7 Email Tips for an Effective Christmas Campaign


November 19, 2015 BY Lee Currie - Get free updates of new posts HERE
Whether this is your first year of festive email campaigns or your fifth, there’s always room for improvement. Here’s 7 email tips for an effective Christmas campaign that every publisher needs to implement.


Christmas may be just around the corner but the time for promotion is already well underway. Take a look around your local shopping centre or switch on the television and you’ll notice festive-themed marketing is absolutely everywhere.

If you haven’t already thought about your own marketing campaign for Christmas then now is the time to get started. Even if you have, there’s always room for extra insight and improvement. We’ve put together this list of tips every affiliate can use for their email campaign.

1. Don’t create a campaign for the sake of it

Firstly, ask yourself whether a Christmas campaign is right for your affiliate business and your audience. It’s all too easy to get carried away when we spot a massive marketing opportunity, logic sometimes flies out the window, but a misjudged campaign can often do more harm than good.

2. Be responsive on mobile

With 76.6% of mobile phone users in the UK owning a smartphone, and more than half of UK homes in possession of a tablet, mobile optimisation has never been more important. If your mailing template has not been optimised for mobile, content will not render properly when opened on a mobile device (sometimes failing to open at all) and lead to a significant portion of your target audience being missed.

3. Be original

Unfortunately, simply rolling out a Christmas campaign will not be considered ‘original enough’ for your audience, seeing as everybody else will be doing the same. Aside from launching a Christmas email campaign in the middle of July, there’s no way you’re going to be the only one. The real way to standout in customers’ minds is to be a little more creative in your approach.

4. Use preview text to support subject lines

Preview text is the two or three lines of text previewing the contents of the email that is displayed in your inbox. This is great for grabbing your reader’s attention, as it lets you expand upon the subject line – which is admittedly limited. Be thoughtful in your messaging, you want to establish trust and value right off the bat, enticing readers to actively open your email because they simply can’t do without.

5. Resist the urge to email longtime inactive subscribers

You probably have a suppression list of inactive users who have not responded to your communications in a long time. It’s tempting to think they might suddenly respond to a Christmas-themed campaign, because “nobody can resist the Christmas-themed email campaign”, but this could do more harm than good.

It’s likely the vast majority of those subscribers are long gone, and any unsuccessful deliveries will eat into your marketing spend without giving any return. Furthermore, you run the risk of falling into a spam trap, preventing you from reaching out to longterm loyal subscribers in the process.

6. Turn to social media for aspirational discovery

Social media is great for reaching out to consumers all year round, but at Christmas time you have a real opportunity to tap into whatever it is that gets them excited, keeping your brand and promotions fresh in their mind and prepped for purchase. consider using this information in your email campaigns, aligning your marketing messaging between all platforms for a stronger impact.

7. Deck your templates in festive cheer

Last but not least, tweak your regular mailer template to give more of a Christmassy look and feel. You don’t want it too look garish and tacky, but at the time you need to inject a little holiday spirit into the design so people will be more responsive.

 

Written by Lee Currie
Lee is the content manager at Monetise and loves all things marketing. He oversees article production and publication on the Monetise website.