7 Holiday Email Templates & 4 Examples to Strengthen Customer Relationships
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It’s never too early to start planning your holiday email strategy, whether you’re getting ready for Black Friday, Christmas, Halloween, or more niche celebrations like National Dog Day.
If you’re writing to customers, clients, or donors, then you’ll want the greeting to come first and the pitch second. A good holiday email thanks the reader for the year, wishes them well, and only then points to an offer. So, it’s a different job from a promotional email, and you need to save your call to action (CTA) for the end.
I’ll show you 4 examples that real brands sent for their Christmas holiday email marketing campaigns, and what makes each one work. Then I’ll give you 7 templates for copywriting and design, plus a way to grow the email list you send them to.
Benefits of Holiday Emails (Boost Sales & Trust)
Sending dedicated holiday messages offers several advantages for businesses and nonprofits:
- Stronger customer relationships. A holiday email is sent outside of your usual email marketing, so it thanks customers for the year instead of asking for another order.
- More sales from a promotion you’re already running. Statista’s holiday eCommerce data says US online holiday retail sales in 2025 “were set to get over 311 billion dollars”. A dedicated email for Cyber Monday or Father’s Day puts your offer in front of more of those shoppers.
- Your name back in the inbox. Customers who haven’t thought about you since their last order get a greeting with no offer attached.
- A chance to sound like the people who run your business. It’s one of the few emails you’ll send with nothing to sell, so you can thank a customer by name or say what your team is doing over the break.
4 Holiday Email Examples to Inspire Your Campaigns
Below, I’ll go through four holiday emails from very different senders: a home retailer, a nonprofit, a pet supplies store, and a marketing company.
I’ll say what I like about each one and what you can learn from it.
These emails all went out on Christmas Day. While Christmas isn’t the only day you can or should send holiday emails, I’ve chosen these because they show how to really focus on the greeting before making any sales pitch.
Keep in mind that a holiday email only reaches the people who signed up before the season started. So, if your list is thin, I’d fix that first with a holiday optin campaign on your website.
1. The Company Store: Christmas Day Greeting + Sale & Product Links
The Company Store is an online retailer that specializes in cozy home products such as bedding, towels, and pajamas.
They sent this digital Christmas card on Christmas morning:
Below, they linked to the final day of their End of Season sale, along with some product recommendations:
Why this Christmas email works: This email focuses all on heart and brand image. That’s a good idea for a Christmas morning email. Phrases like “cozy little holiday” and “there’s no place like home” are perfectly on-brand, while not demanding anything of the customer.
Yes, they include some sale and product links at the bottom of the email, but the overall vibe is relaxing.
What you can learn: I’d blend the voice and brand of your company with the festive feel of the holiday you’re celebrating. That way, you can leave a real impression about who you are as a company.
2. Hispanic Federation: A Nonprofit Thank You & Overview
Next, I want to show you a holiday email from Hispanic Federation, which is a cultural nonprofit organization.
The email included a festive graphic and a simple letter from the organization’s president. It thanked donors for their generosity and gave a brief list of what the organization had accomplished because of that financial support. It’s not shown in the screenshot above, but there was a donate button below the letter.
Why this holiday email works: Hispanic Federation doesn’t bother with a fancy design. They just thank their donors and wish them well for the holiday season. They also list some of the work they do. That makes supporters feel good about their donations, so they’re more likely to donate again in the future.
What you can learn: I recommend putting your subscribers first in your holiday emails, whether you run a nonprofit or a company. Thank them, and say how much you appreciate their support.
3. Chewy: Special Holiday Content
Chewy is an online pet supplies store, and their Christmas morning email gave subscribers something to read:
Chewy sent a link to a fully illustrated story about Clarence, a stray orange tabby with nowhere to call home on a snowy night. The email showed the opening lines and the first illustration, with a “Read now” button for the rest.
Why this email works: Chewy put real effort into something their customers would remember. What I like about this one is that the story is the gift, and Christmas morning is exactly when somebody has the time to sit and read it.
What you can learn: You may not have the resources to create an illustrated story and video. However, if your company does content marketing, I suggest creating themed content that you can include in your holiday emails.
You can also offer that content as a signup incentive on the pages where people read it, so the story earns you subscribers as well as goodwill.
4. DigitalMarketer: A Final Holiday Deal
On Christmas Day, DigitalMarketer sent out an email reminding subscribers about a deal they were offering as part of their 12 Days of Deals holiday promotion.
However, they didn’t jump right into a sales pitch. Instead, they started their email with a silly photo of an Elf on the Shelf toy sitting inside their logo.
The letter underneath opened with the subscriber’s first name, and shared gratitude and well wishes before offering the final deal.
Why this holiday email works: This was a pretty standard email from DigitalMarketer, but they made it fun and festive for the holiday.
What you can learn: You don’t have to use a special template or spend a ton of time sending a dedicated holiday email. You can always simply add an attention-catching image and some warm holiday wishes to a regular email.
And when the deal has a deadline like theirs did, I recommend putting the same countdown on your website, which is exactly the kind of campaign we built OptinMonster for.
Want a bigger list to send your holiday emails to?
Our conversion experts will design 1 free campaign for you, so you can start collecting email addresses before your next holiday send.
7 Holiday Email Templates for Copywriting & Design
The seven templates below split into two types.
Some are copywriting templates: text you can paste and adapt for your own emails. Others are design templates from email marketing platforms and Canva, linked here so you can open each one directly.
1. Season’s Greetings & Thank You Copywriting Template
First, here’s a very standard template for an email featuring a holiday letter. The wording here is generic, so you should customize it to your brand voice and industry.
Email Subject Line: “Warm Holiday Wishes from [Your Brand]”
Email Header:
- Header Image: [Holiday Graphic or Photo]
- Introduction: “Happy Holidays from all of us at [Your Brand]! As the year comes to a close, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks for your continued support.”
Message:
- Greeting: “Dear [Customer Name],”
- Gratitude: “We appreciate your trust in us and are grateful for the opportunity to serve you.”
- Special Offer: “As a thank you, please enjoy [hyperlinked special offer or discount]. “
- Season’s Greetings: “May your holiday season be filled with joy, peace, and happiness. We look forward to continuing our journey together in the coming year.”
Closing:
- Holiday Wishes: “Warmest regards,”
- Signature: “[Name, Title]”
Calls-to-Action:
- Sale link: Include a linked image or text to your current promotion.
- Recommended products: Include a gallery of products the customer might be interested in.
2. End-of-Year Nonprofit Recap (Design Template)
The changing of the year is a great time to look back at everything you’ve accomplished over the past 12 months. If you’re a nonprofit, then your supporters want to hear about your success, too!
The email marketing platform Campaign Monitor offers this template among its free holiday email templates:
This New Year email template begins by celebrating the past year and introducing the idea of sharing the organization’s achievements.
Then, there’s a long color-blocked infographic listing top statistics from the year:
Finally, there’s a CTA reminding subscribers that there’s still time to give before the year comes to a close:
3. Mother’s Day Email with Special Deals (Copywriting Template)
A lot of this article has focused on the winter holidays, but you can and should send emails to celebrate a wide variety of special occasions.
Here is some sample copy to use for a Mother’s Day email.
Email Subject Line: “Celebrate Mother’s Day with [Your Brand] – Special Offers Inside!”
Email Header:
- Header Image: [Image of a mother and child enjoying your products]
- Introduction: “Celebrating All Moms!”
Message:
- Greeting: “Dear [Customer Name],”
- Celebrate Other Moms: “Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and we want to help you celebrate the incredible moms in your life. Whether you’re shopping for your mom, grandmother, or a special mother figure, we have the perfect gifts to show your appreciation.”
- Celebrate Yourself: “And if you’re a mom, we want to celebrate you, too! Thank you for bringing life and love into the world. We hope you use the deals below to treat yourself to something special.“
Special Offers:
- Exclusive Discount: “Enjoy 20% off on all Mother’s Day gifts with code MOTHER20.”
- Gift Ideas: “Check out our top picks for Mother’s Day, including [Product 1], [Product 2], and [Product 3].”
- Free Shipping: “Get free shipping on orders over $50.”
Call-to-Action: “Shop Our Mother’s Day Collection”
Personal Touch: “Make this Mother’s Day unforgettable with a personalized gift. Add a custom message to your purchase to show how much you care.”
4. Hanukkah Email (Design Inspiration)
This Hanukkah email from AfterShokz is one of the examples collected in ReallyGoodEmails’ Hanukkah gallery.
You can browse that gallery for inspiration, but keep in mind that nothing in it downloads as a template:
I’d copy the short explainer first. It says what Hanukkah is and how it’s celebrated, so a subscriber who doesn’t observe the holiday still knows why the email arrived.
The other part worth borrowing is the list below the main message, “8 Ways to Spread Light This Season”:
You could swap in a few actions that suit your own customers.
5. Festive Christmas Email (Design Template)
The popular design software Canva has a wide variety of email templates you can access even with a free account, including this jolly template for a Christmas email:
The existing text on this Christmas email template is for a personal grooming company, but you can easily change it out to create a fun holiday greeting for your business or organization.
6. International Friendship Day Email (Copywriting Template)
The big holidays aren’t the only occasions to reach out to your email subscribers with a special message. Look for smaller celebratory days, especially if they’re relevant to your business.
International Friendship Day, which is on July 30, is an example of a holiday that any email marketer can celebrate. You can use it as an opportunity to honor your relationships with your customers, readers, clients, or supporters.
Email Subject Line: “For Our Friends on this Friendship Day”
Email Header:
- Header Image: [Photo or graphic of friends laughing or hugging]
- Introduction: “Happy International Friendship Day from all of us at [Your Brand]!”
Message:
- Greeting: “Dear [Customer Name],”
- Gratitude: “Friendships are bonds that carry us through hard times and make the best times feel even sweeter. If you’re taking the time to read this, we don’t see you as just another customer. We see you as a valued friend.”
- Special Offer: “We want to show our appreciation by giving you [special offer]. Think of it as a small gift to you, or use it to treat a special friend in your life.”
Closing: “Your friend, [Name, Title]”
Call-to-Action: Links or buttons to current sales or deals.
7. Chinese New Year Email With Coupon Code (Design Template)
Constant Contact is one of the email marketing services we recommend for small businesses. It has hundreds of email templates, and this Chinese New Year design is one of them.
Constant Contact users can find it in the template library inside their account. After all, January 1 isn’t the only time to say “Happy New Year!”
This template doesn’t include an in-depth message, but you could easily add one by dragging and dropping a text box above the coupon code.
Build Your Email List With Holiday-Themed Optin Campaigns
Even the best holiday email can’t do anything if nobody is reading it. So, the next job is growing a list of engaged subscribers, and your holiday traffic is the place to start.
OptinMonster is our lead-generation software, and our popups, floating bars, and other onsite marketing campaigns help you build a high-quality email list quickly.
We have 700+ pre-designed templates, including dozens for different holidays, including Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Holi, Thanksgiving, and many more.
When you create a campaign, the Seasonal filter groups them by occasion, so you can go straight to Halloween, Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
You can customize each template for your business with just a few clicks in our drag-and-drop builder.
Then you can use our targeting and triggering rules to show your campaigns to the right people at the right time.
Here are the things worth setting up for a holiday offer:
- A countdown timer. Counts down to the moment the sale ends, so somebody who would have waited has a reason to decide now.
- The coupon code on the success view. The campaign can show the code as soon as somebody signs up, instead of making them wait for an email.
- Exit-Intent®. Shows the campaign as somebody moves to leave, which is the last moment the offer can still reach them.
- Page targeting. Displays the campaign on the pages where the offer applies, like a sale category or a gift guide, rather than the whole site.
- A schedule. Starts and stops the campaign on the dates of the sale, so the offer appears when the sale opens and stops showing when it ends.
- A rule for the people who already subscribed. OnSite Retargeting® shows returning visitors something else, so the campaign is not asking somebody to join a list they are already on.
A campaign running on your website now means a bigger list waiting for your next holiday email. That’s what we built OptinMonster to do.
Get started with OptinMonster today!
Holiday Email FAQs
What is a good holiday message to send in an email?
A good holiday message thanks the customer for something specific, keeps the sales pitch out of it, and runs no longer than a few lines. I recommend naming what they actually did this year, like a first order or a renewal. A general thank you for your support reads like a mail merge, and your customers have already had a few of those.
Happy holidays from all of us at [Your Brand].
Thank you for [what they bought or signed up for this year]. We hope you get a proper break, and we’ll see you in the new year.
How do I tell clients or customers about a holiday closure?
Send one short email a week or two before you close. Say when you shut down, when you’re back, and who to contact if something can’t wait. I suggest putting the dates in the subject line as well, so they’re clear from the inbox.
Our office is closed from [first day] to [last day].
We reopen on [date], and we’ll reply to anything that arrives while we’re away.
If something can’t wait, please contact [name or team] on [phone number].
Thank you for working with us this year, and happy holidays from all of us at [Your Brand].
What should the subject line of a holiday email say?
Say who the email is from and what it is: a greeting, a thank you, or an offer with a deadline. “Happy holidays from [Your Brand]” does the job for a greeting, and an offer needs its deadline in there too, as in “Our holiday sale ends Sunday”. I’d also keep it short enough to read on a phone, because a long one gets cut off in the inbox. For more options you can adapt, see our guide to email subject line examples.
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