12 Holiday Email Marketing Ideas to Crush Your Sales [2024]

It’s almost time for the holidays. Everyone is getting ready with new campaigns and offers to attract buyers. If you own an online store, then you too should start preparing your store for holiday sales.

Among several strategies, email marketing is one of the best marketing activities you can’t avoid.

Consumers who purchase products through email are likely to spend 138% more than people who don’t receive email offers.

Today, you will learn 12 unique holiday email marketing ideas that can help you boost your holiday sales significantly.

Whether you have already planned your holiday marketing campaigns or are still getting ready, these email campaigns would be the perfect addition to your plans to ensure a profitable holiday season.

So, let’s dive into it.

What are The Benefits of Holiday Email Marketing?

Holiday email marketing offers several benefits that can significantly impact your business. Some benefits are given below:

• Boosts Sales: By implementing a solid holiday email marketing strategy, you can drive significant revenue through targeted holiday email campaigns that resonate with your audience.

• Engages Customers: When you use festive campaign elements like advent calendars and holiday gift guides, you captivate holiday shoppers and build deeper connections with your customers.

• Drives Urgency: By incorporating special offers, flash sales, and shipping deadlines, you create a sense of urgency. It encourages your customers to make quicker purchases.

• Increases Brand Awareness: Your brand awareness grows as you leverage holiday email marketing examples and themed content that appeal to both new customers and loyal customers.

• Improves Customer Relationships: When you personalize offers based on previous purchase behavior, you foster stronger bonds with your customers, making your holiday emails even more effective.

Types of Emails You Can Send for the Holiday Campaign

Here are some types of emails you can send for your holiday campaign:

• Holiday Gift Guides: Provide curated suggestions to help your holiday customers find the perfect gifts for their loved ones.

• Exclusive Holiday Offers: Send special deals like bundle deals and loyalty program specials to engage your target audience.

• Shipping Deadline Reminders: Inform your customers of key dates for free overnight shipping to create urgency. You can use a reminder email subject line to attract customers.

• Festive-Themed Content: Share engaging holiday email marketing examples with holiday subject lines that inspire and drive clicks.

• Personalized Recommendations: Use your customer list and previous purchase behavior to craft personalized holiday email campaigns that resonate.

These email strategies can elevate your holiday marketing campaigns and keep your top brands at the forefront of customers’ minds.

12 Holiday Email Marketing Ideas to Crush Your Sales

Let’s dive into 12 holiday email marketing ideas that can help you crush your sales this season. they also help to keep your brand at the top of your customer’s minds.

1. Prepare a Pre-order Offer for Holiday Email Marketing

During the holidays, it’s often frustrating to make last-minute orders as products could go out of stock or the delivery could be delayed and you can take advantage of this by running a pre-order campaign.

You could send out a holiday email 1 month before the holiday season and inform your prospects that you are accepting pre-orders on certain products and you have a special offer for them on these.

Highlight the fact that they could get everything delivered on time and at a lower cost, without having to worry about the rush later on.

On the email, suggest what products you could take orders for, and what offers you have available on pre-order. For example, it could be 15% off or maybe free shipping for all pre-ordered products.

Here’s an example of a pre-order holiday sales email for Halloween:

2. Email A Gift Guide During The Holidays

People are always looking to plan some exciting gifts for their dear ones during the holidays.

For example, everyone has a budget to buy some special gift for Christmas. In this case, you could plan a holiday email where you suggest what people could get as gifts from your store.

Here’s an example of such an email:

This email by P & Co is quite a genius one. You can see, they didn’t have to have a special Christmas collection or a theme.

They used an engaging image at the beginning and then went ahead to highlight certain product categories that people can look through to get a gift for the winter a Christmas gift.

3. To-do List Email for Holiday Marketing

If you run a local store, then you could use rather holiday email marketing tips and tricks. You could prepare a To-do list for people to prepare for the holidays.

For example, you could prepare a checklist of things to buy before Christmas. This list could include getting a Christmas tree, ordering mistletoes, pre-ordering turkeys, etc.

The idea is to help people remember what they need to be prepared with using a checklist. Many people will find it super useful, especially if your list includes some regular-use products. And on that list, you can include products you sell as part of the mix.

For example, if you are a clothing store with a Winter collection already coming in, then you could add “Buy a fleece jacket” to the list and link it to your store’s website. You could do the same for getting socks & gloves. Similarly, if you offer decorative service, then the list could include “Decorate the porch with fairy lights.”

This email doesn’t have to be about the whole holiday season. It could be themed for a certain occasion such as Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve.

In fact, the same holiday email strategy will work for Halloween, Valentine’s Day, or any local special occasions. Overall, this is a great way for local businesses to convince buyers to place more orders.

4. Email to Suggest Exciting Ways to Spend The Holidays

Often, suggesting plans for the holidays could help convert prospects, especially if you are part of a travel & tourism business or if your business is located at a tourist spot.

For example, if own a restaurant near the beach, you could create a holiday email where you suggest places a person could visit in that area including restaurants, events, bars, etc.

And on the restaurant list, you could include your restaurant & its specialty to try and attract curious tourists to visit your place. It’s a great way to attract people who are traveling to your location for the first time.

But it’s not limited to tourists. You can also plan this same approach for the locals who may not know what they should be doing during the holidays.

For example, suppose there is someone who already decided this holiday season will be a boring one and he will spend the whole time sitting at home. But then, he got your email where you saw this amazing list of things he can do.

This will get him excited to make a proper holiday plan. And if you manage to highlight your business the right way, you will be on his list.

Also, rather than just sending one email with so many options, you could also plan a series of emails with suggestions on specific types of plans for each email.

For example, the first email could be about the restaurants a person could visit throughout the season, the second email could be able the holiday events he could visit, and the third email could be about exciting offers on products in the town. This will open up the opportunity for you to partner up with other brands for joint promotion.

Here’s one such holiday email campaign example:

5. Pre-Holiday Sale Preview Email Series

If you are part of a SaaS business, run an e-commerce store, or have a directory site, then you can plan a pre-launch teaser for your offer products before the deal is launched.

For example, you could announce 1 week before the deal launch that you have a huge discount incoming on a few selected products but do not reveal the discount amount.

And then, give a preview of the products that will be at discounted prices during the deal period. Send a second email 3 days later showcasing some of the best products of your collection and do not reveal the discount amount.

Next, send an email 24 hours before the deal launch to create a final hype. And finally, send the deal launch email by revealing the discount.

For this, make sure to create a separate category or a page to list down the products that will be on discount. It will make things easier for buyers so that they will be able to place more orders easily.

Using sneak peeks or teasers is a great strategy for any new product launches or deal launches. Sure, it may slow down sales for a week.

But if you manage to showcase the right products, you can achieve twice as much sales in just the 1st day of the deal, than what you could get last week.

6. Themed Product Recommendation Email

This one is straightforward. You can send product recommendation emails highlighting products related to an upcoming occasion, or simply the holidays.

For example, before Christmas, you could send a Christmas-themed email (with color and images that resonate with the occasion) where you can recommend the products that you have an offer on for the occasion or products that people are more likely to purchase during Christmas.

This is a common holiday email marketing strategy that works really well if you offer a coupon or a discount along with the recommendations.

7. Personalized Offers Based on Purchase History via Email

A customer is more likely to buy products if they are tailored towards what they desire or usually purchase. Hence, making personalized offers based on a buyer’s purchase history would be a great way to increase holiday sales.

For example, if you know that a person is fond of home decor based on his past purchases, you could come up with a holiday recommendation email to highlight your new collection of home decorations.

Similarly, if you notice a person has purchased a lot of T-shirts in the past, you could offer him a special holiday one-time offer to get T-shirts again from your store.

Such personalized offers are a great way to make people feel special and they will often take in the offer to order additional products.

8. Product Highlight Emails for Your Holiday Email Marketing Campaign

In this email campaign idea, focus on promoting one product at a time per holiday email.

Basically, you can plan a series of 3 to 5 emails after your holiday deal is announced. In each email, give details on a single product using images, video links, and a feature list. And then reveal the discount price and the amount people can save by buying it during the deal period.

This approach works quite well, especially for luxury items or products that people tend to buy for special occasions or the holidays. In fact, the discount isn’t really all that important if you are selling an essential product.

For example, space heaters are quite demandable during the holidays. So a highlight email on it will be very successful. A discount will be great, but not mandatory as people will look to get a heater anyway. (But competitive prices do matter.)

Here’s an example of a product highlight email:

While in the example above, you do not see any reference to the holidays, it gives a perfect demonstration of what the product is all about. You can take a similar approach and add a little holiday touch to it for your products..

9. Holiday Event Invitation Emails

During the holidays, several hotels, reports, and event venues tend to have a lot of amazing events planned out. If you are part of such businesses and have an event to host, then email marketing would be perfect to invite more guests to purchase your tickets.

For example, you could host a Christmas party for people to attend by purchasing tickets. In this case, you would have to make the tickets available early, by at least 1 month, and inform everyone about the event.

You could also invite people to an open-for-all event where you promise to make special decorations and maybe run some sort of contest.

A holiday event invitation email will be pretty straightforward. You inform them about the event, what specialty it will have, the date & time of the event, and the venue.

Here’s a great holiday event invitation email example:

10. Emails About A Reward Campaign Based On Amount Spent During Holidays

10. Emails About A Reward Campaign Based on Amount Spent During Holidays

This is one of the most popular holiday email campaign ideas that have been actively used time and time again by popular e-commerce shops and have found great success.

You can plan a reward campaign for buyers based on a target spending amount. It could be an additional discount, free shipping, or a specific gift.

For example, you could offer 10% off for anyone who spends over $500 from your store during the holidays. Such campaigns can easily be marketed using emails.

Simply plan a series of 3-5 emails during the holiday season where you constantly highlight the target people need to reach to get this exclusive offer, followed by product recommendations that they can consider buying to hit this target spending amount.

Another approach would be to run a lottery for a grand prize. For example, you could email people stating that if they spend $200 and above, they will be entered into the lottery. In the last week of the holiday discount campaign, you will choose one lucky winner who will get, let’s say, a home theater system.

If you can combine your promotional copies and design for both the holidays and the reward contest, it will help excite more buyers to place orders that they probably were not thinking of earlier.

11. Holiday Mystery Box Campaigns

Mystery boxes are very trendy during special occasions and the holidays. If possible, you should try to arrange exciting mystery boxes during the holiday season because it’s a great way to convey your regards to your buyers and excite them about the occasion.

You can craft a holiday email where you announce that you will be launching mystery boxes in about a week. And then list down a set of products that may be included in the mystery boxes. Also, mention the prices these mystery boxes will be available at so that people can decide if this is worth it.

Send a second email in about 3 days to get them more curious by reminding them of the date when these mystery boxes will be available. Then, send an email 24 hours prior to the launch, and finally the launch email.

If you have desirable products listed to be found in mystery boxes, then many will be eager to get your mystery boxes. In most cases, mystery boxes tend to get sold out really quickly as people love the excitement of it.

Christmas, Halloween, New Year, etc. are great occasions to sell mystery boxes.

12. Promotional Email Automation

This is the most common holiday email marketing campaign that almost any e-commerce store runs. Basically, you plan a series of 3-5 emails to promote the special offer you have in your store during the holidays.

For example, suppose you are running a sitewide 30% off during the holidays. So you could plan an initial email when the offer is live, then follow up with a couple of emails at 3-day intervals to request them to start shopping with this discount.

In these emails, include a section to recommend your best-selling products. And then, plan a couple of last-call emails to add a touch of FOMO 24 hours & 1 hour before the deal ends.

Discuss the email automation where you send a launch email, reminder emails, and last-call emails about the discount. Here’s an example of a holiday promotional email:

Tips to Get The Maximum Results from Your Holiday Email Campaigns

You have just learned 12 email campaign ideas to boost your holiday sales. But, you still need to consider a few things to ensure you get more profit from your campaigns.

1. Plan your holiday sales campaigns early

Do not wait till the last moment to start planning your holiday campaigns. Take time at least one month before the occasion and set up all the necessary steps for the campaign.

You need to collect the tools you may need, plan out the stocks you want to maintain, decide on the discount or offer you want to make, and map out how you will execute your campaigns.

For example, if you are to use some of these 12 strategies, then you should get an email marketing tool such as Mail Mint.

2. Use holiday-themed email templates

While it is not mandatory, if you are planning to send promotional emails, then you should prepare a few holiday-themed email templates to make it more exciting for buyers.

For example, when launching the Christmas offer, you would want an email template that has the Christmas theme in terms of color, images, and overall design.

3. Craft exciting email subject lines & copies

Your email subject lines and copies should always convey excitement. Use terms such as “Exciting,” “Amazing,” “Beautiful,” etc to describe your products or offers, and use emojis where applicable.

The reader should feel your excitement with the offer on your holiday email.

4. Create a separate landing page for the holiday campaign

Create a dedicated landing page for your holiday campaigns which significantly can enhance the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

A well-designed landing page serves as the focal point where all your campaign traffic is directed, ensuring a streamlined and focused user experience.

For building these pages, consider using WPFunnels, the leading tool on WordPress for crafting targeted landing pages.

With this tool, you can easily design pages that match your campaign’s theme and optimize conversions, helping you maximize the impact of your holiday email marketing.

5. Use a reliable email marketing tool where possible

You must use an email marketing tool that has all the features you need to set up your holiday email campaigns.

We recommend you try using Mail Mint, which is currently the easiest email marketing automation tool in WordPress.

6. Be ready with available stock

You have to realize that when you run these promotional campaigns, you need to have enough products in stock.

Stay connected with your manufacturer so that you can always re-stock should the situation arise when your products are all sold out.

Since the holiday season is a great chance to increase your sales, you don’t want to stay limited to your usual stock.

Run a Successful Holiday Email Marketing Campaign with Mail Mint

For marketers looking to boost their holiday sales through effective email marketing, Mail Mint offers a suite of features designed to enhance your campaign efforts.

Here’s how you can use Mail Mint to create tailored holiday email marketing campaigns:

• Pre-designed Holiday Templates: Mail Mint provides a range of holiday-themed templates that you can customize to fit your brand and message.

• Segmentation Tools: You can target the right audience with Mail Mint’s advanced segmentation tools and segment your email lists based on customer behavior, purchase history, or demographic data to deliver more personalized and relevant holiday messages.

• Automated Email Campaigns: You can set up automated email sequences to ensure timely communication with your customers throughout the holiday season.

• A/B Testing: Mail Mint’s A/B testing capabilities let you optimize your emails for higher engagement. You can test different subject lines, email content, or call to action to find what resonates best with your audience during the holiday season.

• Analytics and Reporting: You can gain insights into how your holiday email campaigns are performing with Mail Mint’s comprehensive analytics tools. This tool lets you track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to measure your ROI and refine your strategies.

• Easy Integration: Mail Mint easily integrates with your existing e-commerce platform, allowing you to sync customer data and use it to create more personalized and effective email marketing campaigns.

Using these features from Mail Mint, marketers can effectively plan, execute, and manage their holiday email marketing campaigns, leading to better engagement and increased sales during the festive season.

Conclusion

As the holiday season approaches, it’s essential to start planning your strategies to maximize sales. Email marketing stands out as a strong tool that can help you engage with customers, drive urgency, and ultimately boost your revenue.

Whether you’re just beginning to prepare or looking to enhance your existing plans, these ideas will provide the perfect inspiration for your holiday email campaigns.

To ensure your holiday email campaigns are as effective as possible, consider using Mail Mint. This tool can help you achieve outstanding results by allowing you to create and automate personalized email sequences, track performance, and optimize your strategy in real time.

With Mail Mint, you can sell fast and efficiently, making it the perfect solution to maximize your sales during the holiday season.

** FAQs **

How do I announce holiday hours in an email?

• To announce holiday hours in an email, clearly state the dates and times your business will be closed. You can use a friendly yet straightforward tone, and consider using free holiday email templates to simplify your message.

What should I include in a holiday closure email?

• Include the holiday name, closure dates, and any important details like order deadlines or alternative contact options. A festive campaign approach can add warmth to your message.

How can I make my holiday email more personal?

• Personalize your holiday email by using a conversational tone, addressing recipients by name if possible, and sharing your appreciation for their support. This can be a great way to inspire future engagement in your holiday email campaigns.

Is it necessary to send a holiday email to clients?

• Yes, sending a holiday email helps maintain communication and keeps clients informed about your availability. It also provides a chance to reinforce your holiday marketing strategy and potentially share some good ideas.

When is the best time to send a holiday email?

• The best time to send a holiday email is one to two weeks before the holiday. It gives your recipients enough time to prepare. This timing can be crucial in executing an effective holiday email marketing strategy and ensuring your holiday email marketing examples reach their full potential.