Key takeaways
- Plan your Christmas campaigns in advance and focus increases in email volume only where it matters.
- Segment by engagement: email engaged contacts ~1–2 times/week and inactive contacts about once a month.
- Target prospective new clients and frequent clickers who aren’t converting with dedicated messaging.
- Use research to time limited‑time offers around when your customers typically spend most to prompt action.
- Christmas emails can be non‑salesy: gather feedback, send e‑cards, video greetings, gifts, free shipping/returns or other unique offers.
- Be festive but subtle, avoid intrusive elements (Xmas music, falling snow, cartoon reindeer), small Xmas branding and background images suffice.
Introduction
Every year, it’s always the same; as soon as Halloween creeps its way out of our lives, jingle bells ring out in the distance, getting louder every day. Santa is on his way, and once again, he is ushering in the year’s biggest selling season for all retailers. There isn’t a marketer in the world who doesn’t hold Christmas in mind in their end-of-year campaign, and you certainly should be no different. If you’re not ready to unleash your Christmas campaign on the virtual world quite yet, you should at least be preparing yourself to do so. Here are a few tips to set you on the right path.
Segment your Contacts Accordingly
A natural impulse for all marketers during the holiday season is to increase their email volume significantly across the board in order to maximize their sales. While this is the right idea, it’s important to only increase frequency where it counts, and not overdo it when unnecessary. “During the holiday season, you can increase your emailing frequency. However, instead of increasing the frequency for all emails, be smart about targeting and segmentation,” offers Līga Bizune of Mailigen. “You shouldn’t send emails to your inactive contacts at the same frequency as to your engaged contacts. Perform engagement-based segmentation and communicate with active contacts, for example, once or twice a week; for inactive contacts, segment this to once a month. Focus on prospective new clients and on those that click more often but are not converting.”
Think of Yourself as a Marketing Santa Claus
As kids, we were all looking forward to the time Santa Claus would roll around on Christmas to give us our presents. As adults, it’s our turn to put Santa’s hat on and spread the joy to others. Show your consumers that you’re in the holiday spirit by giving them a festive virtual experience. “Christmas email campaigns are not only about selling. It is also the best moment (for some marketers, the only opportunity) to think about gathering customer feedback, sending e-cards, video greetings, gifts, free shipping and returns and other unique offers that make you a real Santa in the eyes of your customers,” writes Bizune.
Use Limited Time Offers to your Advantage
Once again, research will be your friend this holiday season. Understanding that average consumers are frantic in carrying out their holiday purchases, send out strategic limited time offers for the right product at the right occasion. “At such a busy time of year when consumers are being literally bombarded with marketing messages, it’s necessary to stand out and offer your customers something a little extra to help them make that buying decision,” writes Kerry Butters of Xen. “With this in mind, research your market and find out when your customers typically spend the most money in the run up to the festive period. Then, send out a campaign with a time limited offer so that you prompt action in the user.”
Be Festive, but don’t Overdo it
No one appreciates too much of a good thing, and this includes an excessive amount of Christmas spirit. Sprinkle your contacts with tidings of holiday cheer, but be sure not to drown them in it. According to Butters: “Most of us like Xmas, but there are many people that are annoyed by it and the constant cheery messages that we’re subjected to daily. So when designing your holiday mail, do ensure that you keep the Xmas-related content relatively subtle. In other words, no Xmas music, no falling snow or reindeer jumping out of a cake, a little Xmas branding on your logo and as background images will suffice.”
FAQ
Increase frequency for engaged contacts to about once or twice a week, send to inactive contacts much less often, for example about once a month.
Perform engagement‑based segmentation: separate engaged contacts, inactive contacts, prospective new clients and those who click often but don’t convert and tailor frequency and messaging accordingly.
Use the season to gather customer feedback and send e‑cards, video greetings, gifts, free shipping and returns or other unique offers that create a festive virtual experience.
Research when your customers typically spend most in the run‑up to the festive period, then send a campaign with a time‑limited offer at that moment to prompt action.
Keep Xmas‑related content relatively subtle: avoid intrusive elements like Xmas music, falling snow or cartoon reindeer, small Xmas branding on your logo and as background images is sufficient.
Focus on those click‑active but non‑converting contacts as a priority segment and tailor campaigns to convert them rather than treating them the same as inactive contacts.
You can increase emailing frequency during the holiday season, but do so selectively, only for targeted segments where increased frequency is likely to drive results.
Increase frequency only for engaged or high‑value segments, keep messaging relevant and avoid overdoing festive elements so recipients aren’t bombarded with excessive cheer or intrusive design.
