15 Christmas email marketing ideas with examples to boost your holiday campaigns

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The holiday season brings more than just a festive atmosphere—it’s a golden opportunity for ecommerce brands to connect with prospects and customers in meaningful ways.

But competition is fierce this time of year—which means you have to stand out if you want to win.

Your holiday email marketing is a good place to start.

To help you generate buzz about your products, enhance customer engagement, and drive end-of-year sales, here are a few of our favorite Christmas email marketing ideas.

1. Start your Christmas email marketing efforts early

The pre-Black Friday period is the prime time for all holiday promotions. Planning your Christmas emails around major shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday lets you cover a bigger share of the holiday shopping market, helping your brand stay top-of-mind throughout the season.

Take POPFLEX as an example. In 2023, the workout brand wanted to take their BFCM sale to new heights by creating an intimate VIP experience for every customer. To do that, they had to start early.

First, POPFLEX ran a shopping spree giveaway in October, requiring entrants to create holiday wishlists on their site. Nearly 100,000 customers entered. Then, throughout the rest of Q4, the brand used the information they gathered from those wishlists to target their holiday messaging to each subscriber’s unique interests and position within the customer lifecycle.

All of the above contributed to a record-setting 2023 holiday season for POPFLEX. “The first day of our Black Friday sale last year was our best day in the history of the company,” says Jen-Ai Notman, POPFLEX vice president of marketing. “And the first hour that we opened was the best hour we ever had.”

People love early-bird sales, product drops, and special offers like giveaways because it means they can get in on the action before everyone else, which creates a sense of exclusivity. It’s a marketing strategy that benefits you as well by helping you:

• Generate buzz and build suspense early on.
• Avoid shipping delays during peak holiday shopping season.
• Build customer loyalty by offering special deals only to your subscribers.

Don’t have the resources to take a leaf out of POPFLEX’s book? Keep it simple. Here, for example, The Imagination Spot advertises their early-bird Christmas sale on their blog in late October. The stationary brand rewards early customers with a promo discount on greeting cards and creative supplies, which make a great Christmas gift for both kids and adults.

Christmas email marketing tip: In your Christmas emails, consider adding a countdown timer to create excitement and urgency. These work particularly well for flash sales, special promotions, and holiday messaging.

2. Use segmentation to personalize your Christmas emails

Segmenting your audience helps you create a more meaningful connection with your subscribers by sending them messaging they’re more likely to find relevant.

For a seasonal business like European candle brand JewelCandle, using Klaviyo to identify loyal shoppers based on previous buying behavior is essential in driving sales during Q4. The brand manages high seasonal demand by sharing exclusive offers to encourage their VIPs to start their Christmas shopping in early November.

With loyal shoppers securing their Christmas gifts early, JewelCandle can focus on converting new subscribers over BFCM and in the run-up to Christmas. The results? 30% of JewelCandle’s revenue is attributable to Klaviyo.

If you’re not sure where to start, your Christmas email marketing segmentation might mirror your BFCM email marketing segmentation. Consider sending different types of Christmas email marketing to the following segments:

• Engaged segment: If you’re emailing a few times per week, your engaged list is people who have opened or clicked on an email within the last 30–60 days. If you’re only emailing a few times a month, you may want to expand this list to 90–120 days.
• VIP segment: You may define your VIPs based on dollar value, number of purchases, or subscription length, depending on your business model. Every brand defines their VIP list differently, but these are basically your most loyal customers.
• Previous Q4 purchasers segment: These are people who converted on holiday emails or texts in previous years.

Christmas email marketing tip: Christmas email marketing is just one piece of a strong omnichannel holiday marketing strategy. Note that VIP programs are especially well suited for SMS.

3. Promote an offer that makes sense for your brand and audience

Promotional offers are a no-brainer during a peak sales season like Christmas. When your audience feels like they’re getting something special, they’re more likely to respond positively, making the holiday season a win for both you and your customers.

But not all Christmas promotions are created equal—and not all offers make sense for every brand, or every audience. Here are a few types of offers to consider:

• Limited-time discounts: Create urgency with time-sensitive offers that encourage quick decisions. Limited-time deals can prompt subscribers to act fast, increasing your chances of converting interest into sales. If you’re using discount codes, consider tailoring them to the holiday season.
• Exclusive offers for VIPs: Reward your most loyal customers with exclusive discounts or early access to sales. This not only strengthens their loyalty but also reinforces the idea that they’re a valued part of your brand’s community.
• Bundle deals: Encourage larger purchases by offering discounts on bundled products. This strategy not only boosts your average order value (AOV) but also helps customers discover new products they might not have tried otherwise.
• Free gift: Move some stock by giving it away for free, either as a free gift with purchase or a BOGO deal. People love a freebie, sometimes even more than a discount.
• Free shipping: Offer free shipping for orders over a certain dollar threshold to increase AOV and boost sales.

This Christmas email from fashion brand Straightforward not only highlights a two-day Christmas Sale with a clear timeframe, but also offers free shipping on orders over a certain amount and throws in a free gift for higher spenders. It’s a smart, simple way to add extra value without cluttering the message. Throw in the classic “Buy more, save more” strategy, and you’ve got yourself one convincing Christmas promotion.

Christmas email marketing tip: If you’re not sure which offer makes the most sense for your brand, run an A/B test like Brava Fabrics. The sustainable and ethical fashion brand used A/B testing to learn whether offering a universal discount was more effective than offering the chance to win a sign-up contest with a single, one-time prize.

“We used to offer a 10% discount if people subscribed. But when we tested a contest where people could win €300 in free products for signing up, we discovered the two offers performed identically,” says Ivan Monells, co-founder of Brava Fabrics.

4. Put together a Christmas gift guide

Attract gift-givers this Christmas season by making their lives a little easier during a stressful time of year. One way to do this: put together a Christmas-themed gift guide to help your customers choose the right present for their family members and friends.

Gift guides are a smart Christmas marketing idea for a few reasons. They can:

• Give your subscribers new shopping ideas.
• Advertise specific products and control your inventory.
• Enhance conversions from people who might not otherwise realize they can purchase some of your products as gifts.

To put together your Christmas gift guide, you can create a list of your best-selling items or promote overstock products to clear out inventory. Or, divide products by price range, occasion, or customer persona.

Here, see how culinary brand Momofuku focuses their Christmas email on advertising a gift guide that includes a selection of food products with foodie appeal. The email’s bold headline, “Make holidays more appetizing,” is paired with a prominent CTA button as well as images of nicely packed food items decorated with Christmas-themed motifs, waiting to be picked as gifts.

Christmas email marketing tip: When communicating about your gift guide, be clear about your shipping and delivery policies. There’s nothing worse than ordering a gift for Christmas, only to have it arrive after the New Year. Your customers deserve transparency. If their order isn’t going to be there in time for the holiday, communicate that clearly.

5. Make gifting exciting with a Christmas mystery box

If you’re looking to add a bit of excitement to the shopping experience and turn it into a unique adventure, try a mystery box in addition to or instead of a gift guide.

Your options are endless for what to include in your Christms mystery box, but here are a few ideas:

• Include your best-selling items.
• Add overstocked products to the box to clear out inventory.
• Include at least one product of significant value.
• Mix different product types to make the box versatile.
• Include limited-edition or Christmas-themed products.

When promoting your Christmas mystery box, you want to reveal just enough information to pique your audience’s curiosity—the number of products inside, for example, or the box’s approximate value. If all products combined are worth $50, lower the price of the box to $45 or $40 to make your subscribers feel like they’re getting a good deal.

Christmas email marketing tip: Create an unforgettable unboxing experience by adding personalized thank-you notes and using quirky packaging materials for your mystery boxes.

That’s something customers of The Bali Market appreciate about their buyer experience—the brand’s cozy towel and blanket shipments include a special personal touch in the form of a small handwritten note that shows care.

6. Count down to Christmas with an online advent calendar

Get into the Christmas spirit by surprising your subscribers with a digital advent calendar. It’s a fun way to spark curiosity, keep your brand top of mind, and drive daily traffic to your online store.

With a digital advent calendar, your audience can count down the days until Christmas and unwrap special surprises, such as:

• Free gifts
• Discounts on specific products
• Expert tips and fun facts
• Mini versions of your most popular products
• Free shipping
• New product reveals

Christmas email marketing tip: Not sure where to start building your brand’s advent calendar? Klaviyo integrates with Odicci, a gamification platform that lets you customize every element of your advent calendar to create a fun and exciting experience.

7. Make Christmas emails fun with games

Speaking of gamification: ecommerce brands tend to go all out with their Christmas marketing strategies, so it’s easy for consumers to feel overwhelmed with choices. To stand out in inboxes flooded with generic holiday messages, make Christmas marketing more fun by incorporating gamification into your emails.

Imagine the excitement your subscribers feel when they open an email and, instead of the typical messaging urging them to “buy now,” they get to play a quick game or take a fun quiz. Gamification not only keeps subscribers engaged, but also makes them feel more connected to your brand.

Bonus: as people play, you learn more about their preferences—and that’s valuable data you can incorporate into your marketing efforts in the future. It’s a win-win that turns a simple email into an enjoyable, memorable experience.

Christmas email marketing tip: Not sure where to start with gamification? Use Klaviyo’s Playable integration to:

• Create a Christmas-themed memory game and offer your subscribers prizes like special discounts, free shipping, or gifts.
• Create a Christmas quiz and encourage your subscribers to participate with unique rewards.
• Add a luck-based game like a spinning wheel or scratchcard to your emails.

8. Make gifting less stressful for procrastinators

According to Klaviyo’s 2024 consumer spending report, 30% of consumers wait until December to do their holiday shopping. Don’t forget about these last-minute shoppers!

To increase conversion rates during the final shopping days of the season, launch a series of targeted emails in the final week before Christmas with urgent delivery options and last-chance deals.

Here, see how Bellroy, a brand that sells tech coverings and travel products, offers subscribers an easy way to get their loved ones a gift card toward the end of the gifting season—practical and to the point.

9. Celebrate the season of giving through charity work

Christmas is known as the season of giving. Express kindness and gratitude by donating to those in need. You might, for example, find a charity you’d like to support and donate some of your products or a portion of your Christmas sales revenue to it.

London Sock Co. recently took this approach to great success. In addition to their 10% holiday discount, they donated two pairs of socks to a homelessness charity for each purchase made by a customer. Doing this allowed them to honor the quality of their product, while incentivizing their customers to buy—and do a good deed in the process.

The results: a 180% increase in AOV during the 2020 holiday season.

Christmas email marketing tip: Invite your audience to participate in the season of giving by sending in user-generated content about their own charity efforts, or using a hashtag to share on social.

10. Wish your subscribers a Merry Christmas

Christmas is the perfect time to deepen your connection with subscribers by sending thoughtful greeting cards that show you value them beyond their purchases.

This marketing idea is less about pushing sales, and more about building trust. You’re reminding your subscribers that your relationship isn’t solely transactional, but also based on appreciation and genuine connection.

Here are a few ideas:

• Create online greeting cards with a Christmas-themed color palette and elements, and write 2–3 sentences to wish your audience a Merry Christmas.
• Take pictures of your team and include them in your email to remind your audience your business is made up of real people like them.
• Scan your handwriting and use it on the Christmas card email to make it more personal.

Here, furniture brand Poppin keeps their Christmas email simple and straightforward, speaking to their customers directly and bringing a little joy to their day. Notice how the email doesn’t even include a CTA, reinforcing the brand’s relationship with subscribers rather than focusing on transactional goals.

11. Pull back the curtain on your brand

Giving your subscribers a behind-the-scenes peek at your brand can be another smart way to invite them to build a deeper connection with your business at a time when every other email seems to be asking for a sale.

Here are some suggestions for your behind-the-scenes Christmas emails:

• Organize a Secret Santa with your employees and share images from the event with your subscribers.
• Show how your team is preparing your products for the Christmas sale as a teaser.
• Do interviews with your employees and ask them how they spend Christmas and what they like most about it.

12. Share a year-end recap

Christmas is the perfect time to reflect on the past year and celebrate milestones. Using this opportunity to share a yearly recap with your subscribers can do wonders for customer loyalty and create a positive brand association.

In your recap, share how important your customers are for your brand, and maybe even gift a special discount as a token of appreciation. For example, you could highlight that you’ve hit a new sales record, explain you couldn’t have done it without your customers, and give them a limited-time deal on some of your products.

Finish your Christmas recap by summing up your plans for next year and creating teasers about what your brand has in store for your customers.

13. Write an attention-grabbing subject line

When you’re ready to actually send out your Christmas email, remember that any successful email starts with an effective subject line. Your Christmas email subject lines should be eye-catching, evoke the holiday spirit, and align with your brand’s voice.

Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:

1. Be specific: Include details that clearly reflect your Christmas offer inside.
2. Evoke emotion: Boost the festive spirit by playing into the right emotion, whether it’s joy, nostalgia, or excitement.
3. Spark urgency: Highlight limited-time Christmas offers or exclusive deals without sounding pushy.
4. Keep it short: Aim for 6–10 words to ensure your subject line is fully visible, even on mobile devices.

To give you a better idea of what your subject lines may look like, here are some Christmas-themed examples:

• Holiday Deals You Can’t Miss! 🎄
• Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List
• Last Chance for Christmas Delivery!
• Holiday Cheer Starts Here

Christmas email marketing tip: Out of inspiration? Klaviyo’s subject line assistant can help you craft the perfect Christmas subject line that reflects your brand and offer in no time.

14. Embrace the holiday spirit in your email design

Your email design is one of the first things your subscribers will notice when they open your Christmas email. The right color palette or a few Christmas-themed symbols and illustrations can help catch your audience’s attention and create a more inviting atmosphere.

You might add a few subtle snowflakes here and there, update your header or footer, or fully embrace the Christmas spirit in your featured images to make your emails stand out. Here, see how Methodical Coffee keeps their Christmas email design minimalist, while still evoking the Christmas spirit through an image of a snowy night that calls for a warm family gathering.

15. Get your Christmas emails ready with Klaviyo

Klaviyo is your valuable ally in creating high-performing Christmas email campaigns. From customizable email templates to advanced segmentation and Klaviyo AI, Klaviyo can help you create holiday-themed emails, tailor your content to different customer groups, and optimize your emails for better Q4 performance.