With Halloween out of the way, it’s officially the merriest season of the year! What a joyous time it is for businesses. This time of the year is recognized as the highest revenue-generating season of the year to many companies. The holidays months are a critical time for businesses to increase their sales and engage with consumers, and what better way to boost marketing than with holiday email? With the holiday season upon us, it’s time to supercharge your email marketing strategy. However, before you start blasting red and white candy-striped email templates, make sure to read our holiday email best practices for the best results.

DO Follow Spam Laws

The holidays represent big opportunities for businesses. Some of them depend on the holiday season to generate a significant amount of their year’s revenue, and the last thing you want to do is lose prospects by sending them emails they didn’t ask for or have your email end up in the junk folder. No matter what location you are sending from and where you are sending to, it’s imperative to take the time to make sure your emails are compliant with anti-spam laws from around the world, not just your own country’s.

DO Set a Goal

What is your strategy? What do you want to get out of your holiday email marketing? Always keep your goal in mind when executing your holiday emails. This will help you stay focused and set specific targets to identify what exactly you want to achieve. Goals also make it easier to evaluate your company’s performance once the holidays are over.

DO Be Creative

This is the perfect time to have fun with your emails and find a way to stand out from all the other emails in an inbox. You can do this by using a playful subject line, using a holiday-specific email design, or a special holiday discount.

DO Stay Consistent

There are multiple factors to consider when being consistent. One is your branding. Although it’s important to be creative with your holiday emails, you don’t want to venture too far outside your established brand image. Remain recognizable to your customers. Two, all of your marketing channels should be consistent. Make sure that your holiday email content is available on all of your website and social media channels. This will ensure that your audience sees your content, even if they haven’t seen your email.

DON’T Forget Mobile

Many people check their email and browse the web on their mobile devices. According to an article on Internet Retailer, mobile devices drove 30.4% of online sales during the 2015 holiday shopping season. If your holiday email campaign isn’t mobile optimized, it could land your email in the trash, or worse, the spam folder.

DON’T Forget to Follow-Up

What are you going to do with all the people who engaged with your email? A thoughtful follow-up could bring you one step closer to a sale. Try sending an additional email or two as follow-ups to remind them that the clock is ticking and the holidays are nigh. Many email marketers shy away from follow-up emails because they don’t want to annoy subscribers. However, if your offer has value, subscribers won’t be offended.

DON’T Overwhelm Your Audience

There’s a fine line between follow-up emails and spam. You don’t want people unsubscribing from your email list because you let all of the holiday fun cloud your judgment. We know it’s an exciting time of the year, but take it down a notch.

DON’T Neglect Other Holidays

Don’t just focus on Thanksgiving and Christmas! There are plenty of other holidays in November and December you can take advantage of. Make sure you seize every holiday email opportunity, like Giving Tuesday.

Please feel free to leave any other DO’S and DON’TS of holiday email marketing in a comment below. Happy marketing!