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The Eight Emails of Christmas
Stay tuned throughout December to discover the best and most fabulously-festive emails that have landed in our inboxes.
Follow the conversation at #Pure360eightemails
We couldn’t have a Christmas email countdown without including a Christmas Day comm, and wow there were lots!
After sifting through pages and pages of sales-y subject lines, this email from Free People caught our eye. Whilst not personalised, the subject line of “all our love xoxo FP” felt far more emotive and (dare we say it..) “cute”!
Inside the email we were greeted by a beautifully designed Christmas message which continued with the emotive theme; wishing our family a Merry Christmas from the Free People family. This was followed by an equally beautiful animated GIF that left us feeling very warm and fuzzy.
Festive feelings aside, Free People also get the practicals down perfectly. They offer a last minute life saver gift card for those forgetful folks, and of course they manage to squeeze in a mention of their sale.
Overall this email really gets the tone of Christmas spot on without having to rely on discount codes. Merry Christmas Free People!
Outbrain | Help save Christmas!
Running a seasonal B2B campaign is notoriously tricky and traditionally Christmas is a space for B2C, particularly retailers, with many B2B brands trailing behind. That’s why this email from Outbrain was such a pleasant surprise.
Instead of trying to forge a vague connection between Christmas and their offering, Outbrain go all out with an (incredibly addictive) Christmas game.
This is a great example of how B2B brands can use public holidays to get a little playful with their emails; taking a break from pushing products and knowledge and instead offering something fun. This in turn will help to improve branding and relations with recipients.
Additionally, Outbrain simply offer a really good looking email. The animation at the top is immediately eye-catching, and everything that follows on is clean, simple but effective.
Great work Outbrain! Now we must dash, we’re off to save Santa’s gifts…
Topshop | Count down to Christmas with Topshop
If your inbox is anything like ours, you will have witnessed your fair share of Christmas count downs..!
Topshop’s count down stood out to us in particular, as instead of using it as an excuse to boldly push their products, they actually offer some genuinely useful content.
Topshop’s count down is focused around “The ultimate to-do list”. They aim to “take the stress out of the holiday season” by offering daily festive tasks, occasionally (but not always!) accompanied by relevant product suggestions and recommendations.
This is a really clever way for Topshop to promote their products without going in for a hard-sell. A perfect strategy if you want to improve your branding, reach and customer relationships, whilst sneaking in a little sales.
Kurt Geiger | Visit Us In Store This Christmas
Brands will often use email to promote their online sales, products and content. But using email to promote their offline offering? Not so much…
However, that is exactly what we love about this email from Kurt Geiger.
Kurt Geiger know that they offer a special in-store experience which can’t be emulated online. By providing a great customer experience in store, they have the opportunity to improve customer relations, retention, branding and ultimately, upsell opportunities.
They go on to use email to promote all aspects of this, such as gift advice and wrapping, in-store ordering service and their click and collect delivery.
This is all beautifully finished off with a “Just for you…” gift card offer when you spend £200 in store.
We’re definitely tempted to visit!
innocent | Can’t eat. Too excited.
There’s no doubt about it, innocent is a fun brand. Their emails are always peppered with funny copy and content, with this Christmas email being no exception.
What we love about this email (and many of innocent’s emails) is that they don’t jump into the hard sell, instead their emails are all about promoting their brand personality and community building.
They tap into the Christmas party excitement felt by many by offering a ‘play it safe’ or ‘a night to remember’ menu option, suggesting what you should be eating for each meal to survive (or suffer) at your Christmas party.
This is followed by typical innocent offerings, such as a funny video, “drinker of the week” and “inside innocent towers” to offer something to those who want a break from Christmas content.
Overall a fun and highly shareable email which is sure to be forwarded to colleagues (and friends) and posted on social media.
Brilliant branding, innocent!
Exclusive Hotels and Venues | It’s half written! Continue your letter to Santa…
Exclusive Hotels and Venues cram so much into this festive email. Gift ideas, afternoon tea, sales and word games!
However what really caught our eye is their “Letter to Santa” email campaign and competition.
For a chance to win, entrants must interact with all of the 13 emails within this campaign, by selecting which activity they would rather do out of a choice of two per email – a great way to keep recipients engaged. The winner will be offered a personalised getaway, based on the choices they have made.
This type of data could also be used in future email communications to ensure you are sending as relevant and tailored a message as possible. Genius!
Also, a special mention has to go to their “Not another voucher email please” preference centre. What a brilliant idea during the festive period!
River Cottage | Have a River Cottage Christmas
River Cottage really make an impact in busy Christmas inboxes with their festive offering.
Their design is flawless, eye-catching and truly on brand; with fun additions such as using root veg instead of Christmas baubles.
However, the thing that really made us love this email is their use of animation. River Cottage pepper their email with swinging bubbles, shimmering stars and hanging photos, creating a really subtle but very effective result.
This email reminds us that animation doesn’t have to be big, bold and above the fold. By using subtle animations throughout your emails you can guide the reader’s eye and entice them to keep scrolling.
Beautiful work River Cottage!
Missguided | Sleigh what!?
This email truly has something for everyone. Firstly the design really stands out with a consistent use of colour and theme throughout, complete with an animated GIF right above the fold to really grab the reader’s attention.
But where this email really impresses is through the use of content. Missguided include a host of gift suggestions for those who feel like giving, followed by winter wear suggestions for those who feel like a treating themselves.
Missguided then finish their email off with even more great content. They offer a Christmas playlist (complete with yet another animated GIF), a “12 truths about Christmas” blog post and if that’s not enough, useful information on their returns policy.
Overall a really impressive email that ticks all the boxes and is a pleasure to read. Great work Missguided!
Do you want to create emails like these?
Take a look at the Pure360 Guide to Irresistible Email
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