At a workshop on seasonal sales and retention marketing, Vitalii Kondratiuk, Head of Sales at Yespo, shared tools and ideas that can help retailers strengthen customer engagement during peak sales periods. Importantly, the sales season is not limited to Black Friday: customer interest in promotions often remains strong well into the following months. 

We are sharing the key insights from his presentation, along with our team’s expertise and experience on how to prepare for the sales season quickly and effectively.

Sales Season Characteristics

Early start to shopping. Researches show that 32% of shoppers start searching for and buying products well before Black Friday, and this trend continues to grow. If retailers aren't ready to offer attractive promotions at the start of the season, they risk losing part of their audience. That is why retailers need tools they can quickly integrate and adapt to current needs to engage shoppers effectively.

Mobile traffic comes first. In 2023, purchases made through mobile traffic accounted for 79% of sales-season purchases. Smartphones have become the main shopping channel during peak shopping periods. This means retailers need to expand their presence in mobile channels and adapt their offers for maximum convenience.

The number of customer touchpoints is growing. Today’s consumers interact with brands across different platforms — from websites and apps to social media promotions and messages in direct channels. To ensure seamless interaction and avoid losing potential customers, retailers need to build continuous omnichannel communication with their audience.

How to Improve Customer Engagement Quickly

When only a few weeks remain before the sales season, there is almost no time to implement large and complex solutions. However, this does not mean you are limited to standard channels. Yespo CDP offers simple and accessible tools that do not require specialized skills or large implementation budgets, while their effectiveness has already been proven in practice.

Widgets

Widgets are an effective way to turn website visitors into customers. They not only collect data and display important content but also encourage users to interact by directing them to the right pages. The average conversion rate for subscription forms is 4.01%, while successful widgets can reach 25.46%. In addition, based on our experience, this tool increases the number of page views by 10%.

Retailers most often use widgets to:

• grow the contact base — subscription forms help turn website visitors into subscribers and loyal customers;
• engage customers — well-targeted offers in informer widgets increase the likelihood of users taking the desired action;
• collect feedback — customer surveys about their preferences or impressions provide insights for improving the customer experience.

Telegram Bot

This channel offers several advantages for audience engagement:

• an alternative to a mobile app — if your business does not have one yet, a Telegram bot can help you stay connected with customers through a channel that is convenient and familiar to them;
• cost optimization — communication through this channel is significantly cheaper than Viber or SMS;
• Telegram audience — 53.2% of users are aged 25 to 44 and have high purchasing power.

Businesses typically use Telegram bot messaging for automated user interactions and bulk promotional campaigns. However, integrating this channel with Yespo CDP can significantly expand its capabilities, turning a Telegram bot into a powerful tool for personalized communication.

By adding a Telegram bot to your omnichannel communication, you can send personalized messages based not only on activity in the bot but also on data from the contact profile. For example:

• messages based on user actions — reminders about abandoned carts or products on a wishlist;
• greetings for special occasions — birthdays, anniversaries of the first order, and more;
• special offers for Telegram bot subscribers — promo codes for specific products or bonuses for placing an order directly through the bot.

Gamification

This is a powerful user engagement tool that sparks interest and increases customer loyalty through game mechanics and attractive rewards.

Gamification works well across different communication channels, allowing brands to engage customers in unconventional ways. It is an effective strategy for attracting new customers and strengthening loyalty among existing audiences. Let’s look at how gamification can be used across different channels.

Gamification in Email

Email is one of the most popular and powerful channels for gamification because it can be easily adapted for interactive elements, including AMP. The following mechanics are used most often:

• Exploration games. These are engaging tasks that help users learn more about a particular topic or product. For example, questions about a brand’s history or product-related events.
• Creative tasks. Interactive activities that involve users in the creative process, such as taking part in creating a design.
• Puzzles and competitions. These tasks attract attention and require users to make an effort to solve them, increasing engagement and loyalty.

Learn how gamification is used in retail from this article.

Gamification in Widgets

Website widgets are another effective channel for gamification, allowing you to engage all website visitors. Interactive widget experiences help brands create a positive impression from the first customer interaction, influencing user behavior on the website and their engagement.

Popular formats for gamified widgets include:

• Wheel of Fortune. A prize-wheel widget where users can win a discount or another reward. It creates excitement and encourages purchases.
• Scratch card. A widget that imitates a lottery ticket, where the user “scratches” part of the screen to reveal a discount or special offer.
• Hidden prize hunt. A widget that turns website browsing into an interactive game where users search for a hidden reward, adding surprise and intrigue.

Example of a Wheel of Fortune widget

Gamification in Telegram Bots

Telegram bots are becoming an increasingly popular channel for brands, and gamification can add value to a subscription and expand opportunities for interacting with the brand. Using game mechanics in this channel increases user activity and encourages regular engagement.

The most common gamification formats in Telegram bots include:

• Assemble a complete product from hidden parts. For the correct answer, the user receives a discount on the product or delivery.
• Games for bonuses. Subscribers earn points for meeting certain conditions of the interactive mechanic.
• Quizzes and challenges. Engaging activities that let subscribers test their knowledge or expertise. They attract audience attention and encourage users to follow bot updates.

AI Capabilities for Faster Processes

Email Campaign Optimization

Artificial intelligence is an effective tool for optimizing content creation and automating email campaigns. According to recent HubSpot research, 37% of marketers using AI in email marketing reported improvements in conversion rates, while 33% saw higher click-through rates. AI also helps teams work more efficiently: 54% of marketers say it saves them 1–5 hours per week, and another 31% save 6–10 hours.

Faster A/B Testing

With the One of Many tool in Yespo, you can automate the A/B testing process. The system tests different email variants, selects the most effective one, and continues sending it. This improves campaign performance and ensures steady metric growth without the need for constant manual checks.

Use this block for:

• simple A/B testing without creating separate branches for each variant;
• testing different messaging strategies — new versions can be added in just a few clicks;
• diverse communication in triggered workflows;
• adjusting workflows in real time.

Results achieved by the ANC pharmacy chain using the block to increase abandoned cart conversion:

• 2x — mobile message CTR
• +23% — average order value

AI in the Email Editor

AI capabilities are integrated into the Yespo email editor, allowing you to:

• create expert content;
• translate emails into 10 languages;
• check grammar and correct errors;
• change the message tone depending on the audience;
• adapt text by length and style.

This significantly simplifies the process of creating high-quality content and allows marketers to focus on strategic tasks.

Mobile Campaign Automation

AI in Yespo CDP also plays an important role in creating mobile campaigns. It automates the creation of marketing campaign sequences and the copy for them to improve the effectiveness of user communication. This saves the marketing team’s resources and ensures continuous communication with customers.

To Sum Up

We have gathered the simplest and quickest tools to implement that do not require specialized skills or large budgets. They can help your brand stand out from competitors and improve engagement, sales, and loyalty metrics. The sales season is a great opportunity to put our recommendations into practice and get the most out of the hottest period for retail.

If you want to learn more about retention marketing opportunities for your business or are interested in the most effective audience engagement strategies, fill out the form below, and our experts will be happy to advise you.

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