I can bet two lumps of coal you’re involved in holiday marketing campaign planning right now, and you have been for weeks if not months.
There’s no doubt email marketers know the value of holiday emails to drive revenue during the holidays. It’s the best time of the year to optimize your messages, from creative to copy to getting granular with segments. But what creative, personalized features are the tinsel on your emails? What bows do you stick on the email gifts you’re sending almost constantly to your subscribers this season?
Even if you’ve gotten the bulk of your holiday email campaign planning and set up out of the way, there are still a few ways you can deck out those email campaigns to get the best bang for your buck.
1. Website Popups
Tons of new visitors may be looking for what you sell especially at the holidays. 
Grandma doesn’t normally shop for golf clubs, but when she’s looking for Uncle Norm’s Christmas gift she may just hunt down your golf-item-selling website. Why not make a new subscriber out of her and keep her buying for your uncle all year round? Even if you’re not a believer in the website popup, the holidays are a perfect time to test the waters.
2. Countdown Timers
If there’s one thing people do at the holidays, it is count down to those special days. Use a little bit of custom CSS to craft holiday-inspired countdown timers to pre-Black Friday/Cyber Monday and pre-Christmas emails. Or use them to create exclusive one-day deals, like Home Depot did in this holiday email on the right. A countdown timer is a good way to motivate subscribers to buy, as it shows them just how much time they don’t have left. Tip: If you’re in eCommerce, you can also include a countdown timer or just a regular schedule of when items you sell can ship and still arrive by Christmas Eve.
3. Dynamic Content
What if your subscribers opened your emails this holiday season to see exactly what they want, just like a happy kid on Christmas day? That’s exactly what one tiny tracking pixel allows you to do by delivering your already-existing content to subscribers based on what they like. You can serve readers content based on what they like to look at on your website. Talk about buying power! Imagine a subscriber looking at flights to Boston several times in one week on your website. Then they open your weekly newsletter and what happens to be in there? A deal for a flight to Boston. That person is definitely more likely to buy from you.
These small additions to your November and December email campaigns can increase your list size, and serve your customers with more personalized, meaningful content this year. If you’re not sure how to get started with any of these ideas, we’d be happy to help – just reach out to us. Don’t settle for so-so campaigns! The holidays are about giving, and the least you can do is give your subscribers beautiful, relevant email. Make it the happiest time of the year for your readers.
Joy Ugi
Digital Marketing Coordinator, WhatCounts
Twitter: @ugigirl
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