The changing of the seasons has a great effect on our purchasing behaviours as consumers. It’s vital for customer experience (CX) to align with customers’ interests, and the time of year and big seasonal events can change the way in which consumers want to be communicated with. 

Email is an excellent method by which brands can demonstrate this understanding, and foster a better CX by sending content that is both personally relevant for the recipient and organic in how it feels. Attuning emails to the world around customers by reflecting the changing seasons and aligning to personal interests shows the customer that the business is engaged in their personal journey, and strengthens their CX in the process.

Doing so requires businesses to be constantly adapting their content, and seizing the potential of seasonal events. For example, for a great many businesses the summer months are all about holidays. For those in the holiday trade itself, they might look to entice customers by giving them a taste of what they’re missing out on, with ‘what’s on’ event guides based on their preferences, vouchers to galleries they’ve previously visited and menus for restaurants they might like to try.

It’s important to tailor these emails, as simply bombarding a customer with a voucher for every restaurant in town is more likely to negatively impact the CX than anything else, and could send customers off in search of competing businesses that better understand their interests and behaviours.

The autumn season offers companies a chance to help people transition from the warm summer to the cold winter. Fashion companies need to preparing customers for the cold months ahead with appropriate clothing recommendations, while food and drink businesses can take advantage of the fact that people have stopped striving for a beach body and so are willing to be a little less strict with their diet.

Autumn is also home to two of the biggest retail events in the calendar, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Retailers can seize the events by creating a series of promotions targeted to people based on their purchase history. It’s also important for emails to grab attention. Subject lines need to be short, sharp, and personalised to each recipient. If they can clearly see that there’s something of interest to them personally, customers are much more likely to open the email and follow through to purchase.

The winter, of course is home to the year’s biggest seasonal event, and a tremendous opportunity for businesses – Christmas. Helping consumers to navigate the muddy waters of gift-giving with discounted products, exclusive content and recommendations they’re likely to enjoy is a great way to win a good place in their estimations.

Christmas also lends the season a structure that contains a great many opportunities for brands that can put them to use. A good example is the 12 days of Christmas, which UK beauty brand ELEMIS used to each day send subscribers an email that contained a closed door. When clicked, the door opened to reveal a surprise, such as a discounted gift. Consumers reacted very positively; click through rates were up 94 per cent, and testing revealed that closed doors secured a 271 per cent uplift over emails that contained already open doors, plus drove an uplift in revenue of 78 per cent.

Good CX is all about making sure every single customer feels as though the company values and understands them. Every communication the customer receives should be relevant to them, engaging on a personal level. Emails need to reflect customers’ worlds, and the impact of the seasons has a huge impact on each and every one of us. By attuning email content to the season, and seizing the potential of seasonal events in particular, business can ensure a great CX for all their customers, and grow their business in the process.

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Digital Experience