Let’s start with some stats:
That looks like mucho dinero!
Well, it is. Thanksgiving weekend is probably the most effective and one of the highest-grossing Holidays of the year. Other than families getting together and cooking up lavish dinner, they also splurge in giving each other gifts. After all, gifts are an indispensable part of the Holidays.
Thus, if you are a brand looking to derive maximum profits from this lucrative season, you are not alone. Many brands start fairly early, as much as three months before. Other than garnering profits, the Thanksgiving season also yields you an ROI of 51%, which is why getting your marketing right should also be your top priority.
It is probably the best time to show gratitude to the tons of loyal customers. Plus, it also provides a great time to win over some more. And to stir up the excitement, a Thanksgiving email can jumpstart your brand’s biggest sale. So, all you need to do is whip up a Thanksgiving email blast that gets you immense value and helps you stand out.
But how? Are there any best practices to craft the best Thanksgiving email campaign? But, before we dive into the subject of 9 ways you can whip up the best Thanksgiving email, here’s a quick look at how.
Here are the 6 steps to kickstart your Thanksgiving marketing planning.
1. Start Your Planning Early
Whether you are a small business, home-grown business, or a huge business, there’s no harm in starting early. A report showed how almost 70 percent of businesses are proactive and start to plan their Thanksgiving marketing plan. Starting early gives you enough time to research, plan, and execute accordingly.
2. Have a Killer Subject Line
Honestly, the holiday seasons are meant to be crowded up the customer inboxes with dozens of promotional deals and discounts. And that’s why you need an impactful or can’t-forget-after-looking style subject line to make a first impression on your customers. To make the most out of it, you should apply the “4U – Urgency, Usefulness, unique, and ultra-specific ” model to write the best email subject lines!
Here are some really great examples to start with!
Pro-Tip: Write a joke, wordplay, or but not more than 50 characters
3. Design Visually Appealing Email
Along with an effective subject line, you also need your email designs to be attractive. The designs should be well-thought-out that not only showcases creativity but is also unique from the other emails in an over-crowded inbox.
This cute little Thanksgiving email from Fossil stands out because of its sheer visual creativity. Here the straps of the watch are arranged in a peculiar way to illustrate a Turkey – probably the most common Thanksgiving element. Although this looks like an obvious design choice, yet it is creative and quickly incites curiosity among shoppers.
4. Get Your Brand Message Right
Messaging is super important as it showcases how much you care about your customers. Thus, along with the other elements, messaging combined with the brand’s voice can have a ton of positive impact.
In this example from Stitch Fix, the messaging is on the point where the email is full of gratitude. Plus, the beautiful and elegant looking email is soothing to the eye and portrays the Thanksgiving gratitude and message in a way that is sure to touch the hearts of the consumers.
5. Test. Analyze. Tweak. Repeat.
Just planning, creating, and then sending to your consumers may fall flat or do incredibly well. Plus, it’s always better to try out your options before hitting the finale launch pad. That’s why running A/B Testing with different subject lines coupled with the well-performing promotional email design can help you figure out the best ones that work for your business.
6. Wait for A crazy holiday season sale
Once, you have settled down with the best-looking and effective Thanksgiving email design, it’s time to get it out. Just hit the send button to blast your mailing list. Once done, wait for the responses and a crazy holiday season to start with that gets your incredible results.
9 Different Ways to Craft an Impactful Thanksgiving Email
Design Oriented
1. Add Minimalistic Design
While loads of brands look forward to adding Thanksgiving elements to their email template, a minimalistic design can also do wonders. Plus, in an inbox beaming with loads of Thanksgiving emails, a visually attractive design with a relevant Thanksgiving is just what you need to capture your shoppers’ attention.
Example: The Sill
Subject line: We’re thankful for sneak peeks ????
Why does it work?
This Thanksgiving email template from The Sill starts with conveying the happy feelings of Thanksgiving and then moves on to get them to explore more. The incredibly clean, and short, email design with ample whitespace and no distractions makes it pop out in the inbox housing a hundred other Thanksgiving emails from other brands. Thus, if you’re looking to add minimalistic ideas, this can serve as your inspiration.
2. Less Is More
Sometimes, brands tend to overdo and crowd up their Thanksgiving Email Newsletter designs. This only makes the brand messaging fall flat and that’s the last thing you would want. Thus, the need to innovate should not limit you to obvious email template designs but push you to get creative. And one such innovative way is to add videos to win and score some extra shoppers this Holiday season.
Example: Dancing Deer Baking Co.
Subject line Used: Thanksgiving Leftovers Challenge!
Why does it Work?
Well, less is always more. This Thanksgiving email template perfectly demonstrates that. It doesn’t take the obvious design routes, rather embeds a video that broadcasts a Thanksgiving Leftovers Challenge to spice up the wish a little more. This video contest between a MasterChef Junior contestant and an adult is enough to pique your shoppers’ curiosity and eventually get them around to click on the CTA.
Mix Up Holiday’s in The Same Email
3. Introduce Black Friday
Research shows that there’s a higher opening rate on Thanksgiving. Thus, as a brand, you wouldn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to sell more. That’s why instead of bombarding your shoppers with too many emails for every occasion, you could nail both the campaigns with this one email without being sales-y!
Example: Trtl
Subject line Used by Trtl: ???? Happy Thanksgiving ???? Holiday Deals Inside!
Why does it work?
This heartfelt Thanksgiving email design from Trtl not only stands out with its unique subject line but also gets the customers immediately hooked to the messaging. The GIF of photographs of travel enthusiasts used makes the difference. This brand also uses up the opportunity to promote their Black Friday deals, in the second section of the Thanksgiving email. Besides, Trtl also leaves no stone unturned to nail the visual aesthetics that makes this Thanksgiving email design a winning campaign.
Get Them Discounts
4. Share a Referral Code
Thanksgiving is a family holiday, where everyone purchases gifts. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to land into your shoppers’ inbox and offer a personalized referral code to every loyal customer. Establishing a referral code system not only gets you more and new customers also offer a sweet deal to the referees that often gets hard to ignore.
Example: Ibotta
Subject Line Used: Happy Thanksgiving from Ibotta ????
Why does it work?
Honestly. Why wouldn’t it work? First off, with a single referral, the referee has the chance to score up a giant “$50.” This is ardently a very good deal. The huge fonts used not only successfully captured your shoppers’ attention, who would now put more effort to read the whole email. Besides, the content used is sweet and snappy —just right for a quick read.
The enlarged referral code along with the header announcement “ENDS TOMORROW” creates an urgency that gets shoppers to act on their instincts before they lose out on the discounts. Another factor that would make all the difference is timing. After all, being in the right place at the right time makes all the difference.
5. Offer a free shipping bonanza
With the rise in demand for online stores, some businesses have levied shipping charges. Thus, giving free shipping is probably the most-used promotion for online stores. Besides, at times when the economy is unstable, a heavy shipping charge can trigger your consumers to abandon their cart. So, during this holiday time, provide your shoppers with something more than just discounts or free products, like free shipping above a stipulated order amount.
However, if you’re still clueless on how to pull this off, here are few ideas, on how to include free shipping while sending your Thanksgiving email templates:
- Add a certain expiry date or timer to your email
- Mention the exact amount needed to get the free shipping
- On specific items.
Or you can just delight your shoppers with free shipping without any minimum order. Here’s an example of how ban.do pulled it off
Example: ban.do
Subject Line Used: last deal! FREE SHIPPING + MORE
Why does it work?
This is probably the cutest Thanksgiving email ever possible with an explosion of happiness bubble gum. The color scheme used in the email radiates peace, happiness, calmness, and sheer optimism. It works great to evoke an emotional response for your shoppers and get them engaged with the brand. Besides this super sweet email, Ban.do’s email also sets the shopping mood straight.
However, not to mention, Ban.do in this holiday email campaign offers customers two great reasons to continue shopping with the brand—free products and free shipping with a minimum order value. Plus, the highlighted “FREE” sign just works fine to draw shoppers’ attention. This email is the best sales tactic and can work as a great inspiration that encourages even more purchases.
6. Offer them an additional X% OFF
Offers! Additional offers!
If you have ever received a Thanksgiving email, you would know that it comes full of different discount deals. Well, although the double-digit discounts look jaw-dropping, some don’t get through as they brush it off as a joke. But, making your discounts look natural and unobtrusive can legit make room for difference. And that’s what Nic+Zoe did.
Example: Nic+Zoe
Why does it work?
Here the brand with their Thanksgiving email template expects people to be lazy on a Thanksgiving day. And they make use of this trait to the fullest. With this email, they give people what they want to hear- that’s it okay to remain lazy, gobbling food till you drop, and stay in pajamas. The email is directed to not get the shoppers away from their comfort zone, but instead get them interested in the discounts. Besides, the gray background used isn’t a mistake, but rather it’s a color that won’t disturb the eyes of the consumers yet highlights the discount.
Some Bonus Tips
7. Solve a Problem
Holidays and traveling go hand in hand. There’s always someone who would have plans on traveling during the holidays. However, in a busy world, there’s not enough time to get acknowledged with the city conditions of the city that you are going on a holiday. Thus, helping your customers and safely guiding them through their holiday will get them engaged with the brand.
Example: Hipmunk
Why does it work?
Although this looks very different from the others, the chances are you will do them a favor not only by providing them with this useful information but also by reminding them that Thanksgiving is around the corner.
8. Send a Reactivation Code
The last way in this series to engage with your customers who haven’t been active in a while by sending them a reactivation email. This Thanksgiving email is a reminder to them of your unique offerings and how you can add value to their life. You can also add a few milestones that your business has achieved since they have drifted apart. You never know, how some old consumers like your emails, you might just be able to reignite the old flame and get them back as your regular customer.
Example: Artifact
Why does it work?
Although this email looks long and full of text. But, that’s the beauty of this Thanksgiving email. This Artifact Thanksgiving email is full of gratitude yet it also helps in reminding the shoppers about the brand.
9. Up Your Social Media Game
Well, as you smoothen out the process to amp up your Thanksgiving sales, nothing beats social media engagement. Besides, in this digital age, social media is probably the most important channel where you not only get to engage regularly with your followers but also add value to their life. This only helps you to get a step closer to understanding your consumers’ pain points a little better and establishing a relationship with them. Various social media platforms also come in handy to rope in more followers with relevant interest and convert them into a loyal customer.
Example: Bella Ella
Subject line Used: Final Hours on Thanksgiving Day Doorbusters!
Why does it work?
This Bella Ella Boutique Thanksgiving email takes the customer on a FOMO ride and builds a sense of urgency through their reflective email copy and thoughtful subject line. Plus, they have not limited these emails just to promote Thanksgiving sales, but also played the masterstroke of including Black Friday giveaway. On top of this, this brand promoted their Facebook and Instagram lives and also described why the user must show up. This email also encourages shoppers to post on Pinterest and other platforms. Such clever tactics are only going to help you build a community and would go a long way to get more ROI during this lucrative season.
Now it’s your turn to Create!
Well, now you know how to kickstart and plan out your Thanksgiving email designs. Ultimately, gratitude, appreciation, and sheer honesty can make an unbelievable difference to your campaigns. Plus, don’t forget to add amazing discounts, free gifts, and lovely words to encourage your customers to gear up for the best shop ‘til they drop an offer in their inbox.
However, not every brand has the bandwidth to research, plan, design, analyze, and finally put everything together especially when you are a small business. Well, we have got that covered for you. Whether you’re running out of time or zero resources to pull these monstrous tasks off, use TargetBay to do it for you. We at TargetBay have designed over ten different Thanksgiving email designs that are beautiful and allow you to drag and drop features according to your needs. Don’t believe us? Check out the next few emails to get a sneak peek.
Honestly, nothing is better than a ready-made free Thanksgiving email template. ????????
Best Thanksgiving Email Template from TargetBay
1) The ‘Referral’ Template
Well, a clean and minimal Thanksgiving template like this needs no extra introduction. This email template is perfect for you to try your referral program fairs to the ongoing season sale. Most importantly, the highlighted ‘$50’ is good enough to hook consumers and get them referring. Moreover, the drag and drop feature from TargetBay, allows you to customize it all you want.
2) The ‘Fall’ Template
One of the best Thanksgiving email templates that focuses on bringing out the happiness within with the help of the illustrations. Besides, these illustrations resonate with the various aspects of Thanksgiving along with the core values the brands believe in. The Autumn spirit evokes the holiday feeling and is quick to get the shoppers hooked.
3) The ‘Active Sharing’ Thanksgiving Template
This Thanksgiving email template is perfect for your Food & Beverage business. It is classy, yet elegant and contains all the adequate information you might need to put forward an amazing Thanksgiving email together. All you need to do is, add different elements with the drag and drop feature to personalize it to attain your business goals.
4) The ‘Thanksgiving-y’ Email
Last but not least, this Thanksgiving email template is beautifully designed and customizable. It is perfect for any type of online store and can help you get your Holiday season sales up by manifolds!
To Sum Up,
Honestly, your Thanksgiving email template should integrate with the core values of the brand, and also it should be molded to the spirit of the holiday. Although there is no universal winning solution, yet you can still experiment and find the best way forward. After all, it’s all about knowing your target audience, carrying out enough testing, and tweaking your emails in the right way. For some brands, simple emails make an impact while for others, complex ones make the cut. Whatever be it, get in touch with TargetBay and make your life easier
