10 Step Holiday Email Marketing Guide for Boosting Sales

By Sean Tinney September 14, 2023

I’m positive you’ve heard the saying “the early hen catches the worm”. This saying is rarely extra true than when speaking about your vacation e mail advertising and marketing, particularly for the Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa buying season.

Based on a current shopper survey, 50% of individuals count on to begin holiday shopping earlier than November.

And as soon as they begin, customers actually open up their wallets. Final season alone noticed record sales of $936 billion.

And with folks keen to spend, creators and companies (each large and small) are attempting to get a bit.

So in the event you have been pondering of getting these vacation emails out in mid November, you could possibly miss out on weeks of straightforward gross sales.

To face out together with your viewers it’s essential to have a technique in place as a result of extra emails are despatched throughout the vacation buying season, than another time of yr. So how will you be certain your emails are those to face out?

We’ve obtained you coated with some suggestions that can assist you put together and ship sales-driven vacation emails. We’ll stroll you thru a step-by-step vacation e mail advertising and marketing technique that can assist you capitalize on the elevated vacation spending.

Prep

You possibly can’t simply get up one morning and say “at this time seems like a superb day to e mail my viewers.” You’ve obtained to plan out the who, what, why and when of your vacation emails.

And that every one begins with steps one.

Step 1: Create your vacation e mail advertising and marketing calendar

Protecting observe of all the vacations — Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Yr — can rapidly grow to be overwhelming. 

Manage the mayhem with a vacation e mail advertising and marketing calendar. 

No must overthink it — you possibly can arrange a calendar on a spreadsheet or Canva template like this one:

Or you possibly can obtain our free email marketing calendar.

A calendar can even allow you to accommodate for the remainder of your staff’s time, which turns out to be useful in the event that they’re serving to with duties like design, writing, or scheduling the message.

On the identical time, be sure to don’t overmail your viewers. If you happen to begin to discover extra unsubscribes than traditional, think about the frequency of your emails. 

Step 2: Begin your vacation e mail planning early

There’s a purpose you’re seeing toy shops, supermarkets, and different retailers begin placing out vacation decorations and flyers earlier than Halloween yearly. Folks get to creating want lists and shopping for presents as quickly as the primary chilly snap hits.

Fill in your calendar from now by way of at the least the tip of the yr. You might be sending a whole lot of emails this time of yr, so planning every thing out prematurely will allow you to meet your deadlines and create content material your subscribers will love.

Right here’s just a few questions you want to bear in mind when planning your e mail ship schedule:

1. How continuously will you e mail?
2. What is going to your supply/messaging be?
3. How will you be sending emails to? You must phase your e mail checklist with a purpose to ship related content material to particular audiences.
4. When will you be sending your emails (days and instances)?
5. Who’s chargeable for writing and sending the emails? 

The vacation season needs to be your busiest time of the yr. Set your self up for achievement by planning and e mail advertising and marketing early.

Choose your viewers phase

Determine who you’re going to focus on, what emails you’re going to ship, and what presents/messaging they’re going to obtain.

Step 3: Create your audiences

To be able to reduce by way of the litter of crowded inboxes you’re going to wish to ship related messages to your viewers. Now that is at all times essential however much more so throughout the vacation season. Your simplest means to do that is by segmenting your audience. 

Listed below are a few of the greatest methods to phase your checklist for vacation e mail advertising and marketing:

Pursuits and preferences: Tailor vacation presents and proposals to your viewers’s particular tastes. Do you have got information on their pursuits? If not, don’t fear, there’s nonetheless a strategy to perceive their preferences. Create segments based mostly on the kind of hyperlinks they clicked in your earlier emails. Primarily based on their click on historical past, you’ll have an thought of their pursuits.

Buy Historical past: Section prospects based mostly on their previous buy habits. You can even determine high-value prospects and supply them unique offers or premium merchandise.

Demographics: Take into account elements like age, gender, location, and earnings to create segments. Completely different demographics could reply otherwise to vacation promotions.

Step 4: Keep in mind your last-minute customers

There’ll at all times be consumers who wait till the final minute to get their vacation buying completed. We love them simply as a lot because the early birds. Be sure you maintain these customers in thoughts when planning your vacation emails.

Take into consideration final minute offers, providing reward playing cards or certifications, or assured transport and in-store pickup earlier than the massive day, to assist make these prospects’ lives simpler. 

The vacations could be tense sufficient, so if you are able to do one thing that helps ease the stress of final minute buying, your prospects will bear in mind your model favorably sooner or later.

Step 5: Examine your (e mail) checklist and examine it twice

Now’s a good time to attempt to re-engage subscribers who’ve slowly stopped partaking together with your e mail messages over time. If you happen to can’t, then it could be time to scrub your checklist. 

That is your likelihood to have your model grow to be high of thoughts earlier than your vacation promotional emails are delivered. Inside AWeber, you possibly can simply seek for subscribers that haven’t engaged together with your emails over a time period.

Then, ship a message to ask them to remain on the checklist. This would possibly embody an incentive to stay round, or some additional helpful content material. 

Right here’s an instance the AWeber staff has despatched earlier than:

In the event that they nonetheless don’t interact (open or click on), it’s in your greatest curiosity to unsubscribe these subscribers. Unengaged subscribers can negatively impression your open charges and deliverability, or they might even hit the SPAM button when your content material arrives of their inbox.

Presents

Customers count on and are actively searching for promotions. Be sure you make them really feel like a valued buyer or another person will.

Step 6: Supply unique vacation promotions

Definitely! Vacation e mail advertising and marketing is a good way to have interaction together with your viewers and supply promotions that may increase gross sales. Listed below are some promotional ideas you possibly can think about:

1. Reductions and coupons: Supply unique vacation reductions or coupons in your services or products. You can also make these time-sensitive to create a way of urgency.
2. Free transport: Present free transport for orders positioned throughout the vacation season. This is usually a important incentive for web shoppers.
3. Purchase One, Get One (BOGO): Run a BOGO promotion the place prospects purchase one merchandise and get one other at a diminished value or without spending a dime.
4. Flash gross sales: Create limited-time flash gross sales with deep reductions on choose merchandise. Ship e mail notifications to your subscribers to create pleasure.
5. Early hen specials: Reward early customers by providing particular reductions or perks for many who make purchases earlier than a sure date.
6. Unique bundles: Bundle associated services or products collectively and supply them at a reduced value throughout the holidays.
7. E-mail-only reductions: Present particular reductions completely to your e mail subscribers as a strategy to reward their loyalty.
8. Referral rewards: Encourage prospects to refer family and friends by providing rewards or reductions for profitable referrals.
9. Final-minute: Don’t overlook about these last-minute customers.

These are only a few concepts to make your viewers really feel particular and incentive them to order from you.

Don’t have a bodily product to supply? That is the proper time to offer reductions on digital presents like online courses, ebooks, checklists, templates, and extra.

Listed below are some vacation e mail examples utilizing just a few of those unique promotional concepts:

Vacation e mail setup

When crafting your vacation emails, intention for a seasonal really feel that resonates together with your viewers. This strategy could make folks extra inclined to take motion and become involved, finally boosting engagement and gross sales.

Step 7: Get festive together with your vacation e mail design

Think about using a vacation e mail template or together with design components that convey a festive vibe like a vacation e mail signature or banner.

Herald vacation or winter-themed colours so as to add a festive aptitude that accompanies the e-mail content material.

Try how Code College introduced in festive photographs to their seasonal e mail.

Probably the greatest methods to boost your vacation emails is with themed photographs. And also you don’t want a graphic designer or a customized photograph funds to take action. You should utilize Canva, a free and straightforward designer software with hundreds of templates, photographs, and graphics. Plus, you can create email images using Canva directly inside AWeber.

You can even discover free inventory images (photographs that anybody can use creatively) at unsplash.com and pexels.com. 

As soon as you discover the proper picture, take into consideration methods you possibly can customise it to match your model. 

When searching for photographs or design inspiration, strive brainstorming key phrases that make you consider the vacation season, like winter, reward wrap, greenery, sizzling chocolate, or cookies. This may help you stand out in a sea of purple and inexperienced whereas additionally conserving your vacation e mail “on model” and recognizable.

You can even embody holiday GIFs in your emails to boost the seasonal really feel.

Vacation e mail signature or banner graphics

A festive vacation e mail signature or banner with some cheerful graphics and heat greetings can immediately infuse a way of vacation pleasure and goodwill into your e mail communication.

And also you don’t must be an expert designer to create one in your emails. AWeber, for instance, already has free graphics you need to use.

Or, as talked about above, you need to use Canva which has a preset “e mail banner” dimension. Plus they’ve tons of vacation photographs you possibly can pull proper into your design.

Step 8: Write your vacation e mail with a way of urgency

The extra you possibly can emphasize the urgency or significance of shopping for now, the extra you possibly can affect subscribers to take motion.

So how will you get your viewers to really feel this fashion?

By referencing information, dates, instances, seasons, or restricted time presents.

Try how Talbots supplied a restricted time low cost to prospects who bought earlier than midnight.

Right here’s an vacation e mail instance from Portrait Espresso that creates urgency by calling out “final day for vacation transport” (which you could possibly get free on orders over $40 – nice strategy to improve your common order)

Step 9: Write festive vacation e mail advertising and marketing topic traces

Your topic line is without doubt one of the most essential elements of getting your vacation emails opened and skim. Be sure you point out particular presents and particulars about your vacation promotions in your topic line to catch your subscribers’ consideration.

Try these nice topic traces that trace at what subscribers will discover in the event that they open a vacation e mail.

• 60% Off (Yep!) Vacation Should-Haves
• Cue the Cozy With 20% Off! Vacation Purchasing Begins Right here – the countdown is on!
• $25 Reward Concepts – Vacation Sale 25% Off Web site Huge

On the lookout for extra vacation topic line examples, take a look at our weblog devoted to the topic (see what I did there): Jumpstart Your Holiday Emails with 200+ Ready-Made Subject Lines.

Take a look at, take a look at, take a look at

How have you learnt what services or products supply will yield probably the most gross sales throughout seasonal holidays? How have you learnt what topic line will stand out in an already crowded inbox?

The reality is…you don’t. Until your take a look at.

Step 10: Break up take a look at and measure your success

Split testing (or A/B testing) an e mail to a small proportion of your e mail checklist will provide you with a chance to find what works.

Utilizing AWeber’s break up testing function, you possibly can take a look at two presents: 20% off v. 30% off. Then, ship two emails. Each will go to a small, random phase of the checklist — say, 10%. Then observe the success of the emails to see which provide was hottest and drove extra gross sales.

Unfold some vacation e mail cheer

Whilst you could have already got a vacation e mail marketing campaign in movement, it’s by no means too late to make tweaks alongside the way in which. The extra you may make your emails stand out from the remaining this time of yr, the merrier the season will probably be for you and your corporation.

Able to ship your personal vacation emails? Get began with a free AWeber account at this time and plan your vacation e mail cheer now.