Should You Run A Labor Day Sale?
Today is Labor Day in the US, a federal holiday rooted in the celebration of the worker. It has also turned into a marker of the seasons as an entry into the fall season and a major shopping holiday.
I find this intersection of ideas fascinating and it reminded me of a few things that I think are worth sharing with my fellow eCommerce store owners.
Stick around for my recommendations on how to run a Labor Day sale.
#1. Are you a good boss (to yourself)? The business owner paradox
If you worked an office job, you would probably have today off work. If you have kids, they are out of school. So what are you doing on Labor Day? I hope the answer isn’t working to catch up on your business to-do list!
As hard as it is sometimes to plan ahead for our business marketing calendar, it is essential to avoiding the business owner paradox.
Can you commit to making some small changes to be a better boss (to yourself)? Why not start by giving yourself the day or even half-day off on holidays.
That means you need to be prepared and have your promotions ready in advance…which brings me to how to plan and run your Labor Day Sale event.
#2. Labor Day Sales Events
You might be wondering if you should bother doing a Labor Day marketing campaign. How will you ever compete with the big box stores?
I can tell you right now, that you won’t compete and win against them, but there should be plenty of people in your audience who would appreciate an offer from your business this weekend. Your job is to remind them that you exist and give them a reason to shop with you.
I’m not a big fan of constant discounting, but I do think there are specific times of year when offering something to your customers makes sense to increase sales.
Labor Day is one of those holidays where shopping is ingrained in American culture and promotions motivate customers to make purchases.
If you are in another part of the world this is still a good time of year to lean into the transition from Summer to Fall/Autumn.
If you haven’t planned ahead, don’t worry you aren’t too late, you can still run a quick Labor Day flash sale or do an extended sale for the rest of the week.
Here’s how to do it:
Keep your offer simple. Here are some of my favorite promotions:
End of Season sale to move summer inventory
% discount code with a code such as LABORDAYSALE
$5 to spend to this week only
Free shipping weekend
Send aT LEAST one text only email
Great if you don’t have time to create a graphics
Have a goal of improving your open and click rates
Need to send a last-minute reminder
Your simple (ad-free) marketing plan
Re-use: Look to re-use last year’s email campaign, graphics, and discount codes
Update: Change any copy, product images, or outdated information, check your discount code
Share: Schedule or send your emails, post or schedule social media posts
Track your results: Remember depending on your stage of business, good results start with engagement and scale to sales: higher site traffic, email open rates, add to carts, and finally orders and income.
Add to next year’s marketing calendar: make a task in mid-August to plan, collect your assets, and pre-schedule your sale for the next Labor Day weekend. Add a notes field for the results and things you learned this year!
If you don’t do it perfectly that is ok! We all need to start somewhere and each experiment brings us closer to a better result.