Building your festive email marketing campaign? From focusing on visuals to adding a cliffhanger: these tried and tested tips will help you sleigh the competition!

10 ways to give your Christmas emails the wow factor:

• Plan ahead

• Offer added value

• Spread some yuletide spirit

• Use clear messaging

• Add striking visuals

• Spruce up your subject lines

• Be mindful of mobile users

• Drum up festive sales

• Address Christmas pain points

• Encourage click-throughs with a cliffhanger

Plan ahead

Channel the work ethic of Santa’s elves, and get started early!

Planning ahead gives you the time and space to decide what’s working and what isn’t, long before your deadline rolls around.

The first draft of almost anything ends up in the rubbish bin, but early versions of your festive emails are a vital part of the process, leading you to the marketing gold you're hunting!

Your email(s) will also likely form just one part of your festive marketing strategy, so allow time for linking to other content and revising your plans.

Since the scheduling of your email is another essential part of the mix, find out when is the best time to send it for maximum impact, and ensure all content is signed-off and ready to go.

Offer added value

Festive emails can be used not only to advertise products you’re selling but to showcase your expertise and develop thought leadership.

An online retailer may provide customers with a limited edition discount code to input at the checkout, or a financial services company could share insights for the coming year; there are lots of creative ways to angle this added value.

Some fantastic examples of ‘added value’ at Christmas include:

• Special offers and discounts

• Free trials or gifts

• Insider news and insights

Your company doesn’t have to follow the blueprint for your industry. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Now is a great time for innovation and experimentation, since customers are generally in a playful mood.

There’s more than one way to make your emails conversion-friendly, and sometimes businesses that take an unexpected route can make a big impact.

This email from Greater Anglia provides tangible value while keeping things festive:

Spread some yuletide spirit

Don’t be a Grinch!

Much like Halloween, Christmas is a time to indulge in puns, wordplay and the kind of kooky references you probably spend the rest of the year avoiding. Your content during this season should project hope, possibility, and joy.

Your readers will appreciate you showing a sense of fun during a season that brings out everyone’s inner child. Building this positive connection will also make them much more likely to engage with your email.

You don’t have to go completely overboard, but adding in a few festive additions will help elevate your copy and show you’re fully embracing the cosy quaintness of Christmas.

Use clear messaging

Before you start writing, make sure you know why you’re sending your email.

Email marketing can be one of the best tools for building brand recognition, advertising special offers, and, in the case of festive emails, showing off your brand’s playful side.

But Christmas email marketing is also just like marketing at any other time of year – and if you don’t have a clear purpose, then your message will fall on deaf ears.

Stay on the (snow)ball: get clear about your marketing goal.

Are you aiming to:

• Grow brand recognition?

• Encourage seasonal sales?

• Connect with existing customers?

Knowing the answer will help shape the content - and even the format - of your email(s).

Add striking visuals

Some imagery simply screams ‘Christmas’ – embrace it! There are also plenty of ways to add them into the mix without going off-brand.

Look for seasonal hues and visual cues that you can slot into your existing branding, giving it a unique spin that is both unmistakably festive, and unmistakably you.

Take a leaf out of New Look’s book by examining a mailshot they sent out for Christmas 2021:

Christmas messaging? Check. Festive visuals? Check. Building anticipation? Check. The combination can be powerfully evocative of all the things people love about this season.

New Look also cleverly links its Christmas 2021 email to a charitable cause (Christmas Jumper Day), giving them an opportunity to both show their social conscience and sell some of their own Christmas jumpers.

A win-win for the charity, the company and its customers!

Spruce up your subject lines

Getting noticed during the festive season can feel a bit daunting. 

Even the most patient potential customer could start to lose interest if your opening line doesn’t reel them in.

Research suggests marketing attention spans are slowly increasing, but you’re competing with hundreds of other companies vying for the attention of your target audience, so make your subject line count! 

There are a few key ways to do this: 

• Stay on-brand

• Add emojis for visual impact

• Ask a question or make a bold statement

• Tie-in to Christmas nostalgia with a festive quote

• Inspire a sense of urgency

• Keep it brief (under ten words is optimal)

Celebrity skill-sharing platform Masterclass used many of these elements in its 2021 Christmas emails, using the subject line: 

“Last chance for a last-minute gift, delivered instantly”

On clicking, signups to the mailing list were then treated to an image of many of the high-profile teachers they could soon be learning from, with the added statement that the subscriber is now ‘on the list’. 

The combination of the subject line, email body copy, and imagery suggest a sense of exclusivity that matches the brand ethos, encouraging customers to join this elite group of experts.

Masterclass didn’t use any overt Christmas visuals to achieve this, sticking to its own distinctive branding. But it also stays on festive message by linking to nostalgic ideas about Christmas lists and gift-giving. 

Be mindful of mobile users

Eight out of ten web users regularly browse on a mobile device, and 55% of emails are opened while customers are on the move. 

That’s lots of custom you could be missing if your emails aren’t optimised for mobile! 

Be sure to:

• Add clear CTA buttons

• Use a mobile-responsive template

• Include plenty of white space

Many of the principles that make your emails easier to read for mobile users also make life easier for customers in search of a more accessible internet.

Drum up festive sales

For many sectors, Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year. 

Sales, special offers, and selections of your favourite products are all great content for your Christmas emails. But to create emails that convert, avoid being too pushy or sales-y:

• Capture your latest products with a festive photoshoot or video shoot, so customers can see them in a Christmas setting

• Create an email gift guide to share insider knowledge and encourage purchases

• Tie your offers to your favourite social cause or charity and shout it from the rooftops

Remember to add real value and show your caring side during the season of giving. 

Address Christmas pain points

Christmas is a time of joy and togetherness. But for some people, it’s also a time of loneliness and frustration.

Long queues looking for the right gift, spending time in close quarters with family members, the pressure for everything to be picture-perfect...it can all take its toll on your customers.

Positioning your company as the solution to some of these concerns – or at least showing you understand – is a great way to boost your relatability and ultimately increase your email conversion rate.

Encourage click-throughs with a cliffhanger

Don’t wrap up your festive email in a neat little bow – add some suspense!

Draw people in and keep them hooked with a clever Christmas cliffhanger. The goal is to get your reader to not only open your email but to keep engaging with your content.

Maybe you’d like them to take advantage of your special offer, or read your whitepaper, or sign-up for your next event?

Highlight a few of the benefits without giving the game away, and make sure they know where to go to find out more…then lead your customer to a landing page with an unmissable call to action.

Ready to break the ice?

Contact Sookio to craft a Christmas campaign that converts!