for both the recipient and for increasing sales in the last few days of your Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign.

Give your Gift Certificate’s a Valentine’s makeover and go the extra mile by offering a print version to your customers.  That way they have something pretty to hand to their Valentine on the day rather than just an uninspiring coupon code.

Gift Certificate Designs for Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaigns

Click an image to view and download the set of gift certificate images.

For UK based Zen Cart Stores

Click an image to view and download the set of gift certificate images.

Today’s Task

Create, or select, a new set of Gift Certificate designs. Install the new designs in your Zen Cart store.

Tomorrow we continue to focus on what we can offer the last-minute buyer.

Good luck!  Any questions, please use the comments section below.

More Zen Cart:

1. Day 20 – Remove Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Images and Copy
2. Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate Designs – Set 3
3. 2010 How to run a Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign
4. Day 15 – Sending the third Valentine’s Day Promotion Campaign Email
5. Valentine’s Day Gift Certificate Designs – Set 8