The Ultimate Guide To Thanksgiving Emails: Ideas & Tips

Thanksgiving Email Examples

Do you think that Black Friday is the only occasion to treat your customers with special offers and discounts? Don’t ignore Thanksgiving –– the statistics say that the majority of consumers plan online shopping for Thanksgiving, so don’t miss a chance to win them over with bright and festive campaigns.

In this article, we put together the best-performing Thanksgiving email marketing techniques. Step by step we’ll guide you through the creation of a festive campaign: from crafting a catchy subject line to the contents and timing of a good Thanksgiving email.

Why send out Thanksgiving emails

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.

Thanksgiving Shopping

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.

What is the best time to start your Thanksgiving email campaign?

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:

  1. Maximize the possible buying period by sending your emails in advance. Start the campaign several days before the holiday –– it is possible that people will have other things to worry about on a festive day, and they may not read your message. A good time for a Thanksgiving email is at least the day before the date.
  2. To stand out from the crowd, you can send your emails a week after Thanksgiving. According to Adobe Analytics, it is also a great time for holiday shopping.
  3. Add a Black Friday mention to your Happy Thanksgiving email. Throwing a quick reminder about upcoming sales to the Thanksgiving campaign is an elegant way to let your customers know you appreciate them without asking to make a purchase.

How to write a perfect Thanksgiving email

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.

Create a catchy subject line

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:

  1. Express gratitude. That’s the most common marketing tactic. Thanksgiving is a nice occasion to say thank you to your customers and convey the spirit of the holiday.

Good examples:

  • With Gratitude
  • We’re EXTRA thankful today
  • Thankful. Grateful. Blessed
  • Giving Thanks
  • Thanks for being you
  • What we’re thankful for
  • A little thank you treat for you
  1. To stand out in your subscribers’ inboxes, spice up your subject line with cute themed emojis. They may be related to the holiday or not –– it depends only on your taste and your marketing strategy goals.

Good examples:

  • Ready to FALL? 🐿️🍁🌲 Start with these candles + $10 off
  • Fall-nomenal deal: 😮Your 15% OFF coupon awaits
  • Flying to the feast? ✈️ 🦃
  • Happy Thanksgiving from Ibotta 🦃
  • 2 tips for bringing the holiday party to you 🍴🎉
  • ❤️ Featuring YOU: Happy Thanksgiving From Brandless!
  1. You can start your email marketing campaigns 2-5 days before the holiday season. That’s a great chance to give people more time to read it, as many of your prospects may be busy on Thanksgiving. In this case, your subject may look as follows:
  • Yappy Thanksgiving Eve!
  • Thanksgiving Eve! 40% Off EVERYTHING!
  • Pre-Thanksgiving done right with overstuffed pizza
  • Thanksgiving prep made easy: 20% off your order – in stores & online
  • Turkey Talk: Preorder Your Willie Board Today!

Other great Thanksgiving subject lines examples:

  • Feeling Fall. Feeling Sweaters
  • It’s Decorative Gourd Season!
  • Thanksgiving Deals
  • Your Thanksgiving begins here
  • The perfect Thanksgiving outfit
  • So Fresh and So Fall
  • A Thanksgiving we’ll never forget
  • Live the give
  • Gobble Up These Deals

The contents: show some gratitude to subscribers

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.

Thanksgiving Email by Sonder
Source: Really Good Emails

This email is short but sweet, looks festive, and expresses love and gratitude to the customers. A perfect blend for marketing success!

Reward your customers

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.

Thanksgiving Email by Postmates
Source: Really Good Emails

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.

Use humor

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.

Thanksgiving Email by Foodstirs
A funny Thanksgiving checklist combined with a festive discount code will definitely make your customers smile

Be creative with your email design

Holiday-related emails are perfect to express creativity in texts and designs. Let’s look at several Thanksgiving email examples we especially loved:

Be creative with your email design 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.

Thanksgiving Email by Casper

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.

Thanksgiving Email by Vegamour

Vegamour chose a creative way to thank their customers. Just look how beautifully they added a heartfelt message under a cute design!

Thanksgiving Email by Anthropologie

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.

Best Thanksgiving email examples to get inspired by

We’ve hand-picked the best examples of Thanksgiving that combine all recommendations mentioned in this article.

Living Spaces

Thanksgiving Email by Living Spaces

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.

Urban Outfitters

Thanksgiving Email by Urban Outfitters

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.

Ibotta

Thanksgiving Email by Ibotta

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.

Sakara

Thanksgiving Email by Sakara

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

Thanksgiving Email by Brandless

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.

PetSmart

Thanksgiving Email by PetSmart

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.

Urban Outfitters

Thanksgiving Email by Urban Outfitters

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

Thanksgiving Email by Toms

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 bottom line

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:

  1. Create a compelling subject line. Be short and sweet, add some emoji –– this day it is appropriate to have some fun, and play with words.
  2. Choose an appropriate time. It is better to plan your festive campaign in advance and send it a few days before the date. But it’s also appropriate to choose a week after Thanksgiving to treat the customers with special offers and thank them.
  3. Make a great message. It is recommended to be brief –– this day your prospects may be busy with some household tasks and don’t have enough time to read a long message. Offer a discount or simply express gratitude –– it depends on the purposes of your campaign. Remember that sometimes it is OK to say thank you not only to the customers but also to your team: it will improve the reputation of the brand.
  4. Play with the design. You can try to stand out from the crowd and be creative, or make a traditional Thanksgiving postcard with classic themed elements: turkey, autumn leaves, pumpkins, etc. To find inspiration for your campaign, check out our examples and study the best Thanksgiving email practices.

Have a happy holiday season!