How can you send out a great Holiday Newsletter?

An important aspect of the holiday season, for a variety of business types, is the holiday newsletter which is why we are happy to provide our tips on how to send out a great holiday newsletter.

Regardless of if your business focuses on retail or not, the end of the year newsletter is a great time to connect with customers, review what you have accomplished, and look to the future. So how can you craft a great newsletter to send out to your email list of existing customers to help boost sales or conversions not only for the holiday season but the following year?

Top Tips for a Holiday Newsletter

• Holiday Theme – With the recent Starbucks controversy, using a holiday theme might be a bit worrisome as you try not to offend anyone. That is actually quite easy – just use holiday basics for elements such has holiday colors, Christmas trees, ornaments, gingerbread cookies and houses, candy canes, wrapped presents and wreathes. The bottom line is that you must have a solid holiday theme throughout your newsletter which sets the tone for the entire piece. Avoid religious overtones and focus on the more commercially accepted design elements and focus on proper contrasts with color and you will be fine.
• Thank People – It is always a great idea to thank members or customers. You want people to feel appreciated for how they have helped your business during the entire year.
• Sales Pitch – If you are looking to generate business, such as for a retail outlet, you need to include the sales pitch at some point. The sales should be something users are interested in and perhaps tied in with an emotional draw such as, “The perfect last-minute gift,” or something similar.
• Recognize Locations – Depending on your business is structured you might want to recognize specific areas you have locations or provide services too. For example, in New York you might use design elements such as ornaments that name the five boroughs as a way to make people in those areas feel more of a local connection. Or if you are in San Francisco with business primarily centered on the Bay Area you could use the iconic Golden Gate Bridge to showcase your local aspect.
• Showcase the Brand – One thing your newsletter has to do is keep your brand front and center in people’s minds. You want your logo prominently displayed and use your primary typography with your color scheme integrated if possible in certain locations. Make it fun, festive, and brand memorable!
• Participation Links – Do you have any fun links you can add for your users? Great partner websites that they might appreciate or relevant activities they might want to be a part of over the holidays? Think, “How can I provide my customers with value outside of what I have to offer?” Perhaps you even create a fun holiday-themed game just for December and January?
• Call to Action Buttons – The main call-to-action button needs to be proximately displayed and use proper contrasts so that it is easily identifiable. Users need to easily see it if they want to click on it and sometimes people get so focused on the holiday design elements they let those overshadow the most important part of the newsletter, the call-to-action button!
• Length – Don’t go overboard and make something that is so long that people disregard the bottom half. People still are not big fans of too much scrolling even when reading email so make sure your message is short and sweet to work with people’s short attention spans.

The bottom line is that the holidays are a great time to utilize the newsletter to its full advantage. Start by clearly defining your goals such as generating sales, maintaining relationships, foster brand recognition and the like. Then combine these goals with some of our great tips and you too can send out a great Holiday Newsletter that will provide you plenty of success in the New Year.