Holiday Season is Email Marketing Season! Make Your Holiday Emails Stand Out In Crowded Inboxes 

‘Tis the season for inboxes to be bombarded with flashy holiday discounts and Cyber Monday offers. When final holiday pushes launch in December, all that email can become a bigger turn-off than a second helping of Aunt Jan’s fruitcake (the first one was a pity slice, Jan. Read the room!)

As a small business owner, how will you cut through the Christmas inbox clutter? If you missed the boat on “Black Friday in July” and put off your holiday marketing content strategy, have no fear. There is still time. Use these tips to pick up the slack and send out sweet, sparkly holiday emails that stand out and your customers will happily eat up.

 

Customize Your Emails With Segmented Lists

Step 1: Send distinct, tailored content and discounts to segmented email lists.

Step 2: Watch your open rate rise like your blood sugar after the annual Holiday cookie decorating party.

A recent study conducted by MailChimp showed that segmenting your emails lists can actually increase clicks by 100.95% and opens by 14.31%. Customizing your emails with targeted content is a win-win. Customers feel cared for because you’re sending content based on their interests and buyer activity. This remove barriers to opening and increases the likelihood they will click to buy.  

 

Craft Engaging Email Subject Headlines

Think of your email subject headline as one of many suitors on the Holiday edition of a reality matchmaking, The Holidating Game. Will you be given a sprig of mistletoe this season, or will you go home heartbroken? All metaphors aside, you need to woo your customers with concise, enthusiastic subject headlines. Write a headline like an actual human being with a heart, but be strategic. It is a pick-up line after all. Coschedule has a helpful email subject line tester that can help if headlines stress you out.

 

Use Interactive Visual Elements

People don’t read.

People.

Don’t.

Read.

And can you really blame your customers? No one wants to read a fat brick of bland text or a corny update on how the business owner is doing. People want to know what’s in it for them and that needs to be clear in seconds–11 to be exact. According to a study by Litmus Email Analytics, our attention spans for email have increased by about 7% to 11 seconds since 2011. But if you do the math that only gives you roughly 55 words to work with*.

That means you have 11 seconds to inform, entertain, and ultimately convert your customers. Visual elements can help you display more content that can be consumed quickly. Visual elements include photography, video, animation, gifs, buttons, and even social media content.

 

Integrate Social Media

Your social media strategy should support your email marketing strategy, and vice versa. It’s possible that your customers will check their emails less often during the holidays, and it would be a shame if your beautiful holiday discount graphics weren’t opened until January 2. Make your offers available on social media as well, because your customers are much more likely to check their feed than their inbox.  

Need help with your social media content strategy? We do that! Buy us a beer to see if we can provide the kind of help you’re looking for.