“Guaranteed by Xmas”— Holiday deadline tips for DTC brands (6 examples)
Cyber Week is over. Now what?
'Tis the week to manage your customers' expectations a little more than usual. Don’t let shipping questions bog down your customer experience teams—use your marketing channels to communicate deadlines and cutoff dates to stakeholders beforehand. You may just win some extra Q4 sales and lifetime customers.
Updated for 2023: Shipping deadlines per carrier
Thanks to Saltbox for sharing this visually on LinkedIn with all of the carriers’ Christmas deadlines!
USPS
USPS Ground Advantage™: Saturday, December 16, 2023
First-Class® Mail: Saturday, December 16, 2023
Priority Mail®: Monday, December 18, 2023 (Alaska), Saturday, December 16, 2023 (Hawaii)
Priority Mail Express®*: Wednesday, December 20, 2023
UPS
UPS 3 Day Select®: Tuesday, December 19, 2023
UPS 2nd Day Air® services: Wednesday, December 20, 2023 or Thursday, December 21, 2023 with Saturday Delivery options
UPS Next Day Air® services: Thursday, December 21, 2023, or Friday, December 22, 2023 with Saturday Delivery options
Visit the UPS website for more information about UPS® Ground and UPS® Ground Saver
FedEx
FedEx Ground Economy: Wednesday, December 13, 2023
FedEx Express Saver: Tuesday, December 19, 2023
2Day & 2Day AM: Wednesday, December 20, 2023
FedEx SameDay: Friday, December 22, 2023
Visit FedEx’s website for more infomration about FedEx GroundⓇ and FedEx Home Delivery
Easy ways to manage shipping deadlines
If you haven't planned shipping cutoff communications yet, it's not too late! It's as easy as pumpkin pie to add a line or two like these in your existing assets:
🛒 "Place your order by X date to get it in time for Hanukkah/Christmas Eve,” or “Order by 12/18 for 12/24 delivery!”
Be specific. Not everyone has the same timeline or celebrates the same holidays. Make it easy for them to plan (and leave room for wrapping). If the deadline is long gone, you can still make a procrastinator happy by offering alternatives to a physical gift (e.g., gift card or subscription). Get creative!
🧧 "Order a gift card anytime or for last-minute holiday shopping!" (or any other non-day-of gifting opportunities).
Add to these marketing channels
Add your cutoff alerts or shipping schedules to, well, anything. Customers will appreciate the heads up, and a line or two of extra copy shouldn’t mess up your campaign pizazz.
✉️ Emails
💬 SMS
💌 Newsletters
📲 Social (organic and paid)
🔔 Push notifications
6 examples from DTC baby and kids’ brands
I saved 6 examples from DTC baby and kids' brands that prove it’s as simple as a line or two in an email, or you can give your “last chance!” assets more oomph. Swipe through to see examples from A Kids Book About, Primary, Lalo, Peeka & Co., Nugget, and Slumberkins.
Other tips for effective, last-minute holiday marketing
✅ Create an email sequence that builds up to the LAST holiday shipping opportunity (“T-X days left!”)
📊 Try using urgency tactics in your emails, like "Last chance!" or "Only X left!” (Bonus: You can use these exact phrases next year.)
🎁 Share creative ideas for wrapping your products as gifts. Bonus points for UGC (user-generated content)!
💫 Promote gift guides that contain your brand or products.
Have you shopped my DTC Mom gift guides for baby, kids, and new parents yet?
What creative ways are you using the shipping deadlines to urge customers to go beyond ‘Add to cart?” Let me know in the comments or tag me in examples you see in the wild (@dtc_mom on Instagram and TikTok).
