Thanksgiving week is the time when most customers shop for the holiday season. In 2023, a record 200.4 million Americans shopped online and in-store. Thanksgiving Day alone brought businesses $5.6 billion in revenue. The average amount spent on holiday-related items was over $321.
This year, over a third of Americans are worried about their financial future which means potential spending cuts. However, these concerns have been relevant for a long time. In 2022, for example, concerns over inflation and the economy dominated people’s minds. That’s why you should still explore Thanksgiving marketing and try to make holiday sales using email campaigns. Just remember that this year, your audience is probably focused on budgeting and may be reluctant to purchase products without appealing incentives.
The festive period is a great marketing opportunity to remind customers about your brand, treat them with special offers and discounts, and simply thank them for their loyalty. It will make your relationships warmer and more effective.
Good timing matters a lot for your email campaign because it affects open rates, sales, and even your brand’s reputation. Follow these simple steps and your Thanksgiving emails will be a success:
For precise day of the week and hour recommendations, check out our article on the best time to send emails.
If you are not sure where to start your Thanksgiving message, follow our step-by-step guide to win the hearts of your customers during this time of the year.
The email subject lines are the first thing your customers see when they open their inboxes. They should be enticing enough to make the prospects read a message.
There are several ways to craft your Thanksgiving subject line:
Good examples:
Good examples:
Other great Thanksgiving subject lines examples:
Want to see more examples? Check out our article on Black Friday email subject lines and grab your subscribers’ attention.
As soon as you’ve determined the subject line, it’s time to write a sweet but persuasive message.
Thanksgiving is a great occasion to express gratitude. Keep your email short and to the point but convey appreciation, which is the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Remember that this day your customers have a lot of other things to do ( 🦃 won’t cook itself), so don’t make it too long.
Here’s a nice example from a plant-based supplement company JoySpring that uses all the best practices of writing Thanksgiving messages. It has appealing visuals, thanks the customers while sharing the company’s values and vision, and also subtly announces the upcoming sale.
This email is short but sweet, looks festive, and expresses love and gratitude to the customers. A perfect blend for marketing success!
Sometimes just saying thank you may not be enough. Show your customers how valuable they are to your business with an exclusive offer in your email message.
This message by Postmates leverages the opportunity to treat customers and grow their business at the same time. Offering a free credit for Thanksgiving day is an easy and elegant way to remind your clients how thankful you are to them. Plus, it is a great marketing opportunity since not all of their email contacts are going to cook, some will definitely order takeout.
If the tone of your brand allows that, add some humorous vibes to your copy. Sure, there is no need to turn the whole message into puns and comics like in Halloween-themed emails or Black Friday campaigns, but adding a couple of fun paragraphs or a funny subject line could be appropriate.
You can make a fun landing page or article to go along with your ironic holiday email marketing campaign. For example, this humorous email from a content studio and strategy agency 8AM Creative persuaded us to click on the link and read the perfect speech this company prepared for its subscribers.
Holiday-related emails are perfect for expressing creativity in texts, email templates, and designs. Let’s look at several Thanksgiving email examples we especially loved:
That’s an example of a Thanksgiving email marketing campaign by Uber. Adding a GIF to your email is a nice idea: it makes a message more vivid. The creators neatly wrapped educational contents up in bespoke illustrations –– looks fresh, festive, and conveys a proper holiday atmosphere.
An email by Casper looks minimalist yet tasty and interesting. A big pumpkin pie is the main accent in the design, standing out among the total gray background. This contrast makes it look even more mouthwatering.
Vegamour chose a creative way to thank their customers. Just look how beautifully they added a heartfelt message under a cute design!
Another Happy Thanksgiving email example by Anthropologie. Again, a sweet and pretty GIF with a Thanksgiving dinner set on it –– a cute way to design your festive message and delight your email contacts.
Sure, you can send one email on Thanksgiving Day and call it quits, but there’s merit in continuing the sequence. You can create relevant content and connect with your audience based on their post-holiday experiences and needs.
Apart from announcing the end of the sale, you can suggest the best Thanksgiving leftover dishes or ways to ground oneself after spending a lot of time in group settings.
Olive oil producer Graza made an email focused on cooking fatigue. This campaign is funny and relatable with easy recipes for those who don’t really want to prepare anything complicated anymore.
We’ve hand-picked the best examples of Thanksgiving that combine all the recommendations mentioned in this article.
This email with the company’s founder’s personal thoughts not only strengthens the brand’s relationship with its clients but also announces an early start of the Cyber week sale.
As we’ve already mentioned, it is appropriate to mention your Black Friday sales in Thanksgiving emails. Urban Outfitters makes it funnily and memorably. Such an approach helps make your messages stand out among countless samey-looking Thanksgiving and Black Friday campaigns.
That’s an example of sales-oriented Thanksgiving email campaigns. But it’s still short, sweet, and conveys a festive mood with warm colors and slices of a pie. By the way, the design is clean and simple, and the whole email may be used as a successful Thanksgiving email template to base your own sales emails on.
Here the brand neatly uses an opportunity to thank the customers and express appreciation for their loyalty. What is also special about this email? It shows gratitude not only to the customers but also to the team, chefs, and farmers. Such a message may not drive sales right away, but it gives a good showing to your brand.
Brandless is one of the companies that understand the importance of expressing gratitude to their customers. The unique feature of this email is the usage of UGC –– User Generated Content. The company took the images from customers shared on Instagram with their branded hashtag and added them to the email body. It’s not only a nice way to convey the festive spirit, but also good social proof.
Toms chose to add some personal approach to their festive campaign showing their employees and what they’re thankful for. Adding a face to your brand is almost always a good idea: it inspires your customers and shows that your product is created by folks just like them.
This Thanksgiving email campaign is stylish and attracts subscribers’ attention thanks to the GIF. Plus, it plays well with the subject line that advertises Black Friday as an early-bird special.
This email conveys the holiday spirit and shows three possible ways to give thanks. Interestingly, the brand offers its subscribers to convert reward system points into donations. This is a convenient and feel-good way to celebrate and express gratitude.
Wondering how you can wish your customers Happy Thanksgiving and at the same time announce the upcoming sale? Here is an esthetically pleasing email that does just that. The short copy celebrates the company’s customers and at the same time gently pushes them toward conversion.
Personalization is one of email marketing’s key benefits. It’s commonly used in the subject lines but can extend far beyond them. For example, you can make different versions of one copy to address distinct customer segments.
Nail polish brand UN/DN LAQR changed its holiday message based on the fact that the customer hasn’t purchased anything yet. This subtle reference in the copy makes the email sound more targeted.
The majority of American families consider Thanksgiving an important holiday. That’s why your holiday email campaigns can be a powerful tool to build your brand, increase sales, or just remind you about the Black Friday sale.
To make your Thanksgiving email campaign even more effective, follow four steps:
Have a happy holiday season!
This article was originally published in November 2021 and was updated in September 2024 to make it more relevant and comprehensive
