Look in your inbox. Chances are good that many businesses and nonprofits are already attempting to harness the holiday spirit to boost sales or get donations. With all the offers competing for your subscribers’ attention, don’t just be one of the many. Here are the two tips to help your organization stand out from the crowd this holiday season.

1. Nurture the relationship with your subscribers first. If you’re not already, make sure you’re providing value-only content to subscribers (such as newsletters, inspirational stories, tips, facts, or how-to’s, either like this or like this) before you begin holiday promotions so subscribers are already used to looking forward to and opening your messages.


2. Personalize and match subscribers’ interests. The more targeted and personalized your holiday messages are, the more likely your subscribers will be to purchase or donate. As Jupiter Research found out last year, relevant messages can lead to almost as many sales as free or discounted shipping offers.

To better position your messages in the inbox, think about what information you already know about your subscribers. Do you know their first names? What’s the relationship of these people to your organization? Are they prospects, donors, volunteers, new customers, or long-term customers?

One way to personalize your message is to include a personalized greeting. Do you know the amount each person donated last holiday season? Start with a thank you for that exact amount. Do you know what they purchased from you last? Start with a thank you for that last purchase. Who do your subscribers need to purchase gifts for this holiday season? Do you know the gift recipients’ name, age, gender, or interests? Include gift recommendations specific to who they are shopping for. Do you know what programs of yours they are most interested in? Include gift recommendations specific to their program of interest.

Everyone is looking for some inspiration this time of year, and few things inspire like personalized communications. It’s easy to insert personalized fields such as people’s names, dates, dollar amounts they spent or donated, products they purchased, and much more into your Constant Contact emails so you can include this relevant information in your emails.

If you don’t have this kind of information, ask for it! Both you and your subscribers will be glad you did. Why? You will be happy to see better results from your emails, and your subscribers will appreciate that you’re sending them emails that are relevant to them. To quickly get this information from subscribers in an easily actionable format, send an email that says something like this:

“We’re not here to stuff your inbox this holiday season. We’re here to help you get exactly what you need! Please take just a couple of minutes to tell us your holiday needs, and we will provide you with relevant gift suggestions.”

Include a link to a short online questionnaire like this. From the results, you will have the information you need to segment your list and send targeted, personalized holiday emails.

If you accomplish these two steps, you’ll be well on your way to success with your holiday email marketing.

Stay tuned for three more tips on how to stand out this holiday season. Until then, happy growing!

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