The document provides tips for sending marketing emails during the holiday season. It recommends maintaining consistent branding, personalizing content for subscribers, gradually increasing email volume while providing value, segmenting subscriber lists, testing email content, and closely monitoring metrics like opens and clicks to ensure subscriber satisfaction and email deliverability over the long term. Key takeaways are that poor holiday email practices can negatively impact future reputation and deliverability, but following the tips can help re-engage subscribers and take advantage of the busy season.

1. Holiday
Pre-Send
Checklist

2. Your sending practices over the
holidays can determine your email
deliverability long after the
fireworks have popped and
decorations have been put away.

3. Here are our top 4 things to
consider before you press send…

4. #1. Content
#2. Volume
#3. Subscribers
#4. Metrics

5. #1. CONTENT

6. Stay consistent with your brand.
Though it may be tempting to play up the
holidays with new branding, design, etc.,
remember your customers need to be able
to recognize you. Keep your “from address”
the same!

7. Personalize the content.
The last thing you want your recipient to feel is
that they’re just another address on your list. Use
their name in the greeting or even reference a
purchase they made recently with suggestions to
similar products!

8. #2. VOLUME

9. Build up volume while staying relevant.
If you are looking to increase the amount of
email you’re sending now, you’ll need to
gradually increase the volume. Make sure
you’re providing value in those emails –
increasing your sending for the sake of
sending an email is not the right plan.

10. Don’t be too aggressive.
Erratic sending volumes trigger
Internet Service Providers to flag you
as a suspicious sender! Slow and
steady wins the race.

11. Watch your sending frequency.
Though you may want to increase how
often you communicate, watch out for
exhausting your recipients. Sending
unwanted email to your list is a
different form of spam!

12. #3. SUBSCRIBERS

13. Use good list hygiene.
How old is your list? Do you treat all of
your subscribers the same regardless
of engagement? Look into segmenting
and treating old subscribers differently
from the new.

14. Who are your VIP recipients?
Pay attention to who your most
engaged users are – especially if you
are looking to change your email
program in any way. Test here first!

15. Listen to what your subscribers want.
!
If you see a lot of unsubscribes, spam
complaints, and low open rates, you
probably are not sending content
that’s truly valuable to your recipients.

16. #4. METRICS

17. TEST!
!
Start small with several templates. Test one
thing at a time. Proceed with the winner
from each test, and remember to circle
back to the beginning when you think
you’re done. ;)

18. Closely watch opens, clicks, and spam
reports.
!
Be extra responsive to these metrics –
they are your way of seeing into your
recipients’ inboxes!

19. Don’t stop testing.
!
There is always something to test.
Once you’ve tested everything (and
enough time has passed) you can
circle back to test what you started
with!

20. Key Takeaways

21. Messing up your reputation with
poor holiday sending habits won’t
be automatically forgiven come
January.

22. The holidays can be a very exciting
time for your email program. They're a
chance to re-engage and reward your
subscribers. Just be sure to keep these
tips in mind to benefit from better
deliverability and subscriber
satisfaction!

23. For more information on email
best practices, check out our
resources section!

24. Happy emailing!