With the holidays right around the corner, what better way to reach out to potential and existing clients than through a holiday-themed blast message? On paper it seems simple enough: Throw some turkey clipart in there, tell em’ how much you love pie, and reap the benefits. You then spend the rest of the holiday season wondering why your message didn’t lead to any connections. Here’s why:
Holiday Messages Attack Inboxes Like a Zombie Apocalypse
It’s no secret: we often get hundreds of holiday emails. Everyone, from insurance agents to that one place that gave us an oil change in 2003, comes out of the woodwork to let us know a holiday is around the corner. And while we’re on the whole ‘being honest’ kick, just admit it: a lot of those emails unopened, right? That’s because the person who sent it to you didn’t plan ahead… or at all.
What Are You Trying to Accomplish?
The purpose of a blast message is to stay top-of-mind, so before you throw a picture of your face on a dancing elf e-card, think about what it is you want your list to do after reading your email. Is this just a fun and friendly message to wish your recipients well, or a strategic marketing message with a call to action? Either way, figure this out before you begin writing – understanding your desired result is the first step.
Boring Subject Lines Suck (the life right out of your message)
An opened email starts with an engaging subject line. Titles that start with “Happy” or “Merry” and are then followed by “Holidays”, “Thanksgiving”, “Christmas” or “Kwanzaa”, will compete with the other hundred subject lines that say the exact same thing – and, unless your recipients are close to you, it won’t compel a person to open it. Instead, think of an attention-grabbing title like: “I Bet You Didn’t Know This about Pilgrims…”. Not only does this stay away from the usual canned holiday greetings, it also serves to pique the interest of the reader and compel them to open the email and find out more.
A Good Email Takes Thought
Because we mentioned earlier that your email could be call to action-driven or fun and friendly, we’ll approach each option separately.
The Fun & Friendly Email
The Pilgrim subject line we mentioned above would lend well to a message like this. Go to Google and find some interesting facts about Pilgrims (a quick search netted me dozens of pages on the subject). The best part? You don’t even have to write them out yourself – just give a snippet of what the article is and provide a link for readers to check out on their own. What you’ve done is given them engaging content they can share with others and kept you top of mind. It’s not .gifs of dancing turkeys or photos of pumpkin pie from a 1979 cookbook – the world will thank you. =)
The Call to Action Email
This one is a bit trickier without knowing what your call to action is. For our purposes, we’ll assume the role of a real estate agent trying to find new sellers and referrals. First, we’ll start with an interesting story such as this one about a family who won the chance to spend the holiday in the house used to film “A Christmas Story”. Pretty neat huh?! The same general idea applies as the fun & friendly message above: create an engaging subject line such as “Ever Spend the Holidays on a Movie Set?”. You can then write a short blurb about the article and link to it. Here’s where you can use your call to action – end the email with something like:
“Are you looking for a new place to spend the holidays? Take a look at these great listings in your area!”
The math is simple: engaging subject line + interesting story + call to action that relates to the story = email reply!
In Closing
Of course your mileage may vary, and you’ll have to create content that relates to you and what you’re trying to achieve (feel free to use the ideas listed above as springboards), but the groundwork is there for you to build on. The point of this article is simply to force you to think outside the inbox and craft a message you would want to read. If you do that, your emails will CRUSH it.
Happy Grasshopper’s Starter and Pro Plans offer blast functionality that allow you to reach out to anyone in your contact list at anytime – including for engaging, holiday-themed messages! To find out if Happy Grasshopper is right for you take our assessment and download the e-nurturing check list.
