February 13, 2025

This text will study the standard hole between entrepreneurs’ expectations and what prospects need from Christmas e mail campaigns. You will uncover methods to align your vacation emails with buyer preferences, enhance engagement, and guarantee a memorable festive season on your viewers.

Do you assume your Christmas emails hit the mark? Suppose once more! Whereas making ready this text, we seen a hanging disconnect between what entrepreneurs ship and what subscribers need through the vacation season. Primarily based on a revealing survey of promoting professionals and skilled insights, we unpack the secrets and techniques to aligning your vacation e mail campaigns with buyer expectations. 

Get able to redefine your method and join together with your viewers through the vacation season.

Survey outcomes

In our earlier article on Christmas e mail campaigns, we surveyed what folks anticipated to obtain for the vacations. We invite you to search out out what your fellow entrepreneurs despatched this 12 months and final 12 months, so we requested 50 specialists about their campaigns. Thanks all for collaborating within the survey!

Now let’s evaluate the outcomes — what readers wished essentially the most vs. what they discovered of their inboxes.

Survey outcomes









Kind of e mail

What number of subscribers anticipated it

What number of entrepreneurs despatched it

Supply with a reduction or bonus

70%

24%

Personalised assessment for the 12 months

5%

28%

Enjoyable within the type of a recreation

10%

5%

Greeting card

15%

48%

1 e mail as an alternative of a sequence of emails

59.1%

63%

The time of receipt







Time

What number of subscribers anticipated it

What number of entrepreneurs despatched it

2 weeks earlier than the vacation

31.8%

24%

3 days earlier than the vacation

54.5%

24%

on Christmas day

13.6%

24%

Moreover, 16% of entrepreneurs despatched emails at the start of December, and 12% despatched them throughout Christmas Eve days.

The hole between subscribers’ expectations and actuality

We examined the hole between what subscribers anticipated from manufacturers through the vacation season and what they acquired from e mail advertising and marketing campaigns.

Our survey outcomes on subscribers’ expectations and marketer responses have been blended:

  • 70% of subscribers strongly desired vacation reductions, however solely 24% of entrepreneurs included reductions of their campaigns;
  • 10% of respondents expressed curiosity in receiving interactive leisure content material and game-based emails, however solely 5% of entrepreneurs included gamified parts;
  • customized critiques and greeting playing cards have been much less interesting than anticipated — solely 15% of subscribers wished to obtain vacation playing cards, highlighting a stronger curiosity in reductions than greetings;
  • each teams wished to obtain a single Christmas e mail over a number of ones.

Primarily based on the survey outcomes, the right Christmas e mail ought to mix vacation cheer, festive designs, themed video games, and a compelling supply. It additionally needs to be despatched one to 2 weeks earlier than Christmas Day for one of the best impact.

The survey signifies that early December is simply too quickly for vacation emails, and Christmas Day is simply too late, as folks sometimes rejoice with their family members and rarely test their e mail. It is advisable to start e mail campaigns with enticing gives forward of time, however with out incorporating a holiday-themed design.

To sum up, the perfect Christmas e mail combines vacation spirit with festive designs, themed video games, and a gorgeous supply. For optimum affect, ship it one to 2 weeks earlier than Christmas Day.

Along with the survey, we spoke with e mail entrepreneurs from Pokupon.ua, 11 Company, Stripo, and TruffleShuffle Media, all of whom launched vacation e mail campaigns this 12 months and final 12 months. We requested them to share insights and conclusions from these campaigns, and to debate necessary points to think about when making ready.

Diversifying vacation newsletters and standing out

Standing out through the vacation season might be robust, with so many manufacturers vying for customers’ consideration. Nevertheless, the key lies in personalization, genuine storytelling, and top-notch design. Let’s dive into how e mail entrepreneurs make their newsletters unforgettable.

Understanding viewers preferences

Common surveys, marketing campaign evaluation, and viewers segmentation are important for figuring out content material that resonates with readers. Gathering suggestions by means of varieties in emails helps measure how participating, helpful, and informative the content material is. This steady suggestions loop ensures that newsletters are tailor-made to the viewers’s pursuits, fostering higher engagement and loyalty.

Strengthening model connection

Newsletters ought to transcend promotions by demonstrating real affection for subscribers by means of heartfelt and fantastically designed vacation greetings. Emotional connections strengthen the model’s picture and assist keep a loyal reader base.

We all know our readers nicely and perceive what content material is doubtlessly fascinating and helpful to them. We do that by means of common content material surveys, evaluation of earlier campaigns, and segmentation. We even have a type in every e mail the place customers mark how fascinating, helpful, and informative the e-mail was. It is essential to exhibit affection on your customers. To attain this, we make it some extent to increase heartfelt vacation greetings to them in a gorgeous and fascinating method.

Oleksandr Dieiev

Oleksandr Dieiev,

Electronic mail marketer at Stripo.

Email example with New Year’s greetings

(Supply: Completely satisfied New 12 months e mail from Stripo)

Creating tailor-made content material

Understanding a consumer’s model ethos and analyzing buyer information allow creation of extremely related and customized newsletters. Personalised content material resonates extra deeply with the viewers, rising engagement and belief within the model.

Standing out with distinctive parts

Craft distinctive narratives and use artistic storytelling and premium visuals to seize consideration. Combine newsletters seamlessly with an general advertising and marketing technique to make sure consistency. A bespoke method that aligns with model messaging units newsletters aside from these of opponents and enhances their attraction.

Our method to diversifying newsletters entails a deep dive into every consumer’s model ethos and buyer information. We create tailor-made content material that resonates with their particular viewers. To face out, we deal with crafting distinctive narratives, using high-quality visuals, and guaranteeing seamless integration with the consumer’s general advertising and marketing technique. This bespoke method units our shoppers aside from their opponents.

Raymond Chen

Raymond Chen,

Founder and CEO of 11 Agency.

Fashionable varieties of newsletters for Christmas and New 12 months’s campaigns

One other necessary side considerations what varieties of newsletters e mail entrepreneurs ship to their subscribers for Christmas and New 12 months’s and why they select these sorts. Let’s study how several types of emails are designed.

Annual critiques and studies

Many e mail entrepreneurs — similar to consultants from Stripo and Pokupon — included annual critiques of person exercise and efficiency studies of their vacation emails. These have been designed to interact readers by showcasing statistics and milestones, typically wrapped in a festive design to align with the season. This sort of content material was chosen to offer worth whereas strengthening the model’s reference to its viewers.

Email example of the annual review

(Supply: Annual assessment of Stripo customers)

Annually, we ship a remaining assessment to every particular person person, however up to now, this e mail used to underperform due to a scarcity of direct personalization for the consumer. There was no variety of coupons or amount of cash saved. Nevertheless, we added particular statistics displaying the financial savings our prospects have made. Because of this, the OR elevated from 14% in 2022 to 17% in 2023.

Valeria Kalashnikova

Valeria Kalashnikova,

Retention Supervisor at Pokupon & Superdeal.

How to show email cost-effectiveness

(Supply: Annual assessment of Pokupon.ua customers)

Greeting playing cards and themed digests

Festive greeting playing cards and themed digests have been additionally well-liked selections. These emails featured vacation messages, prime articles, and curated content material, together with one of the best templates or assets from the 12 months. The aim was to keep up engagement throughout declining exercise by delivering visually interesting and inventive newsletters.

Particular gives and reductions

Businesses like 11 Company targeted on promotional campaigns highlighting reductions and bonuses tailor-made to their shoppers’ audiences. These campaigns aimed to drive gross sales and foster buyer loyalty, as festive offers are notably efficient in changing subscribers through the vacation season.

Specializing in one consumer particularly who skilled vital enhancements within the 2022 12 months, our refined methods for the 2023 12 months led to much more spectacular outcomes. For this consumer, we noticed a 13% enhance in conversion charges instantly attributable to the e-mail campaigns. Most notably, the income generated from our e mail advertising and marketing efforts confirmed a strong progress of 21%.

Raymond Chen

Raymond Chen,

Founder and CEO of 11 Agency.

Promo email example with discount

(Supply: A promotional e mail from 11 Company)

Regional and customized suggestions

Manufacturers like Pokupon.ua curated holiday-specific gives primarily based on regional preferences and previous buyer habits. By offering tailor-made leisure, leisure, and vacation preparation suggestions, they elevated relevance and improved click-through charges (CTR) by 2%.

Email with ideas on how to celebrate the holidays

(Supply: Electronic mail from Pokupon.ua)

Festive enhancements to present codecs

Alongside progressive codecs, some entrepreneurs targeted on enhancing their conventional e mail sorts’ visible attraction. Including festive colours and inventive touches helped differentiate these emails from common promotional content material and ensured higher engagement through the vacation season.

Personalised financial savings statistics

Personalization performed a major position in enhancing engagement. For instance, Pokupon.ua included detailed statistics on buyer financial savings of their annual critiques, which led to an increase in open charges (OR), from 14% to 17%. Highlighting particular person advantages made the emails extra compelling and appreciated amongst subscribers.

New Year’s email example with greetings

(Supply: Annual assessment of Pokupon.ua customers)

This 12 months, I despatched quite a lot of several types of emails but in addition made positive that every one automation was checked, working, and amended to regardless of the providing was. Probably the most profitable sort of e mail was text-based, which introduced roughly a 25% enhance in gross sales in comparison with a extra conventional promotional e mail you’d count on to obtain.

Ben Harrington

Ben Harrington,

Electronic mail Advertising Marketing consultant at TruffleShuffle Media.

Attempting new varieties of vacation emails 

Consultants advised us about new varieties of vacation emails that they tried this and the earlier vacation seasons, why they tried them, and the outcomes.

High articles and templates 

Emails highlighting the 12 months’s prime articles and e mail templates have been launched as a brand new vacation format. The primary goal was to check contemporary content material that might supply added worth to readers and encourage engagement past common digests.

Outcomes: Open charges (OR) elevated by 10% in contrast with commonplace digest emails, confirming the effectiveness of well-crafted topic strains and fascinating content material.

Storytelling and visible parts

11 Company advised us that they tried new codecs, together with story-driven content material and visually interesting parts similar to GIFs for chosen shoppers. They wished to align with market developments and meet altering buyer preferences by delivering extra participating and dynamic content material.

Outcomes: The campaigns elicited a 24% enhance in click-through charges (CTR), indicating that storytelling and visuals efficiently drove interplay and improved model notion.

The suggestions and efficiency metrics have been encouraging, displaying larger engagement and a constructive affect on model notion. For these campaigns, the typical CTR elevated by roughly 24%.

Raymond Chen

Raymond Chen,

Founder and CEO of 11 Agency.

Interactive emails and gamification 

Pokupon tried a gamified e mail format with a limited-time promo code, primarily examined throughout Valentine’s Day campaigns. This made the emails extra interactive and interesting, utilizing gamification to face out.

(Supply: Christmas recreation from Pokupon.ua)

Outcomes: Orders within the promoted class elevated by 8%, alongside considerably larger OR and CTR, proving the method’s effectiveness in driving each engagement and conversions.

+8%

in orders due to the topic line and gamification.

Particular word: The right way to make your festive e mail interactive with ease

You may remodel your promotional supplies into charming, game-like experiences with Stripo’s interactive module generator. This instrument means that you can create emails enriched with interactive parts effortlessly, similar to quizzes and puzzles, making your communications extra participating and efficient, with no coding abilities required. You may construct video games with us by means of UI and embed them into emails that you just design with Stripo, or apply it to every other platform with AMP and HTML5 assist.

The sport module consists of an AMP model suitable with Gmail, Yahoo, and FairEmail, offering a wealthy, interactive expertise for units and e mail shoppers that assist HTML5 and CSS3, like Apple Mail and Samsung Electronic mail. Moreover, a textual content fallback model is accessible for e mail shoppers with out AMP, HTML5, or CSS3 assist, similar to sure Outlook functions, thereby guaranteeing that your e mail reaches everybody, in every single place.

Do not forget that the approaches coated on this article are related for all holidays besides Black Friday. Very quickly, it’ll be time to organize for the following huge vacation — Valentine’s Day. The very best e mail technique for this vacation is to mix a themed design, greetings, and a reduction. You can also add video games with promo codes, compatibility exams, and different entertaining content material. You’ll find extra tips about learn how to ship Valentine’s Day emails in our article.

Variety of emails in vacation sequence and income

Each marketer should face the problem of e mail frequency’s affect on vacation income. Methods fluctuate broadly primarily based on model id and market calls for, from constructing momentum with a number of touchpoints to delivering fewer, however extremely efficient campaigns.

Through the interview, consultants highlighted the next necessary factors:

  1. A number of emails construct income over time. Entrepreneurs who use a sequence of emails through the vacation season discover that it creates a coherent narrative, retains audiences engaged, and offers a number of alternatives for conversion. Every e mail serves a particular goal, similar to constructing anticipation, providing incentives, or issuing a remaining name to motion.

     

    We have discovered that sending a number of emails in a marketing campaign sequence usually results in better cumulative income in comparison with sending only a single e mail. Every e mail within the sequence serves a particular goal, whether or not it is to create anticipation, present useful data, supply incentives, or make a remaining name to motion. This technique maintains constant engagement with the viewers and creates a number of touchpoints for conversion.

    Raymond Chen

    Raymond Chen,

    Founder and CEO of 11 Agency.

  2. Fewer emails might be extremely efficient. Sending rigorously crafted, however fewer, emails might be simply as impactful for some manufacturers as larger volumes of emails. Entrepreneurs can obtain sturdy outcomes with fewer campaigns by specializing in variety and effectiveness, fairly than quantity. In response to our survey outcomes above, 59.1% of respondents and 63% of e mail entrepreneurs choose one e mail as an alternative of a sequence.
  3. Outcomes depend upon model and market context: Optimum frequency varies by firm. For well-known manufacturers, even a single e mail can drive vital income. For instance, one consumer generated 4 months’ value of income from a single marketing campaign. Nevertheless, in aggressive markets, frequent communication could also be essential to preserve the model in thoughts and keep engagement.

I’ve one consumer who introduced in 4 months value of income from one e mail. The place others it fits to maintain their title in entrance of the subscribers if there may be loads of competitors in that exact market.

Ben Harrington

Ben Harrington,

Electronic mail Advertising Marketing consultant at TruffleShuffle Media.

In the end, the suitable method depends upon understanding the viewers, the model’s positioning, and the market’s aggressive panorama. Whether or not it is a single impactful e mail or a well-planned sequence, success lies in crafting campaigns that resonate and ship worth.

Wrapping up

Our conversations with advertising and marketing professionals from Stripo, 11 Company, TruffleShuffle Media, and Pokupon.ua offered useful insights into entrepreneurs’ various vacation e mail marketing campaign methods. From festive greetings and particular gives to customized annual critiques, every method was tailor-made thoughtfully to satisfy viewers preferences. A recurring theme was the significance of understanding client habits, with methods evolving primarily based on previous efficiency and present developments.

Our examination of Christmas e mail campaigns highlights the place entrepreneurs attempt to align with subscriber expectations. Whereas there’s room for enchancment, the business’s rising deal with data-driven choices and progressive approaches is evident. The massive takeaway? Steady adaptation and personalization are key to crafting impactful and fascinating vacation e mail methods.

Create participating vacation campaigns with Stripo