The end of the year is the strongest season for email marketing – and also the time when customers’ inboxes are the fullest. If you send without a plan, you’ll get lost among dozens of similar deals. Here’s a specific sequence of six emails from November to New Year’s Eve, with subject line ideas and tips on what to include.
Before you start: three things to check
- Your contact list. Remove invalid addresses and people who haven’t opened anything in a long time. Sending to inactive addresses hurts the deliverability of your other emails, too.
- Domain setup. Gmail and other providers require bulk senders to have an authenticated domain (SPF, DKIM and DMARC records) and one-click unsubscribe. You’ll find the details in Google’s email sender guidelines. If you send through a newsletter tool, you can set up most of this by following its instructions.
- Segments. Split your list at least into customers and people who haven’t bought yet. Our article on segmenting your email list explains how.
Six emails at a glance
- Black Friday teaser
- Black Friday and a reminder
- Gift guide
- Last delivery date
- Thank-you
- New Year
1. Teaser: “Something’s coming”
When: about a week or two before Black Friday.
What to include: what will be on sale (without all the details), when it starts and what perk subscribers get – early access or an extra bonus. The goal is to have them looking forward to your next email.
Subject lines for inspiration:
- “You’ll get first dibs on Black Friday”
- “We’re preparing a sale. You’ll see it before anyone else”
Tip: If your website has a newsletter sign-up pop-up, change its text into an invitation to early access.
2. Black Friday: the offer and a reminder
When: on the day the sale starts, with a reminder on the last day – only to people who haven’t bought yet.
What to include: the main offer right at the top, a clear end date and one prominent button. No long copy.
Subject lines for inspiration:
- “Black Friday starts now: [offer] through Sunday”
- “Last day of the sale. Then prices go back up”
Tip: Don’t load your subject line with capital letters and exclamation points. They look spammy not just to filters, but to people, too.
3. Gift guide
When: around the first Sunday of Advent.
What to include: a selection of products by price (under €20, under €50) or by recipient (for Mom, for a coworker, for kids). One sentence per product on why it makes a good gift.
Subject lines for inspiration:
- “Gifts for people who have everything”
- “Not sure what to buy? We picked for you”
Tip: This email doesn’t need a discount. It helps by saving the customer time.
4. Last delivery date
When: two or three days before the deadline your carrier confirmed, and then again on the day itself.
What to include: the exact date and time by which people need to order, and the options after the deadline – in-store pickup or an e-gift card.
Subject lines for inspiration:
- “Order by [date] and it’ll be under the tree in time”
- “Last chance for delivery before Christmas”
Tip: This email solves a real customer worry, so feel free to send it even to people who usually ignore your promotions.
5. Thank-you
When: right before Christmas, when you’re no longer selling anything.
What to include: a short personal note with no sales pitch. A team photo, a peek behind the scenes, thanks for the year. Signed by a real person, not “Your team.”
Subject lines for inspiration:
- “Thank you for this year”
- “A quick note from us before the holidays”
Tip: Don’t add a discount code here. It’s the email without a sales pitch that people remember.
6. New Year
When: between Christmas and New Year’s or in the first days of January.
What to include: New Year’s wishes, what you have planned and, if relevant, a clearance sale or information on exchanging gifts.
Subject lines for inspiration:
- “What we’re planning for you in the new year”
- “Gift doesn’t fit? We’ll exchange it”
Tip: January is a good time to ask customers to review their December purchase.
Subject line and preview text
The subject line decides whether anyone opens the email at all. Stick to a few rules for all six emails:
- Specific beats general. “Gifts under €30” says more than “Christmas offer.”
- Put the important part first. On mobile, the end of a longer subject line gets cut off.
- Use the preview text. It’s the line that appears below or next to the subject line in the inbox. Use it to complement the subject line, not repeat it.
- Stay true to your brand voice. If you normally address people in a casual, friendly tone, keep that tone in the subject line, too.
For more tips, see our article on how to write emails people actually read.
How often to send and to whom
Six emails in two months is fine for most subscribers, as long as each one has a clear purpose. If you want to send more, send them only to part of your list – for example, reminders only to people who clicked the previous email. Don’t send customers who have already bought a “last chance” email for the same thing.
Pick your send time based on stats from past campaigns – most newsletter tools show when your subscribers open emails. If you don’t have that data, try two different times and compare them. Send the last-delivery-date email in the morning so people have the whole day to order.
Keep your automated emails, such as the abandoned cart reminder or the post-purchase thank-you, running during the season. You’ll find out which automations every online store should have in our article on five automation scenarios.
Common mistakes in Christmas newsletters
- The same email for everyone, whether or not they’ve already bought.
- The whole email as a single image – it may not load on mobile, and spam filters may flag it as suspicious.
- No end date for the sale.
- A link to the homepage instead of a specific category or product.
- An untested email. Send a test to Gmail and to your phone and click through every link.
Frequently asked questions
When should I send the first Christmas email?
About a week or two before Black Friday. A teaser gets subscribers ready and gives them a reason to open your emails.
Aren’t six emails in two months too many?
Not if each one has a clear purpose and doesn’t keep selling the same thing. What puts subscribers off is getting the same offer over and over.
Does every email need a discount?
No. The gift guide, the delivery deadline and the thank-you work without discounts. A discount in every email teaches customers to wait for the next one.
What if my contact list is small?
Even a small list is valuable, because it’s full of people who know you. The email sequence is the same. Also use the season to win new subscribers through your website and social media.
If you don’t want to be writing Christmas emails late at night, check out our email marketing service. We’ll prepare the plan, copy and automations so your newsletters sell without being annoying.
