Easter. It may well be the most important holiday of the year for Christians, but it is also the season for all kinds of celebrations – a time of renewal, hope, and optimism as winter gives way to spring and all the excitement and fun of warmer weather. Celebrations inevitably mean marketing opportunities. Last year Easter-related E-commerce spending reached a staggering $24 billion in sales – an average spend of $192 per shopper. Given today’s robust economy, we expect even better Easter season results in 2024.
As with every holiday season, there’s an obvious retail connection for traditional Easter items ranging from holiday cards to the vast assortment of seasonal candies and gifts. But every holiday season also represents a great chance to market seemingly non-related items. Think spring cleaning, home improvement, vacation planning, and the whole world of outdoor activities. Easter and springtime represent an ideal occasion to ramp up all relevant marketing opportunities.
We’ve got some ideas to help you invigorate your marketing and merchandising efforts during the Easter season, but remember that Easter, like Christmas, is both a religious holiday and a secular one. So whatever you do, be thoughtful and respectful with your marketing messages and strategies. (The safe approach is to stick to the more secular associations of Easter.)
Evoke the season throughout your online presence.
Create an enticing atmosphere that resonates with the holiday spirit to heighten anticipation among your audience. This might be as simple as using Easter-themed imagery across all your digital platforms or as ambitious as creating a lot of new themed content for your homepage, social media channels, blogs, ads, landing pages, and even your SEO strategy. If you can ramp things up even more, look for new ways to differentiate your Easter theme from that of your competitors. (In other words: think beyond the Easter bunny and Easter eggs.)
Create a sense of urgency.
Easter is a big holiday season, but a lot of shoppers will procrastinate – and online shopping nearly always requires some degree of lead time. So instill a sense of urgency among customers through, for example, countdown timers and by leveraging social proof techniques. Highlight your delivery capabilities and incentivize early shoppers with special offers or discounts. You’ll lose the sale if the buyer can’t be confident of delivery before Easter Sunday. You might also create compelling digital products to satisfy the last- minute shopper.
Craft irresistible Easter offers.
Develop exclusive and clever promotions and discounts tailored to the season using messaging that’s relevant and meaningful to your audience. Countdown deals, themed product bundles, and complimentary gifts are always good ideas for compelling offerings. Again, strive for differentiation by connecting Easter and spring themes to your product or market space.
Leverage social media.
Actively engage with your target demographic– particularly the 18 to 34 age group – on social media platforms using Easter-centric themes and messaging. Holidays almost always connect to childhood, so tap that nostalgic feeling with interactive initiatives like virtual egg hunts, contests, and quizzes. Harness the power of hashtags to further to broaden your social media efforts – with plenty of lead time to facilitate conversion. If possible, collaborate with relevant influencers to amplify your social media presence and cultivate even more engagement.
Boost average order value with thematic bundles.
Another tried-and-true merchandising tactic is to encourage higher spending by curating Easter-themed (or springtime-themed) product bundles. Remember that holiday shopping is very different from “normal” shopping, and customers are primed to spend if they find a compelling offering. A well- crafted bundle that embraces and reflects Easter season traditions (or creates new ones) is a great way to enhance your revenue potential.
Optimize email marketing.
Of course, you’ll use email campaigns to promote your exclusive Easter season offers. Work hard to infuse them with the full spirit of this time of year to enhance the success of your promotions, but also work hard to make them stand out from all the Easter-themed emails your prospects are undoubtedly receiving. Holidays are a particularly good time for employing dynamic elements like GIFs and animations that engage consumers. Personalize your emails to forge a more intimate connection with customers while ensuring clarity about your offers. Remember, too, that while a seasonal promotion may have different imagery and messaging, consistent branding is still important to your long-term success. It should always be clear that your emails, no matter how seasonal or topical, are clearly your emails.
Ensure your website is ready.
Holidays like Easter represent good opportunities to make sure your online infrastructure is ready for heightened volume. While you’re planning your offerings and promotion, optimize your website speed and functionality. Enhance product presentation with high-quality images and differentiating descriptions. Prioritize mobile optimization to cater to the growing demographic of mobile shoppers and to ensure a seamless and intuitive user experience across all channels and devices.
By eliciting a sense of renewal and optimism, Easter and springtime may be uniquely compelling in terms of their thematic importance. If you can complement and amplify those feelings with your marketing efforts this year, you and your customers will be well-rewarded.
