As we already said, customers spend more during the holiday season. Adobe Analytics Report states that Thanksgiving marked a massive 244% rise in sales for e-commerce giants in 2019. Smaller retailers saw an increase too –– their sales had an impressive 61% lift. According to a Deloitte holiday retail survey, 73% of shoppers are going to spend more or significantly more these days.
So, 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 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:
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:
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 Sonder that is written according to the best practices of Thanksgiving messages.
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 for your business, including an exclusive offer to your email message.
This message by Postmates leverages the opportunity to treat customers, and, at the same time, grow their business. Offering a free credit for Thanksgiving day is an easy and elegant way to remind your clients how thankful you are to them.
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, but adding a couple of fun lines could be appropriate.
Holiday-related emails are perfect to express creativity in texts 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 design, standing out among the total grey 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.
We’ve hand-picked the best examples of Thanksgiving that combine all recommendations mentioned in this article.
That’s an amazing email template from the Thanksgiving campaign by Living Spaces. They gently festively represented their products, conveying a spirit of family comfort.
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 same-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 the appreciation of 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.
As we said, puns and funny plays-on-word are welcome in Thanksgiving email campaigns. PetSmart found a creative way to win the customers’ attention: they’ve changed the name of the holiday to Petsgiving. Also, they encourage subscribers to share photos of their pets with a special hashtag. That’s also social proof, as in Brandless campaign.
Such a message will definitely stand out among other Thanksgiving congratulations. It features a fun play on words wrapped in a simple yet eye-catching design, including a clear CTA at the bottom.
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.
The majority of American families consider Thanksgiving as 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!
Others just make a list of ways. We actually explain how to make the most of each way.
21 surefire ways to grow your email list with detailed explanations and hand-picked examples. Based on research and 10+ years experience in email marketing.
