Chinese New Year (CNY) is just around the corner. Akin to Western holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, this is a time for family reunions and a season where people are eager to spend on presents, decorations, food and clothing.  This will be my third Chinese New Year experience in Hong Kong. Having been raised in the U.S. and Canada, I haven’t had much exposure to the traditions and customs of CNY – apart from staying up past midnight to eat dumplings with coins, peanuts, dates or candies hidden inside and receiving red envelopes filled with cash. But I do know that the days leading up to CNY are key to ensure you start the New Year off on the right foot and that for many, CNY is the biggest holiday of the year and they intend to go all out.

That said, I have been surprised to find how quiet and desolate my email inbox has been during these past weeks leading up to CNY, especially when compared to the deluge of emails I usually receive during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. One of my favorite CNY emails that I have received this year came from Venetian Macao. It was a fun flash e-card of a dancing dragon that could be personalized and forwarded onto others. The dancing dragon paired with invigorating sounds of drums and cymbals was so infectiously entertaining, I found myself sending it to fifteen of my closest friends and family.

There’s an enormous opportunity here for marketers in Asia to engage with their customers via email before and during Chinese New Year – particularly those in travel, hotel, retail and service industries. We know that flash sales and daily deal programs, such as the “12-days of Christmas” program where subscribers receive a deal every day for 12 days leading up to Christmas, have significantly increased during the Christmas season. The same concept when executed tactfully for CNY can translate to substantial increases in sales.

Our email marketing best practices would apply here as well, such as

• Adding personalization and relevant content
• Building targeted customer segments
• Optimizing and testing your subject lines, creative, offers, and time of send.

With the Year of the Dragon upon us it’s time for marketers to clean out their old mailing lists, and make way for better engagement rates, more successful campaigns and ultimately a more prosperous year!

All the best in the Year of the Dragon!
龍年行大運