8 Tips on Writing Holiday Ecommerce Emails

This time of year, people are getting bombarded with marketing emails, so you want to get fun and festive AND right to the point. Capture attention! People want to be “Wowed” and to discover something that gets them hyped.
A sense of urgency also works well in the email subject line, as do memorable puns. You should get creative with your email subject lines and always remember a “Call-to-Action”.

During the holidays, people are always looking for that perfect gift. Framing your products as being an amazing solution can help increase the chances that your potential customer will click through to your website. One effective way to frame your premier product is to feature some less-expensive items as great stocking stuffers. This allows your main product to shine in the eyes of the consumer. You can also market a high-ticket item as being the “perfect gift” for someone. If you’re in a specific niche market, let people know your products make fantastic gifts. If your product isn’t a traditional or obvious gift idea, it helps shift the customer’s perception that it would make a clever and sought-after present.

A sense of urgency ignites action in people and makes them respond more quickly. Creating a need to act quickly speaks to people’s fear of “missing out” – FOMO. No one wants to miss out on something fantastic, but human nature dictates that people will often hold off until the last minute. It’s to your advantage to remind them how rare this opportunity is and then tell them they need to act fast.   With the holidays fast approaching, you have a built-in clock — use it!

Ever since we were kids, we have been making holiday wishlists! It’s a great way to let others know what we’d like for the holidays. Instead of leaving it up to people to make these on their own — help them out! There can be a feature on your site that allows customers to create wishlists on the spot. Then, they can send that wishlist to friends and family or just keep it as a friendly reminder for the future. Having this feature on your site should be part of your overall ecommerce marketing strategy. Promote your wishlist feature in your holiday ecommerce emails and encourage people to send the link to anyone they want.

Many shoppers abandon their carts. In fact, over 60% of online shoppers put items in their cart, but don’t ever make it to checkout (Read more tips). That means you had prospective customers in the middle of buying something but didn’t actually go through with the purchase for some reason.  Setting up an abandoned cart email is relatively simple. You can have an autoresponder campaign running that sends out emails after a certain amount of time has passed. This could be an hour, 12 hours, 24 hours, or some other specified amount of time — but since it’s the holidays, we recommend you make it quick.

Order confirmation emails are receipts and they build trust with customers.  They provide essential information on what was purchased when it can be expected, who to contact if there is a problem, as well as other important information. So use this as an excuse to include other critical information. They are a great way to promote other products that are “featured” items that the customer may have been looking at earlier. You can set these up to show items that are similar to the ones purchased or on the wishlist. This is also a great place to include a discount or a one-time offer that they can use at a later time.

Make sure your emails are short and to the point. People don’t have the time or will to read long marketing emails. Throw in plenty of eye-catching graphics while providing essential information and be sure your emails are always written in an engaging and exciting way. And remember your customers want a CALL-TO-ACTION, CTA, to let them know the next step… BUY NOW!

Value your loyal customers!  People respond positively to being valued and appreciated!  Have an email list that goes out to your most loyal customers and sends them exclusive discounts and offers. You may even want to throw in a free gift (or shipping if possible) with every purchase during the holidays to incentivize them to buy something.