The Christmas Marketing That Worked on Me, and Why

It was the weekend before Christmas, and all through the house, not a wallet had opened, we hadn't even gone out. ...

So, some direct marketing shopping was in order, but from who?

Here are a couple pieces of marketing that worked on me this holiday season, and one bit of retargeting that caught the attention of my wife.

ThinkGeek

It probably won't surprise you that I have some geeks in my life. So I'm on the ThinkGeek email list (along with at least one other TM editor, spot their Schrodinger's Cat mug).

I wasn't planning on ordering anything from ThinkGeek this year, but I had some unfilled gift boxes, and this email came.

"Snuggle up with 30% off your order and ThinkGeek's coziest threds"? Don't mind if I do.

Why it worked: There's a Harry Potter fan on my list, and that person happens to have been looking for a comforter. So X-mas marked the spot in the top-right corner with the Harry Potter House Comforter. In addition, the percent-off offers across the top are aggressive and hooked me in. In fact, I added a second gift for the same person just to get to the next discount level.

A Christmas Faux Pas: ThinkGeek did a good job with everything here, and got my gift in the mail the day after I ordered it (a Sunday, no less). However, they also made a little bit of a rookie mistake: The day after I ordered it, i got an email with the quilt on sale for about 20 percent less.

I'm not to upset over it, since it's Christmas and the buying experience has been very good so far. But there was a moment there where I felt like a rube. I'm not sure what the best way is to make sure you don't mail new deals to recent buyers, but as the buyer here, I feel like that's a good way to undermine you good first impression.

Fairytale Brownies

I don't only know geeks. I also know some ramblers. I've got family in a few states across the U.S. who we send gifts to.