Here’s the truth about holiday emails: they are often treated as digital Christmas cards.
Whether you’re a B2C brand sending out promotions or a B2B company wrapping up the year with a Thank You message, you’re placing something personal into someone’s digital space.
Your goal is the same as with a handwritten card: to be heard and to be pinned to the fridge.
But now the fridge is the inbox, and reaching it (let alone staying there) requires more effort than just hitting send.
I’ve been in the email world since before CAN-SPAM was law. Back then, deliverability was a guessing game. You wrote the message, hit the send button, and hoped it reached the recipient. Now, deliverability is table stakes, yet many brands still treat it as an afterthought.
Want your holiday message to land and leave a lasting impression? Then you need to look past emojis in the subject line, images in the body that aren’t readable outside the large JPG you’re using, and go beyond just festive graphics.
It all boils down to three things: personalization, deliverability, and timing.
The holidays are one of the few times brands can demonstrate their human side. That’s your company’s edge, because inboxes will be full of generic “Happy Holidays” messages that simply don’t resonate.
For B2C brands, personalization is about relevance. Think beyond data. Use someone’s first name. Acknowledge their relationship with your brand right at the start of the email, before diving into your main message. If they bought from you recently, mention it. If they haven’t opened your emails in a while, use that as an opportunity to reintroduce yourself.
Holiday emails should feel like a conversation rather than a broadcast or the dreaded “e-blast.” We need to move past the idea of the e-blast and focus on keeping messages personalized to each specific user, not the entire database.
B2B companies often overlook this in their content strategy. Yes, you’re reaching out to another business, a decision-maker, and often someone you haven’t developed a personal connection with, but there’s still a person behind that inbox. A thoughtful message that recognizes their efforts, offers a personalized thank-you, or shares a look at what’s coming up in 2026 can build genuine rapport.
Consider this: if your email can be sent to everyone on your list and still make sense, it’s not personal enough.
Email providers closely monitor engagement rates. When recipients open, click, and reply, it shows your messages are wanted and appreciated. If they press the dreaded Spam button because the email was annoying, ill-timed, or not personalized, it damages your future deliverability rates.
Deliverability used to be about code, multiple IPs, domain swapping, and servers. Now it’s about reputation.
Gmail, Outlook and every other email domain actively monitors sender behavior. Sender authentication and purpose-driven engagement are absolutely required to make it into the inbox. Getting quarantined by the IT guy who is sick of seeing untrusted messages in the company’s inbox essentially kills that channel of communication.
That means SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are 100% required to reach the inbox. They signal to the customer’s inbox, “This really came from us.” Without authentication, your emails will be flagged or rejected. This can quickly damage your brand’s credibility and sender reputation.
This is especially true during the holidays when phishing attempts increase and customers become more cautious. A clear sender name, a recognizable domain and consistent branding help build trust. Authentication enhances that trust every time you send.
Frequency also matters with your email marketing strategy. Many brands suddenly increase their send volume in November and December, which raises a red flag for internet service providers. If you usually send once a month and suddenly start sending daily, you’re gonna trigger spam filters. Instead, start warming up your audience early. Gradually increase frequency and keep your content relevant so people stay engaged. B2B companies need to be just as cautious with their content strategy.
Whether you’re using HubSpot, Marketo or Salesforce, deliverability rules still apply. Use a domain that aligns with your brand identity, not your automation tool. There’s nothing less personal than an email from “noreply@somevendor.com.” Leave those sorts of messages for transactional emails only.
Everyone sends emails during Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the week before Christmas. But here’s a little secret: timing is your best weapon to reach recipients.
In B2C, timing depends on data. Check when your audience opened emails last year:
Was it early in the morning?
Late at night?
Around lunchtime?
Use customer behavioral data to shape your send schedule. The inbox is a busy street, and you need to know when your customers pass by. Automated messaging based on engagement types (non-opener, open, click, lapsed customer) is even more effective, as it prevents you from having to update content for all users whenever you send out a campaign.
For B2B email marketing strategy, timing is about tone as much as delivery. Late December is full of out-of-office replies, so sending your big year-end message at the wrong time means it gets buried. Instead, use the quiet weeks between mid-December and early January for reflective or relationship-driven content. A note of gratitude or a light Year In Review piece can keep your brand top of mind as we head into 2026.
The holidays are emotional, and timing plays a direct role in that. Consider this:
A well-timed message feels like a gift.
A poorly timed one feels like noise.
After two decades in email marketing strategy, this is how I think about it:
If your message is good enough, someone will pin it to their fridge. That might mean they star it, forward it, or remember it later. But it only happens when your message earns that place through clarity, warmth, and timing.
In B2C, your virtual fridge moment might be an offer that feels personalized. “We know you’ve had your eye on this since July” feels different from “Don’t miss our sale.” The first one recognizes the customer, while the second one yells at them. Don’t be afraid to humanize your messaging.
In B2B, it could be a personal note from your CEO or account manager thanking clients for their partnership and hinting at one important change in the upcoming year. It’s simple, but it resonates. And for B2B, a CTA isn’t even necessary for these types of messages.
Stop using ALL CAPS greetings. Sorry, but no one wants to get another animated .gif from The Office. No one wants to read an email mass-sent to All Contacts (seriously, stop doing that, Microsoft). The inbox is far too personal for that.
Email remains the most personal digital channel we have. You are, quite literally, landing in someone’s pocket on their phone, during the busiest and most emotional time of the year.
Whether you’re selling products, closing contracts, or just saying “Thank you”, the rule stays the same:
Make it personal.
Make it impactful.
Make it timely.
If you do that, your email will not just end up in the inbox. It will stay there, pinned to the virtual fridge long after the holidays are over.