Along with Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the December holidays, July 4th is one of the biggest commercial holidays in the US. It’s a crucial time for many ecommerce brands to drive sales.

Here’s how to build a strong funnel to move customers from awareness to purchase for your July 4th campaigns:

1 - Generate Awareness

Once you’ve decided that you’re celebrating the freeing of America by freeing up some inventory, you better let people know! Create an audience of customers who care about your brand by targeting users that interact with you - that is, those who regularly visit your site and buy your products (or even those who abandoned their carts before buying).

Use your organic social channels, paid social ads and email to alert them of your sale. Maybe let some influencers know… go crazy! It’s your sale.

For campaigns that revolve around a holiday, it’s important to use the right amount of holiday-related imagery and content. Communicate the theme without going overboard - whether you go the serious, patriotic route, or the lighthearted, humorous route, all creative should be consistent across channels.

Pro Tip: Show them the money. Don’t just tell your audience they’re getting a discount - translate that into how much they’re actually saving. For example, if you’re offering 40% off, communicate that customers will save $40 on $100 orders, $80 on $200 orders, etc.

2 - Landing Page

Before you hit “post,” launch those ads or push “send” on those emails, set up a conversion focused landing page.

A good landing page will include a headline that ties to the July 4th theme, engaging imagery (and video, if budget allows) related to the sale, with a call to action (CTA) asking for name and email address or phone number in exchange for an exclusive offer (in addition to the main promotion you’re running).

With an email address or phone number, you can create a separate audience to retarget with similar offers in the future, as they’ve demonstrated their willingness to participate in such sales.

Make sure to set up automated confirmation emails or texts that reiterate the sale and their special discount for signing up ahead of time, as well as important terms and conditions. But don’t give away the discount code just yet - you’ll want to save that for the day of the sale.

Pro Tip: Use SMS marketing platforms like Postscript.io or SMS Bump to manage your SMS communications. These tools allow customers to purchase via text (!) and give you the ability to communicate, sell and track spend directly through Shopify.

3 - Email or Text Reminders

This step is as important to your funnel as the Battle of Saratoga was for the American Revolution. Starting at T-minus ten days until the sale, send an email notification every day, reminding them that the day is approaching to keep them excited.

This cadence may seem aggressive, but keep in mind these customers gave you their info because they wanted that extra discount. Plus, most customers won’t opt in more than a few days in advance, so won’t receive all ten emails.

Do more with your reminders than just reminding - provide value by suggesting which products to buy during the sale (hint: push your best-sellers) or leverage them as brand advocates by asking them to share the sale with friends.

Have an automated email ready to send the unique code on the day of the sale (whether it’s actually on the 4th or a few days earlier or later is up to you), then sit back, relax and watch the purchases roll in.

But don’t get too comfortable - ecommerce product return rates fall somewhere between 20-30%.

Pro Tip: use a tool like SendForensics to increase email deliverability and open rates. It scans emails before you send them and makes suggested changes to ensure they’ll be delivered to users’ primary inboxes, rather than promotion tabs or spam folders.

4 - Follow Up

Follow up with customers in the days after the sale, while everyone is enjoying their new purchases. We already know these customers are responsive to rewards, so offer them something in exchange for a product review or social share.

This kind of third-party validation helps build the social proof necessary to attract new customers and keep existing ones coming back for more between sales.

Conclusion

With a complete funnel in place, you’ll be prepared to capitalize on consumers’ love of discounts. By building the hype, capturing email or phone info, reminding your customers and following up, you’ll set yourself up for success this 4th of July.

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