Unwrap A Successful Holiday Email Campaign

It's time to gear up for the most lucrative period of the year for business. The festive season is fast upon us and when it comes to your email marketing strategy, the question isn't just about participating in the holiday rush but standing out in inboxes overflowing with festive offers.

Creating a successful holiday email campaign involves strategic planning, creative execution, and post-campaign management. Here's our guide for navigating each phase of the season and ensuring your holiday emails don’t just capture attention but drive conversions.

1. Holiday Email Planning

• Start Early: Begin planning your holiday email campaigns well in advance. You need ample time to create content, design templates, and strategize the campaign rollout.

• Know Your Audience: Use customer data to understand their preferences and tailor your messages accordingly. Segmentation is key to targeted and effective communication. Klaviyo applies in-depth analysis and machine learning techniques to all of your customers’ behaviours to unlock the full potential of your data. 

2. Templates and Holiday Email Examples

Use Eye-Catching Templates: Opt for festive, visually appealing templates that resonate with the holiday spirit. We’ve integrated seasonal CTAs and heroes into our clients’ past holiday campaigns and seen direct growth in engagement as a result.

Showcase Examples: Provide real-world examples or case studies of successful holiday emails to inspire your team and adapt strategies that work.

3. Testing and Optimisation

• A/B Testing: Test different elements like subject lines, email layouts, and call-to-action buttons to see what works best with your audience.

• Analyse and Iterate: Regularly review campaign performance and make adjustments as needed to optimise for better engagement and conversions.

Reviewing A/B test data will help your business refine its email marketing strategy, deliver more effective emails, and achieve better results in terms of engagement, conversion, and overall email performance.

4. Revamp Your Subject Lines

• Create Intrigue: Use subject lines that are catchy and create curiosity.

• Holiday Themes: Incorporate holiday-themed emojis or puns to make your emails stand out.

A touch of humour never goes amiss during the holiday season. You’d be surprised at how far a little ‘elf’ pun can go.

‘Yule’ be sorry to miss this opportunity.

5. Best Practices for Holiday Email Blasts

• Timing is everything: Choose the right time to send out emails. Consider time zones and peak hours for your target audience.

• Keep it Concise and Clear: Your message should be straightforward, with a clear call to action. Avoid cluttering your emails with too much information.

• Storytelling: Use storytelling to connect with your audience on a more personal level.

• Transparency is Paramount: Shoppers always want to know about cut-off dates, whether it’s for festive discounts or delivery deadlines. Countdowns and small print aren’t just good for creating urgency. Avoid your customers being disappointed and bolster a positive brand image. 

Now is the perfect time to promote gift cards, giveaways,

GWP (gifts with purchase), and festive gift wrapping to push slow stock and drive engagement that little bit extra. Gift cards resonate especially well with late-Christmas shoppers.

6. Personalisation

Segment Your Audience: Categorise your email list based on customer behaviour, purchase history, or demographics.

Personalise Your Messages: Tailor your emails to reflect individual preferences, making sure every customer feels valued and understood.

7. Implementing Holiday-Themed Automated Flows

Initiate Abandoned Cart flows: Implement automated emails for abandoned shopping carts. These recover potential sales lost during the holiday rush.

Seasonal Welcome Messages: Engage new subscribers with a holiday-themed welcome email. Offer them exclusive discounts or festive greetings to make a memorable first impression.

As a Klaviyo Master Gold Partner Agency, we can help with this by applying in-depth data science to your account. Predicted next purchase dates, total amount of future spending, and customer lifetime value calculations help run the most targeted flows for your audience.

8. Driving Engagement

Interactive Content: Include polls, surveys, or interactive graphics to increase engagement.

Community Building: Use your campaigns to build a sense of community among your customers, encouraging them to connect not just with your brand but also with each other.

9. Utilising Marketing Channels

Integrate Channels: Combine email with social media, blogs, and other channels for a cohesive marketing strategy.

Leverage Social Media: Use social media platforms to tease your email content, encouraging more sign-ups.

10. Managing Post-Holiday Churn

Follow-Up Campaigns: Plan follow-up campaigns to keep the momentum going. Offer post-holiday deals or exclusive content to retain customer interest.

Feedback Surveys: Send out surveys to gather feedback about your holiday campaign, products, and services. This helps in understanding what worked and what didn’t.

Bonus Tip: Example Holiday Campaign Ideas

VIPs Campaign 

The holidays are a great time to implement a VIP segment, targeted at highly active customers who spend a lot of money at your store, on a regular basis. 

Thank them for their loyalty over the past year and let them know that their buying behaviours don’t go unnoticed. You could offer incentives like a gift with purchase or discount code for their next order. This encourages future purchases and strengthens your customer relationships. 

Gift Guides

Compiling similarly priced products to suit different budgets, profiling shoppers depending on their buying styles (“for the wanderlust”, “for the super mum”) or pushing bestsellers/most-loved items of the year for a Christmas wishlist are all great ways to show how well you know your audience while driving conversions. 

12 Days of Deals

Jump on the 12 Days of Christmas concept with 12 days of deals, each valid for a limited time only. Play on urgency and generate a feeling of exclusivity while reeling customers back in day after day. 

Final Thoughts

Remember, the key to a successful holiday email strategy is to connect with your audience in a meaningful way while staying true to your brand's voice. If you need more help ensuring your holiday emails get noticed and drive tangible results for your business, book a call with a member of our expert team.

As a Klaviyo Silver Partner Email Marketing Agency, we know a thing or two about adapting your campaign approach to bring the best possible results, whatever the season.