This time of the year can be tough for email marketers as coming up with holiday newsletter ideas to engage subscribers isn’t easy. When I say holiday newsletters, I mean mostly on email newsletters sent right before the Christmas holidays and before and after New Years.
Although Christmas can be a great time to make some sales, most companies forget that it’s also a great time to garner audience engagement. It’s because everyone is already in the holiday spirit and you just need to stand out in a unique way with your email marketing to engage with your audience.
Whether you’re looking to create an employee newsletter for your company as internal communication professional or you’re trying to stand out as an email marketer, we are going to inspire you to create epic newsletters by highlighting 7 holiday newsletter ideas to take your Christmas and New Year emails to the next level!
So, let’s get to it, shall we?
Examining 7 holiday newsletter ideas to get your creative juices flowing
1) Dividing up information into different color blocks
Urban Outfitters, the lifestyle retail brand, really knows how to tap into the holiday spirit. They’ve created a solid email newsletter, jam-packed with inspiration for gifts to buy for Christmas. The reason the above newsletter works so well to entice subscribers is the clever use of witty copy combined with a simplistic design that works to draw the reader in.
A slick copy can really work to ensure your audience isn’t bored and that they actually scroll down to read the rest of your newsletter. Urban Outfitters knows this and they’ve put a catchy line at the very top of their email newsletter to achieve this goal effectively. “Step aside, Santa, we have the ultimate gift guide,” is a phrase that’s bound to draw the reader in, especially if they’re looking for inspiration to buy Christmas gifts for family and friends.
This email newsletter also utilizes various content blocks to divide up different information for specific audiences. Urban Outfitters knows it has both male and female audiences and they break down the information for each of their core audiences cleverly, using the color purple to entice female subscribers and using the traditional holiday color, red, to attract its male readers.
It works because the newsletter isn’t too cluttered and confusing for people who are quickly skimming it and the different color blocks help to break down the email into bite-sized pieces.
That’s some pretty slick email marketing and a great example email to inspire you to come up with more effective holiday newsletter ideas.
Bonus Tip: Instead of dividing up your email newsletter content into various blocks, you can aim to segment your email lists according to various subscribers as well, so you can always try to send separate emails to your male and female audiences based on the content you think they’ll like.
2) Using games to spark some holiday spirit
Taco Bell, the tex-mex fast food chain, sure knows how to ignite the holiday spirit. They take advantage of the holiday season to build more newsletter engagement with their audience by gamifying their email design.
By asking the subscriber to play a game with them using the theme of Christmas within the game, the chain knows it can get the attention of its subscribers fast!
And the best part is, they ensure they put their call to action, asking subscribers to order food, at the very end. This placement is very strategic as the email marketers for this specific email know that if the subscriber plays the game first, they’re more likely to be in a good mood and will probably want to end up ordering from Taco Bell afterward.
That’s a pretty cool email marketing example to add to your holiday newsletter ideas list, isn’t it?
3) Making the subscriber feel special
Stock photography provider, Stocksy, knows that during the holiday season, it’s integral to make the subscriber feel extra special.
They utilize their most pivotal and useful Christmas content, wrap the content up in visually pleasing design blocks, and gift it to their subscribers! This is an amazing way to garner long-term user loyalty!
The reason the above email is really great for sparking some great holiday newsletter ideas is that their design and photography specifically utilizes Christmas colors when advertising their different content. The content is also very specific to the needs of the audience at this time of the year. Understanding your audience’s needs is critical to successful email marketing and Stocksy accomplishes this goal perfectly!
4) Crafting copy that inspires a brand new you!
Sephora’s email newsletters are always on point! The main reason for this is that they have a solid understanding of their target audience, primarily women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.
They make their newsletter content stand out even more by taking advantage of the New Year, and ensuring their copy is worded almost in the form of new year’s resolutions. Take, for example, the part where they say, “Take Time to Reflect” or “Display your Shining Wit.” It all points to the image of a brand new you who is going to look and feel better this New Year and Sephora is going to help you achieve this goal!
They also showcase their products against a plain white backdrop, which makes their products pop out, even more, giving the newsletter a sleek and sophisticated look, just like the sophisticated women they are aiming to target.
This is email marketing is done right and an exceptional example that can help ignite some kick-ass holiday newsletter ideas in your head!
5) Using the power of interactive email design
Women’s clothing and accessories brand, Joie, goes for a simplistic yet celebratory look through the above newsletter example for New Year.
Sometimes, all you need to do is rely on the power of interactive email design, and your newsletter will speak for itself!
It’s all the audience needs to feel special so if you’re completely out of holiday newsletter ideas, you may want to go for a simplistic message that aims to spark the audience’s interest through the use of gifs or interactive elements within the email.
6) Dare to be different
I love the above newsletter design from Starbucks. It’s bold, daring and sleek. The choice to use a black backdrop is a courageous one, especially during the holiday season, when most newsletters are aiming to use traditional Christmas colors, green or red, to make their messages stand out.
But by daring to be bold and choosing black, this newsletter automatically stands out from all the other festive holiday newsletters flooding users’ inboxes this time of the year. They also choose to use gold, white and red for their fonts and other icons and images, which complements nicely against the black backdrop.
So, when thinking of holiday newsletter ideas, try going against the grain and trying out bold colors that may not necessarily be your usual brand colors. After all, if there’s ever a time to try a new color palette that isn’t part of your branding, it’s now, isn’t it?
Dare to be different with your holiday newsletter ideas, folks!
7) Going for a simple and creative look and feel
Art and design company, Lab Partners, goes for a simplistic yet super-creative look with the above holiday newsletter design. They want to promote their 50% off and they do this brilliantly through a simple interactive illustration that doesn’t aim to overwhelm the reader.
One of the biggest mistakes many holiday promotions and holiday email newsletters make is that they try to promote too many different products this time of the year with tons of different discounts and codes to attract subscribers. While this can be effective, at times all it does is overwhelm the reader, and they’re more likely to just close your newsletter without reading it properly or without taking any kind of action.
However, the simpler your newsletter design and the fewer calls to action you have within your newsletter during the holiday season, the more likely the subscriber is going to take an action without feeling overwhelmed.
So, keep the above newsletter design in mind when coming up with holiday newsletter ideas for Christmas and New Years!
Conclusion
So, there you have it! 7 email newsletter examples from various companies that have used a combination of sleek design and clever copy to attract subscribers during the busy pre-holiday and post-holiday season!
Which ones were your favorites? Share with us in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!
Filza Naveed is a Content Marketing Specialist for ContactMonkey, an organization focusing on innovative solutions for internal communicators, such as email tracking and providing responsive HTML email templates. Filza is passionate about providing value to internal comms professionals by enabling them to create engaging employee experiences. During her free time, she’s exploring various community events in Toronto and practicing yoga. You can connect with her on Twitter.
