The end of the year is a great time to boost sales through targeted email marketing. But we both know that receiving back-to-back sales emails from Halloween to New Year’s gets exhausting.

That’s why your holiday email strategy should include a few engagement emails alongside your sales emails. They’ll remind your customers you care about them as people, not just money machines.

In this post, you’ll find five engaging holiday email ideas you can send your list this Christmas season. The effort required to create them varies, letting you pick the best level of commitment for your schedule.

Engaging Holiday Email Ideas

1. Free Resource

Everyone loves free things, especially if it benefits them. Create a free holiday resource and send it to your email subscribers to help them make this busy season easier.

It could be:

• A holiday to-do list

• A holiday planner

• Printable gift tags

• Gift buying check-list

• Holiday-themed Google Sheet or Notion page

• Christmas cards

Brainstorm ideas that work best for your business and your customers. Use a program like Canva to create your resource, then send it to your subscribers with your best wishes.

2. Latest Blog Post

I’ve talked before about how sending your new blog posts to your email list is a smart idea. That goes doubly at Christmas time, especially if you’ve written helpful holiday posts.

To make sending new posts to your list easy, create a "new post" email template in your ESP. Then, all you have to do is fill in the post details and hit send.

Your subscribers will appreciate that you sent them something besides a sales email, and you’ll get more views on your new blog post (and, technically, your website). Everybody is happy!

3. Customer Appreciation

This type of email works any time of year but is especially effective around or on Thanksgiving. Just share a few lines, telling your customers how much you appreciate their business.

Remind customers how thankful you are that they chose to buy from you instead of some big corporation. They're the only reason your business keeps going.

It's especially nice to send a note like this before the chaos of Black Friday and Cyber Monday starts. Practicing gratitude before making sales can make customers feel more valued.

4. Customer Showcase

Another way to show your customers how much you love them is by featuring them in an email. Use the pictures they've tagged you in online or left with reviews to showcase your shoppers and products. Or, if you have an active following online, ask them to submit photos to be featured.

In marketing, this is called User Generated Content, or UGC. People love it because it saves them time creating content and allows them to show other potential buyers your satisfied customers.

You don't have to say anything about purchasing in this email, though. Just include the customer images and maybe a link to the product if you want.

5. Holiday Greetings

A simple email wishing your subscribers a happy holiday can go a long way. It's friendly and reminds them that there's a real person behind the business.

The important thing is not to mention sales in this email. I’ve seen some brands do it, making the emotion feel fake. Leave your Black Friday or end-of-year sales announcements for another email.

Like the thank you email, this doesn’t have to be fancy. But if you have the skills or desire, it can be fun to theme your email around the holiday. The important thing is the message you send, not how it looks.

All of these emails are great additions to your holiday marketing plan. They’ll make your customers feel loved and help you build a better relationship with them.

Could you use someone to help you with holiday sales emails like this or any other email marketing? I’d love to see if we’re a good fit! Click the button below to learn more about my services and book an intro call.