Christmas Email Ideas 2023: Boost Your Holiday Campaign

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Want to convert more email subscribers into customers during the holiday season? Check our advice and explore the ideas for great Christmas email templates: learn how to create a compelling Christmas email subject line, what Christmas email banner to add, how to write a unique email copy, and what mistakes to avoid in holiday campaigns!

What Banner to Add to a Christmas Email Template? 3 Creative Ideas

If you want to enhance your Christmas email campaign with an elegant newsletter banner but don’t know what picture to choose, don’t worry: we’ve gathered 3 banner ideas that will make your Christmas email templates stand out and bring you more sales!

Show Your Product on Your Christmas Banner 

Your subscribers’ inboxes are full of similar Christmas emails and banners. Show them something they love you for — your products! Also, showing your product on a banner might help you increase subscribers’ awareness of your offers and make them consider a purchase. 

For example, Maude’s minimalist referral email template showcases the products and gives a little Christmas hint — a cactus that reminds us of a little Christmas tree.

Christmas email template showcasing the products and a cactus on the table

One more way to showcase your product is to add a picture of it wrapped as a gift: suggest your subscribers to give your product as a Christmas present!

Christmas email idea: beauty products in a gift box

The last idea of how to include the picture with your product in a Christmas email: start with a holiday heading and continue with the picture showing how the customer can use the product as Modern Mammals did. It’s stylish, minimalist and still not void of the holiday spirit.

Christmas email template idea: hands holding the cream tub

Create a Christmas Email Banner Similar to a Holiday Card

If you can’t imagine Christmas without a holiday card, don’t hesitate to add one to your email template! Just stay creative and don’t download the first picture you see in Google — instead, design your own banner with the Christmas spirit!

For instance, Worderbly added a Christmas banner with an Advent Calendar. It looks quite fresh and is designed with Worderbly’s brand colors.

Christmas email idea: an Advent Calendar

If you like traditional holiday decorations, you’ll love the next idea: Hoefler&Co advertises their holiday ornaments with a Christmas banner showing beautiful Christmas patterns. The banner looks neat, festive, and not clichéd.

Holiday ornaments in a Christmas email template

Add Traditional Christmas Colors to Your Email Banner 

Green, red, white, and blue — these are the colors that create the Christmas spirit! Yes, these are customary colors, and that’s why your subscribers probably expect to see them in your Christmas campaigns! 

If you don’t want to make your email look too common, just add a personal touch like Tattly did: their Christmas email banner is made in traditional colors but still looks unique because of the elements like hands, a sleeve of a sweater, and Christmas bubbles. You can get inspired by this idea and add the elements that represent your brand to your Christmas email templates.

Christmas email campaign: hands holding Christmas bubbles

Working person with dog

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Best Ideas For Christmas Email Subject Lines That Get Your Campaigns Opened

Let’s keep it real: subscribers got tired of subject lines like “last chance” and “biggest sale ever”: such emails no longer catch anyone’s attention and end up not being opened. To stand out in the inbox, you have to make your Christmas subject lines one-of-a-kind. Let us share with you several ideas for improving your subject lines during the holiday season. 

Add Relevant Special Characters to Make Your Emails Stand Out 

Don’t be afraid of adding emojis or other special characters to your subject line: although, according to the study, they do not guarantee that your email gets opened, they still make your subject line more attractive. For example, Lookfantastic often decorates their subject lines with emojis.

Christmas subject lines: Merry Christmas! 'Appy Christmas Eve

The 2 rules of adding emojis to Christmas subject lines are the following: keep them relevant and always test how they look on different devices. You can check it by sending test emails or using special services like Unicode

Keep Subscribers in Suspense 

Make them wonder what’s inside! Suspense is something that makes most subscribers open emails (at least, to know what’s in there). It’s a bait that captures the reader’s attention, so if you use this device, your email probably won’t go unnoticed! 

To create suspense, you can give a hint about the offer (without actually offering something), tell users about some changes or plans — in a word, suggest that there’s something valuable or amusing inside your email! Here’re a few ideas from brands:

  1. We made you something  (Mercury Mosaics)
  2. Have you heard about our holiday plans? (Surety Hotel)
  3. The Google gift guide has something for everyone on your list (Google)
  4. There’s the perfect gift for everyone. (Apple)
  5. Our coziest gift is back! (AllTrails)

Add Practical Value to a Christmas Subject Line

During the holiday season, some of us like to keep it quick and productive when checking the inbox, so it might be a good solution to move to the value right away! Don’t write simply “Christmas sale” or “Discounts”; instead, specify the price or help your subscribers with choosing the right Christmas presents (believe us, they’ll appreciate it). Look at the subject lines from Fitbit and Momofuku:

  1. Boost motivation with gifts starting at $59.95 ✨ (Fitbit)
  2. Find the Perfect Gift for Your Favorite Food Lover (Momofuku)

Ask a Question in Your Subject Line 

Subscribers love when brands engage in a conversation with them. Just remember to be elegant and polite: ask questions that are relevant to your subscribers’ interests and don’t make them too personal. Look at the examples below to learn how to ask questions in Christmas subject lines:

  1. Get All Your Gifts Yet? (Moment)
  2. Is it possible to do Christmas Consciously? (Happy Human)
  3. Looking for The Perfect Chess Gift This Holiday? (Chess.com)

Don’t Be Afraid of Playfulness in Christmas Emails

When the winter holidays come, people get ready for miracles and might even behave a little childish. Don’t be afraid of making your Christmas email subject lines funny: at this time of the year, your subscribers are more ready for it than ever! Look at the ideas below to get inspired. 

  1. These ice creams aren’t going to eat themselves… (Jeni’s)
  2. Give iPad. And put some fun under the tree. (Apple)
  3. Get one thing you can count on in 2023. (Modern Mammals)
  4. Is it too late to say Happy New Year? (Cat Person)

Best Ideas For a Unique Christmas Email Copy

If you’re having a hard time writing a copy for your Christmas email campaign, we’ve got you covered! Just look at our ideas and get inspired.  

Bring the Holiday and Green Initiative Together 

Christmas is all about being kind and mindful to others, including nature! Remind your subscribers about sustainability and offer some green ways to celebrate. For example, Pagerie’s Christmas campaign tells about a green way to wrap a present.

Christmas email that tells about the green ways of wrapping a present

Include a Poem in Your Christmas Email

This point is tricky: although everyone loves an old good poem on Christmas, not every poem looks good in an email campaign. For your Christmas email templates, we’d recommend to refrain from using the regular holiday poems to avoid looking old-fashioned.

Instead, you can create your own poem with references to your industry and products! For example, the email copy below tells about the digital marketing world and asks to write a review in the form of a poem.

Happy Holidays email copy with a poem: 'Twas the night before deadline / And all through the world / People were eager / A new year, unfurled!

Keep It Minimalist and Simple 

It’s always a good idea to keep it minimalist and just share a useful offer: remind your subscribers about the holidays, offer a discount, or free shipping. For example, Moment’s Christmas copy helps the subscribers to get the order in time and receive the presents by Christmas.

Chistmas email campaign idea: There's still time! Want delivery by Christmas?

Give Christmas Wishes in Your Email Copy

If you think that there are no elegant and fresh ways to give wishes in email campaigns, let us show you at least one idea we liked the most. The secret lies in the right presentation of text: if you keep it stylish, the wishes will look completely different.

Christmas email campaign: For 2022, Pam wishes you more sleep, music, coffee, lead, creating, hugs, engagement, laughter, followers, road trips, sleep

Working person with dog

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More Ideas of Christmas Email Templates for Customers

Need more ideas for your Christmas email templates? We’ve found 7 great examples that might inspire you!

Include a Christmas GIF in Your Email

GIFs always make email campaigns stand out and put a smile on a subscriber’s face. Make sure that your GIF matches the style of the email campaign and displays correctly. If you’re wondering whether everything’s alright with your email GIF, try editing your email template in Blocks: it allows you to preview all the elements and check whether they display correctly, and what’s more, it’s code-free! 

Look at this email by Kidly: the GIF is the main element of the design and it’s responsible for creating the Christmas spirit in this campaign.

Christmas email idea: a GIF with dancing penguins and snowflakes

Experiment With Collages in Your Christmas Campaign

If you don’t know what pictures to add to your Christmas email template, add a collage! It looks fresh and draws people’s attention to the content.

Christmas email template with a collage and heading: last minute passive aggressive gift guide

Add a Comic Strip to the Template

Pop art style is one more unhackneyed way to present your content in Christmas email templates. It makes your email look catchier and fresher than the same email with the usual pictures.

Holiday email template with a pop-art picture

Include Customer Reviews in Your Christmas Campaign

A high-quality customer review is a No. 1 tool for increasing sales, so why not use it in a Christmas email? Look at the way Judy included a customer review to the New Year campaign: it’s not only about the review, but also about the way it’s presented.

Christmas email with a customer review and a heading: ready or not, here comes the new year

Use the Familiar User Interface in a Template

What if a subscriber discovers a familiar user interface in an email campaign? Everlywell tried it in their holiday email: they used a banner with the iMessage interface and this detail became the killer feature of the whole email!

Christmas email idea: an email with the iMessage interface and a dialogue: "The real holiday treat?" - "..."

Draw the Subscribers’ Attention to the Main Purpose of Your Email

It’s okay to just point out the main purpose of your Christmas campaign and make your subscribers see it right away. For example, the next email brings the discount to the front in a stylish way.

Christmas email campaign with a banner: 15% off everything

Give Subscribers the Options to Choose From

Want to give several offers in one Christmas email campaign? There is a way to do it delicately: just make the offers match your brand style, keep them interesting, and don’t include too many offers in one email.

Christmas email idea: an email template with cats' photos and a caption: their best year ever

3 Practical Tips for Crafting a Christmas Email Signature

Add even more festivity to your Christmas template by creating a holiday email signature. Our tips will help you craft the perfect Christmas signature and make your email even more personal and memorable.

Include Christmas Imagery

Embrace the holidays by including Christmas images in your email signature. These could range from Christmas trees to candles or presents, or anything else associated with the occasion! You can make your Christmas email signature highly stylized and original, or stick to something more regular and traditional.

Christmas email signature in the form of an Advent wreath

Keep It Consistent with the Brand Design

Craft the holiday email signature to fall in line with your brand design. Additionally, pay special attention to the overall layout of your email to keep it clear and coherent. 

Mac Paw showcases a great example, with a simple yet stylized signature that underlines the overall newsletter design. Such consistency ensures that the signature blends seamlessly with other elements of the email.

Christmas email template with a cat on the banner and a heading: wake up the tiger on your friend's Mac

Go for Minimalism by Using Text Only

If you feel that images aren’t a good fit for your Christmas email signature, ditch them and use simple text instead. Congratulate your subscribers with the upcoming holidays in a more creative way or keep it more down-to-earth, like Alexander Interactive did in its signature. And, of course, don’t forget to include the name of your company and/or logo since these are the essentials of a holiday email signature.

A simple Christmas email signature with text and logos

Working person with dog

Get inspiration for your Christmas email templates

Check our template gallery!

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Mistakes in Christmas Email Campaigns 

You might miss out on additional holiday sales because of the mistakes in your Christmas email templates. Look at the good and bad examples of Christmas email campaigns below and check  your email designs for the following mistakes. 

1. Be Careful With the Fonts 

Don’t try to make your emails look fancy by using enough fonts to choke a reindeer. When you try to accentuate every line, the main idea of the text gets lost. 

How many fonts can you count in the email below?

Christmas email template with 6 different fonts: Merry Christmas, there's no Christmas without a gift

Solution: Use 2-3 fonts per email. Keep in mind that not all email providers support custom fonts. The best solution: choose standard fonts and try to come up with creative solutions for other email elements. And if you want to underline a message, create a neat CTA that will actually stand out.

Christmas email campaign: the ugly sweater party

2. Don’t Centralize the Copy

Using central alignment for a large text is usually a bad idea: it makes the email look like a poem (or even a ballad) and feels rather odd. The main rule here is avoid using central alignment, underlined, italic, and bold text to highlight big fragments of text.

A centralized Christmas email copy: make holidays more appetizing

Solution: Use left alignment and make sure to break the text into digestible pieces. If you want to create something unusual, go for broken grid design.

Christmas email campaign with the broken grid design

3. Don’t Make Your Christmas Email Copy Too Long

If you write walls of text, your subscribers simply won’t read it. It’s a lose-lose situation: the subscribers won’t get your message, missing out on your offer while you will lose your potential profit.

Christmas email template with two photos of children and a long copy

Solution: Keep the text to a minimum and break it into blocks. Here’s a perfect example of how you can remind your subscribers to make a purchase early in a laconic way.

Christmas email idea: a bubble with a caption "Order by Dec 10th for holiday delivery"

Don’t make your footer twice as long as your email. We understand that some information belongs in the footer only, but it’s not a place for showing off and telling your whole story. Its aim is to give the most necessary information: ways to contact you, a link to a website, social media links, etc. So, please, leave out the number of your awards or the name of your dog unless it’s vital.

Christmas email with a heading: Seas & Greetings

Solution: Keep your footer simple. A nice footer should contain:

  • the unsubscribe link (!)
  • your address 
  • social media links
  • legal information like privacy policy, terms and conditions, and copyright.

5. Don’t Use Too Many CTAs and Colors 

If you use too many CTAs and colors in one email, a subscriber will be more likely to close the email than try to figure something out.

Christmas email campaign with a heading "Twelve ways to Trello" and a list of CTAs

Solution: Use one or two clear CTAs that will resonate with the audience. We should highlight the most important information in the email and give subscribers a little nudge in the right direction.

Christmas email campaign with a banner that shows a bottle and a glass and a caption: "The low alcohol, low stress, Christmas gift"

Want to Сreate More Christmas Email Templates in Less Time? 

Try our code-free drag-n-drop editor: it will save your resources and optimize the time spent on email design and coding. Make more Christmas email templates in less time with Blocks! Try it for free

If you want to learn more about other email marketing conferences and expos read our articles about the April Fool’s Day, International Women’s Day, or Easter

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