Share The Love With Your Customers This Valentine’s Day

The holiday of love is rapidly approaching. This year, why not spread a little love with special promotions or marketing activities?

It’s a fabulous opportunity to show your customers some love and appreciation for their support. After all, to keep customers returning, you need to show them how much you care. Plus, this is a time when brands and businesses thrive. According to savings.com.au, the average spend on Valentine’s gifts in 2020 was $150. Around 24% of millennials are willing to splash more than $200 on their partners.

Even if you don’t sell products that would be considered “traditional” Valentine’s Day gifts, (think heart-shaped chocolates or giant teddy bears) you can still benefit from the holiday sales. Need some brilliant Valentine’s Day marketing ideas to help you take advantage of this occasion? We have you covered.

Spotlight gift-worthy items

Your usual top-sellers might not make sense as a Valentine’s Day gift depending on your industry or business. Take some time to go through your inventory and create a list of products to push for this holiday. Maybe they work surprisingly well for a niche market, such as self-care or Galentine’s gifts. Or, you can organise them into a gift guide to make shopping even easier for your customers. Just like physical stores draw shoppers to specific products with endcaps or merchandising displays, you can draw focus to the products you’ve identified by placing them above the fold or highlighted with a popup. Consider which of your products can be marketed for self-care, for Galentine’s Day or even as a fun project for kids.

Let a gift do the talking

Who doesn’t love free things? Consider sending a little something extra when you ship out your orders. When your customers open their packages and receive a Valentine’s Day surprise, they’ll feel valued and appreciated, making them much more likely to become a repeat customer. If you have a tight budget, you can base the value of the gift on the order value or the customer relationship. For example, they could have a membership with you, be a VIP customer or a first-time buyer. Gift ideas include branded pens, stickers, hats, shirts; add-on items, upgrades, discount coupons; or even handwritten thank-you notes.

Share your stories

User-generated content is a fantastic way to strengthen relationships with your clients. It’s also one of the most inexpensive ways to market your business. We all have stories about past Valentine’s Day adventures – good and bad – so why not ask your audience to share theirs? People love to talk about themselves, and you can get them talking through a dedicated hashtag. Whether it’s #bestvdaystories or #disasterdates, the responses you can collect are perfect for sharing on social media, in email newsletters or a blog post.

Don’t forget the singles!

It’s important that you don’t make single shoppers feel less important at this time of year. Not everyone will have a date for Valentine’s Day, and some people simply don’t celebrate it, but that doesn’t mean they have to be left out. Rather than aiming your campaigns at couples or posting lovey-dovey content all the time, you could offer special gifts and discounts to those who are single. Or, you can hop on the Galentine’s Day trend and celebrate the love between friends.

Say it with a letter

Not everything has to be about selling. It’s always good if you can find an occasion to send out a note to your customers, to show them that they’re not just a number. Sending out a personalised note on Valentine’s Day is one of the best times to do it because they’re probably not expecting it, so it’ll be a pleasant surprise. Take the hassle out of distributing your love letter by sending it to an email list that you already have ready to go. If you have a large database, you can also separate the recipients to produce bespoke targeting.

Want to make things a little more interesting? If it fits with your brand archetype and tone of voice, joke around a little, and you can really stand out. If you’re struggling for ideas on what to write, here’s an example:

“There’s no better time than Valentine’s Day to reach out to the ones we care about, and we care about you! We wouldn’t have a business without you, which is why all of us here at [your business] is sending you a massive Thank You on this special day.

We hope you take some time today to enjoy the company of those you care about (even if it’s just your Mum). Settle into a cheesy Netflix rom-com with a loved one and finish off those heart-shaped chocolates together. When you look at your calorie count, just round it down, because you deserve to show yourself some love, too. Have a great Valentine’s Day, [customer name]!”

The clock is ticking…

The user experience is what ultimately decides whether your business survives. That means sometimes you have to extend your efforts a little further than you do in the real world. Businesses need to personalise the marketing experience to ensure their customers will see their products on their favourite digital channel. Use holidays like Valentine’s Day to nurture your customer relationships and build a loyal community.

Even though many of us are loved-up at this time of year, Valentine’s Day remains a very last-minute holiday. Website traffic is typically higher than usual, but it usually spikes just days out from the actual event. if you don’t have a digital marketing campaign planned for the 14th, you still have some time to create a Valentine’s Day action or to get in touch with our team 😉