Blog

Holiday Hangover: Revisiting Our Favorite Holiday Campaigns

Jan 28, 2022
Jeff Haws

 

As we all recover from the insane workload that marketers often have to get through leading up to the holidays, let’s take a look back at some of our favorite email campaigns from the season and talk about what made them great.

Chick-fil-A

What did we like?

  • Personalization: So many layers of it
  • Animation: Really fun and eye catching to scroll through
  • Makes you feel good: They tell you some of the positive things they did

 

HomeAgain

What did we like?

  • Timing: Given they were promoting holiday tips/gifts, Dec. 16 was a good time to send it.
  • Helpful info: Really good blog posts that help even if you don’t use their product.
  • Doggos: Who wouldn’t love those dogs? And they use my dog Ziggy’s name in the subject line!

Best

Best Buy

What did we like?

  • Personalization: Takes the user right to their profile on Best Buy’s website
  • Clear call to action: Let’s the user know which sales are happening NOW, encouraging them to fill up those carts
  • Product Suggestions: They highlight specifically marked down items, peppered in with real-time suggestions powered by MessageGears Engage

Bespoke Post

What did we like?

  • They know their audience: People who subscribe to Bespoke Post like to support small businesses.
  • Numbers: It’s neat to give customers a look into your analytics.
  • Positive feedback: Make customers feel good about buying from your brand.

Rakuten Rewards

What did we like?

  • Dynamic Content: MessageGears + our friends at Movable Ink let Rakuten Rewards surface dynamic images
  • Design: Visually appealing and to the point: 10% CASH BACK is huge for online shoppers
  • Specific to each recipient: Rakuten suggests stores for each user based on their shopping habits, which is stored in their customer data

 

Peloton

What did we like?

  • Personalization: Send loyal customers recommendations that fit with their activity.
  • Big announcement: It’s at the bottom, but how does that Taylor Swift red not catch your eye?
  • Inspiration: Give customers the motivation they need to keep going.

Peloton infographic

Party City

What did we like?

  • SMS capability: Text Party City, and receive updates on your orders
  • Call to action: Download the app, and then the user will be moved to a new part of the customer journey, perhaps they’ll receive an offer
  • Personalization via user preference: My last used store location is surfaced in the email with the option to update it if needed

Bonobos

What did we like?

  • Simplicity: Just a holiday checklist to get you through the season.
  • It’s funny: Fun to see Bonobos let their hair down and include relatable laugh lines here.
  • No hard sells: There are links to their products, but this is largely about fun.

 

Calm

What did we like?

  • Personalization: Let the customer see exactly how they used your product.
  • Recommendations: Prompt them to dive back in with relevant recommendations based upon what they’ve done before.
  • Know your audience: The end of the year can be a stressful time. A good moment to recommend anxiety relief.

Shinesty

What did we like?

  • On Brand: Between the writing and the imagery, Shinesty does a great job of leaning into their edgy, sarcastic brand identity.
  • Big CTA: After they talk about people canceling, they invite you to check out the entire Christmas collection.
  • Tease: How do you not keep reading after that opening line?

 

 

About the Author

Jeff Haws

As MessageGears’ Senior Marketing Manager, Jeff is focused on producing engaging and thoughtful content that resonates with enterprise marketers, helping them to better understand how MessageGears makes their jobs easier. He’s passionate about understanding the way data impacts messaging, and he’s also hopelessly obsessed with baseball.