As the holiday season approaches, it’s time to make plans, buy presents, and upgrade your marketing efforts, of course!
The holidays provide the perfect opportunity for themed marketing emails to make a real difference for your business. But don’t worry if you don’t have the perfect holiday marketing email idea yet. In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know to write and design effective email marketing campaigns.
Benefits of holiday email marketing
We all know that people tend to spend more around the holidays. This year, the National Retail Federation expects U.S. consumers to spend nearly $1 trillion during the holiday season. Businesses can take advantage of that increased spending with targeted marketing campaigns, including a holiday email marketing strategy.
Your holiday marketing email efforts can help your business in many different ways, such as:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Enhancing customer loyalty
- Boosting sales
- Driving traffic to your website
- Improving conversions
Sending heartfelt holiday-themed messages shows your customers that you care about them. Designing new email campaigns for the holiday season might take a little extra effort, but it’s worth it.
Anatomy of a great holiday email
While most people focus on the meat of the email (the main body content), there are also several other elements that make up a great holiday email. Here are the main components to focus on.
Subject line
Your subject line is one of the key factors your audience uses to decide whether your email is worth opening. The stronger your subject line is, the better your campaign open rates will be. So, how do you craft the perfect holiday subject line?
First, as tempting as it is to cram a ton of enticing information into the subject line, you’re better off keeping it short and sweet. Long subject lines may get cut off in the recipients’ inboxes or simply make them look right over your message. Try to get straight to the point in as few words as possible.
You can try asking a question to intrigue the readers and make them want to read more. Customizing the subject line with each recipient’s name can also help your message stand out. When applicable, add numbers or even emojis for emphasis.
Just make sure your subject line isn’t misleading, or you could lose the audience’s trust and get the message caught in spam filters.
Preheader text
Alongside the subject line and sender, the preheader text is the other thing that determines whether recipients open your email. Intriguing preheader text draws them in and makes them much more likely to open and engage with your message.
The email preheader is the short text that shows up after the subject line to provide a preview of the message’s contents. If you don’t change it, your preheader will probably automatically default to the first sentence of your email. You can do much better than that, though.
Instead, write preheader text that complements your subject line. Add a little more context or drop another enticing clue about your email’s content.
Body content
The body content is the bulk of your message. This is where you get to say what you want to say and add visual elements like photos or GIFs.
You have a lot of flexibility in how you style the body of your email. You can use only text, but extra design elements may help keep readers interested.
As you’re drafting your holiday marketing email, keep these tips in mind:
- Stay on topic: Your body content should have a clear message with no extraneous information.
- Proofread: Take a second look to make sure there are no spelling or grammar issues and your tone is consistent throughout.
- Personalize: Whenever possible, personalize your messages. Even just using the reader’s name in the greeting can make a big difference.
- Use bullet points: Bullet points will break up large blocks of text and highlight important details.
- Include plenty of white space: Email messages are easier to read when there’s space between paragraphs instead of huge walls of text.
Sometimes, the body of your email only needs to be a few sentences long. Focus on quality over quantity.
Call to action
Arguably, the most important piece of any holiday marketing email is the call to action. Getting your email subscribers to read your message is great, but ideally, you want them to do even more than that. Your email should inspire them to engage further — the CTA tells them exactly how to do it.
Some emails have more than one CTA to really drive the message home. They might have a CTA button early on in the message so that it’s visible before scrolling and another toward the end. You can even use different forms of the same CTA, like a CTA button and hyperlinked text in the email body.
Your CTAs should be clear, compelling, and easy to find through the design of your email. Try A/B testing your CTAs to find the most effective ones that go with your holiday email marketing ideas.
Design elements
A great email typically contains more than just text. It also has interesting design elements like colors, graphics, and logos. If you give your readers something pretty to look at, they’re more likely to engage with your actual message.
Get creative. Try out different designs until you find one that fits your brand and message. Avoid adding too many design elements, as this can make the email visually cluttered.
If you don’t have an eye for design, don’t worry. You can use pre-designed email templates instead of starting from scratch. All you need to do is customize the templates with your text and selected images. Or, decorate your regular email template for the holidays. Adding holiday colors or holiday-themed images will make your message feel special while retaining your brand style.
Subject lines for effective holiday marketing emails
During the holiday season, tailoring your subject line to a specific holiday can help your message stand out. Try the following holiday email marketing subject lines.
Example Thanksgiving email subject lines
For Thanksgiving emails, you might emphasize ideas like gratitude or community in your subject line.
- We’re grateful for you
- Thanks for being you
- Giving thanks
- From our family to yours
- Is it Thanksgiving already?
- Gobble up the savings
- Get stuffed with savings
- Warm Thanksgiving wishes
Make sure the subject line you use relates to the main email content. For example, only reference sales and deals if the email lets readers know about your Thanksgiving discounts. Try different Thanksgiving marketing ideas with coordinating subject lines in your email campaigns.
Example Christmas email subject lines
There are a lot of ways to go with Christmas subject lines, from traditional greetings to holiday-themed puns. Here are some great examples to pull inspiration from:
- Warm wishes for a Merry Christmas
- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
- Discover Santa’s favorite gift picks
- Celebrate Christmas with these holiday savings
- Jingle all the way to these deals
- 25 Days of Christmas savings start now
Example Hanukkah email subject lines
For Hanukkah-themed marketing emails, try subject lines like:
- Wishing you a happy Hanukkah
- Happy Hanukkah from [your business]
- Celebrate with 8 Days of Savings
- Explore Hanukkah gift ideas
- We like you a latke: Exclusive Hanukkah deals for you
- Discover gift ideas for all 8 nights
- How we’re celebrating Hanukkah this year
Example Kwanzaa email subject lines
Use subject lines like these examples for your Kwanzaa marketing emails:
- 7 days of Kwanzaa deals
- Happy Kwanzaa from us to you
- Celebrate Kwanzaa with [your business]
- Wishing you a festive Kwanzaa celebration
- A special Kwanzaa discount for you
Holiday marketing email designs & templates
Effective holiday marketing email examples can give you some good ideas for your campaigns. Take inspiration from these examples:
Thanksgiving email example: Turo
Christmas email example: Good Pair Days
Hanukkah email example: Mixology Clothing Company
Kwanzaa email example: Edible Arrangements
Make your campaigns valuable: What to send
Your email recipients will probably get lots of emails about other company’s holiday promotions. Help your holiday email marketing campaigns stand out from the pack by offering your readers a meaningful benefit — something that’s actually useful to them. Try these ideas.
Content downloads
Everybody loves free stuff, even when that stuff isn’t tangible. Consider sending free content downloads in your holiday emails as a gift to your readers. A free download like a white paper, ebook, or cheat sheet gives your readers their own takeaway from your message.
When you give them something they can keep, like downloadable content, your campaigns seem more valuable.
Discount codes
Offering discount codes in your holiday emails can also get readers’ attention. Who doesn’t like a discount?
Send readers an exclusive code for a certain percent or dollar value off their next qualifying purchase. Discount codes make engaging with your email campaigns worthwhile for your audience, boosting your results.
Some promotional emails clearly display the discount codes in the message body, but that’s not your only option. Alternatively, direct readers to a webpage to unlock their discount code. That way, interested customers will already be on your website and might buy something with that discount right away.
Giveaways
The holiday season is all about giving, and you can get in on the action. One popular holiday email marketing idea is to run a winter giveaway and let customers know in some emails. Consider Christmas giveaway ideas like free samples, branded swag, event tickets, or even gift cards.
If you’re worried about the cost of these giveaways, limit the scope. Make it a sweepstakes that only one or a few of your email subscribers will win. People will still enjoy the opportunity to get free items during the holidays.
In any of these value-packed holiday email campaign examples, make sure your call to action emphasizes the benefit you’re offering. For example, “download your free copy” clearly directs readers to click the CTA button so they get the free content. A strong, relevant CTA will make your holiday emails much more effective.
Automate your holiday marketing
Setting up and running your holiday email campaigns can take up a lot of time. Incorporating automation is the answer.
With an email marketing tool like Constant Contact, you can set up automated, relevant messages with just a few clicks. Your email subscribers will get personalized email messages based on their actions and interests. And the best part is that you don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting.
Constant Contact’s automation technology ensures your marketing emails go to the right people at the right times. Even if you’re new to automation, you can easily use one of the pre-built, plug-and-play automation templates for your campaigns.
Create an effective holiday marketing email
The holidays are the perfect time to use email marketing to connect with customers and drive sales. Focus on crafting compelling subject lines and offering your email subscribers something of value in your messages. Before long, you’ll see better open rates, customer engagement, and conversions. Get a head start with email marketing software like Constant Contact.
