In a perfect world, your company’s season's greetings email would already be finished. Those tidings of cheer and goodwill to all would be sat in your scheduled campaigns queue, ready to land in your subscribers’ inboxes. 

But who ever said the world was perfect?

If you’re feeling a bit like a last minute shopper browsing the gift options in the late night supermarket on Christmas Eve - don’t panic. We’ve got you covered.

In this article, we’ll quickly cover off a few do’s and don’ts around festive B2B email campaigns and hopefully you’ll pick up some tips on how to wrap the year up in style. 

Our Do’s and Don'ts for B2B Holiday Email Marketing

Do:

• Segment your audience - If you’ve got the time, send targeted emails with appropriate messaging for each of your audiences. For example, you might want to spend some time crafting something a little more personal for existing customers and VIP prospects. However, take your data quality into consideration. Be more Santa. Make your lists and check them twice to make sure your information is accurate. If you’ve got data cleaning high on your list of tasks for 2022 because you know you have quality issues, now might not be the best time to experiment with marketing automation.

• Aim for human connection - If you’ve got the data, use it. Lean into personalisation and add simple personal touches, like mentioning their name. You can also create a connection if you’ve got the time and ability to make a short video greeting from your team to theirs. You don’t need top of the range cameras and Oscar worthy production values to make a personal video greeting.

• Make your email unique - Don't have time for the video? Find another way to make your email stand out and showcase your brand’s personality. Use festive photographs, graphics or animations. Add a little pizazz or silliness, if appropriate, with holiday lights, glitter, a fun GIF, or a tasteful joke.

• Co-ordinate across channels - Has your company put out holiday social messages or advertising? Has your website got a festive look and messaging? Make sure you’re not only on brand, but also on message.

• Add a Call to Action - While this is technically not a marketing email, it’s still a good place to remind your customers of other ways they can connect with you. Keep the message simple. Invite them to check out a blog post or two, ask them to follow on social media, or to set up a check-in for the new year. If your company supports a charity or does any community work, your CTA could highlight the work of those organisations. Take care to steer clear of self-aggrandisement. Instead, make it about paying it forward and sharing your platform.

• Focus on your subject line - Take the time to look up some tips for creating the best email subject lines. At any time of year, your subject line is as important - if not more so - than your email. After all, it’s what gets people to click and read more. Right now, your customers are likely overwhelmed by promotional mails, and maybe a little distracted by holiday preparations. A good email subject line will capture their attention and feel like it was written just for them. For some ideas on how to improve your email subject line check out our article.

• Basic Housekeeping - A simple point, but easily overlooked. Make sure your clients and prospects know when your offices will be closed for the holidays, and any changes in opening hours or expected service levels. If they’re not going to be able to get hold of anyone on the phone, let them know if you have alternative provisions - for example, online booking forms, chatbots, knowledgebases and the like. Whilst you’re at it, make sure your Google Business Listing is up-to-date with your holiday hours.

Don’t:

• Assume everyone celebrates Christmas - Not everyone does. Likewise, not everyone will be spending time with their families for a variety of reasons. Show a little sensitivity and use neutral greetings to connect with a wider audience. One option might be to focus on sending a greeting welcoming your customers into the new year instead.

• Add too much holiday - Yes, this is a great time to sneak a little personality into even the most serious of businesses. However… tread carefully. You're still writing a professional email. Your communications need to be brand appropriate. Make sure to follow your brand guidelines on voice, tone, and design. You might think now is the perfect time to break with tradition, throw in an emoji or two, or a GIF from A Muppet’s Christmas Carol. If so, ask yourself "Do I really want Gonzo to be the face of this law firm?" and read this article from Forbes on using emojis in work emails before doing anything too rash.

• Sell - At this point in the year, we’d suggest writing a heartfelt email thanking your customers for their support and looking forward to the year ahead. Trying to capitalise on a good-will message by sticking a last-minute ask into the mix will just look cynical, and maybe a tiny bit desperate. If you want to extend a festive offer to your subscribers, it should be separate from your company’s season’s greetings. It should also have been planned a good while ago so it could be handled well in this promotions-heavy time of year. Your customers are most likely all salesed out by now. They’ve just come through a blizzard of promotional mails after Black Friday (more like Fortnight!) and are still on the receiving end of a deluge of last minute gifting options. Give them and yourself a break. You’ve got the whole of next year to sell. You're not going to break through your Q4 targets in the week before Christmas.

• Forget… - This campaign might be going out to a broader audience. You may be emailing people you haven't reached out to in a while. If that’s the case, you might generate more hard bounces than usual. This is actually great news for the new year. Hard bounces are a good way to refresh your data, so schedule time to clean your email address list. Make a note to review your lists after the holidays and, where you have had bounces, look up your prospect's information. If they’ve moved to a new company, there might be a new opportunity for you. We have an article that covers email marketing data quality to help you out. Data cleaning - the perfect gift! Don’t say we never give you anything.

5 Great B2B Holiday Email Marketing Campaigns

Great B2B Holiday Emails are heartfelt and relevant. That doesn’t always mean glitzy design. Email is a very personal medium for the recipient, so the more designed an email becomes, the less personal it may feel. The extent of ‘design’ you use in your holiday emails is itself a design decision. Some of the examples we’re sharing here are clearly in the more deliberately ‘undesigned’ category. You can read more about email design trends here.

Splash 

The best email marketing is often done simply. Splash is an event marketing platform. The company created a campaign to say thank you to all event planners during the holidays. The campaign encouraged people to send thank you’s to the event planners working over the holiday season. 

Splash made the campaign simple, shareable and directed to their ideal customer. All they had to create was the email, a thank you video, and a landing page to complete the messaging. 

Vidyard

As an email customisation platform, Vidyard has to stand out. Vidyard had such amazing results in their holiday email campaign. They created a case study explaining how they improved their open rate. Vidyard created personalised videos and catchy holiday subject lines to get attention. 

The emails were shared and enjoyed by everyone. The best part is the campaign actually showcases their product without saying “buy me”. The moral of the story is personalisation really works in B2B marketing emails. 

SDL 

SDL focused a simple message around giving during the holiday season. The company sent an email out stating they would donate $1 to every reader visiting their foundation website. 

This campaign cost them one dollar for every new view, which is on par or less than the average it would cost to run an ad. The company looked good, people were helped, and the readers felt like they could make a difference. 

Copy.ai

Giving your customers tips to help them use your product throughout the holidays is a cheeky way of selling your product indirectly. There is nothing wrong with sending tips if your product can make their lives easier. 

Copy.ai did a great job sending a tip email to users on how to improve their holiday copy. This email was sent to current customers, but could also be sent to new users. When sending a how-to or tip email to prospects, make it more about the how-to and less about the product to avoid sounding like you are asking for a sale. 

Alaska Airlines

Alaska airlines kept its holiday messaging simple. They donated their services to those in need over the holidays. A simple message and landing page showcased how the company was giving back. 

Sometimes you don’t need a flashy message or crazy sale to get your customer or prospects' attention. Show that you are human and you care. It keeps you top of mind and doesn't leave your readers feeling overwhelmed after every other holiday message they receive. 

So, Are You Ready to Send Your Holiday Email?

A holiday email is not about selling your product. It is about building relationships with your subscribers, prospects, and customers. If you are thinking about sending one and you're worried you don’t have enough time - keep it simple. 

And if you’d like some help with forward planning in the new year, we’d love to talk with you about our  email marketing services. We have a great team of campaign planning strategists who can help you set up and schedule your holiday emails all year round.