Best Thanksgiving Marketing Ideas for E-commerce Businesses
Thanksgiving ushers in a major shopping season in the U.S., where customers start preparing for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday sales. This Thanksgiving, e-commerce businesses have a great opportunity to attract a number of early holiday shoppers and drive brand loyalty ahead of Black Friday mania. In this article, we’re sharing creative and enlightening Thanksgiving marketing ideas ranging from high-level campaign ideas down to actionable tips. Let’s dive into just how you’ll be interacting with your audience and driving conversions this Thanksgiving!
Provide Limited-Time Thanksgiving Bundles
Bundling products as exclusive Thanksgiving specials are a great way to raise AOV and expose customers to new items. Thanksgiving bundles can come in the form of thematic products or best-sellers, also known as seasonal packages.
How to Apply: Sell prepared Thanksgiving bundles or give an option to the customer to build a bundle from the selection of items. This could be some sort of “Holiday Glow Kit” for a beauty store or “Thanksgiving Chef Essentials Bundle” for kitchenware. Driving this, one can put a countdown timer on the landing page; after that, one has to come up with a ready-to-use awesome-looking landing page with Canvify’s Black Friday templates to make things easy.
Share Thanksgiving Themed User-Generated Content (UGC)
Nothing creates a warm and inviting atmosphere like user-generated content. Sharing Thanksgiving themed UGC connects your brand to customers, showing real-life application of your products.
How to Implement: Encourage customers to share photos/videos with a unique Thanksgiving hashtag, and feature them on the website or social media. With Canvify’s embed integration for TikTok videos and other user content, you can display a living, breathing gallery of real customer moments on your Thanksgiving landing page to up the engagement and build trust.
Launch a Thanksgiving-Themed Referral Program
Referrals are incredibly persuasive, especially if incentivized with something meaningful around Thanksgiving. A referral campaign for Thanksgiving can incentivize loyal customers to share their love with friends and family.
How to Implement: The offering of some referral incentive around $10 off for the referrer and the referral could be Thanksgiving-themed. Alternatively, offer a Thanksgiving-themed product as a reward for referrals. The Thanksgiving connection gives the incentive that bit of emotional oomph which fits with a feeling of gratitude.
Host a Thanksgiving Gratitude Campaign
Thanksgiving is all about thankful feelings; be sure to let customers know how thankful you are for them. A sincere email or social media campaign with a focus on gratitude will help bring them closer and make people more loyal.
How to Execute: Just send a nice “Thank You” email or at least a social media post thanking your customers for their support this year. Then personalize it with a small surprise, like a one-time-use discount code. Make sure the email looks just as warm as it reads with Canvify’s fun Thanksgiving design templates.
Give Back with a Thanksgiving Charity Campaign
People like to give kudos to brands that give back. Partner with a charity or offer a “Buy One, Give One” deal. Many values-driven consumers take the opportunity on Thanksgiving to give back.
How to Execute: Donate a piece of each Thanksgiving purchase to a local food bank or charity, or allow customers an option to add a small donation to their sale. Share how their contributions are making a difference in follow-up emails or on social media to foster this brand relationship and show the tangible impacts of their support.
Curated Thanksgiving Gift Guide
Thanksgiving ushers in holiday shopping for many. Presenting them with a curated gift guide comprised of your products might elicit purchases from customers, making them ease painful and stressful shopping woes.
How to Implement: Create segmentation for recipient type, such as “Gifts for Mom” or “Gifts for Foodies.” Use Canva templates for holiday gift guides to make it more interactive with beautiful visual arrangements of your products. Add internal links to specific product pages for easy navigation through your website.
Host an Exclusive Thanksgiving Flash Sale
Flash sales have the power to create urgency, especially if it is on an exclusive holiday. A Thanksgiving flash sale can be one way to capture early shoppers before Black Friday.
How to Execute: Offer a brief, timed sale, like 6 or 24 hours, with unique discounts only available during Thanksgiving. Trigger urgency and conversions by adding flashy graphics and countdown timers to your landing page with Canvify’s themed landing page templates.
Design Engaging Thanksgiving Social Media Campaigns
Social media serves as a great channel for Thanksgiving-themed engagement and conversational commitments. Light-hearted campaigns such as Thanksgiving puns, family traditions, or cooking tips attract more dramatic attention and increase brand visibility.
How to Implement: Share Thanksgiving-themed social media posts. It could be a short video reel on “Last-Minute Thanksgiving Recipes” or some shareable graphics with puns and slogans. To create some really compelling seasonal posts, get more inspiration from our update on Cyber Monday Social Media Ideas.
Send Cart Abandonment Emails with a Thanksgiving Theme
Thanksgiving-themed cart abandonment emails will recover lost sales by reminding customers of potential purchases. Adding a seasonal touch can make these reminders timely and relevant.
How to Implement: Personalize cart abandonment emails with Thanksgiving visuals and a gentle nudge, such as, “Don’t miss out on your Thanksgiving treats!” Consider adding an extra incentive, like a small discount or free shipping, to encourage customers to complete their purchase. Use visually appealing email designs to match the holiday spirit.
Make Sure Thanksgiving Landing Pages Are Mobile-Friendly
Thanksgiving shopping has become huge on mobile as customers shop anywhere, anywhere. Ensuring that your landing pages are mobile-friendly can drive off drop-offs and increase conversions.
Ensure your pages load fast and are easy enough to maneuver on smaller screens. Follow mobile optimization tips provided by Canvify, and edit for better usability: large buttons, readable text. A mobile-friendly layout that will fit within the Thanksgiving theme will keep users right on your site, no matter the device.
Create Thanksgiving Themed Shopify Landing Pages in Canva
Creating Thanksgiving-themed Shopify landing pages in Canva offers a blend of creativity and functionality for e-commerce stores aiming to make a strong seasonal impression. With Canva, you can easily design a visually cohesive, holiday-themed landing page that can then be exported to Shopify using Canvify for a seamless integration.
To Summarize It All
Thanksgiving offers this peculiar moment when e-commerce companies can get in meaningful touch with existing customers and set the stage for the upcoming shopping season. By applying these promotional ideas to your marketing mix, you will run campaigns that feel fresh and relevant to the target audience, using much of the warmth and thankfulness that defines Thanksgiving. For more ideas, check out our upcoming post on Thanksgiving Landing Page Templates for E-commerce to make your seasonal promotions even more successful!