5 Elements For Writing An Effective Holiday Email Marketing Campaign

With the holiday season right around the corner, we thought it would be a good idea to explore 5 key elements that comprise a successful holiday email strategy. Now the idea of a holiday themed email marketing campaign might seem like a stressful and time-consuming task, but in reality it doesn’t have to be.

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Since we're talking about holiday marketing, we thought this post on building a Black Friday social media campaign might come in handy.

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1. The Subject Line

We are all bombarded with tens of emails on a daily basis, so it is safe to assume that your audience is right there with us. In order to stand out in the myriad of daily email, you'll need to create an enticing and captivating subject line in true holiday spirit (or theme).

But what is the ideal length for a subject line? Although there is no one-size fits all answer, shorter subject lines tend to perform better.

Generally speaking, subject lines under 21 characters receive a better on average open rate, however they only account for less than 5% of all emails sent. Today, most subject lines tend to be lengthy (up to 60 characters), so leveraging a short, concise, and attractive subject line can be a great start to outperforming your competitors.

Marketing tip: write your subject line as if you were writing a headline. You want to entice the viewer to open the email. For help on creating clickable headlines, check out these 3 articles below:

Finally, it's important to keep in mind that most emails today are opened on a mobile device. The character limit on most mobile devices is around 35, so a longer subject line will get cut-off.

In this situation you can either try including the most important elements towards the beginning of the subject line, or leverage the power of the preview text.

2. The Preview Text

More often than not, emails are sent out with no preview text attached. (A huge mistake!) In essence, the preview text acts an extension of your subject line. You already caught your contact’s attention, now it’s time to tease them a bit more. In just a few words, let readers understand what the email is about and how they'll get value out of opening and reading it.

Marketing tip: Make sure your preview text is mobile friendly. Most emails are read off a cellphone or tablet. Avoid long preview text, stick to no more than 10 words.

3. The Email Copy

There is a lot of controversy around how long an email should be. In actuality, there’s no right or wrong answer to this. The copy of an email should be as long as it needs to be in order to effectively pass your message.

That being said, people don’t want to delegate too much of their time reading a long email and will often just skim through, and then disregard it. That’s why it’s important to try to get your message across as concisely as possible.

Marketing tip: write your email as if you were talking to an individual person, not your subscribers. The more humanizing you make it, the more your email followers will trust you. For more insight on writing a killer email, check out these links below:

At the end of the day, your copy should help your readers understand what you’re offering and how you can help them. Push them down the sales/marketing funnel, but don’t make it too obvious.

4. The Image

The first thing anyone usually notices when opening an email is the image (if it exists). While the copy is important for getting your message across to your readers, a pleasant and colorful image can go a long way. Not only will it break the monotony of plain white lines and text, it can also be used to amplify your message.

Especially during holiday seasons, images can trigger a more festive mood and can increase the likelihood of your readers engaging with your content.

Marketing tip: visuals are absolutely a critical part of marketing your product or service. They help form a level of legitimacy as a business and helps humanize your messaging. For more insight on images in your email, check out the links below:

5. The Call-to-Action (CTA)

Every email, holiday season or not, should include a gripping CTA. You explained what you are offering and why it's great, now it is time to guide your readers to taking the next step. CTAs don’t necessarily have to be the obvious ‘Download Now’ or ‘Click Here’; the action should just lead the viewer to wherever you're trying to push them.

For an example, do you have a seasonal sale going on? Maybe your email is about the '5 Best Products This Fall', and the CTA leads to the promotional sales on your site.

Marketing tip: try using terminology that makes the viewer want to click. Use words like, “Get your 50% off today” or “Find out how you can _____”. Remember, these are just examples, the goal is bait the viewer to your site.

Also, don’t forget to make your CTA button look enticing. If applicable, try creating a custom button with the current holiday’s theme and coloring.

The Takeaway

Holiday season only comes around once a year. It’s a time where consumers are spending money left and right; why not make the most of your email campaigns? Let us know what tip or tactic you tried from above and the result it generated!

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