Happy After Halloween: Let the Holiday Email Begin!

What can you do to make your holiday email marketing programs stand out from the crowd and really sparkle this season?

Trick-or-treat bags have been filled, children’s stomach aches have passed, the tee-peeing is all wrapped up (though the cleanup may still be underway), and pumpkins have been smashed – which means it is now officially the holiday season. For me as a mother, this means that I have months of, “How many days until Christmas mom?” coming from my kids (and given we celebrate Serbian Orthodox Christmas, which isn’t until January 7…I really have a long time to weather that question). However, as a marketer, it means being in the throws of peak busy season.

As we pack up the plastic spiders and throw out the Bit-O-Honey candy that inevitably sits in the bottom of candy dishes across the country – the question becomes, “Are we ready for the holiday season?”

I am sure that many of you have your programs planned and creative may even be in development (or for some of you, even complete), but here are some fun things to consider as you are building out your holiday email messaging plans…inspired by a blog post on Real Simple 5-Minute Holiday Decorating Ideas.

1. Email of Holidays (and Years) Past

Dress up your email communications with reminders of some of the fun throwback stuff you may have done that was “so 1999.” Just like football teams use throwback uniforms – you can feature some throwback templates. Make a program out of it – “12 days of our last 12 years of email.” Not only will it help your customer base appreciate your evolution over the years, but it also gets them more engaged with the brand and can create a sense of wonder of what might be coming next.

2. Frosty, the Snow Can

Bring some seasonal interaction to your email communications this year. You may want to vary this treatment based on regional location of your subscriber base – but you can certainly have some fun with this. Let it snow with animation, or feature a fire dancing in the fireplace, or for those in the warmer regions, palm trees with dancing lights. The opportunities are endless and can create some fun interest in your email content. Clearly it needs to be relative to what you are talking about – but let your creative mind wander off to those dancing sugar plums in your head…and bring it to life this year!

3. Bundles of Joy

Your holiday email program does not have to be a part of your everyday email program – it doesn’t even have to be a single program for the entire holiday season. Chunk your email communications up in to little bundles of joy, topically driven, that will create a sense of intrigue for your subscribers. For example, prior to thanksgiving you can take a trip “over the river and through the woods” with each email message you send – until you reach Grandma’s house for dinner, or feature 12 days of holiday deals, or any topic you like that may resonate with your customer base.

Get creative with your email programs this holiday season. Your subscribers are likely going to be getting a lot of “free shipping,” “BOGO,” and “free gift card” deals this year. What can you do to stand out from the crowd? Will you be delivering your customers the obligatory fruit cake this year or is your email going to sparkle?

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