It’s the end of the sales month. 

The company needs another 10-20k on the board to hit its monthly goal. 

The sales team comes to marketing for a last-minute campaign to bump up the numbers.

A “Hail Mary.”

In my years working with small companies, I’ve seen this scenario play out more than a few times.

Do they work? To a degree, yes. You’ll get a few sales. But it’s never enough.

And, this knee-jerk approach tends to lead to other problems:

Audience Conditioning 

I’ll only shop at the GAP/J Crew/Old Navy if I’m saving at least 30%.

Why? Because I’ve gotten too many emails from them for 30% off (or more). 

When you keep going back with the same offer at the same time every month, you dilute the urgency to act. Your audience may become conditioned to wait.

Audience Burnount

Sales: “OK, that last-minute campaign generated some sales. Let’s run more of them throughout the month to hit our goal.”

Makes sense on the surface. And, you may get more sales short-term. But your audience is at different stages in their journey. They’re not all on the cusp of buying.

Those who need more handholding may tune out if they’re only getting flash sales and nothing else to nurture them.

The result: an audience that’s numb to your offers — and potentially all your emails. This can lead to lower sales.

Solutions

1) Segment Your List

New subscribers. People who are opening emails and clicking but have never bought anything. New customers. Repeat customers…

You get it.

All these folks are at different points in their journey. They should be treated with similar attention but with different messaging and campaigns.

2) Stop the “one-size-fits-all” approach

Have campaigns for each segment to get them to the next point in the customer journey.

Leads -> Customers

Customers -> Repeat customers

Repeat Customers -> Referrers

3) Plan!

You should have a strategy for each segment and have campaigns planned out at least a month in advance.

Even better: automate where you can. Top-of-funnel onboarding (the point where the lead just filled out a form) is an easy place to start and impact revenue fast.

4) Allow for Flexibility

Ideas can spark at any time. It would be a crime to not add an email to the mix if it’s powerful and relevant. 

If we landed on Mars, how could you not run a quick campaign with something like “It’s MARS Madness! Enter REDPLANET at checkout to LAND 15% off your order.”

Having a plan and structure allows for flexibility.

Summary

Last-minute “Hail Mary” campaigns are a short-term sales fix that can lead to long-term revenue generation problems. 

A structured approach with custom-tailored journeys for your audiences allows you to drive more sales predictably while allowing for ad hoc creativity.