As Thanksgiving is the day right before Black Friday, it can tend to get ignored by marketers and merchants as they get ready for the upcoming weekend of sales.
But overlooking Thanksgiving is a mistake.
The holiday presents multiple opportunities for your broader marketing strategy from thanking loyal customers to getting a head start on your Black Friday sales.
And don’t feel like you can’t run your own Thanksgiving day sale even if you don’t sell turkeys, cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie. Over 20% of consumers plan on shopping on Thanksgiving day 1.
So to help show you how you can make the most of this opportunity here are 10 of the best Thanksgiving email campaigns that will inspire you.
Why Send Thanksgiving Emails
Sending Thanksgiving emails is an excellent way to connect with your customers and express gratitude for their loyalty and support. It’s a time to appreciate your customers, not just sell to them. By sending a Thanksgiving email, you can:
- Strengthen Your Relationship with Customers: A heartfelt Thanksgiving message can deepen the bond between you and your customers, showing them that you value their support beyond just transactions.
- Show Appreciation for Their Business: Expressing gratitude can go a long way in making your customers feel valued and appreciated, fostering a sense of loyalty.
- Stand Out from the Competition: While many businesses focus solely on Black Friday, a well-crafted Thanksgiving email can help you stand out and capture your customers’ attention.
- Drive Sales and Revenue: A Thanksgiving email can also include special offers or discounts, encouraging customers to make purchases during the holiday season.
- Build Brand Awareness and Loyalty: Consistently engaging with your customers during significant holidays helps build brand awareness and long-term loyalty.
By taking the time to send a thoughtful Thanksgiving email, you can create a positive impression that lasts well beyond the holiday season.
Planning Your Thanksgiving Email Campaign
Planning your Thanksgiving email campaign is crucial to its success. Here are some tips to help you plan:
- Start Early: Begin planning your email campaign at least 2-3 weeks in advance. This gives you ample time to create compelling content, design eye-catching visuals, and schedule your emails.
- Segment Your List: Segment your email list to ensure you’re sending relevant content to the right people. Tailoring your message to different customer segments can increase engagement and effectiveness.
- Personalize Your Message: Use personalization to make your message more relevant and engaging. Address your customers by name and tailor the content to their preferences and past interactions with your brand.
- Use a Clear and Concise Subject Line: Craft a subject line that grabs attention and encourages opens. A clear and concise subject line can make a significant difference in your email open rates.
- Use a Compelling Email Design: Ensure your email design reflects your brand and is easy to read. A visually appealing email with a clear layout can enhance the overall user experience and drive better results.
Now, comes the difficult part. How to actually write a good Thanksgiving message.
How to write a good Thanksgiving message
We get it – Thanksgiving is a time to put sales on hold and focus on gratitude. Instead of promoting products, you’re celebrating your customers, partners, or loved ones. It might sound challenging, but a heartfelt Thanksgiving message is simple when you focus on sincerity. Here’s how to nail a memorable Thanksgiving message.
There are five major pointers you must bear in mind:
- Focus on the Season of Giving
- Make it Sound Genuine, Heartfelt, and Authentic
- Choose a Good Thanksgiving Email Subject Line
- Incorporate Visuals for a Warm Touch
- Building Automation Workflows
1. Focus on the Season of Giving
Thanksgiving is a time of generosity, and your message can reflect this spirit. It’s not just about saying thank you; it’s about showing that gratitude through action.
Consider including a small token of appreciation, such as a discount code, exclusive access to content, or a charitable contribution in your recipient’s name. This not only enhances the value of your message but also reinforces the idea that you’re giving back.
2. Make it Sound Genuine, Heartfelt, and Authentic
While you might not be able to bring pumpkin pie to their door, you can deliver authenticity to their inbox. Instead of focusing on your business or products, craft a Thanksgiving message that celebrates your audience as the hero of your story. Let them know why you appreciate them and how grateful you are for their support.
3. Choose a Good Thanksgiving Email Subject Line
You already know that a great subject line can make all the difference in your email open rates. Thanksgiving messages are no exception. Craft a few engaging options and A/B test to see what resonates best with your audience.
4. Incorporate Visuals for a Warm Touch
Including a cozy autumn image, a team photo, or a simple illustration in your Thanksgiving message can help set the mood and make it more visually appealing. This can be especially effective in email messages, where a warm, festive design can draw the eye and make your message feel even more inviting.
Also, consider sharing a behind-the-scenes image of your team celebrating Thanksgiving together, which can humanize your brand and foster a sense of community.
5. Building Automation Workflows
Building automation workflows can help you streamline your email marketing process and save time. Here are some tips to help you build automation workflows:
- Use a Workflow Builder: Utilize a workflow builder to create and manage your automation workflows. This tool can help you design complex email sequences with ease.
- Set Up Triggers: Set up triggers to automate your emails based on specific actions or events. For example, you can send a follow-up email when a customer makes a purchase or abandons their cart.
- Use Conditional Logic: Incorporate conditional logic to personalize your emails and ensure the right people receive the right content. This can help you deliver more relevant and engaging messages to your audience.
- Test and Optimize: Regularly test and optimize your automation workflows to ensure they’re working effectively. Analyze performance metrics and make adjustments as needed to improve results.
Examples of Effective Thanksgiving Emails
Here are some examples of effective Thanksgiving emails:
- A Simple and Heartfelt Message: Expressing gratitude for customers’ loyalty and support can create a strong emotional connection. A sincere “thank you” can go a long way in building customer loyalty.
- A Promotional Email: Offering exclusive deals and discounts to loyal customers can drive sales and show appreciation. Highlighting special offers in your Thanksgiving email can encourage customers to make a purchase.
- A Newsletter: Highlighting the company’s achievements and thanking customers for their support can reinforce your brand’s values and accomplishments. Sharing milestones and successes can make customers feel like they’re part of your journey.
- A Personalized Email: Offering a special promotion or exclusive offer to loyal customers can make them feel valued. Personalization can enhance the relevance and impact of your message.
- A Reactivation Email: Sending a reactivation email to inactive customers can encourage them to re-engage with your brand. Offering a special incentive or reminding them of the benefits of your products or services can reignite their interest.
Now let’s get to the main part. Let’s look at some great Thanksgiving email marketing examples that you can get inspired by.
Casper
This email from Casper shows that you don’t have to sell food to get in on the Thanksgiving action. With a bit of creative thinking, you’ll be able to work your brand into the holiday festivities.
The message again effectively combines the holiday vibe with the Casper brand which is then completed by the call to action (CTA) of ‘Head to Bed’ at the end.
Like the rest of the email, this is a simple yet engaging CTA that’ll get people clicking through and going on to convert.
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters’ Thanksgiving email provides their customers with a sneak peek of their upcoming Black Friday offers.
This makes the email more of an ‘email sent on Thanksgiving’ rather than a ‘Thanksgiving email’. That said, the dressed-up Thanksgiving turkey in their brand style keeps the email holiday-themed.
As you’ve likely been sending plenty of Black Friday emails in the days and weeks leading up to it, making your final Black Friday-eve email Thanksgiving-themed is a nice way of breaking things up a bit.
Check out our Thanksgiving Email templates today
? Install SmartrMail and Automate your Thanksgiving Emails ?
Uber
This Thanksgiving Day email from Uber is a terrific example of a brand putting themselves in their customers’ shoes, identifying their pain points, and providing a solution.
In this case, it’s people needing to get to the airport on time to catch their flights to visit family and friends. Uber’s solution to which is to pre-book one of their rideshare cars.
Your own Thanksgiving campaigns will be much more effective if you’re able to do the same by thinking about how your products or services address a common pain point people run into over the holiday period.
As for the rest of Uber’s email, notice how they don’t push people to book an Uber right away. Instead simply inviting them to see “how it works”. This CTA isn’t overbearing and will likely get people clicking through to see how their pre-book feature works even if they aren’t flying this Thanksgiving.
The simple animated background keeps the email design interesting and engaging as well.
Artifact Uprising
Artifact Uprising’s holiday email follows a popular Thanksgiving campaign strategy which is to simply express gratitude and thanks with their customers.
Instead of trying to funnel customers to a product landing page or sale, sharing a heartfelt Thanksgiving message will help build up brand loyalty which will last long after the holidays have gone.
After many years of selling high-quality photo books, Artifact Uprising understands that their products have an emotional value beyond simply storing photos. And this understanding of the power of emotion in marketing is evident in this email too.
With the mayhem of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales literally just a day away, there is value in taking Thanksgiving off to connect with your audience on a deeper level.
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Betterment
Like the holiday email from Uber above, this campaign from Betterment taps into various frustrations people have over the holidays. Albeit in a more playful way.
For every awkward Thanksgiving dinner conversation topic, Betterment has brought things back to their product.
This is obviously tongue-in-cheek but makes for a simple and fun Thanksgiving email to their customers. And while it’s not really a “Thanksgiving convo survival guide”, the subject line is bound to get people opening the email anyway.
Ibotta
This example from Ibotta is a good example of a sales-oriented Thanksgiving email.
While it contains a simple happy Thanksgiving message, the offer is front and center before sharing the customer’s unique referral code and the CTA button.
The whole email itself is short and sweet to increase the likelihood of their customers clicking through before they get distracted.
The email design is also clean and simple with only slices of pie in the background to tie it into the holiday sale. This provides a good template to base your own Thanksgiving sales emails on.
eWatches
eWatches’ email is your typical example of a Thanksgiving sale campaign.
It’s got everything you’d expect: A large “Happy Thanksgiving” title, a large sale offer, a clear CTA to “Save Now” and some examples of products on sale.
If you’re going to run your own Thanksgiving Day sale, the other element you might want to copy from this example is the countdown timer at the top.
These HTML countdown timers reinforce the message that the sale is for a limited time only and add a sense of urgency. This in turn gets customers clicking through to your store more as they don’t want to miss out on your offer.
Sakara
This Thanksgiving email from Sakara is another good example of one that simply expresses gratitude and appreciation.
What’s nice about this particular email is how it gives thanks to all the different people involved with the business including their employees and ending by thanking their customers.
Again, these kinds of email marketing campaigns that are purely dedicated to spreading the spirit of the holiday season might not drive sales right away, but they’ll have a lasting positive impact on your brand.
Brandless
Brandless is another business that understands the importance of sharing a Thanksgiving message with their customers.
What separates this email from the similar examples on this list however is how they’ve included user-generated content (UGC). This takes the form of images from customers shared on Instagram with their branded hashtag.
Not only is this a nice way to reinforce the happy Thanksgiving message but is also a great way of providing social proof to potential future customers.
Postmates
To end this list of Thanksgiving email examples, here is a nice, clean email from Postmates.
There’s nothing particularly special about this email. The point is that you can achieve a great email design with just a simple image and a few colors. You don’t need to go all out with your Thanksgiving email design or worry about what you’ll include.
And yet, despite its simplicity, this email is still very effective.
There are clear CTA buttons, the text has a clear hierarchy which makes the message quick and easy to comprehend, and the email itself is short and sweet.
A lot of the time less is more when it comes to email marketing.
Measuring Success and Optimizing for Next Year Thanksgiving
Measuring the success of your Thanksgiving email campaign is crucial to optimizing for next year. Without actionable data, you could repeating mistakes or even missing to leverage the holiday season opportunity.
Here are some metrics to track:
- Open Rates: Track open rates to see how many people opened your email. This metric can help you gauge the effectiveness of your subject line and overall email appeal.
- Click-Through Rates: Monitor click-through rates to see how many people clicked on links within your email. This indicates the level of engagement and interest in your content.
- Conversion Rates: Measure conversion rates to see how many people made a purchase or completed a desired action after clicking through your email. This metric is key to understanding the direct impact of your email campaign on sales.
- Unsubscribe Rates: Keep an eye on unsubscribe rates to see how many people opted out of your email list. A high unsubscribe rate may indicate that your content is not resonating with your audience.
- Revenue: Track the revenue generated from your email campaign to assess its financial impact. This metric helps you understand the return on investment (ROI) of your email marketing efforts.
By tracking these metrics, you can gain valuable insights into the performance of your Thanksgiving email campaign and identify areas for improvement. Use this data to optimize your strategy for next year and achieve even better results.
A Final Note about Thanksgiving Email Examples
Thanksgiving is a major holiday for hundreds of millions of people.
That’s why your own holiday campaign can be a powerful tool to build your brand, increase sales, or just get people hyped for your imminent Black Friday sale.
Now that you’ve seen some of the best examples of Thanksgiving emails to customers, you’ll hopefully have plenty of inspiration for your own campaigns.
However, no email is complete without a compelling subject line. Especially when a third of your customers either open or ignore your emails based solely on its subject line.
That’s why we’ve also created a collection of 200+ Thanksgiving email subject lines to help you further.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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