As the holiday season rapidly approaches, marketers are gearing up for one of the most crucial times of the year. For many retailers, the fourth quarter represents a significant portion of their annual revenue, making holiday email campaigns a high-stakes endeavor. However, with the increase in email volume and frequency, key challenges must be addressed to ensure that campaigns not only reach inboxes but also avoid common pitfalls that can negatively impact deliverability. Below are some essential strategies for holiday email marketing success.

The holiday season brings an influx of emails from marketers worldwide, which puts immense pressure on mailbox providers like Gmail, Hotmail, and smaller local email services. High email volumes can cause delivery delays or even temporary deferrals due to server overloads. To avoid these issues, start early with preparing your email strategy for the holidays. This can help prevent deliverability problems that might be harder to resolve during the busiest times of the year.

A common mistake marketers make is rapidly increasing their email volumes. Sending to a massive, untargeted list overnight, especially to contacts who have been inactive for months, can lead to email deliverability problems. Mailbox providers are highly sensitive to sudden "spikes" in volume, as they mimic spammer behavior.

Solution: Gradually increase your sending volume by 25–40% per campaign, allowing mailbox providers to adapt. For example, if your average campaign sends 100,000 emails, the next should target around 125,000, followed by 156,000, and so on.

Targeting inactive segments of your database during the holiday season can be tempting, but it carries risks. High bounce rates and low engagement from old email addresses can harm your sender's reputation, leading to spam folder placements.

Solution: If you must reach out to inactive users, start small—limit this segment to 10% of your total send volume as a test. If engagement is satisfactory, scale up gradually. Always prioritize your active users since their engagement will generate the majority of your revenue.

Increasing the frequency of emails sent during the holidays is common, but overdoing it can backfire. If recipients are accustomed to weekly emails and suddenly receive multiple emails daily, you risk causing "inbox fatigue," leading to higher unsubscribe and spam complaint rates.

Solution: Balance your sending schedule, tailoring content to specific audience segments. Providing value in each email—whether it's exclusive deals or personalized recommendations—will ensure your messages are relevant and welcomed by recipients.

Some marketers may consider switching to a new sender domain to escape a poor reputation or preserve their current domain for post-holiday campaigns. However, a new domain needs to be "warmed up" gradually, just like a new IP address. Skipping this process will likely result in spam folder placements.

Solution: If a domain change is necessary, start with small volumes (around 100 emails/day) and grow gradually, ensuring good engagement. Ideally, domain changes should not be attempted right before or during the holiday rush.

A significant portion of consumers will check emails on their mobile devices during the holiday season. Failing to optimize your emails for mobile can lead to a poor user experience, reduced engagement, and missed opportunities.

Solution: Use responsive designs that adapt to various screen sizes and test your emails on multiple devices before sending them out.

Generic, one-size-fits-all emails are far less effective than personalized ones. Tailoring content to your audience based on their preferences, behaviors, and purchase history can greatly enhance engagement and conversions.

Solution: Segment your email lists and personalize offers to suit each group's interests. Hyper-customization should be a default strategy, especially during the competitive holiday season.

Subject lines can make or break your email campaign. While misleading or clickbait subject lines may drive short-term opens, they can also lead to increased spam complaints and unsubscribes, damaging your sender's reputation in the long run.

Solution: Use clear, compelling subject lines that accurately represent the email content. A/B test different versions to determine what resonates best with your audience.

Waiting until the last minute to execute your holiday campaigns can lead to rushed, error-prone strategies. Thorough testing is critical to avoid issues like broken links, improper formatting, or missing content.

Solution: Begin planning and testing your campaigns well in advance. Regularly test elements such as subject lines, design, and call-to-action (CTA) buttons to ensure optimal performance.

Try our AI-based subject line generator and subject line tester.

Finally, don’t let the end of the holiday season derail your efforts. A thorough post-holiday analysis can provide valuable insights to refine your strategy for the following year.

Solution: Conduct a comprehensive review of your email campaign performance, identifying areas of success and improvement. This will help build a better strategy for next year's holiday season.

As marketers ramp up their holiday email campaigns, it’s crucial to focus on strategic planning and delivering value to recipients. By avoiding common mistakes like sudden volume increases, sending to inactive contacts without caution, and overwhelming subscribers with frequent emails, you can protect your deliverability and maximize your holiday success. Planning, testing, and personalizing your content will ensure your campaigns stand out in crowded inboxes, helping you achieve stronger engagement and better results.

Happy holidays, and may the deliverability force be with you!