It is dark by half past four, the rain has turned to sleet, and the streets empty out earlier than they do the rest of the year. For a lot of local businesses this is where the slow stretch starts. Passing trade stays at home, barely anyone sees your shop window, and between the Christmas rush and the January lull you get a run of ups and downs that is hard to plan around.
But winter has one underrated quality: people are on their phones more than ever. Anyone who is not wandering through town is scrolling on the sofa instead. Your customers have not disappeared. They have just moved somewhere else, and that somewhere is exactly where WhatsApp reaches them, at an open rate of 98%.
That makes winter the season when a direct line to your customers is worth the most. Here is how to put it to work, from the run-up to Christmas through to February.
The Advent calendar: 24 reasons to look forward to hearing from you
The strongest winter idea first: an Advent calendar on WhatsApp. Everyone knows the idea, and that is exactly why it works. From 1 to 24 December a new door opens every day. Sometimes a small offer, sometimes a tip, sometimes a surprise. Your contacts start looking forward to the daily message instead of putting up with it, and in marketing that is about as rare as it gets.
The mix is what matters. If every door hides a sales pitch, the fun is over by day three. What works is alternating between something useful, something personal and something exclusive: the owner’s own recipe, a look behind the scenes, an offer only calendar subscribers get. Our Advent calendar use case shows how to put one together. And there is a lovely side effect: an Advent calendar is the best sign-up incentive of the whole year. “24 doors straight to your phone” brings in more new contacts in November than any discount ever will.
Weather as a sales signal: when snow becomes a message
In winter the weather is on your side, as long as you are quick. The first snowfall is the perfect moment for a garage to send its winter check reminder. For a cafe it is the moment for “hot chocolate, first snow, you know what to do”. For a sports shop it is the cue to bring out the sledges and thermal jackets.
The trick is the timing. In October, a message about getting the car ready for winter is advertising. The same message on the morning of the first snow is a helpful heads-up. That is what WhatsApp is built for, because only minutes pass between the idea and the message going out. Draft the classics in advance and keep them ready, so that on the day itself all you have to do is hit send. For inspiration, take a look at weather-based promotions. Garages will find more in the winter check use case.
In winter the business that wins is not the one with the biggest shop window. It is the one in the right chat at the right time.
January and February: putting the quiet weeks to work
After the holidays comes the dip. Your customers’ wallets are empty, their resolutions are anything but, and plenty of businesses stop marketing altogether. That is precisely the opening. Keep showing up now and you have almost no competition for attention.
Three approaches work particularly well in the quiet weeks. The first is the resolution wave. Gyms, nutrition coaches, dance schools and language schools have their natural season in January, and a friendly “start now” message finds a ready audience.
The second is the gift voucher nudge. Plenty of people were given vouchers at Christmas and forgot all about them. A short reminder along the lines of “your voucher is still waiting to be used” brings people through the door in the emptiest weeks of the year.
The third is reactivation. A quiet February is the ideal moment to write to contacts who have not been in for a long time. There is more on that in win back regulars.
Quick guide: your winter plan in four blocks
Here is how to give the season some structure. November: collect sign-ups, using the Advent calendar as the incentive, with a QR code in the shop, on your website and at the till. December: run the calendar, with your holiday opening hours and last-minute gift ideas slotted in alongside it. January: resolutions and voucher reminders. One message a week is plenty. February: reactivation plus a first look ahead to spring, because the business that talks about the new season now is the first one people think of in March.
You can prepare every one of those messages in a single afternoon and schedule them in advance. Then your winter marketing runs while you get on with the day-to-day.
In summary: winter belongs to the businesses that write
Cold months are no reason for cold customer relationships. Quite the opposite. A direct line to the phone in your customer’s pocket has never been worth more than it is now. An Advent calendar, a handful of well-timed weather messages and a few quiet-week nudges turn the slowest stretch of the year into your strongest. With SmartChat you can plan the whole winter season in advance, GDPR-compliant with double opt-in and ready to go in under 60 seconds. All the plans are on our pricing page.