Trends come and come, fashion changes every day, but there are things which remain unchanged no matter what. These are holiday traditions, especially Christmas rituals. Christmas time is the time everyone wants to believe in miracles. And though, obviously, adults do not believe in Santa Clause anymore, they still love advent calendars, one of the main attributes of Christmas. But these calendars are part not only of the holiday fun. In the UK, the US, Germany, the Nordics, and other parts of Europe, advent calendars have become a crucial part of many companies’ marketing strategies. Hence, you may well prepare for the holiday season with help of gamification marketing and use online advent calendars not only to bring some fun to your website but also to take your customer engagement to the new level.
So, why exactly should your company use online advent calendars in December? Times have changed, and like other services, the advent calendar also went digital. Thus, running an online advent calendar has become a great way to engage with your customers. First of all, the venture will help you reach out to even more potential customers. Through an advent calendar, you can connect with the customers in an interactive and challenging quiz. If you set everything right, your clients will come back to your website every day until Christmas just to see what is waiting for them behind each calendar door. That means you will get your customer’s close attention for 24 days. You will be able to create excitement among your community because your customers will be eager to know what gifts or discounts they will receive each next day. In this way, you will see a growing traffic to your website or to your social media pages. You may even double the usefulness of the approach by congratulating the winner(s) every day on social media and tagging them to increase your reach. This step will give your company profile a more personal approach.
Besides, an online advent calendar will help you maintain a good dialogue with your old customers. An advent calendar on Facebook, for instance, is an effective way to reach out to your loyal customers and present you as a business that loves fun and making people happy. Those people who already like your Facebook page will see the advent calendar in their news feed. If the advent calendar looks appealing, fun and has cool prizes, they will participate and may share it with their friends. Hence, the calendar’s reach will be wider and wider and, again, will lead you to even more future clients. Consequently, advent calendar will create an awareness of your company and will help you establish a good dialogue between you and your customers.
Now let’s see how advent calendars help with customer engagement by the examples of some successful campaigns.
- Nectar and its five million secret points giveaway. The objective was to drive repeat website visits and improve engagement among Nectar cardholders. To boost engagement throughout December, Nectar joined forces with …yes, with Santa to give away five million of his Nectar points, which mounted to €28,000! Those willing to be involved in the game had to open a door on the Christmas tree advent calendar every day and answer the question for the chance to get at least 200,000 Nectar points. Each door comprised a small clue to the question, and they had to submit their personal details to enter. Besides, Nectar gave away a bonus prize every Saturday, so participants were more than eager to get involved.
- H. Samuel grew its customer engagement with #SparkleThisChristmas advent calendar in order to maximize social following on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Signet Jewelers added a holiday atmosphere to its store, H. Samuel, with the advent calendar active for one month. Each day, the store was revealing an exclusive prize giveaway on chosen jewelry items. Participants had to follow H. Samuel on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook using the icons provided and needed to submit their personal details to confirm their entry. To further promote its social following, H. Samuel also used the hashtag #SparkleThisChristmas to enhance social conversation and widen the campaign’s awareness.
- 23 City Blocks Catering and its 23 days of magical giveaways. Multi-day calendars can be a perfect way to shout out to the whole world about your new business. 23 City Blocks Catering launched a campaign to do this, while simultaneously generating more traffic to its website. Each day was connected to some type of culinary or entertainment prizes, which were chosen personally by a 23 City Blocks Catering team member. The main prize, a two-hour happy hour at the winner’s home or business, organized by 23 City Blocks, was a sure way to promote the company’s business by giving away its best service.
Now you see that an online advent calendar is a powerful tool to boost your customer engagement. Its best point is that it is a fun experience for your clients and helps you improve the engagement better than with ordinary promotions. Got inspired to try an online advent calendar for your Christmas marketing campaign? We know how and will help you with that. Contact us here (hyperlink) to launch your own branded advent calendar.
