Holiday email marketing 2010: top resources

It’s time for the annual holiday email marketing resources post.

Check back regularly, as I keep this post updated with the best links on the topic.

Of course, this isn’t the first year anyone has celebrated Christmas (Dec 25th), Hanukkah (begins Dec 2nd), Kwanzaa (begins Dec 26th) etc., so there are also links to goodies from previous years…

[P.S. If you have a relevant article to recommend, let me know in the comments.]

• Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Chad White’s 41-page roadmap for retailers, with advice on winning tactics and strategies, as well as stats and insight based on what B2C marketers did last year. The link also gives you access to a one-hour webinar on the topic.
• E-mail: Make It the Linchpin of Your Digital Holiday Planning: Ed Henrich on where to focus efforts for the holiday shopping season.
• Early planning means happy holidays: Ryan Phelan with five tips on how to get your email ready for the big shopping spree.
• Holiday Email Campaigns: Tips 1-2 | Tips 3-4 | Tips 5-6 | Tips 7-8 | Tips 9-10 | Tips 11-12 | Tips 13-14 Megan Ouellet discusses phased holiday messaging, campaign reviews, deployment schedules, best practices, landing pages, pre-holiday messaging and more.
• The 2010 holiday marketer: Experian CheetahMail with a broader report which includes email-specific info on volume patterns, offers, countdown tactics, subject lines, creative etc.
• Christmas In August: Smart Holiday Sending: Alex Madison and Lisa Harmon with ideas on drawing in social elements, creative approaches, the role of mobile and more.
• Retailers: How Good Are Your Holiday Plans?: Gretchen Scheiman discusses segmentation tactics and how to give triggered and transactional emails a holiday feeling.
• 3 Reasons To Pull in the Reins on Holiday Email Frequency: Linda Bustos picks out some key messages from Chad White’s guide (see top link).
• Holiday Health Tips for your Creative: Stephen Sharp has some suggestions for getting your basic email templates in order so they can be quickly adapted to high-pressure, end-of-year needs.
• Stand Out from the Holiday Crowds: Pamale Starr has some ideas on getting your holiday emails to break through the clutter.
• Epsilon Holiday Trend Report: Older, but I missed this last year…it has recommendations on timing and strategies, as well as data on 2008 holiday email campaigns.
• Epsilon update: …and here’s a webinar from 2010 with trends and insight for your holiday planning.
• Five Email Holiday Marketing Predictions: Chad White’s predictions are interwoven with advice, too.
• How to plan a successful holiday email campaign: Slides and audio from the Blue Sky Factory webinar.
• The secret sauce to holiday success: Sally Lowery looks at the role of headers, navigators and footers.
• Makin’ a List, Checkin’ it Twice: Melanie Attia explores targeting, planning and analysis.
• Time saving ideas: …for your holiday email marketing from VerticalResponse.
• Five ideas for your holiday e-card: advice for your electronic holiday greeting from Liz Lynch.
• Adding sights of shimmering lights: Melanie Attia has design and content suggestions to spruce up your festive messages.
• Five Ideas for Great Holiday Email Marketing: Martin Lieberman with suggestions for grabbing holiday attention.
• Ten tips: MailerMailer has planning and tactical tips for the holiday season
• 4 Ways to Reach Your Customers This Holiday Season: Amy Garland explores early bird specials, urgency, content strategies and gift segmentation.
• The art of persuasion: Remy Bergsma with broad advice on what to get right in December.
• Prepare your customers: Martin Lieberman asks whether you might give subscribers advance notice of holiday frequency changes.
• Match the customer mood: Stephanie Miller discusses how Q4 messaging should match the real needs and moods of your audience, rather than repeat the traditional “buy and buy again” mantra.

Previous “Holiday email marketing” editions:

• 2009 (last year’s edition with 20+ links)
• 2008 (another bunch of links from 2008)
• 2007 (no surprises for guessing what you’ll find here)

Special holiday email blog series featuring top retail experts:

• Getting ready and role models
• Frequency and focus
• Final days and follow-ups
• Not everyone buys/sells Christmas presents

Find related articles:

• Channel: Holiday tactics

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