7 Effective Email Marketing Campaign Ideas for Christmas (2020)

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, not only for consumers but also for businesses who try to reach as many potential shoppers as possible with multi-channel marketing.

Marketers themselves are eagerly waiting for the festive season to arrive and they’re ready to use their best marketing tactics to that end.

One of the best ways for brands to reach and engage their target audience is through email marketing.

To get the most out of this holiday season, it is wise to have a robust email marketing service by your side. Such platforms are capable of providing modern automations, landing page builders, and much more, allowing you to catch your audience’s attention through personalized messaging and ultimately boost your conversion rates.

Now, let’s get inspired! In this guide, you’ll find 7 essential email campaign ideas to skyrocket your Christmas email marketing to new levels.

1. Plan an early Christmas sale

This is one of the greatest ideas to leverage and this is why it holds the first position in this guide. The reason is that with pre-Christmas or early Christmas sales, businesses are able to get into customers’ wallets way before the holiday shopping spree even begins.

Not only do you prepare the ground for purchases, but you also incentivize your audience to make their purchases early, benefitting from the early discounts and deals.

Take a look at an early Christmas sale that Lenovo launched last year.

It is obvious straight from the subject line that the benefit here is double. The customer both takes advantage of a great holiday deal and completes his Christmas shopping without the stress of the last days.

As you know, a large portion of customers prefers to shop in time to avoid the hustle and bustle. Especially this year, with the pandemic still raging, it is safe to assume that purchasing early reduces the risk of not getting your items in time or stocks ending.

Add urgency to the mix, with a countdown timer like the example above, and you have created the extra push that the majority of customers need in order to act.

So, be sure to launch some deals early and make it urgent!

2. Send a Christmas gift guide

Next in line in the pre-Christmas emails category are gift guides. As we all know, people love exchanging gifts so there is no reason why you shouldn’t offer them just that.

What’s more, finding the perfect gift can be a challenging and time-consuming task, and people do take their time in deciding. This gives brands an excellent opportunity to curate their best-sellers and top-rated products and feature them as gifts for the Christmas season.

Creating a holiday gift guide allows you to gently push your customers to the next step in the sales process.

The more comprehensive and simplified the gift guide is, the more chances it has for success. The goal here is to do the “heavy-lifting” and find the perfect gift each customer would search for, either it is for a friend, a colleague, the better half, etc.

Death Wish Coffee Co. has created a unique campaign here.

They run a highly-targeted campaign featuring an ultra-rare product, which serves as a bold statement of their own brand. The gift guide is also not random, and it targets different customer segments of their target audience.

This will surely help them gather useful user-generated content that can later be used to fuel their social media campaigns.

The takeaway: Segmenting your target audience to cater to their specific needs and desires as well as personalizing your messaging is key when creating a gift guide. Your guide should also be easy to navigate.

3. Run a discount marathon

To be successful in your Christmas email marketing efforts, you need to get your subscribers into a festive atmosphere with your emails.

Therefore, you can create Christmas drip campaigns to keep your subscribers excited and maximize their anticipation for the next offer.

Your campaign can take the form of a “discount marathon” like the one below by Leesa.

For 12 full days, the company sends a different email, each one having a unique discount code, limited-time sale, or freebie. This keeps subscribers in “full engagement” mode.

They also incorporate the element of urgency in their emails, which is evident by their 24-hour duration (“today only”) and smart CTA (“shop, shop, shop!”).

The takeaway: Engage your subscribers with long-lasting campaigns and leverage FOMO to increase your Christmas sales!

4. Promote seasonal products

Inject your campaigns with holiday-relevant products that people are actively looking for during the holiday season.

Try to provide one or two specific choices instead of a plethora as this will slow down the decision-making process of customers.

There are numerous products typically associated with the Christmas holidays and rank first among popular Christmas gifts. These include candles, mugs, cozy blankets, and ornaments to name but a few.

The example below by Wendell August Forge summarizes all of the above.

From the subject line to the visuals and the email copy, everything is carefully crafted. This is the “perfect” item and the small, on-point copy helps customers understand why they need it. Check out this resource on how to write copy that boosts conversions.

If your company doesn’t sell any seasonal products, focus on “touching up” your emails with Christmas colors (red, green, white).

In a nutshell, Christmas-associated products are an easy win for the festive season.

5. Use Christmas subject lines

People receive tons of promotional emails during the holiday season. So, how are you going to cut through the noise and be noticed as a brand? Well, by customizing your email subject lines and adjusting them to the Christmas season.

As you can tell, a huge part of your emails’ success rests on them being opened. This is why your subject lines need to either invoke curiosity or be unique in their own way!

You can achieve that by adding emojis to your subject lines. They are proven to attract the reader’s attention and boost email open rates.

In the above example by Timberland, their subject line is simple yet playful and unique, due to the appropriate use of emojis. This will surely stand out in people’s inboxes.

What’s important here is that you use your imagination and express your feelings freely. After all, the Christmas season is all about spreading the Christmas spirit and customers expect that from brands they follow.

The takeaway: Use your creativity along with power words (“hot deal”, “12 Days of Christmas”, etc.) to grab the readers’ attention and ensure high open rates. Consider adding emojis for an extra splash of festiveness.

6. Specify the delivery date

People buy presents to make their loved ones happy on a special day. Therefore, it is vital that the items they order are delivered by this certain date.

As we all know, post offices and delivery services are extra busy this time of the year, and with the pandemic still raging deliveries can take longer than expected. You certainly don’t want to disappoint your customers with gifts arriving late.

MVMT’s email is an excellent example of what we’re talking about. Their marketing team has made a great job in letting their customers know how soon they need to order to get their gifts in time.

The email not only contains a funny gif that grabs attention, but it also features a calendar illustrating the exact dates customers need to order their gifts for Christmas.

This is a unique email since usually brands prefer to use timers, which are also great in urging customers to purchase in time.

The takeaway: Use a countdown timer or explicitly let your customers know by when they need to purchase for their gifts to arrive in time.

7. Design a Christmas card

Christmas time is a great opportunity for brands to thank their customers for being with them all this time. We all know that without customers a brand cannot exist.

Grab the chance to say thank you to your subscribers and show your appreciation for their loyalty through the years.

It’s a good idea to emphasize that you don’t see them only as customers but as a part of the “family”.

Looking at this email from Razer, you’ll see they’ve employed colorful and festive visuals to make their email fun to engage with. They’ve also included a coupon code as an appreciation gift to their loyal customers.

This is exactly what makes a brand look good in the eyes of the customers, while such actions also allow the company to show its “human” side.

The takeaway: Be sure to thank your customers for all the years they’ve been with you. Add a gift in the form of a coupon or code. This strengthens the relationship with your customers and humanizes your brand.

Final thoughts

The Christmas season is all about the festivities and fun, but it is also a very profitable time for every business. Start planning in advance and use the right ideas to boost engagement from your customers and improve your sales.

All you need to do is employ creativity, be original, and stay true to your brand’s core values. Get inspired by the above Christmas email marketing campaign ideas and start spreading the Christmas spirit!

Author bio

John Desyllas works as a Content Writer for email marketing automation software Moosend. He is very passionate about Digital Marketing and Business Translation. You can connect with him on LinkedIn

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