Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Top 5 This Week

Related Posts

2024 Guide to Holiday Email Marketing: Strategy, Examples, Tips


 

Email distribution

How will your emails reach the right audience? Your holiday email marketing strategy can leverage a few key pieces:

  1. IP warm-up. If you’re anticipating a spike in email volume due to promotions, consider warming up your IP or domain. This involves gradually increasing the number of emails sent from your IP address or domain over time to ensure smooth delivery during the rollout of your holiday email campaigns.
  2. Promote it on social. If you’re offering exclusive content (like a special gift guide) or big sale, use social media to draw in new subscribers. Post about it to bring awareness to your holiday campaigns and incentivize sign-ups by offering early access or a discount, e.g. “be the first to know” or offer a special welcome discount.
  3. Segmentation. Tailor your email sends based on engagement levels. For example, use email personalization tactics like email scratch-offs or compelling holiday subject lines to boost open rates. Don’t forget to include segments that have specifically opted-in to receive holiday emails (e.g. via your preference center) and exclude those who have opted-out.

Clear timelines

The key for a stress-free holiday season is preparation! Create a timeline that includes key milestones, from content creation to design to final send. This will help you and your team avoid last-minute stresses and stay on track during this busy season.

When should you send holiday marketing emails? ​​You don’t want your emails to get lost in inbox clutter, but you also don’t want to miss the moment when your subscriber is ready to engage. That’s why identifying the best time of day to send emails is such a popular topic in email marketing.

Last we checked with Litmus Email Analytics, the morning—specifically between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.—is consistently the prime time for email activity across six different regions, regardless of time zone, based on our analysis from August 2021 to August 2022.

Source: Trends in Email Engagement

However, when we focused on email open patterns from 2.5 billion email opens between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day 2021, we found that evenings were actually more effective. Specifically, 7 p.m. emerged as the peak time, accounting for an average of 9.45% of email opens.

Most popular email open times, measured by United States email opens (November 26, 2020 – January 1, 2021) with Litmus Email Analytics
Most popular email open times, measured by United States email opens (November 26, 2020 – January 1, 2021) with Litmus Email Analytics

What does this mean for you? The answer to “when should you send an email”  isn’t one-size-fits-all. Consider the following:

  • Before your campaign launch, dive into any historical data you have on your audience pertaining to send time, usually available within your email service provider (ESP).
  • Set a baseline for audience engagement. First, determine the most popular open times for your target audience. Use these insights to test and optimize your send times, checking if adjusting the timing improves email performance. Don’t focus solely on open rates; also monitor how different send times affect click rates and overall conversions.
  • If your audience spans multiple time zones and important markets are spread out, segmenting your list by time zone can be a highly effective strategy.
  • Factors like day of the week and when others are sending can impact how crowded inboxes are when you send. Experiment with the best times before your big send (perhaps you might consider a Saturday send!).

🔥 LitTip: for more thorough insights like read rates and top email clients among your subscribers, use a third-party tool like Litmus Email Analytics to help inform your send time.

Your holiday email timeline

Planning is the gift that keeps on giving. Here’s a timeline to keep you on track:

September:

  • Finalize your overall strategy
  • Start warming up your IP
  • Begin designing templates

October:

  • Launch list-building campaigns on social media
  • Start teasing holiday content to your most engaged subscribers

Early November:

  • Send your first holiday-themed newsletter
  • Launch early bird promotions

Mid-November to December:

  • Ramp up promotional emails
  • Implement your main holiday campaigns
  • Monitor and adjust based on performance

Late December:

  • Transition to post-holiday sales and New Year messaging

Remember: flexibility is key. Be ready to pivot based on performance data and emerging trends.

Examples of successful holiday email marketing campaigns

A single well-crafted holiday email can create a snowball effect—leading to increases in revenue, brand loyalty, and long-term customer relationships.

Take for example Kate Spade’s holiday email marketing strategy, from a recent Black Friday email:

Source: Guide to Live Polls and Social Proof

The email was executed as a two-part send:

  • The initial send: Kate Spade sent an email with a Litmus Personalize Live Poll paired with a progress bar, made up of spades to align with their branding. Every click registered as a vote (aka, invaluable first-party data). Each time a subscriber opened an email, they were guaranteed real-time results, as live poll results were updated with the latest results from subscribers casting their votes.
  • The follow-up send: 24 hours later, Kate Spade sent a follow-up email, segmenting based on the subscribers who voted, based on their click category. Each recipient received an email with in-stock products based on their vote. Those who didn’t vote received an email containing best-selling items.

The results? As the marketing team at Kate Spade puts it, “This was a great strategy that really worked!” They saw:

  • 84% increase in click-through rates (CTR)
  • 12% increase in overall CTR
  • 47% increase in revenue
  • 140% growth in users year-over-year

Not too shabby, right?

“We increased CTR using the poll in email one and then had a bigger pool of engaged people to send a targeted, click-based follow up to. This was a great strategy that really worked!”

—Performance Marketing Manager, Kate Spade

Another route is to promote a list of limited-time gift ideas and special offers with a gift guide, like Urban Decay did for their Cyber Weekend deal. They featured a personalized image as the hero for a personal touch and included a live poll to gather social proof—just one of several dynamic email content examples you can try for your holiday campaigns.

Black Friday email marketing example from Kate SpadeBlack Friday email marketing example from Kate Spade
Source: Email Gallery

Another route is to promote a list of limited-time gift ideas and special offers with a gift guide, like Urban Decay did for their Cyber Weekend deal. They featured a personalized image as the hero for a personal touch and included a live poll to gather social proof—just one of several dynamic email content examples you can try for your holiday campaigns.

Holiday email marketing exampleHoliday email marketing example
Source: Email Gallery

In another email, Urban Decay uses content automation to display imagery of and three recommended products.

holiday email marketing exampleholiday email marketing example
Source: Email Gallery

With Litmus Personalize Quick-Start Templates, no coding experience is required to add personalized email elements like live polls, countdown timers, Scratch-Offs, Interest Signals, and Instagram Feeds. All it takes is a few clicks!

Litmus Personalize Quick-Start TemplatesLitmus Personalize Quick-Start Templates
Litmus Personalize Quick-Start Templates

Want more holiday email marketing examples and tactics to apply to your campaigns this year? Check out our Holiday Email Marketing Guide. →

Best practices for holiday email marketing

Make the most out of this busy season with best practices to include in your holiday email marketing strategy:

Email personalization

Personalization can go a long way—especially in a crowded inbox. We’re talking 333 billion emails sent daily in 2022. That number is expected to rise to 392.5 billion by 2026.

Let’s break it down:

Personalization works—that goes without saying. However it’s important to recognize that not all email personalization is created equal. Our latest research found that most marketers rely on basic personalization capabilities within their ESPs—like merge tags for text-based personalization (e.g. subscriber name, company, birthday). But with so many emails starting with a first name, is that really enough to make an impact?

Ensure your emails are connecting with your audience on a 1:1 level, and if possible, go beyond the basic text-based personalization that subscribers are accustomed to seeing, like “Hello, %%first_name%%.” 

Today’s personalization is smarter, slicker—and dare we say, more fun.

This could look like:

  • Interactive elements. Think digital scratch-offs revealing holiday deals. It’s like an advent calendar, but way cooler (and less waxy chocolate).
  • Countdown timers. Nothing says “buy now” like a ticking clock. Use these for sale deadlines or shipping cut-offs. 
  • Live polls. Ask subscribers what they want for Christmas. They feel heard, you get data. Win-win.
  • Add-to-calendar. Make sure your holiday sale doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. One click, and it’s on their calendar. Easy peasy.
  • Rule-based images. Show the chocolate lovers a chocolate cake and the vanilla lowers a vanilla cake. It’s like mind-reading (thanks to zero- and first-party data), but legal.
  • Interest Signals. “257 people bought this in the last hour!” Peer pressure works, folks.
  • Real-time data feeds. Keep it fresh with auto-updating content. Because nobody wants last year’s leftovers.
  • Personalized images. Instead of “Hello, %%first_name%%,” add their first name to an image to stand out from the masses.

Now, here’s where the magic happens: mix and match these features like you’re crafting the perfect holiday cocktail. Start with a base of solid segmentation, add a splash of behavioral triggers, and garnish with dynamic content. Always be testing and tweaking—what delights one group might fall flat with another.

The good news for email marketers is those who embrace real-time personalization are much more likely to create experiences that truly cut through the noise.

What does that look like in practice? Here are holiday email marketing examples for email inspiration this season.

First up: a Cyber Monday email from Hunter, featuring a countdown timer in the header to drive urgency.

Source: Email Gallery

Kate Spade kicks off a Black Friday email campaign with an announcement email, featuring an Interest Signal for social proof, “9,263 people are shopping Black Friday RN!”

Kate Spade holiday email exampleKate Spade holiday email example
Source: Email Gallery

Mobiles.co.uk uses a personalized image with a live poll to tease an upcoming Black Friday email campaign, asking subscribers to “Vote for the type of deals you would like to see.” Each vote counts as valuable first-party data, providing subscriber insights and feedback about their products.

holiday email example from Mobiles.co.ukholiday email example from Mobiles.co.uk
Source: Email Gallery

Studio kicked off the holiday season with a personalized image (“JORDAN” in the hero image) paired with the numbers of days left until Christmas in the form of a a countdown timer (an effective tactic that can yield results like a 32.5% engagement rate!).

Each time a subscriber opens, the timer updates with the appropriate number of days left.

Holiday email example from StudioHoliday email example from Studio
Source: Holiday Email Marketing Guide

Mamas & Papas puts their Black Friday sale front and center as the primary message, followed by nearest store locations, which displays relevant store locations based on the subscriber’s location at the time of open.

holiday email marketing example
Source: Holiday Email Marketing Guide

🔥 LitTip: visit our Holiday Email Marketing Guide for more ideas and inspiration!

This holiday season, don’t just send emails—create experiences. Make your subscribers feel like VIPs at the world’s best holiday party. Because when you nail personalization, you’re building relationships that last.

A/B testing

A/B testing should be done prior to holiday email marketing campaign planning, to set a reliable baseline for your holiday email marketing strategy. “This will ensure you’ve got the best versions of your emails going out during the holiday season—and ensures you’re not potentially missing 50% of your revenue with an A/B test where one version performs much worse than the other!” says Jaina Mistry

There is one caveat to keep in mind: consumer behavior during peak holiday season will vary wildly compared to any other time of the year. “Consumers are looking for deals—not just for themselves, but for others for gifting. So while you may A/B test your way to awesome emails during the holiday season, the way consumers behave may not match how they usually behave.”

Beyond the usual tests like subject line and sender name, you might consider:

“We conducted a series of A/B tests featuring Live Polls, and the outcomes were remarkably consistent—the live poll always outperformed! Because of the consistent performance of Live Polls, we have been able to roll out the Diamond Cut Showdown across the entire email list and gain valuable information about our subscribers’ preferences.”

Lauren Jean, Email Specialist and Owner of ByLaurenJean

Email marketing automation

Triggered holiday emails might just be your secret weapon this season! It’s the perfect time to leverage email marketing automation for more effective campaigns. Take inventory of your current “on” campaigns and identify the opportunities that make the most sense for your email program. This might look like:

Abandoned cart emails

With faster purchase decisions during the holidays, time your abandoned cart emails just after the typical return period for cart abandoners.

How long does it take for the majority of cart abandoners to return to their cart on their own (without prompting)? However long that is for you, send your cart abandonment email a little after that time, so you’re nudging buyers along but not interrupting their normal buying behavior.

Browse abandonment emails

If you have access to data about website visitors, make it an integrated experience by setting up a triggered browse abandonment email. This could look like someone who spent time on a product page but failed to add anything to their cart.

email example from Milledemail example from Milled
Source: Milled

Inventory alerts

Inventory might move quickly, use back-in-stock trigger emails to notify subscribers who abandoned a page with an out-of-stock product, or signed up to receive an alert once they were back, like the example from Williams Sonoma:

Williams Sonoma holiday back in stock emailWilliams Sonoma holiday back in stock email
Source: Milled

Welcome emails

These are some of the first emails a subscriber receives from your brand, so swapping seasonal imagery and copy can add the perfect holiday. You might also consider updating your welcome email offer to reflect the promotions you’re already running—e.g. offering a bigger discount for new subscribers than you would regularly, which is perfect for shouting about on your social channels!

Essential email tactics

Regardless of the season, remember to leverage tried-and-true tactics and strategies that are effective year-round.

  • Always QA test your emails! During this competitive time in the inbox, a broken image or link can harm your brand—and conversions. Stay vigilant with email testing into your workflow to ensure your emails stay pixel-perfect (and lean on Litmus Email Guardian to keep a 24/7 watch over your emails!)
  • Avoid using misleading subject lines. Refrain from tactics that falsely suggest ongoing conversations, such as using a faux “Re:” in the email subject line when it’s the first email you’re sending. Ensure you follow through on the message you’re delivering in the subject line and preview text and avoid bait-and-switch techniques.
  • Ensure your emails are optimized for Dark Mode. Dark Mode adoption has increased steadily over the years—our latest research found an average of 35% of email opens were in Dark Mode. Don’t alienate those subscribers and leave them in the dark.
  • Keep email accessibility top of mind. Ensure everyone can receive and understand your message, regardless of any disabilities or assistive devices they may be using. (🔥LitTip: Email testing with Litmus includes accessibility checks for color vision deficiency and more!)
  • A/B test and optimize. Experiment with subject lines, preview text, CTAs, and personalization tactics to refine your email content.
  • Reward loyalty: Offer discounts and free shipping to loyal customers to encourage additional purchases.
  • Simplify purchasing: Make it easy for subscribers to buy by linking directly to your purchase page from your emails.




Discover more from Make Money Online and Work From Anywhere

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Popular Articles

Discover more from Make Money Online and Work From Anywhere

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading