Guide To Creating 12 Days Of Christmas Sales

12 Days of Christmas sale is the perfect sales promotion for the holidays since holiday marketing is all about meeting your customer where they are.

And they are looking for GIFTS.

Gift ideas. New gift shops. Inexpensive gifts. Ways to save money on gifts. Last-minute gifts. YOU NAME IT; it’s all about the gifts.

A really fun way to get involved with all the hustle and bustle is to create a 12 Days of Christmas sale or giveaway.

There are a few different ways you could plan this holiday marketing idea, so we’ll go into each with a step-by-step guide, but first, let’s cover three important questions:

What is a 12 Days of Christmas sales?

A 12-day holiday marketing event where each day you unveil a surprise new sale item. It builds excitement and anticipation, plus gives customers a reason to visit your shop each day. And once they’re on your shop page, they may check out with that item – or more!

What is a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway?

A 12-day holiday marketing event where each day you announce the winner of a set giveaway item. Before the event, you would share what items are included, how many winners there will be each day, etc. Customers would sign up for a chance to win any of the daily giveaway prizes.

Should I Go Out On My Own or With Partners?

Each method can be done on your own or in partnership with other shops. We’ve highlighted each way below so you can pick an action plan and then follow just one set of steps.

Choosing whether you want to do this alone, or with a partner, comes down to whether you want to make it all about your business with less traffic, or you share the spotlight and expand your total reach.

How to Prep:

1. Pick 12 specific items
2. Determine a one-day only sale price for each.
   • Choose a percent off or since its a singular item, we recommend picking a sharp price point.
   • Will you limit how many can sell at that discounted price?
3. Decide how you will share the sale each day — will you change the price in your system or generate coupon codes?
4. Create a landing page to promote event on your site to build excitement before it starts
5. On landing page, share information on what customers can expect:
   • Starting date / 12 day date range
   • When sale will “go live” each day (right at midnight? 6am?)
   • If your shop covers a broad range of products, give customers a hint of what to expect in terms of what
   • categories will be featured. Or if very broad, let them know days 1-4 are for her, days 5-7 for him, etc.
   • Share the discount or savings they can expect (“Never seen before prices, get ready to save over 40%!”)
   • Include social media + shop links
   • Encourage them to share on social media; include graphics or pre-written tweets they can easily post.
6. Include an email sign up form on landing page
   • Optional: Create an incentive for customers to sign up to your email list by giving them a one-hour “early access” window to shop the daily item first with an exclusive discount code. This would work especially well for limited quantities / first come first served limited editions.
7. Create graphics to share on social media.
8. Begin to promote event 2-3 weeks in advance of start date:
   • Send an email to current subscribers announcing event
   • Begin to promote on social media
   • Include sign up or link to landing page on any gift guides you create or relevant blog posts
9. Gather any necessary information you’ll need each day: coupon codes, shop links, etc so you can begin to create your daily emails.
10. Schedule your daily emails to auto send each day.
11. Make a daily to-do list to keep yourself on track during the busy season.
    • Do you need to update pricing / activate a coupon code?
    • Create a consistent social media plan so you know what to share each day.

2 | 12 Days of Christmas Sales – With Partnerships

How to Prep:

1. Determine how many shops will participate / how the event will run.
   • Will 12 shops each take one day? Will you work with just 3 other shops and you each get 3 days for your items?
2. Partner with other shop owners to create a 12 Days of Christmas Sales event.
   • Start networking now to build those relationships, but also don’t be afraid just to ask! Here’s some networking tips to ease your worries.
   • For maximum impact (and to keep your customers happy) be sure to pick shops that truly make sense with your aesthetic or the types of product you carry.
   • Complementary shops are also best as it reduces the direct competition between each of your brands and instead pulls together a total package for your customer.
3. Based on what you decide from step 1, pick your items based on the number you need.
4. Determine a one-day only sale price for each.
   • Choose a percent off or since its a singular item, I recommend picking a sharp price point.
   • Will you limit how many can sell at that discounted price?
5. Decide how you will share the Christmas sales each day — will you change the price in your system or generate coupon codes?
6. Create a landing page to promote event on your site to build excitement before it starts
7. On landing page, share information on what customers can expect:
   • Share all the shops that are participating with social media + shop links
   • Starting date / 12 day date range
   • When Christmas sales will “go live” each day (right at midnight? 6am?)
   • If your shop partnerships cover a good variety of products (they should all serve the same customer though!) give customers a hint of what to expect during the event.
   • Share the discount or savings they can expect (“Never seen before prices, get ready to save over 40%!”)
   • Encourage them to share on social media; include graphics or pre-written tweets they can post to make it easy on them which typically results in more shares.
8. Include an email sign up form on landing page
   • Optional: Create an incentive for customers to sign up to your email list by giving them a one-hour “early access” window to shop the daily item with an exclusive daily discount code.
9. Create graphics to share on social media.
   • Partner together to create one cohesive set of marketing materials. Your event will gain more traction if each shop promoting looks cohesive with the others so customers recognize it’s the same event.
10. Set a promotion schedule that each shop needs to minimally participate in. Be sure to cover expectations leading up to the event and during the event to ensure no one feels like the others didn’t pull their weight and everyone has a positive experience. For example:
    • Send 2 emails sharing the event and calling out each individual shop prior to start date.
    • During event, each shop owner to send daily emails to announce the next item or (optional) early access Christmas sales.
    • Share 3 Instagram posts about the event (either with your images or in the caption) before the event and tag each shop
    • Once event starts, share item or encourage audience to visit each other’s shop each day during the event on Instagram through the caption.
    • Share landing page image on Pinterest (if you are active on Pinterest).
11. Begin to promote event 2-3 weeks in advance of start date:
    • Send an email to current subscribers announcing event
    • Begin to promote on social media
    • Include sign up or link to landing page on any gift guides you create or relevant blog posts
12. Gather any necessary information from each shop: coupon codes, shop links, confirm social media accounts, etc so you can begin to create your daily emails.
13. Schedule your daily emails to auto send each day.
14. Make a daily to-do list and share with all shop owners to help everyone out during the busy season.
    • Do you need to update pricing / activate a coupon code?
    • Share on social media based on pre-determined schedule

More Christmas Ideas

Troly is dedicated to incorporating smarter technology to help producers of wine, specialty foods, and crops grow their businesses. And as an exclusive Christmas Day, all accounts will receive a one-time invite to improve their business efficiency by connecting Troly with a system of their choice.* So don’t hesitate, take five minutes to sign-up!

To try Troly’s groundbreaking software, sign up for a free, 30-day Trial!

If you’re looking for more ways to boost your Christmas sales in 2021, have a look at some of our other articles:

Making the Most of Upselling at Christmas

Grab Attention with 30 Christmas Marketing Slogans

Services Your Small Business Should Offer this Christmas