The holiday season is a make-or-break time for businesses. Email marketing is ready to help you to bring in more sales. Get your email sales funnel ready for the holiday rush and make sur you’re sending the right message to the right people at the right time.

Even if you don’t think that the holidays will benefit your brand, by the time Black Friday rolls around, you think, “Man, our company probably should have done something.” Don’t let that happen to you this year.

The numbers don’t lie—your holiday email campaigns can propel you into 2025.

Bottom line: Now is the time to get your brand holiday-ready with the right message, hitting your audience at the right time with an automated sales campaign.

The Hidden Pitfalls of Holiday Marketing (And How to Avoid Missing Out on Sales)

Personalized Holiday Marketing That Drives Results—Backed by Data

3 Steps to Optimize Your Holiday Email Marketing Campaign

Let Your Email Strategy Do the Work

Let’s Create Your Holiday Sales Email Campaign

Holiday marketing is chaotic and competitive. According to Mailchimp’s This Holiday It’s Personal report, in 2022 more than eight billion emails were sent by Mailchimp customers from Thanksgiving Day through Giving Tuesday. 400,000 brands marketed with Mailchimp on Black Friday alone. (And that’s just one email marketing platform!).

Without the right plan, your emails will almost definitely get lost in the noise.

Once you see the big brands’ holiday emails hit your inbox, you start to worry that you’ll miss out on the biggest sales opportunities of the year. Even for brands that aren’t in the retail or ecommerce space, once you start seeing other brands like yours send out their holiday promotions, you can get anxious you should have done more.

It’s just wrong to work so hard all year and not capitalize on the most lucrative season. The fact of the matter is, the holidays come around every year. You can prepare for them. Let’s talk you through how.

At Downstage Media, we know the holiday season can be … a lot. And marketing often feels like an uphill battle. That’s why it’s important to get a jump on it and think it through, even before Halloween. You want to make sure your emails land where they matter most—your customers' inboxes, with messages that resonate.

According to Mailchimp's 2023 "This Holiday, It’s Personal" report, 87% of customers are more likely to click on personalized emails, and 71% are more likely to make a purchase when the content speaks directly to them. These stats aren’t just numbers—they’re proof that when your emails feel personal, your audience listens. That’s why we pair Mailchimp's data-driven insights with proven methods like StoryBrand to make sure your campaigns hit the mark. You want to engage customers and drive sales during their busiest time of the year.

Step 1: Define Holiday-Specific Segments

Holiday shopping behaviors are different from the rest of the year. Create segments for:

• early-bird shoppers

• last-minute buyers

• repeat customers

Each of these groups of people are looking for holiday deals at different times. By understanding and anticipating their unique holiday needs, you can create emails that address exactly where they are in the buying cycle.

B2B clients have different timelines and needs during the holiday season. Create segments for early planners, last-minute decision-makers, and repeat clients. By identifying where each client stands in their business planning, you can provide timely solutions that meet their specific challenges—whether it’s ramping up for the new year or closing out year-end projects.

Step 2: Craft Offers That Spark Urgency

During the holiday season, customers are bombarded with promotions. This is usually prime time for people to unsubscribe. To stand out, create time-sensitive offers that spark urgency—like limited-time discounts or exclusive holiday bundles. Make the messaging short, sweet, and impactful. Customers are more likely to act when they feel the clock ticking on a great deal.

B2B customers are looking for offers that directly impact their business operations. Instead of discounts, create time-sensitive packages that provide valuable solutions—such as a year-end consultation, a limited-time service upgrade, or an exclusive strategy session. The goal is to position your service as essential to their business’s holiday or new-year success.

Step 3: Automate to Stay Consistent and Relevant

With so much happening during the holiday season, automating your email campaigns is key. Set up triggered emails based on customer behavior (like abandoned carts or previous purchases) to ensure your emails hit the inbox when it matters most. Consistency is the secret weapon that keeps you top-of-mind without adding to your workload.

Automate follow-up emails and check-ins based on client behaviors (such as inquiries or previous engagements). Automation ensures that you're delivering consistent, relevant content without needing to manage every touchpoint manually. Automated emails that reinforce urgency or highlight service benefits will keep you top-of-mind without overwhelming your team during the busy season.

Note in the graph below how there is a gap in the weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You can make the most of this time by creating an automation that will send campaigns out during these less-noisy days.

Imagine having a fully optimized email funnel ready to go before Halloween. By preparing early, you'll have a campaign that’s primed to engage your audience and convert leads before the holiday rush even starts. In Mailchimp's This Holiday, It’s Personal report, personalized emails drive 6x higher transaction rates than generic ones, and email campaigns that include targeted content see an open rate increase of up to 29%. This means more engagement from the get-go. As the holiday season ramps up, your automated email strategy will ensure that each message hits inboxes at the right time, boosting customer engagement and driving increased sales. With your email funnel working in the background, you’ll be free to focus on running your business while knowing your revenue streams are being actively supported.

Ready to make the best of your email campaigns and maximize your holiday revenue? Schedule a call to learn how our Essential Sales Email Campaign Package can help you get the most out of every opportunity this season.