Seasonal spikes are a retail goldmine, but if your relationship with consumers starts and ends with the holidays, you’re leaving serious revenue on the table. With the right mix of direct mail + digital marketing, you can stay top-of-mind and build lasting connections across every channel your customers use and turn those once-a-year buyers into engaged, loyal customers all year long. Let’s break down how to turn those seasonal surges into steady, year-round buyers.
Step 1: Identify & Segment Seasonal Shoppers
The goal of this step is to identify your core audiences. Who’s showing up during your seasonal spikes and why?
Start by analyzing your holiday or promotional surges. Who shops only during major sales events and who engages with your brand consistently throughout the year?
Data analysts can help you pinpoint when someone last shopped, how often they return, what products they are buying, and the timing of their activity.
Look for seasonal patterns: do they tend to buy during deep discount periods? Are they selecting items that suggest gift-giving or personal use? Are their habits more in line with a bargain hunter, a thoughtful gifter, or a loyal follower of your brand?
Step 2: Launch a Thank-You Touchpoint Across Channels
Now that you’ve identified your seasonal shoppers, don’t let the relationship go cold. Send a thank-you message shortly after purchase, using a coordinated approach:
- Direct Mail: A postcard with a sincere thank-you + bounceback offer
- Email: A “We’re grateful you found us” note with product recommendations
- Social Retargeting: Soft-branded content reinforcing your values or community
- Display Ads: Remind them of your bestsellers or new arrivals
Timing is key: Start sending them advertisements 7-10 days after their last purchase, while the brand experience is still fresh.
Step 3: Reinforce Value with Education-Focused Content
Seasonal buyers may not see your brand as relevant outside the holidays. Change that perception by delivering year-round value through:
- Email: Tips, guides, or how-tos relevant to their past purchase
- Streaming Radio/CTV: Short storytelling spots to connect emotionally
- Display Ads: Featuring lifestyle use cases beyond the holiday season
- Direct Mail: A product lookbook or “new uses for what you bought” mailer
When you educate your audience, you create lasting relevance that extends beyond a single transaction and builds trust.
Step 4: Create a Year-Round Omnichannel Touchpoint Plan
Plan coordinated moments across platforms to drive re-engagement. We put together a sample flow:
Make sure your branding looks and sounds the same wherever it shows up. When your channels work together instead of competing, your message becomes stronger and more memorable.
Step 5: Use Triggers Based on Behavior
Reactive campaigns allow you to focus your advertisements in the moments when the customer is most interested in what you have to offer. Set up triggered automations across direct and digital channels.
- Abandoned Cart? Mail a reminder postcard + display retargeting
- Lapsed Buyer? CTV ad + follow-up email with loyalty bonus
- Anniversary? Personalied mailer + Spotify or Pandora audio ad
- Replenishment Due? Reminder email + direct mail with “reorder now” CTA
This strategy keeps your brand in their orbit without overwhelming them.
Step 6: Invite Them into a Loyalty or VIP Program
Seasonal shoppers are often prim candidates for loyalty conversion if you give them a reason to join. Use all of your channels to invite them.
- Mail: Premium-feel welcome kit
- Email: Highlight benefits + simple sign-up
- Display/CTV: Brand-driven storytelling ad
- Social: Customer testimonials or rewards sneak peeks
Make it feel exclusive, easy, and rewarding.
Step 7: Track, Measure, & Optimize Across Channels
Measure engagement and ROI with a cross-channel lens. You can track activities like the list below to get a feel for how your campaign is going.
- Promo code redemptions (attributed by channel)
- QR/URL tracking from mailers and CTV overlays
- Email open + click-through rates
- Display & Social ad engagement
- Lift in repeat purchase rate
Ultimately, you will want to run a campaign match back to see how successful your efforts really are. A match back allows you to match up your transaction file with your marketing file, so you know exactly how well you did.
Take your findings and refine your segments, timing, and creative. Scale what works. Just be careful not to test too many variables at a time or it will dilute your findings.
Final Thoughts
The key to turning seasonal spikes into sustainable revenue is a coordinated direct marketing strategy that shows up across physical and digital touchpoints. Direct mail adds tangible trust. Digital channels deliver frequency and speed. Together, they create a surround-sound customer experience that turns holiday shoppers into year-round superfans.
If you want to learn more about using omnichannel marketing to create year-round buyers, let’s connect.