Christmas newsletter: trends in email marketing and seasonal ideas

If you recently took a walk through the shops, you found out: the products specific to the Winter Holidays have appeared. Whether you are in the camp of those who love Christmas, or you are more of a Grinch, it is time to prepare the winter email marketing campaign. The context of COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed by authorities led more and more people to buy online. The year 2020 marked a record for online stores globally, with a 50% increase over the same period of 2019 and a total sales of 1.1 trillion dollars, according to a Salesforce report. Given that the situation has not changed, we expect a similar trend this year too. 

There are many opportunities that you do not want to miss communicating effectively with your subscribers. Below we give you some ideas and inspiration to create a successful Christmas newsletter: the trend in buying behavior that helps you communicate more efficiently, a calendar with important data, a sequence of e-mails to use as a guide, but also types of holiday newsletters and email marketing resources. We hope to help you get into the holiday spirit and successfully promote the holidays promotions. 

Holiday Email Marketing Trends

When planning your Christmas email marketing campaign, keep in mind the recent changes in buying behavior. This year, Google has published a series of findings based on an analysis of thousands of searches around the world. Here are some trends to keep in mind. 

Educational newsletter, inspired by winter

The main trend is that more and more consumers spend time in online stores, sometimes just look or search for inspiration. In other words, instead of physically walking through stores, people do this online. It is a step in the buying process that you need to integrate in the marketing campaign. 

Given this behavior, plan a sequence of e-mails that include at least one educational newsletter, inspired by the Winter Holidays. Depending on the profile of the online store, you can send gift ideas, inspiration for home decoration, recipes for Christmas table, seasonal fashion trends, holiday destinations for couples or family, etc. 

Segment the list of subscribers and send a personalized newsletter with relevant ideas for each group of customers. Do not try to sell, just be helpful and make them curious to „walk” through your store.

Here are two examples of successful e-mails: Tattly, who teaches subscribers how to make ornaments at home, and Wildist, who invites subscribers for an outdoor walk away from the screens. 

Personalized newsletter, by regions and cities

Another conclusion of the Google report was that people prefer to buy from local businesses, in an effort to support brands in an uncertain period. Align yourself to this need by segmenting the list of subscribers according to location and use a tag in the subject or in the body of the e-mail, in which you talk about that place. You can refer to a local store, to the delivery in that locality, to the traditions from that city, etc. Use your imagination and send Santa to a fixed place, for more communication efficiency. 

E-commerce newsletter with Christmas offers

Here is another trend to keep in mind when preparing for winter promotion campaign: people want more than ever to receive offers and discounts. Google has noticed an increase in searches for discount codes or promotions for different brands. 

This means it’s the perfect time to create an e-commerce newsletter with holiday discounts; or more. The NewsMAN email marketing platform helps you do this easily, if you choose one of the dozens of Christmas newsletter templates. 

Select the template from the email editor and easily customize it with drag & drop function. You can include any details you want about the products: name, picture, full price, reduced price, call to action button, etc. The design is versatile and can be applied to a wide range of product categories and online stores. 

For a highly efficient campaign, use the advanced subscriber list segmentation feature, based on behavior from a previous campaign. We were saying that people want more and more discounts. But what if you send them a discount exactly for the products they were interested in? Send an e-commerce newsletter, save attributes by clicking on links and use these attributes in a new holiday email marketing campaign. 

Let’s say that some of the subscribers clicked on products from the „pants” category. Create a new newsletter by sending them a discount code, free delivery or another benefit when buying from that category. Try the templates and functions described, with a free account on NewsMAN.

When to send your holiday marketing email campaign

Many start to buying seasonal items and gifts right from November or earlier, so don’t postpone the holiday email marketing campaign too much. Think of a sequence containing educational e-mails (which can be sent as soon as possible to create interest), newsletter with offers, but also newsletters for abandoned shopping cart, for example. With NewsMAN, you can create an automated stream of e-mails so that the subscribers go through all these stages at the right time, without you making any effort. 

Another idea is to combine the sequence of emails with a Christmas SMS campaign. Used at the right time, the SMS can increase the efficiency of a newsletter because it reminds the buyer about the offer and brings him back to the website. Do not hesitate to use a captivating image and a discount code to increase interest. 

Also, there are several special days to keep in mind during this period:

• November 30 – Saint Andrew
• December 1 – Romania’s National Day 
• December 6 – Saint Nicholas
• December 24 – Christmas Eve
• December 25 – Christmas
• December 27 – Saint Stephen
• January 1 – New Year and Saint Basil 

Decide what type of discounts you offer and on what occasion. Build a coherent campaign, and don’t send a newsletter at random, because you risk annoying the audience. Use the data from each campaign to segment the list and sent the most relevant and personalized messages.

Here’s what a holiday e-mail sequence might look during the holidays:

1. November 22 – newsletter with useful information and inspiration. Here are some examples: 

• What are the stars wearing this winter;
• Less crowded holiday destinations;
• 10 activities for a successful weekend at home;
• Practical ideas for organizing the kitchen;
• Out of ideas? What unique gifts you can make for Christmas;
• The best-selling books of the year. Have you read them? 

2. November 30 – greeting for those who celebrate St. Andrew’s Day and a limited discount gift code (until midnight).

3. December 2 – newsletter with promotions of Saint Nicholas, followed by a followed by an automation of the abandoned cart or navigation. 

• Discount code for specific holiday product categories, such as toys, sweets, books, Christmas ornaments, etc.
• Free delivery from Saint Nicholas. 
• E-commerce newsletter with discounts on seasonal items.

4. December 3 – SMS which reminds about Saint Nicholas campaign.

5. December 8 – Christmas educational newsletter. Here are some ideas:

• Christmas gift ideas that you can’t go wrong with
• The „hottest” outfits of the cold season
• Destinations for a fairy tale Christmas
• Arrange your home for holidays like a designer
• Photo session at home? How to prepare 

6. December 10 – teaser campaign for Christmas discounts

7. December 13 – e-commerce newsletter with Christmas discounts, followed by an abandoned cart or browsing automation. 

8. December 15 – SMS marketing campaign with additional discount code. 

9. December 16 – last reminder: „Order now if you want the products before Christmas”. 

10. December 24-25 – simple newsletter, with a Christmas greeting, as in the picture below. 

11. December 29 – newsletter asking for a review of those who bought. 

Depending on what promotions your store has, resources and subscriber profile, you can send more or less e-mails during this period. But I gave this example to show you that you need to plan ahead, so that:

• you will leave time between messages, even if there are many communication opportunities during this period;
• there will be coherence between messages;
• you will combine the type of messages you send;
• you will document yourself and provide useful and pleasant information specific to the Winter Holidays;
• you will have automations that will make your communication efforts more efficient;
• you will take into account the current context, but also the needs and desires of buyers. 

Whatever type of holiday campaign you prepare, the NewsMAN e-mail marketing platform helps you in your communication efforts with professionally designed seasonal templates, an intuitive e-mail editor, automation, segmentation and other useful functions. Create a free account and see how easy it is to create a successful Christmas newsletter.