What’s not to love about Christmas? It’s a time for gathering with loved ones, feasting on delicious food, reflecting on the year that has gone by…and for brands, it’s a mega opportunity to rake in more sales as people start hunting for Christmas gifts.
This means pulling out all the stops to raise awareness of your Christmas deals and getting people to place as many orders with your store as possible. So if you’ve got an email list, start preparing a Christmas email campaign or two to engage your subscribers (and get them shopping with you)!
Keep reading as we explore seven email campaigns you can create for the upcoming Christmas season. We’ll also share how you can easily design the perfect Christmas email campaign with the help of email templates and the right email maker!
1. Feature limited-edition Christmas products
‘Tis the season to roll out special Christmas editions of items—and promote them to your email list!
After all, your exclusive Christmas products aren’t going to be around forever. To bring in the most sales for them, you’re going to have to spread the word on them far and wide.
For an example of a brand that creates limited-edition Christmas products and promotes them using email, look no further than Starbucks.
The brand sells tasty Christmas drinks every year without fail, with the Irish Cream Cold Brew being one of them. And in 2020, Starbucks sent this email to promote the drink:
In the email, Starbucks featured a large image of its holiday drink to grab attention. It then added some short, enticing copy to get subscribers drooling. Finally, the email transitioned to a straightforward call to action: “Order the Irish Cream Cold Brew”.
It’s a simple three-step formula you can swipe when designing an email to promote your own limited-edition Christmas product!
2. Compile a Christmas gift guide
As Christmas starts to roll around, shoppers will start drawing up the list of gifts they want to give to their loved ones. Some people may be easy to shop for: if your subscribers have a friend who loves chocolate, for example, then they could grab their friend a box of premium chocolates.
On the other hand, your subscribers might have a hard time deciding what to get certain family members or friends. That’s where you can lend them a hand by emailing them a Christmas gift guide.
This email helpfully shares suggestions for what your subscribers can prepare as Christmas gifts. And conveniently, most or all of your suggestions will feature your brand’s products *wink*
We like this Christmas gift guide email by Dower & Hall:
The brand’s email showcases different categories of gifts, like pearls and diamonds. It also includes sections for gifts of different price ranges, such as “Gifts under £300,” to help subscribers pick the perfect gifts without busting their budget!
3. Promote a Christmas sale
As shoppers rush to buy gifts, promoting your Christmas sale via email can give you the gift of a nice revenue boost even before Santa starts stuffing your stocking!
Here’s an example of a Christmas sale email courtesy of JoJo Maman Bébé:
The screenshot above may not show it, but the image of baubles in the email is an animated GIF that catches your eye when you open the email.
The image also tells subscribers they can save 15% by using the discount code “JOLLY15.” But if you look closely at the email’s header, you’ll see that the brand has also listed the code in text form there.
This is a good tactic to follow because some subscribers may have disabled their email client’s ability to load images. You’ll want such subscribers to know about your discount code even if they don’t view the images in your email.
Last but not least, JoJo Maman Bébé tells subscribers that the sale ends at midnight. So if they want to snag some Christmas savings, they’ll have to hurry!
4. Send a holiday shipping reminder email
A holiday shipping reminder email caters to the people scrambling to get Christmas gifts at the last minute. It lets them know the deadline for ordering from you if they want their items to arrive in time for gifting on Christmas.
By sending such an email, you create a sense of urgency that gets your subscribers placing their orders ASAP…because once the shipping window has closed, they’ll be out of luck!
Not sure what to include in a holiday shipping reminder email? You can take notes from Novica:
At the top of the email, in a bright red banner that’s hard to miss, the brand informs subscribers they have only two days left for gift shopping. The main email copy then provides the precise deadline: either Dec 21 or 22, depending on whether the items are being shipped from Central America or the United States.
To sweeten the deal, Novica also mentions that subscribers can enjoy discounts of up to 50% on express shipping rates. They just have to take action now, by clicking the bright yellow “SHOP EXPRESS GIFTS” button!
5. Create a Christmas advent calendar
Christmas advent calendars are fantastic. They contain daily activities to try as you count down to Christmas, and are a fun way of keeping your subscribers engaged over the holiday season!
Use a graphic design platform such as PosterMyWall to create your calendar, then send it to your subscribers via email. To reinforce your brand offerings, try tailoring your calendar activities according to your products or services.
For example, if you sell cookware, your calendar could share a new Christmas-related recipe every day!
That said, why stop the countdown at Christmas? If you’d like, you can create a calendar that also covers the 12 days of Christmas, or even the whole of December, and send a 12 days of Christmas email campaign or December calendar email campaign to match.
For inspiration, check out this Christmas social media calendar created by the PosterMyWall team!
6. Craft a Christmas-related educational email
Educational emails are a little different from the salesy emails that subscribers are used to receiving. Instead of trying to sell a product, their focus is on teaching the subscriber something.
By sending an educational email, you build trust with your subscribers as they start to see you as an expert in your space. And when they trust you, they’d be more likely to shop with you instead of a rival business!
Since it’s the Christmas season, you’ll want to make your educational email Christmas-related. Here is Tattly’s educational email, for example:
The brand has chosen to email subscribers a four-step tutorial for using its temporary tattoo products to create DIY Christmas ornaments. And we like Tattly’s use of images here:
- The first image in the email shows subscribers the end product to get them excited about creating their own ornaments.
- Meanwhile, the other images that accompany each step of the tutorial guide subscribers on making their ornament look perfect!
It’s only at the end of the tutorial that Tattly slides in a subtle promo of the temporary tattoo products subscribers can buy to start making their ornaments!
7. Share Christmas well-wishes
Last but not least, after the shopping frenzy has died down, take the time to send subscribers Christmas greeting cards on Christmas Day itself. Your email doesn’t need to include anything promotional: keep it simple and sincere in communicating your brand’s well-wishes for the festive season.
For a Merry Christmas email sample, take a look at Infinity Nation’s Christmas well-wishes email:
The email features an elegant Christmas-related image and a few lines of Christmas and New Year greetings. Uniquely, the brand has also chosen to add a “Get in touch” call to action button.
Adding this button helps subscribers send well-wishes to Infinity Nation in return, or just reach out to share feedback on how the brand can serve them better in the new year.
Prep your Christmas email campaigns with the PosterMyWall Email Maker
Which of these Christmas email ideas have caught your fancy? Using the PosterMyWall Email Maker, you can create your own versions of them—even if you aren’t a professional designer!
The PosterMyWall Email Maker provides a beginner-friendly platform for marketers to create a Christmas email campaign. Simply choose an email template from our wide range of Christmas email templates, and you’ll be able to customize it with your own text and images.
You may also find these articles helpful as you prep your Christmas email campaigns:
- If you’re new to email marketing: A 10-step guide to email marketing strategies for beginners
- If you need help with email marketing for a small business: 5 creative email marketing ideas that will skyrocket your small business
- If you want tips for writing superb Christmas email subject lines: 6 preview text and email subject line best practices for higher open rates
- If you’re looking to optimize your email performance: 5 must-track email marketing software metrics for marketers
Christmas is just around the corner, so don’t delay!
Senior editor at PosterMyWall.
