Email marketing is a powerful tool for artists, especially during the holiday season. You may have noticed an influx of emails in your inbox as soon as there is an upcoming holiday such as Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. This is the time when every brand is trying to get to their customers to notice their products, to remind them why they should be buying from their brand. So why shouldn’t you make the most of this opportunity for your art?!

Art sales experience a boost during the holidays, just as much as any other brand. The trick is to market it efficiently and wisely, and one of those ways is by using your email list. While you can put up ads and create promotional content, with emails, you have the opportunity to get inside the customer’s inbox and really make them see what they are missing out on.

Holiday email marketing is significant as it can boost brand awareness and attract new customers with special holiday offers and promotions. With a well-crafted email, you will be able to engage your audience and substantially increase your holiday sales. So let’s look at some strategies that you can incorporate to improve your email marketing for the holidays!

Don’t let your emails go to spam

The first thing to do is to make personalized holiday email campaigns. You may have noticed that once the holiday season is near, you are bombarded with emails from every brand you may or may not know. Many customers don’t even bother to read it, and the emails directly go into their spam inbox/junk. You have to make sure that this doesn’t happen to your emails, and the best way to do that is to put some effort and create personalized emails.

Below, let’s explore some of the ways in which your can effectively personalize your emails.

What is email personalization?

Email personalization is when every recipient receives a different versions of the same marketing campaign. The content of such emails is customized according to the person who is receiving the email. Customers also prefer personalized emails, and it can boost your open rates by more than 40%.

Personalizing emails may sound like a huge job, but really, it’s not. Curating such emails may be easier than creating your social media content, and here is how you can do that.

How to create a personalized email

Have a different subject line: The first part of your email that your customer will look at is your subject line. Make it catchy and distinctive, so the recipient wants to read the email at first glance. You can add your holiday discount as the subject so the customers feel inclined to check it out.

For example, a subject line such as “We have a present/surprise for you” seems way more catchy than a subject line such as “Holiday sale”.

Use the recipient’s name: After the subject line, it is the preview text which your recipient will see. The preview text includes the email greeting, so it should not be dull. First of all, use your recipient’s name instead of writing phrases like ‘dear customer’. With the customer’s name, it establishes an intimate connection between you and the audience, and they will be more likely to read the email.

For example, it would be a good idea to start your email with “Hey Greg, long time no see!”. It seems more personal, and Greg would feel like you are have noticed his absent from your website.

Include a sender name: To make sure that the receiver feels connected with your brand campaign, add a sender name. It gives the receiver the impression that the email was indeed written by an actual person, and it will humanize your brand.

For example, ending your email with following lines will feel more personal.

“Take care,
Emily Smith
Product marketing manager”

Create a holiday bundle: The next thing to make your email personalized is to include a holiday bundle that specifically caters to the receiver. If you are sending an email to an old customer, create a holiday bundle with artworks based on their old purchases. This will appeal to them more, and eliminate the dread and hassle of looking for the perfect artwork.

Create holiday templates for your emails

Needless to say, a marketing email during holidays should have a special holiday template. Your email designs should be different from the ones you usually use in your newsletters, so it stands out and your audience knows that you are sending them blissful vibes. Use eye-catching and festive email designs, to let people know that you are celebrating with them.

If you are promoting your artworks before Christmas, maybe choose a template with green and red colors. Try to create a theme that also honors your brand identity and aesthetic. Another way to go about it is by including services that you specifically offer during the holidays. You don’t have to create something drastically different, just include articles or art related gift ideas that go with your theme of the holidays.

Start promoting early

If you are an artist reading this, start with your email campaigns for the holidays now! You have to start promoting your artwork early, so when the holidays finally come, your customers and art collectors already know what they are going to buy from you. Waiting till the last minute to send out those emails won’t be much helpful as people may have already done their art shopping.

A good idea would be to start a countdown in your emails, and build anticipation, so your customers are anxiously waiting for your holiday discounts, bundles, and coupons. You can even add an early bird discount, which would feel even more exciting and tempting for art collectors who are looking to buy your art. As they say, ‘early bird gets the worm!’.

Automate your holiday emails

Holidays get busy, and it would be wise to take some help during this time. Automating your emails is a significant step that allows you to focus on other aspects of your email marketing such as curating holiday-themed templates and personalizing emails. Do not use up your manual labor for something that can be done easily. This also helps you get done with all your holiday related email campaigns in advance, so you can schedule them and move on with the other important tasks. Such automations will also ensure that no email is left behind and they all are delivered on time!

Don’t forget to send post-holiday emails

Once the holidays are over, don’t think that you have to stop with your email marketing as well. The next year will pass by with the blink of an eye, and soon, you will be in the same spot, asking people in your mailing list to consider buying your artworks. Create a post-holiday email campaign to keep your customers around. This way, your customers will feel valued, and will stick around with you. If you’re lucky, they may not even need much convincing once the next holiday season comes.

As you send out your emails for the next few weeks or so, remember that your year-to-date email frequency should not be more than 3X during the holiday season. This will ensure that your emails are not dumped in the trash. Moreover, the entire branding during holidays is curated around sharing joy, giving gifts, and celebrating. Try to incorporate these themes into your email, and you will get to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Want to know more about holiday marketing strategies? Here are some similar articles.

Boost your holiday art sales with these 4 clever marketing strategies

Is your art website ready for Black Friday? The top 5 dos and don’ts to follow

5 creative tips to prepare your art studio for Black Friday sale