Expert suggests cross-platform may spark 2013 holiday sales

This holiday season, expect more people to shop online, but don't expect them to always shop from a PC or only research through a mobile device. This holiday season, says one expert, may be the cross-device holiday season, and that means retailers need to shore up their online experience, especially the mobile experience.

"Consumers will expect mobile shopping experiences to function better than last year, so brands must be prepared to offer this experience, starting with email that is responsive and/or scalable in design. In fact, we're now seeing that upwards of 50% of email opens are coming from mobile devices. SMS is another channel that should be leveraged, as 90% of all text messages are read within three minutes of being received," said Wacarra Yeomans, Director of Creative Services, Responsys.

Yeoman suggests that to be successful over the 2013 holiday shopping season, retailers need to ensure the targeting, relevance and value of the messages they send to consumer lists. For example, a retailer could attract last-minute shoppers delivery alerts via SMS, which encourages loyalty and may reduce call center costs.

One more suggestion: vary the message across the customer base. Rather than creating one email message, create multiple messages so that a customer in-market for a new tablet gets the message about the tablet, but that a customer who just bought a tablet instead receives messaging or offers for peripheral products.

Finally, know your customers.

"Know who your customers are, what they like and where they are in the purchase journey Finally, to truly engage and stand out, brands shouldn't be afraid to utilize live content, such as countdown clocks, real-time social updates, creative optimization, device targeting and real-time pricing," said Yeomans.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: cross platform advertising, ecommerce trends, holiday 2013 trends, Responsys