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Back to school has a lot of meanings:
- A change of season with autumn kicking in
- The end of the summer holidays
- Going back to city life
- The traffic jam reaching its full capacity
- Life starting to flow at full speed once again.
It also means a lot of opportunities for marketers, especially from the retail, eCommerce and CPG world. Back-to-School is a great time to acquire new customers, launch new products, introduce new campaigns and strengthen the relationship with your loyal customers. It’s an opportunity window to dust off the summer haze from their shoulders and make a head start before the holy Q4 kicks in.
So even though it entails a short span of time between late July and early of September, it is also an exciting time of the year!
With that in mind, we asked great experts from the eCommerce industry to share their back-to-school tips and tricks. You are in the right place if you want to sharpen your tactics, better appeal to your customers through various channels, win their hearts, and bring in great numbers.
Without further ado, I leave the floor to the expert opinions (including one humble recommendation from myself) for you to make the best out of the 2024 back-to-school season!
1) Neal Goyal
Director of Sales at Tapcart
Last year, I analyzed a massive dataset that showed how brands WON during back to school season. I saw the savviest brands, look at back to school NOT as a one-time revenue event, but as an opportunity to drive customers into high-performing retention channels with the goal of setting them up for the most success during the upcoming Q4 peak period. These brands offered early access to sales and products, along with exclusive promotions to app users, incentivizing downloads. Not only did the brand see huge outcomes during Back to School, but because these customers were now in high-performance sales channel... and those customers also yielded the highest LTV as a cohort across their entire customer base.
2) Irem Işık
Head of Marketing at Storyly
Bring the back-to-school spirit to your most valuable asset; your online store. Be it a short span, back-to-school is still a great opportunity for retail and eCom marketers, as it is a period where people are back to the fast city life, from the haze of the summer holidays. Create that spirit in your online store with relevant content, including relevant product videos, UGC, brand partnership videos and so on. Bring forward your back-to-school related products, bundles, campaigns, offers and discounts. And make use of this period as a testing opportunity before the BFCM craze. Create interactive content that gets zero-party-data from your customers, which you can use for better segmenting your BFCM campaigns. Push forward your loyalty programs, so that you'll already have your retained customers once the holy Q4 is here.
3) Raviteja Dodda (Ravi)
Co-Founder and CEO at MoEngage
Leveraging customer data is the key to a successful back-to-school campaign. Imagine a brand using personalized communication tailored to each family's needs, informed by data from purchase history, website behavior, email engagement, and other channels. A seamless cross-channel communication ensures that parents receive timely reminders and promotions, whether they're checking emails, browsing online, or scrolling on social media. This holistic approach boosts engagement and fosters loyalty, as customers feel understood and valued. By tapping into diverse data sources, e-commerce brands can create memorable, effective back-to-school campaigns that resonate with their customers.
4) Rebecca Worsley
Director at Rainy City
So as you get ready for the back-to-school season, my number one tip is to make sure your marketing aligns with your onsite experience. Many brands overlook this, but syncing both creates a smoother shopping experience and builds trust. Here are some things you can do:
- Add seasonal banners on your landing page to showcase your back-to-school offerings and capture attention.
- Offer exclusive discounts to students. It’s a great way to encourage purchases and make your products even more attractive.
- Optimise product descriptions with relevant keywords like “student supplies” and “back-to-school essentials” to improve search visibility.
5) Rebecca Hilliard
eCommerce Customer Retention Consultant
In my experience, dynamic product bundling has worked well in the weeks leading up to the new school year. By grouping complementary products together, you can seamlessly suggest related items that naturally go together. This not only simplifies the shopping experience for your customers but also boosts your average order value. You help parents get everything their children need in one go while enjoying increased sales and happier, more satisfied customers. It’s a win-win.
6) Malikah Planas
Founder/CEO at On Twelve Management
Here are some strategies to make the most of this season, even if you don't sell school supplies.
Content Marketing: Create blog posts, social media campaigns, and email newsletters that tie your products into the back-to-school theme. For example, fashion tips for busy moms during the school year or skincare routines for school days.
Highlight Multi-use Products: Show the versatility of your products. For instance, demonstrate how apparel can transition from school to after-school activities.
Support a Cause: Contribute a portion of sales to schools or support those in need of school supplies. Partner with local organizations to help the community and increase brand visibility.
7) Elisa Pogliano
Founder, Hen’s Milk Consulting
Be creative with the product categories you include in any BTS landing pages or special offers. Go beyond the obvious (books, backpacks, stationery) and include items such as water bottles, hair accessories, mugs… you can even extend the theme to “Back to Uni”, which will allow you to incorporate beddings & homeware. Aside from any dedicated areas of your website, make sure all these items are displayed with a “Back to School” flag throughout the entire site. This will increase your chances to also capture spend from those shoppers who don’t have kids to send back to school.
8) Lauren Fagan
Founder at Fagan Marketing
For Back To School, you want to make sure you test into the different personas with your paid social ads. Creative is the most crucial lever you have at your disposal, so plan to test ads in multiple formats and leverage different visuals and value props. Back to school encompasses teachers, coaches, principals, parents, students, and more! Be prepared with a variety of messaging, visuals, and landing pages so when one hits, you can scale and iterate accordingly. Bonus points if you can test messaging and pain points ahead of BTS so when the seasonality hits, you're ahead of the game.
9) Peter Gardner
Co-Founder at Blend Commerce -Shopify CRO Agency
Utilise the back-to-school (BTS) season as a strategic opportunity to test your BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday) campaigns. Launch targeted promotions and collect data on shopper behaviour, preferences, and response rates. This period allows you to refine your strategies, understand customer cohorts, and gather valuable insights. You can use this data to tailor future promotions, making sure they resonate with your audience and drive higher engagement and conversions during peak selling seasons.
10) Chloë Thomas
Podcast Host and Author
Back to School is an event that (probably) every eCommerce brand can do some marketing around, but where the size and timing of the campaign varies greatly from store to store.
If you sell kids' school uniforms - then you’re marketing from at least 4 weeks before the new school term starts, and it’s going to be a HUGE campaign for you.
If you sell relaxing teas then it might just be one email send the week the kids go back to school with a subject line “And…. relax”.
Work out what the right size and intensity is for your brand’s Back to School campaign, and don’t just copy someone else.
11) Kait Stephens
CEO & Co-Founder at Brij
Embrace personalized marketing -- even through retail & marketplaces! Include a QR code on your product, packaging, or on an insert to share content. Through a product like Brij, you can collect 1st party data from your customers while providing value like a free recipe book or discounts for future purchases.
Tailor these CTAs on product or on socials to resonate with both parents and students.. Use data-driven insights to segment your audience and craft targeted offers. A well-timed, personalized message can convert browsers into buyers during the hectic BTS period.
12) Katie Szollosi
Marketing Operations Manager at Quickfire Digital
Back-to-School Marketing Tip: Personalisation is Key
With the back-to-school season just around the corner, it's time to make your marketing campaigns stand out by getting personal. Think about it – parents and students have unique needs, so why not tailor your efforts to meet them? Send out personalised emails based on age, grade, and preferences, showcasing the products they'll love. Sweeten the deal with exclusive discounts and bundles on essentials like stationery, electronics, and clothes. Add a fun twist with interactive quizzes – a great way to gather more first-party data to use beyond your BTS campaign. By making your campaigns more engaging and personalised, you’ll not only boost sales but also build lasting relationships with your customers during this busy shopping season.
13) Mariana Klober
Head of Brand Marketing at MailModo
Boost Your Back-to-School Campaigns with Personalized Email Flows
To create a highly personalized back-to-school campaign, start your email flow with a 4-question quiz to segment customers by child's grade level, specific needs, commute method, and budget considerations. Use this data to tailor segment that audience in 3 or more groups, and then tailor your email flows. This is what it looks like:
Day 0: Email 0: Quiz email: gather data to segment audience. Embed the survey within this email using AMP technology.
[Create different segmentations from here on]
Day 2: Email 1: Introduce personalized recommendations to each audience.
Day 5: Email 2: Address pain points with targeted tips and products.
Day 8: Email 3: Offer exclusive discounts using a gamified interaction, like a spin the wheel.
Day 10: Email 4: Highlight last-minute deals. Use AMP technology to embed an interactive cart to this email.
Here's an example: suggest durable backpacks and walking safety gear for elementary students who walk, or tech gadgets and car accessories for high schoolers who drive. This approach ensures relevant, engaging content that drives higher engagement and conversions.
Pro tip: Use Mailmodo to create AMP emails in a drag and drop editor.
14) Steve Duff
Email Deliverability Consultant at Iterable
A gradual IP warm-up ensures your emails reach your intended recipients. This gradual process also helps build a solid sender reputation and reduces the risk of emails being flagged as spam. Here’s how to make sure you warm up your IP effectively as part of your back-to-school email marketing strategy.
Before starting your warm-up, assess your IP requirements. First, determine how many IPs you need based on your planned email volume. If you are planning on significantly increasing your volume over the back-to-school season, you may need to consider adding additional IPs. Generally, these are the ranges we recommend for daily volumes:
- 1-2 IPs: Suitable for sending up to 650,000 emails
- 2-4 IPs: Recommended for sending between 650,000 and 1,300,000 emails
- 4-5 IPs: Advisable for sending between 1,300,000 and 1,950,000 emails
- 6-7 IPs: For sending between 1,950,000 and 2,600,000 emails
The amount of required IPs can vary from sender to sender and brand to brand depending on performance and prior reputation.
Check out Iterable’s full post on holiday preparedness.
15) Berkay Erol
Growth Manager at D2CVille
Customize, customize, customize!
- I’m hoping you already have some sort of customer data. Work on that! Use it to customize your products to fulfill your customers’ needs better.
- Create special offers & discounts for your customers. Again, use your data and customize and aim for enhanced satisfaction and loyalty. Remember, loyalty is your most important asset!
- Delve into your data to identify your ideal customers and discover creative ways to attract them. Develop unique ads and tailor your targeting strategies to reach these potential customers effectively.
Create a killer website & landing page:
- Your potential customers will first see your ad, and then your website. Work on your landing pages!
- Most of us make purchase decisions on our phones, so make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
- Ensure your website is simple and easy to navigate!
- Optimize the checkout process to reduce cart abandonment.
- Implement intuitive navigation and search functionality to help customers find what they need quickly.
- Ensure you have a state-of-the-art tech stack.
16) Anh Vu-Lieberman
SVP of CRM, SEO and Personalization at Nogin
Anh’s LinkedIn Profile
BTS shoppers shop with a mission so it's really important to help them find what they are looking for. We've found amazing success showing a Google Shopping experience for Visitors coming in from Google. The Visitor is able to stay in an endless loop of Product Page to Product Page without ever having to head to a Collection Page. We've seen uplifts of 43.7% to 52.1% for CVR and uplifts of 34.1% to 82.7% for Revenue Per Visitor on the Product Pages. For the Homepage, we had a different approach as Google Visitors may be still in discovery mode. Not showing a price in the recommendations had a 47.3% uplift for CVR and a 51.8% uplift for Revenue Per Visitor.
17) Meghan Hardy
Consumer Marketing & eCommerce Consultant / Founder
If your back-to-school strategy targets college students, keep in mind that this group includes distinct audience segments. For example, incoming freshmen tend to have very different purchasing behaviors compared to returning students, with the former typically shopping earlier and with greater influence from parents and their university compared to the latter (who tend to shop later and are more influenced by friends). Insights about how your audience is shopping for back-to-school should flow into your marketing calendar, channel mix, messaging, and targeting.
18) Tom Locke
Founder at Noughts & Ones
As BTS season approaches, having a watertight return strategy is crucial, especially to minimise the number of returns during this busy period. Increased shipping means a greater environmental impact. Consider using an app like OrderEditing to allow consumers to make order amendments, such as size or quantity changes, before it is processed. This proactive step can help streamline operations and reduce returns, ensuring a smoother, more efficient season for both businesses, customers and the planet.
19) Kristina Adel
Growth Marketing Specialist
Boost engagement with personalized email campaigns. Segment your audience by grade level, shopping behavior, and past purchases to send targeted back-to-school deals. Use customers' names in subject lines and tailor content to highlight products relevant to each segment. Include personalized product recommendations and exclusive offers based on browsing history. Enhance emails with back-to-school tips, interactive quizzes, and checklists. Personalized messaging not only improves open and click-through rates but also builds stronger customer relationships and drives higher conversions.
20) Melike Ulaman
Marketing Content Specialist at Prisync
Right Pricing For The Right Products
Competing for high-demand products during the BTS period requires quality, quantity, and a good pricing plan. Make smart choices about which products to discount/ or which not to.
Offering competitive prices will attract price-sensitive customers. Staying competitive with high-demand items can also help retailers to compete with industry giants.
Compare market and competitor prices while ensuring your pricing reflects the value. Highlight unique points that justify the price. In the end, strong brand images -either premium or not- help retailers build long-term success and loyalty while capturing more and more target customers.
21) Greg Zakowicz
eCommerce Expert at Omnisend
Back-to-school (B2S) marketing is quickly becoming the second coming of BFCM, with a shopping period lasting months. Brands looking to take advantage of B2S shopping should focus their campaigns around value. This can include creating product bundles or encouraging bulk purchases that increase the average order value while saving customers money. Brands can also utilize social proof by showcasing five-star products and testimonials to give consumers confidence they are buying high-quality products.
Finally, like during BFCM, companies should promote a little self-gifting during the season. Getting kids, or oneself, ready for the school year can be exhausting. What better way to get a little “pick me up” than treating yourself to something nice?
22) Cameron Gawley
Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Arrival
As the co-founder of a fast-growing social commerce app, back-to-school season is always an exciting time. We focus our marketing efforts on influencer campaigns and social media giveaways featuring the latest fashion and tech products that students want. Running contests where people can win gift cards or product bundles from popular teen brands has been hugely successful in driving traffic and sales.
Personalization is key. We use data about our users to tailor the app experience, showing trending items for specific ages, grades and school supply lists. Parents appreciate recommendations custom to their child’s needs.
An easy, fun mobile shopping experience is essential. Our app is optimized for on-the-go back-to-school shopping. We offer bundle deals on school supplies and pre-made kits to save time. Interactive features like spin-the-wheel discounts keep students engaged.
For memorable campaigns, we incorporate nostalgia. Featuring brands or products that were popular when today’s parents were in school taps into fond memories and keeps them coming back.
23) Dieter Hsiao
CEO & Co-founder at DIVISA
As a D2C growth expert, my team focuses heavily on personalizing back-to-school campaigns. We analyzed purchase data to tailor product recommendations for students based on their grade level and location. Open rates tripled and conversion rates doubled.
Parents want convenience and deals. We offered curated school supply bundles at a discount, increasing average order values by 22%. We also gave teachers promo codes for classroom essentials, boosting new customer acquisition by 32%.
Nostalgia marketing resonated. We featured popular brands from the parents’ school days, combining nostalgia and modern value to drive sales. Engagement on social media skyrocketed after student contests to win the latest tech and apparel. Sales jumped 15% seasonally.
Back-to-school season demands email marketing. We sent personalized emails recommending specific items for each child’s school supply list. Open and click rates doubled, showing parents appreciated the convenience.
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