10 Top-notch Thanksgiving Newsletter Ideas to Try in 2024

An average American citizen spends around $320 during Thanksgiving weekend. A huge number in itself, this makes 40% of all holiday spendings during the shopping season from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Our article will help you craft an impactful Thanksgiving email marketing campaign, provide 5 essential tips and 10 ideas, and showcase real-world examples for your inspiration.

5 Essential Tips for a Thanksgiving Email Campaign

Thanksgiving is actually even bigger than you might expect. According to surveys, it is the most beloved holiday for Americans across generations, even more than such popular occasions as Easter and Christmas. 

A huge and important celebration requires a compelling approach to email marketing. That’s why we’ve put a list of 5 essential tips for your Thanksgiving marketing campaign. 

Be Genuine and Grateful

As already mentioned, Thanksgiving embodies the themes of gratitude and thankfulness. The same should be true for your Thanksgiving email template as well. Express gratitude toward your loyal customers and connect with your audience on a deeper level. 

For instance, Taft has turned its Thanksgiving email campaign into a heartwarming letter, addressing its subscribers with enormous kindness.

Embrace the Thanksgiving Imagery

In terms of imagery, the holiday is closely associated with food items (especially with the roast turkey and the pumpkin pie). It’s a good idea to include them in your Thanksgiving email, even if your brand is not about catering. 

Also, don’t forget about the seasonal colors, with shades of yellow and brown that would add to the overall atmosphere of your thanksgiving message.

An email from Perfumania provides a great example of this approach, combining both the Thanksgiving imagery (even turning one of the feathers into a perfume bottle) and autumn color palette.

And if your brand produces Thanksgiving-themed souvenirs and items (like, for example, in case with Spearmint Ventures here), then you have even more reasons to showcase them. Invite your customers to celebrate together with you by including a special line of products  in your Thanksgiving email.

Set a Mood with Your Email Banner

Design your email banner to create a special holiday mood. You can go for something cozy, jolly, intriguing, or anything else in between! As an example, this Taylor Stitch email creates a very warm and cozy feeling that perfectly corresponds to its line of products.

At the same time, Moosejaw email banner is filled with jokes and humorous visuals that lighten up the mood and underline its Thanksgiving deals. 

Get Creative with CTAs

When designing а call-to-action, you may stick to something tried-and-tested like “Order Here” and “Shop Now”, or take a more unique approach. This small detail adds to the overall individuality of your Thanksgiving message and may help it stand out even more. 

For example, you can make it personal and warm, like in this beautiful Thanksgiving email example by Eddie V’s Prime Seafood. Here, the CTA reads “Make Memories”, addressing the subscribers directly and inviting them to join an event that promises to be something more than just a simple holiday dinner.

Mind the Timing

As with other holidays, timing plays a significant role for Thanksgiving email marketing campaigns. 

Thanksgiving emails have 3% higher open rates during a holiday week compared to weeks preceding it. Accordingly, you can start a campaign several days prior to Thanksgiving and send your primary email on the holiday or a day before that. 

This also provides a nice opportunity to warm up your audience for the rest of the holiday season and upcoming Black Friday sales.

10 Thanksgiving Email Campaign Ideas

On top of the essentials, we’ve combined 10 more tips that may liven up your Thanksgiving emails.

Remind Your Subscribers About the Upcoming Sales

Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday (and shopping) season, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday following immediately after. 

Use it in your email marketing campaign by reminding your customers about the upcoming sales. This will give you an opportunity to promote even more special offers and keep your subscribers engaged.

An example would be this email by Google, with Black Friday deals following right after the Thanksgiving message.

Showcase a Charity

Thanksgiving email campaigns are a great occasion to highlight a charity. Show how your company helps those in need (for example, by donating a percentage of all sales) and underline the importance of such acts. You might also invite your customers to directly participate in a “greater good” by engaging them in a charity through donations or other means.

It doesn’t have to be solely monetary either: for instance, in the Thanksgiving email example below, AfterShokz introduces a special program for subscribers to trade in points for a donation.

Stay on the same page with your target audience

You know your target audience much better than anyone else. What tone do they respond to? What are they worried about? How old are they? When you answer all of these questions, you’ll understand what type of communications would be most appropriate. 

For example, if you stick to a friendly tone with plenty of jokes, use it in your Thanksgiving email campaigns as well. This would let you stand out from the rest and create unique content that grabs attention. 

Betterment went for this approach and chose a hot topic (especially for a holiday season): how to navigate through awkward conversations with relatives at Thanksgiving dinner. It’s a fun way to subtly promote your product without being annoying.

Organize a Giveaway

Follow the themes of “giving” and “sharing” and express your care for the customers by organizing a giveaway campaign. This might take the form of a simple one-time offer or an interactive game lasting several days in a row. The latter is even more engaging and makes your subscribers come back to your emails on a daily basis.

A perfect example here would be this Thanksgiving email by Fracture, announcing 12 days of giveaways.

Share Something Useful

A perfect Thanksgiving email campaign is not only about holiday sales and expressing gratitude. It should bring value as well.

This could be, for example, special holiday meals recipes, ideas for thematic clothing and decorations, or anything else that might prove useful or interesting. You provide your loyal customers with something practical and, as a result, build a deeper connection with them.

Thanksgiving email by Vitamix provides a great illustration for this tip, containing a list of ingredients for a pumpkin risotto along with the CTA to receive a full recipe.

Organize a Recipe Contest

Go beyond ordinary thanksgiving sales by launching a contest for your subscribers. For example, let them share their favorite recipes with a chance of winning a prize or, in case with this Thanksgiving email by South Dakota, being featured in a cookbook. 

You might also include some of the best recipes in subsequent emails, enhancing the community involvement even further.

Suggest Celebration Ideas

What is a typical Thanksgiving celebration? Probably a Thanksgiving feast and cozy conversations with your family. So why not use your Thanksgiving campaign to embrace holiday spirit with some additional activities?

In the Thanksgiving email example below, Tracksmith shares its approach to a good family celebration: Turkey Trot. It even offers a Turkey Trot race kit in addition to any purchase. That’s an idea both kids and adults would love!

Include User-generated Content

Bond with your subscribers by inviting them to participate in your Thanksgiving marketing campaign. 

For example, offer them to share their photos on Instagram with your branded hashtag. After that, compile the photos in your Thanksgiving email along with words of appreciation and best wishes, like James Allen Rings did in its email. This may increase user engagement and make your email feel more personal and sincere.

Invite to a Local Event

This tip might work for a local business or a designated retail outlet. Use your Thanksgiving email to promote community events, or even host one yourself and invite your subscribers. This gives your subscribers a chance to interact with your brand in person, fostering loyalty and the feeling of unity.

An example here would be this Thanksgiving email template by Coach inviting the subscribers to a local Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Send a Post-Thanksgiving Campaign

The holiday season doesn’t necessarily have to end the day after the celebration. Prolong the holiday spirit with a post-Thanksgiving email campaign. This will let you stand out from the rest of the crowd, engage with more users and (potentially) increase sales. 

Take a look at this awesome Thanksgiving email example by Salad Power. It offers an easy way for a Thanksgiving recovery: just what most of us need after all those delicious dishes.

Tips for a Catchy Thanksgiving Email Subject Line

Email subject line is an essential tool for making a first impression as 64% of recipients make a decision to open an email based on its subject line alone. And since holiday campaigns are characterized by intense competition, having a compelling subject line for your Thanksgiving email becomes critical and may significantly influence open rates.

Above everything, though, the subject line is about conveying the essence, the heart, and sometimes, the humor of your message in just a few words. With this in mind, we’ve gathered several tips on creating a Thanksgiving subject line with examples from the real-world brands.

Indicate an Urgency

Create a sense of urgency by highlighting your Thanksgiving deals right in the subject line. In addition to being eye-catching, this also urges your customers to read the email. 

You might also go for a feeling of intrigue and provide a small sneak peek into the email contents without revealing much. Here are a few examples of Thanksgiving email subject lines from well-known brands that totally smashed it:

1. Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃 Enjoy $5 off $45 online TODAY ONLY (See’s Candies)
2. LAST DAY to order your Thanksgiving 🐔 (L*Space)
3. Because those leftovers won’t last long (Blue Apron)

Show Your Appreciation

Use the Thanksgiving email subject line to express gratitude to your customers for their support. It provides a very personal touch to your email and helps strengthen the loyalty of your customers. Check out these wholehearted subject lines for inspiration:

1. Sending Grateful Vibez Your Way (AfterShokz)
2. We’re Thankful for YOU (Citizens of Humanity)
3. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. (Outerknown LLC)

Go for a Bit of Playfulness

It goes without saying that holidays are the embodiment of fun and joy. So how about putting the readers in a festive mood with puns and wordplays? A clever joke might make your Thanksgiving email subject line truly outstanding and memorable. 

Let your creativity flow, but remember to keep the subject line reasonable, short, and meaningful. Here are a few examples we’ve found funny and witty:

1. We’re stuffed with Thanksgiving outfits. 🍗 (ModCloth)
2. Let’s give them something to Gobble about (Ibotta)
3. Our quick guide to surviving Thanksgiving (Terez)

Ask Your Readers a Question

A simple and polite question in the subject line might spark sincere curiosity while also serving as a call for feedback from your readers. This might create a genuine feeling of interaction. Keep the questions simple and use the jokes appropriately:

1. Thanksgiving at yours? (Moda Operandi)
2. Flying to the feast? ✈️ (Uber)
3. Have you been keeping up with our 12 Days of Giveaways? 👀 (Fracture)

Conclusion

Thanksgiving provides excellent opportunities for a refreshing change from the usual sales-driven messages. The recipe for a compelling Thanksgiving email marketing campaign includes:

• catchy subject line;
• holiday imagery;
• creative CTAs;
• mood-setting email banner;
• and above all, a heartfelt message.

A well-crafted Thanksgiving email template might make your brand stand out in the vastness of holiday newsletters. Embrace the occasion and let your creativity shine. We wish you a happy Thanksgiving Day!