3 Ways to Keep Customers Engaged After the Holidays

It's not hard to keep a customer's attention during the holiday season, when consumers are motivated to buy and on the lookout for great gift deals or discounts. However, the challenge for businesses arrives when the holidays come to a close and customers are much more protective of their wallets. 

The change in sentiment can result in a big drop-off that serves as an abrupt end to the seasonal cheer for a company's bottom line. It can be challenging to maintain the momentum of the high-sales period into the winter doldrums of the early new year, but it's not impossible. 

Engaging customers through various outreach initiatives and channels can help keep relationships active. While not every interaction may end in a transaction, making the simple effort to stay connected is considered best practice in managing the customer lifecycle. Here are three ways:

1. Send a holiday greeting

The time between Christmas and New Year's Eve is often a slow one, and customers aren't eager to engage with marketing after just experiencing the holiday rush. Yet that shouldn't prevent businesses from having an active presence. Sending a general holiday greeting through email is one way to remove any salesy aspect and project honesty, which can have a positive impact on customers. Adding a line about providing assistance with returns could make the communication all the more valuable to recipients.

This is a good opportunity to let your brand voice speak authentically, which can build a rapport with customers.

2. Post on social media

Another way to keep customers engaged is to draw them to you, via inbound marketing. This is easily accomplished with social media. Businesses should be active across a number of platforms — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest — and post regularly. Not everything has to be about sales, either. Sharing pictures of a winter office party is one way to build a reputable and engaging brand image through social media.

Don't just post, though; remember to like, comment, share and reply to followers or other brand accounts. 

3. Personalize your follow-up

Once you're ready to send out marketing again, be sure to personalize your outreach. Customers are more likely to interact with and respond to offers or communications that show clear signs of personalization. Adding a customer's name to the address line is enough, however. Businesses that analyze customer data gathered over the holiday sales period can use that intel to shape engagement campaigns moving into the early months of the new year.

One data point to consider including is customer purchase history, which can inform cross- and up-selling opportunities if businesses can recommend the right products to customers. Another metric to track is cart abandonment. Checking back with customers can save relationships or transactions.

There's no rest for businesses, not even after a hectic holiday rush. It's crucial to stay on the front foot with customers and keep them engaged. This is beneficial not only in the short term but also the long term, over the customer lifecycle. If in need of seasonal financing or banking assistance during this time, contact Vectra Bank.