Guide to Effective Christmas Email Marketing to Increase Holiday Sales [2024]

The holiday season is a golden opportunity to boost your online sales with the right email marketing strategy.

During Christmas, 68% of holiday shoppers pay closer attention to emails from companies, actively looking for the best deals and promotions.

With a thoughtful, targeted approach, you can engage your audience, promote your holiday offers, and drive more sales than any other time of year.

In this guide, you’ll discover simple steps to set up an effective Christmas email marketing strategy that can help you reach more customers and increase sales, year after year.

So, let’s get started,

What is Christmas Email Marketing?

Christmas email marketing is a strategic campaign designed to engage your subscribers, drive holiday sales, and spread festive cheer during the holiday season.

These emails often feature special promotions, gift ideas, or exclusive deals, all aimed at maximizing engagement and revenue when consumers are actively shopping.

Stages of Christmas Email Marketing

Typically, a Christmas email marketing campaign can be divided into three stages:

1. pre-Christmas
2. Christmas Day and
3. post-Christmas

1. Pre-Christmas

In the pre-Christmas phase, it’s all about engaging your target audience with emails that spark interest. This is your chance to lead them to your holiday email newsletter and get them excited about what’s coming.

Many eCommerce brands find this the perfect time to boost brand awareness and attract new subscribers. Consider using interactive holiday cards or a digital advent calendar to keep your customer engagement high.

By focusing on what your subscribers want and introducing exclusive deals, you can perfectly align with their expectations and set a festive tone for your holiday promotions.

2. Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, you have a prime opportunity to reach those last-minute shoppers looking for perfect presents. Think about offering e-gift cards or digital downloads for those who need something quick and easy.

Send out warm, festive emails that truly resonate with the Christmas spirit, highlighting instant delivery products or limited-time offers.

This is a fantastic way to boost your brand visibility and connect with your customers at just the right moment, especially if your emails are mobile-friendly. Keep your brand in their minds during family time and holiday celebrations.

3. Post-Christmas

The post-Christmas stage is your chance to maintain brand visibility and keep customers engaged through year-end clearance or “treat yourself” deals.

Many people are ready to spend their holiday gift cards or cash, so this is a great time for targeted offers. Sending emails focused on after-Christmas sales can encourage your customers to come back and shop again.

Use this prime opportunity to stay top-of-mind as they think about the new year. A simple “Happy New Year” message can show your appreciation for their loyalty and keep them excited about what’s next.

Note: whatever email you’re crafting, the goal is always the same – to boost open rates, increase sales, and strengthen customer relationships.

Effective Ways to Craft Compelling Christmas Emails

Following are a few effective ways you can create compelling Christmas Emails.

1. Personalized Email Copy For Christmas

When creating Christmas email copy, personalization is key. Start by addressing your subscribers by their names and segmenting your email list to deliver tailored content based on their preferences and shopping behaviors.

Use language that resonates with the festive spirit while highlighting the value of your products or services in the context of gift-giving and celebration.

Powerful elements to add to your email:

• Express gratitude by thanking your subscribers for the year gone by, potentially offering special discounts or early access to Christmas sales. This adds a personal touch and strengthens emotional ties with your audience.
• Make your subscribers’ lives easier during the hectic holiday season by providing helpful tips and advice, such as gift ideas, ways to save money, practical advice, creating wish lists, and offering last-minute deals.
• Integrating personalization through emotions and practical assistance helps to enhance customer loyalty and adds a human touch to your business.

2. Optimized Christmas Email Subject Lines

The subject line is the first thing your subscribers see, so make it count. Incorporate holiday-themed emojis, create a sense of urgency, and highlight any exclusive offers or promotions.

Following are a few ways you can optimize Christmas email subject lines:

3. Christmas Themed Email Banner or Design

You can use a special Christmas email banner or templates to maintain the festive spirit throughout the email campaign for more engagements. The idea is to connect with people emotionally through this exciting occasion.

This will involve using the common Christmas colors such as Red, White, Green, Silver, or Golden, and using elements such as Santa, reindeer, Christmas trees, snowflakes, stars, baubles, mistletoes, etc.

Here’s an example of a great Christmas-themed email:

Remember, even if you use the Christmas theme, don’t forget to maintain your branding in some way either through a logo or with company details in the footer.

4. Make a Special Christmas Offer to Grab The Attention

Certain offers can help you attract and retain customers during the holiday season and drive sales for your business. Some ideas are given to inspire you –

• Email-only discounts: Offer special discounts that are exclusive to your email subscribers. This can incentivize recipients to make a purchase and also make them feel valued for being part of your email list
• Special holiday packages: Create Christmas-themed packages or bundles that are specifically designed for the holiday season. This can include curated gift sets, limited-time offers, or bundled products at a discounted price
• Gift cards or vouchers: Provide the option for recipients to purchase gift cards or vouchers that they can use for their own holiday shopping or gift to others. This can appeal to those who may be unsure of what to purchase and prefer to give the gift of choice
• Gift guides and product collections: Feature a curated collection of products in an email gift guide to help recipients find the perfect gifts for their loved ones. This can inspire and make the shopping process easier for your customers
• Free shipping or gift with purchase: Offer free shipping or a free gift with purchase to sweeten the deal for your customers. This can make your offer more attractive and encourage recipients to complete their purchase.
• Christmas giveaway: Run a Christmas giveaway to engage customers and create excitement around your brand

5. Adding A Creative CTA & Offer Deadline

Adding a creative Call to Action (CTA) and a deadline is necessary to trigger motivated actions to make a purchase.

Though there is no one rule one approach as to how you can create the best CTA, there are certain tried and tested formats you can use.

• You can start by segmenting your audience for personalized offers and reward loyalty.
• Optimize your email design for mobile users, use contrasting colors, and keep the messaging clear and concise.
• Encourage social sharing and continually test and optimize for improved performance.

Then, you can tailor great CTAs in the email copy, buttons, and even images. Following are some CTA approaches for Christmas email copies:

• Storytelling Approach
  Example: Embark on a festive journey with us! Unwrap exclusive deals before Santa’s sleigh leaves. Act now – these magical savings disappear like snowflakes on [Offer Deadline].”
• Interactive Element
  Example: “Click the snow globe to reveal your Christmas surprise! Hurry, our gift to you expires in [Countdown Timer]. Don’t miss out on the joy—unwrap your savings!”
• Personalized Countdown
  Example: “Your Christmas countdown starts now! Only [X] days are left to sleigh amazing discounts. Click to discover your personalized offer. Time’s ticking!”
• Themed CTA Buttons
  Example: “Sleigh the Savings! 🎅 Click Santa’s hat to reveal your exclusive gift. Hurry, the magic ends on [Offer Deadline]. Jingle all the way to joyful discounts!”
• Festive Emoji Integration
  Example: “You’re on the nice list! Unwrap your gift before it melts away – the offer ends on [Deadline]. Click Rudolph’s nose to sleigh your savings!”

Planning Effective Christmas Email Campaigns

You just learn the basics about a typical Christmas email and how to optimize it. Now, let us look at how you can plan and execute an effective Christmas email campaign.

1. Pre-Christmas Invitation Series

You can Send a pre-Christmas invitation email series to your subscribers, starting a week before Christmas and wrapping up a day before.

Build curiosity by hinting at an exciting offer just for them—without giving away too much. Create a sense of anticipation that makes them look forward to each email.

Use engaging language to keep them intrigued, so they’re excited to check out your special deal page once it goes live.

Example:

2. Deal Launch Email

Your deal launch email is the big reveal, Unveil the exciting offer with enthusiasm, showcasing the benefits they’ll enjoy—whether it’s exclusive discounts, unique perks, or a special bonus just for them.

Use vibrant visuals, persuasive language, and clear CTAs to encourage immediate action, so they don’t miss out on this limited-time opportunity. Make them feel the excitement and the value of jumping in now.

Example:

3. Post-Christmas Follow-ups

Following the initial launch, maintain momentum with well-timed follow-up emails spaced at 2-3 day intervals.

Each subsequent email should showcase different best offers, emphasizing the ongoing value and relevance of the deals.

Tailor the content to spotlight diverse product categories or services. It ensures each email presents fresh incentives to entice recipients back to explore further offerings.

Personalize content where possible, addressing specific customer preferences or previously browsed items to enhance engagement.

Example:

4. Final Call Before The Christmas Deal Ends

As the deal closes to the deadline, intensify urgency with two final call emails dispatched 24 hours and 6 hours before the offer expiration.

Employ a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) strategy in these emails. It helps to emphasize the limited time remaining before they miss out on the lucrative deal.

Use compelling language, scarcity-driven messaging, and relevant visuals to convey the urgency, urging recipients to take immediate action before missing out on the exclusive opportunity.

Example:

Crafting and scheduling a sequence of strategically crafted Christmas emails will undoubtedly enhance excitement, engagement, and conversions for your seasonal promotions.

Reliable Tools to Execute Christmas Email Campaigns

A key factor in the success of your Christmas email marketing strategies is the tool you use. You need a tool that will allow you to design beautiful emails while scheduling them into sequences as per your plan.

The tool should allow personalization in the email subject line and copy and include features to create automated email workflows for additional transactional emails to support your campaign.

Following are a few reliable tools to help you do that.

1. Mail Mint

Mail Mint is a WordPress email marketing automation tool that helps you run targeted email campaigns, manage leads, and simplify automation flows.

The plugin comes with attractive Christmas and Holiday email templates which you can start using with little changes.

Plus, you will have full control in designing and scheduling your email campaigns without any complications.

If you are using a WordPress website or running a WooCommerce store, then Mail Mint is one of the best choices to run Christmas email campaigns or any promotional campaigns throughout the year.

2. Brevo

Brevo is a SaaS solution for relationship marketing that offers a cloud-based marketing communication software suite with SaaS email marketing, marketing automation, and more.

Brevo provides an easy-to-use drag-and-drop email editor and customizable HTML options to create attractive Christmas email marketing campaigns.

Additionally, Brevo offers exclusive features such as countdown timers, limited-time offers highlights, and direct automation for eCommerce to help you drive sales during the busy holiday season.

3. ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a brilliant email marketing tool, mainly designed to run email automation for e-commerce sites.

Using this plugin, you will be able to set up email sequences with well-designed Christmas templates, add countdown timers, and initiate conditional email journeys for your customers.

It’s a great choice if you want to set up a sophisticated Christmas email campaign along with personalized email automation flows.

Conclusion

Christmas email marketing is a great way to reach your audience, boost sales, and share the festive spirit.

By planning your campaign across three stages—pre-Christmas, Christmas Day, and post-Christmas—you can connect with your customers at each step.

Start with early holiday deals to build excitement, then offer last-minute gifts on Christmas Day, and wrap up with post-holiday discounts to keep shoppers engaged.

By using a tool like Mail Mint, you can automate your holiday emails, making it easy to stay top-of-mind and increase sales this season.

** FAQs **

How to start a Christmas email?

• Start your Christmas email with a warm greeting like, “The holiday season is here, and we’re thrilled to bring you exclusive offers to make your celebrations even brighter!” This captures customer interest and aligns with subscriber preferences.

How do you greet Christmas in a business email?

• In a business email, keep it professional yet festive with, “Merry Christmas and warm wishes from our team to yours—may your season be filled with joy and success!” This respects customer expectations while reinforcing brand identity.

When to send Christmas emails?

• Begin in early December to catch prime-time shopping, with follow-up emails closer to Christmas Day for last-minute buyers. It ensures you reach subscriber inboxes at the right time for maximum impact.

What is a good Christmas sentence?

• Use a heartfelt phrase like, “Wishing you joy, warmth, and endless cheer this holiday season!” Simple yet sincere, it connects with potential customers and adds a friendly touch to your message.

How to wish Merry Christmas professionally?

• For a professional greeting, say, “Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a successful New Year full of opportunity!” It’s a friendly, polished way to acknowledge the customer lifecycle while building positive relationships.