4 Seasonal Email Ideas to Engage Customers All Year Round 

When marketers and business owners think of seasonal email marketing, they focus on occasions like Christmas or Halloween. However, some brands feel that their value proposition doesn't align with the spirit of specific holidays, so they leave this kind of email campaign out of their marketing equation. 

The thing is--seasonal emails offer so much more than that. They aren't a tactic to use once or twice a year, nor are they destined for specific industries. Seasonal email marketing allows for year-round customer engagement.  

With these emails, you deliver timely messages at periods when customers are usually more willing to buy gifts for their loved ones and themselves or go after meaningful experiences. Also, seasonal emails help your brand provide value throughout the year with relevant promotions and content right when your audience needs it.  

In this blog, we'll explain how to turn four seasonal email ideas into opportunities to engage recipients with clever promotions throughout the year--regardless of the industry you're in.  

1. Create Yearly or Monthly Round Ups 

It's common for companies to send end-of-year reviews during Christmas. These reviews work both ways. You can focus on what your brand did, share accomplishments, highlight top-performing content, and so on. Or, you can give readers an activity synopsis, celebrating milestones and reminding them of their interactions with your brand. Consumers love a walk down memory lane that helps them reflect on their most exciting experiences. 

Does it have to be at the end of the year, though? Not necessarily.  

You can send a year-in-review email on a customer anniversary with your brand. While, at first glance, this campaign might not seem like a good opportunity to promote your product or service, you can still suggest complementary products or upgraded versions.  

Such reviews are popular in the SaaS industry. SaaS companies manage customer data so they can easily create yearly or monthly summaries. For example, productivity tools such as Grammarly send monthly and weekly reports to inform users about their writing progress. They can learn from their mistakes and become better writers by monitoring their activity.  

But year-round-ups aren't just for SaaS companies. Such an email campaign can be useful for a legal firm, too. When choosing the most effective campaigns for law email marketing, you'll probably start with regular newsletters to share industry news and transactional emails to share invoices or other useful updates.  

But how would a seasonal campaign fit an email marketing strategy for lawyers? A subscriber's anniversary with your business is an excellent occasion to send a yearly review. You can use the following template by Stripo to celebrate milestones, listing the achievements you've accomplished together. Add a small discount to reward their loyalty and share your contact details to reinforce trust. 

2. Share Gift Ideas 

Raise your hand if you've received an email with gift guides for popular holidays like Christmas, Valentine's Day, or Mother's Day. As consumers, we often buy stuff or experiences for our family, friends, and colleagues throughout the year, especially during these holidays.  

Shopping for gifts is a stressful process for most people. When brands take some of the load off on this occasion, they usually earn their trust. A spot-on seasonal email campaign allows you to suggest the perfect gift for your subscribers' loved ones.  

While popular holidays are prime opportunities to help subscribers shop for thoughtful gifts, there are other occasions to recommend gifts. It could be National Siblings Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, or milestones like birthdays or anniversaries. In the last case, turn your focus to the subscribers themselves, highlighting how they, too, deserve a special gift.  

There's a third option: donating to a cause. That's right, nonprofit organizations can leverage seasonal gifts, too. Many consumers count their blessings during key holidays, and this process makes them more generous and willing to offer.  

Every season offers an opportunity to encourage subscribers to give back to the community. So, in addition to sending the tried-and-tested welcome and thank you emails, you could align your nonprofit email campaigns with the giving spirit tied to specific occasions.  

In the following email, Charity Water leverages the occasion of Giving Tuesday to ask their subscribers to join their mission. The nonprofit mentions that the entire donation amount will be used for their cause: offering the gift of clean water to people in the developing world. 

Subject line: Today's the day. Give 100%. 

3. Put Together To-Do Lists 

Most consumers are busy throughout the year. So, they always need a little help to organize things. To-do lists allow your subscribers to easily remember what they need to buy or do so on certain occasions. And you can add some of the products you want your subscribers to check as key ingredients to success.  

A to do-list also leaves room for a touch of humor or some sparkles of creativity, too. Not all your products will be related to every holiday included in the calendar year. Nor should you rely only on major holidays. Here's where you can get your creative juices flowing, thinking of ways to create helpful content around your products or services.  

The change of seasons easily serves as an opportunity to put together useful to-do lists, helping your customers prepare for it. For example, a fitness brand could leverage September to send “back-to-school” workout lists. How are these two related? Starting September, people are on the lookout for ways to adopt healthier habits and reset their workout routines. So, such a business can send a timely email with relevant tips. That way, they don't rely only on popular holidays. Better yet, they don't risk creating messages that look just like the others in inboxes.  

Let's see the case of such an unexpected email. Yelp is a company that connects consumers with top local businesses addressing several daily needs. In this email, they send five short tips for fall home maintenance, helping users find the best professional for the job. This is an excellent example of how to do more during the fall rather than limit your seasonal email ideas to Black Friday deals. 

Subject line: 5 tips for fall home maintenance 🍁🏠 Invest in Educational and Community-Building Content 

When we hear of popular holidays like Christmas or Black Friday, we often think of sales and discounts. As marketers, you know your competitors will run promotional campaigns during these periods, too. It's natural to want your offer to stand out. There are other options to advertise your brand with seasonal email content, though. 

It all comes down to this: you own the holiday, not the other way around. Who says you can't deliver non-promotional emails on popular holidays? Brands that include educational content in their seasonal emails could catch their readers' eye in the digital sea of limited-time deals and offers. 

Why not share some behind-the-scenes material so subscribers can see how you spend the holiday? It might be a team activity with a mission like recycling your office waste or preparing meals for the ones in need. Another idea is to use seasonal emails to remind subscribers of your values, urging them to reflect on something meaningful, too.  

Alternatively, use the holiday to enhance your community-building efforts. You might invite subscribers to join your social media communities, like Facebook groups. Or you can feature satisfied customer stories and any kind of user-generated content rather than creating branded messages yourself. 

On Saint Patrick's Day, Sauna House shares a 2-year sustainability report via email. They list all the ways in which they tried to create a positive impact, emphasizing their main goal to “be green every day.” By focusing on the green color associated with the day, they found a clever way to match the festive spirit.  

And it's not that they forget all about their business objectives. In fact, the brand makes sure to include CTAs so readers can book their next visit or purchase bathing products. Plus, they invite them to join the SMS club and read the journal, aiming at a consistent and unified experience. 

Subject line: We're green every day 🍀💚🌎 

Bonus Email Practices to Hit the Mark with Seasonal Campaigns 

If there's one thing that seasonal email marketing requires, that's starting early. You should plan on time and think carefully about the campaign types that best serve your business objectives. So, keep these email practices in mind: 

• It's not necessary to send emails on every holiday. You'd better decide which ones fit your industry, audience, and resources at your disposal. For instance, health food brands can benefit from the summer period by targeting people who need to get in shape before they hit the beach. They'll use recipes, nutrition plans, and progress reports. Whereas a candy brand has more to gain if it runs Halloween campaigns with spooky recipes and decorations using its products.
• Think about your audience and what ticks them off. Consider things like your subscribers' preferences, levels of engagement, browsing, or buying history, and segment them accordingly. If a group tends to trust your products or services all year long, think about inviting them to join your loyalty program. But for seasonal buyers, try adding value to your messages with educational content or an enticing first-purchase discount.
• Don't forget about last-minute shoppers. While it's advisable to plan early for seasonal emails, many consumers won't do the same. Quite the opposite, they'll wait until the last minute to shop for the day. Last-minute shoppers are more likely to make impulsive purchases, helping you boost holiday sales in the nick of time. Add a sense of urgency and actionable language to target this group. Promise and ensure fast delivery so customers are confident that their gifts will arrive on time.  
• Invest in consistent and regular communication. Let's say you reached your key objective, and your customers made the desired purchase. Imagine their disappointment if you disappear afterward. Your relationship doesn't end with a conversion. Keep your customers around by maintaining regular, helpful, and consistent communication. Ask about their experience and whether they're enjoying your product or service. Or just say thank you for the trust they put in your brand.
• Use seasonal email templates. Investing in templates to build your seasonal emails saves you time while meeting professional design standards. Pick templates built to capture the festive spirit with elements holiday-themed visuals and fonts. Also, look for templates that you can effortlessly customize depending on your unique objectives. Add your brand assets to make every email campaign of a consistent brand identity.  

Use Seasonal Emails Wisely 

Businesses tend to focus their seasonal email marketing efforts on key holidays such as Black Friday where it’s more likely to increase sales with spot-on promotions. Not that it's not a valid objective. But chances are that holidays and specific periods are also a time of the year where you'll also face fierce competition in your recipients’ inboxes.  

While you might send that seasonal limited-time discount or offer, try running a different campaign, too. It might be the valuable content type like inspiring and unique tips on how to spend time during Valentine's or summertime. But you can also consider incorporating lesser-known holidays in your seasonal email marketing mix. From Small Business Saturday to Read a Book Day, there's always a day or occasion to align with your marketing goals. 

Whatever you choose, be careful with seasonal email promotions. Empathy goes a long way with this kind of campaign since holidays might be a sensitive period for some people on your mailing list. They might not celebrate this holiday due to their religion or other personal reasons. The more data you have on your subscribers, their demographics, and habits, the more likely you'll create seasonal emails that match their interests. Going that extra mile for them is key to making your brand stand out and building brand loyalty.