October Focus: The Trick To Treating Your Customers This Autumn
October is here, and with your Q4 and Black Friday planning already well underway, this month offers a golden opportunity to get playful, drum up excitement, and build a genuine connection with your customers. It's the perfect time to shift your focus from simply chasing transactions to delivering strategic treats that boost engagement, retention, and social buzz.
This month, we'll show you fun and creative ways to use seasonal themes to delight your audience, build customer loyalty now, and ensure your business is top-of-mind as the year-end spending ramps up.
1. Embracing the Season: Tricks for Engagement
A little bit of fun can generate outsized results. Use the spirit of Halloween and autumn as a creative excuse to interact with your audience in memorable ways.
• The "Trick or Treat" Giveaway:
Run a playful, low-stakes promotion like a "Spin to Win" game on your website or social media. Customers spin a digital wheel to win a "treat" (a small discount, a free gift with purchase, or free shipping) or a "trick" (a fun piece of branded content, a funny video, or a playful no-win message). This creates excitement, drives traffic, and collects valuable email addresses for your marketing efforts later.
• Give Them ‘Pumpkin’ To Talk About:
Adapt your brand voice and social media visuals to match the season. Think autumnal colour palettes, cosy product photos, or Halloween-themed packaging for the month. Seasonal visuals are highly shareable and will give your customers a fun reason to engage with your brand.
• The “If You’ve Got It, Haunt It” Photo Challenge:
Encourage customers to share photos of how they use your product or service in a creative or funny way, offering a prize for the best submission. This generates high-quality user-generated content (UGC) and boosts your brand’s social proof.
2. Treating Loyalty: The Strategic Run-Up to Christmas
The excitement you generate in October is crucial because it builds loyalty and attention that will carry directly into the biggest shopping events of the year.
• Reward Pre-Holiday Activity:
Use the engagement from your October campaigns to identify and reward loyal customers. If you have a custom loyalty program, this is the perfect time to offer bonus points, a temporary boost to their tier status, or exclusive early access to your November Black Friday deals. This is a high-value treat that fosters deep loyalty within your customer base.
• Surprise and Delight:
Hide an unexpected, branded treat in your October orders. These surprise gestures can be highly effective for boosting retention and inspire social sharing that gets more eyes on your brand.
• Finalise Your Card Strategy:
October is the ideal time to get your Christmas card strategy in order. Getting your customer and client lists ready and selecting your designs now ensures you’ll be ready to send those meaningful, thoughtful greetings that gets your business noticed and reinforces those key customer relationships before the peak spending rush.
3. The Ultimate Treats: Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Once the fun and games of October wind down, it's time to transition to the most serious revenue-generating events of the year: Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM). During this critical period, your focus should shift to providing the ultimate treats that solve customer problems and maximise sales.
• The Gift of Simplicity:
The biggest BFCM treat you can offer is a clear, simple shopping experience. Ensure your website is easy to use and can handle traffic, your discount codes work flawlessly, and your shipping/return policies are transparent.
• Early Access & Exclusivity:
Treat your most loyal customers and email subscribers with early access to your BFCM deals. This makes them feel valued and gets your sales off to a quick start before the rush hits.
• Bundle Value:
Instead of deep discounts alone, offer value-added bundles or free gifts with purchase. This increases average order value while still feeling like a special treat for the customer.
By embracing the seasonal spirit of autumn and following these strategies, you’re not just passing out quick, temporary treats - you're strategically building lasting customer relationships that lead to better brand awareness, increased social sharing, and a thriving business through the holiday season.
The time to map out these fun campaigns and secure your holiday success is now. Get those challenges ready, finalise your Black Friday plans, and ensure your brand stands out during the most important retail season of the year. Take these ideas, integrate them into your Q4 plan, and get ready to have your most successful, and most fun, end-of-year yet!