Why your store events shouldn't be like snow days in Portland

We had a snow day in Portland recently.

We got about ten inches of snow and the city pretty much shut down. State of emergency and all that.

I know ten inches doesn't sound like much but for Portland it is. We're not used to or really equipped for it.

Most winter days are just cold and rain followed by more cold and rain. So when snow and ice show up, it's a disruption to our regular operating pattern and causes a panic.

Like I tell my friends from colder climates, it's not the absolute amount that's the problem. It's the relative amount.

Ten inches of snow is a small absolute number.

But when the average snowfall for a year is three inches, getting ten in one day is breaking news.

The major events for your store should have the same feeling.

Maybe you only email your customers once a quarter. It's not ideal but that's what you do. When it's time for a major sale, bump the frequency up to once per week.

Or if you email weekly normally, bump that up to daily or even multiple times per day.

Obliviously you need to make sure each email is valuable and useful to your customers. Don't send email just because I told you to.

But bump up the frequency and make your customers take notice of your snow day. Except your snow day will be made out of money and not frozen water.

Or you can take it a step further and predict when customers should be coming back to your store. Then you can segment them into their own personal snow day.

That's easy if you have the analysis from Repeat Customer Insights.

Keep warm out there.

Eric Davis