5 Valentine’s Day Marketing Ideas to Increase Sales and Customer Loyalty

Kelsey Clutter, Content Marketing Manager

Not everyone is a fan of Valentine’s Day, but there’s no denying it’s a great sales opportunity.

Consumers are on the hunt for the perfect gift for their loved ones (or themselves). Brands that capitalize on this will win the adoration of shoppers as well as a boost in sales.

Valentine’s Day sales hit a record high last year, adding $27.4 billion to the US economy. Around 32% of shoppers bought gifts online, but we can expect that number to shoot up this year in light of quarantines.

With consumers spending an average of $196.31, building out a strategic marketing campaign for this holiday can prove to be rewarding.

Get ahead of the game with these Valentine’s Day marketing ideas.

1. Offer a Limited-Edition Valentine’s Day Product

While consumers are treating their partners, you can do the same for your shoppers through limited-edition V-Day gifts.

Stats show that the top Valentine’s Day gifts include candy, cards, flowers, jewelry, and an evening out. However, online retailers can create a new product or offering that fits the occasion, such as releasing new product colors (like pink or red to fit the holiday), offer special engraving on products, or include accessories that would fit an evening out.

Everyone likes to feel special, and no more so than on Valentine’s Day. Flip the script and send new products to top customers to show them love (after all, everyone likes to be recognized for their support).

You can then use user-generated content (UGC) collected from review request emails to promote your new products on your website, social media, and email marketing.

SKIMS did this last year when they unveiled their limited-edition Valentine’s Day collection. They sent out press boxes in advance to collect UGC, which they then used to promote the new collection to their wider customer base.

2. Create a Valentine’s Day Collection on Your Website

Whether you’re promoting a limited edition Valentine’s Day product or not, it’s a good idea to create a specific Valentine’s Day collection on your website.

This can be a grouping of your top product picks and can be filtered by gender and color, or bundled together to create the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift.

Gorjana does this with their dedicated Valentine’s Day gifts page.

You can then use your dedicated V-Day collection page as the foundation of your marketing campaigns. Link to it from your homepage hero graphic, incorporate it in pop-ups, and run paid ads for it. You’ll want to make sure you tailor your messaging to Valentine’s Day and conduct keyword research to find relevant phrases that drive traffic to your collection page.

3. Share How Shoppers Can Use Your Products on Valentine’s Day With Exclusive Content

Outside of your regular product offerings, you can take it one step further and provide valuable ideas for how customers can use their purchases on Valentine’s Day.

If you sell clothing, you could show customers how they can match items for the perfect Valentine’s Day outfit, or highlight which dresses will go best for different V-Day activities. If you sell consumable products, share some recipes that customers can use to make on Valentine’s Day with your products, or share some fun date ideas where they can enjoy your product.

You can promote this content in a blog post, across social media, and through email to build relationships with customers and give them added value. This will help you stand out from the competition.

Take inspiration from this video, where Beginning Boutique share their top pick of dresses to wear on Valentine’s Day:

4. Show Your Customers Some Love With a Special Valentine’s Day Discount

Valentine’s Day is just one day of the year. Capturing people who are eager to buy means leveraging the small window of time they are looking for products.

Creating a sense of urgency can play a major role here. It pushes on-the-fence buyers towards a sale and, if you’ve got a discount to go with it, makes your products more appealing than competitors’.

Create a simple discount on a Valentine’s Day product, your whole collection, or shipping and promote it on your homepage, via pop-ups across your site, and through emails. Sharing on social media can also create a buzz around the day and help you reach more people.

Even better, reach the right people by segmenting your Valentine’s Day marketing communications and offers based on previous purchases, gender, and other customer attributes.

Dog food brand WAG does this really well. They use the age of the customer’s dog and past treat purchases to personalize communication. By doing this, they have increased their placed order rate by 300%.

5. Host a Virtual Valentine’s Day Event

Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to show your customers some love. Take the opportunity to connect with your community through a special virtual event. This could be a livestream on Instagram or Facebook, or via a video conferencing tool like Zoom to foster interactivity.

During the event, you can give away products, share special, one-off discounts, and answer customer questions around your product line. You can also help customers prepare for the holiday by providing them with fun ideas on how to use your products.

Not only will this help you forge deeper relationships with buyers, it will generate a buzz around your brand on Valentine’s Day and allow you to reward your most loyal customers.

Share the Love With Your Customers This Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to give your sales a boost at the start of the year and show your customers some love at the same time.

Creating special discounts, launching one-off product collections, and providing content around your products (like virtual events, guides, and email newsletters) helps you reach more shoppers and build deeper customer relationships.Get started by collecting user-generated content (UGC) and reviews to fuel your Valentine’s Day marketing.

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