Thanksgiving Email Marketing Ideas Your Subscribers Will Fall for

Thanksgiving opens the door to the very special and busy shopping season — 40% of festive spending happens over the feast weekend. At the same time, this holiday is about giving thanks and spending time with family and friends. So email marketers need to consider this fact not to limit their campaign to simple hot deals and special offers but think of expressing gratitude in a more sophisticated way.

In this article, we’ll come up with 10 Thanksgiving email ideas to satisfy any taste and needs and bring your subscribers as much value as possible.

Get ready for your Thanksgiving email marketing campaign

Creating a Thanksgiving email marketing campaign, first of all, means a well-thought strategy that starts with a goal you want to achieve. So, set a clear objective and get onto it.

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Analyze your previous campaigns

Study the results of your past Thanksgiving email campaigns to choose the right tactics for the ongoing one: which subject line and time of the day generated higher opens, what perks received more clicks to offer, or so.

Clean and segment your database

Clear your mailing list from the subscribers who haven’t opened or clicked your emails for the past three months. Then, segment the rest of the contacts based on their preferences, age, purchase behavior to provide them with relevant Thanksgiving offers.

Schedule your Thanksgiving email campaign

Take a minute to understand what you are to offer to your customers. Then, decide how many messages you need to send — just one email on Thanksgiving or a series of emails leading up to it — and create an email calendar. To schedule your emails at the right time, study the time zones of your customers.

Create Thanksgiving-themed email subject lines

Think of a subject line that will hook your recipients and compel them to open your Thanksgiving email. For example, you can use emoji to make your subject line stand out in the recipient’s inbox:

Once you’re done with these preparation steps, it’s time to create a holiday email template and fill it with your festive content. Here are 10 tips on how to do it followed by holiday email examples from different brands to fuel your own Thanksgiving email ideas.

1. Add visual content to set the festive mood

Start the holiday email marketing season with creating the corresponding mood in your subscribers’ inboxes.

Take a look at an email Anthropologie sent to their audience. The GIF features a holiday dinner table and a simple greeting which fill the email with holiday vibes. Along with sending their best wishes to the customers, the company also adds value to their campaign by providing the users with gift ideas in the footer of the email.

2. Give shopping inspiration

According to the statistics, an average customer spends $320 on presents over the Thanksgiving weekend, so an email with shopping ideas will always come in handy.

In their email, Neiman Marcus, for example, shared six tips on how to reduce the pre-Thanksgiving fuss. The company came up with a checklist for the big-night eve, adding a discount for every corresponding item.

3. Suggest festive looks

Although Thanksgiving is mainly a house-bound eve by the fireplace, some people might crack their head over what to wear. Create an email with outfit ideas to cater for all tastes and companies the recipients are to celebrate the holiday with.

This is what Bonobos did in their Thanksgiving email campaign. The brand relieved the stress of those deciding on what to wear with three looks: to celebrate with a date, with family or with friends.

4. Create a Thanksgiving to-do list

Bonobos also cared about the preparation for the holiday by providing their subscribers with a list of things to be ticked off before the festive night. This way they both promoted their clothing and made sure users wouldn’t miss out on anything in the pre-holiday rush.

5. Offer recipes

Subscribers may be puzzled with what to give as well as what to cook for the big night. Although there is always the traditional Thanksgiving turkey-and-gravy menu to follow, you could come up with alternative recipes for those who want to refresh their dinner table.

Mario Batali, for example, sent an email with a video recipe of the chef’s family meal, accompanying it with other cooking ideas and a ready-made Thanksgiving menu.

6. Encourage to help others

Thanksgiving is not only about giving thanks; it is also about sharing. Some companies organize Thanksgiving giveaways or fundraising sales and events to help less fortunate people. In fact, $116 million was raised online for charity in 2015 over the Thanksgiving period.

Take a look at the Thanksgiving email campaign launched by B2B Marketing Exchange. They informed that money received from the marketing event ticket sale would be donated to charity, in particular, to help families in need.

7. Share tips and ideas

Shopping isn’t the only option to get presents. Fuel up subscribers’ creativity by offering decoration tips or ideas of Thanksgiving self-made presents.

Animoto, for instance, offered their subscribers to create a video with the thanks using their platform. The service accompanied their offer with ideas what to fill the video with and how to use it.

8. Reward loyal customers

Express gratitude in your Thanksgiving email marketing campaign with a tempting offer for your subscribers.

MarketingProfs, for example, presented their subscribers with a chance to use their service for free for the rest of the year.

9. Come up with a post-holiday plan

Even when the holiday buzz is over, people are still longing for some holiday spirit. Bring it to their inbox by sending a post-festive email with the corresponding content.

Mario Batali, for example, offered top-5 recipes one can use to make their feast go on with new meals.

Yoga Journal, in their turn, reminded their subscribers that Thanksgiving shouldn’t be limited to one-night celebration. In their email, they offered a list of reasons to continue giving thanks every day.

10. Give Thanks

Use Thanksgiving as a good occasion just to thank your subscribers for using your service or products.You can make a list of things your team is thankful for.

This is what Chubbies did in their Thanksgiving email campaign. The company counted their blessings right in the email with a bit of humor, which is a part of the brand corporate style.

With the pocketful of inspiring ideas, you’re all set to create an insightful Thanksgiving email campaign, showcasing not only hot deals and special offers but also your care and appreciation. Use SendPulse to create your own Thanksgiving email marketing template and have a successful little holiday campaign. And we, for our part, can’t but thank YOU for using our service!