Create standout marketing emails for the holiday shopping and giving season

Design email campaigns to promote sales and events for Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday

It's always best to start planning early for the holiday shopping and giving season. We've got the templates and tools to help you build great-looking emails that drive sales and donations!

• Black Friday
• Small Business Saturday
• Cyber Monday
• Giving Tuesday

While these days are still popular as standalone events, more and more sales and donation campaigns stretch out over a longer period of time, with the weekend acting as a centerpiece. 

Be a better marketer: Need some inspiration? Check out these holiday email templates for small businesses and nonprofits.

Black Friday

Black Friday is the day that officially kicks-off the holiday shopping season. It's not an official holiday, but a retail trend where retailers began offering discounts and sales to attract holiday shoppers. Now retailers have added special "one day only" promotions for specific items, only available on Black Friday, to help differentiate themselves from other retailers.

A typical Black Friday email strategy is to send teaser emails leading up to the night before and then send the email containing the actual deal at midnight on Black Friday.

• Start with a Black Friday template. Just search "Friday" when selecting a template.
• Splurge a little bit on just the right image from our stock image gallery in the Library.
• Have a little fun with the colors in your email - white text or bright colors really pop against a black background.
• Use the RSVP action block to formally invite your contacts to your Black Friday retail event.
• Insert Product blocks to promote your goods from your eBay, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Square, or Wix store.
• If you're promoting more than one item in your email, enable click segmentation so that as you get closer to Black Friday, you can send more targeted emails to your contacts based on their interests.
• Have a tablet? Use our ListBuilder app to collect new contacts at your point-of-sale.
• Check out our resources page for more ways to help you capture end-of-year sales.
   

  You don't always have to offer a discount on Black Friday! If you have one-of-a-kind or limited edition products, services, or promotions, go ahead and highlight them.	Coupons are an easy way to attract Black Friday shoppers. This email offers the promotion a little before Black Friday actually happens to help the email stand out in a crowded Black Friday inbox.

If your brick-and-mortar store has an online presence too, don't forget to take advantage of Cyber Monday as well!

Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is a dedicated holiday created by American Express to help promote their small business customers; it's the brick-and-mortar answer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday that promotes local shopping at retailers in your own community.

A typical Small Business Saturday email strategy is to send a series of email reminders, for about a week or two before Small Business Saturday, promoting both your organization and the benefits of shopping local.

• Start with a Small Business Saturday template. Just search "Saturday" when selecting a template.
• Splurge a little bit on just the right image from our stock image gallery in the Library.
• Use contact details to personalize your email content.
• Insert Product blocks to promote your goods from your eBay, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Square, or Wix store.
• If you're promoting more than one item in your email, enable click segmentation so that as you get closer to Small Business Saturday, you can send more targeted emails to your contacts based on their interests.
• Have a tablet? Use our ListBuilder app to collect new contacts at your point-of-sale.
• Check out our resources page for more ways to help you capture crucial end-of-year sales.
   

  Adding images of people in the local community using your products and services makes your message feel more authentic.	This email aims to tug at readers' heartstrings by sharing that shopping small helps local businesses like theirs, while also providing a small discount as a token of their appreciation.

Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday began as a retail trend when more and more people started using the better internet connection they had available at work to take advantage of the sales that began on Black Friday — it was a bonus that there were no lines and their gift recipients couldn't peek at their gifts, too. Now people are connected 24-7 through mobile devices and retailers take advantage by promoting web-only sales.

A typical Cyber Monday email strategy is to send teaser emails leading up to the night before and then send the email containing the deal on Cyber Monday. 

• Start with a Cyber Monday template. Just search "cyber" when selecting a template.
• Splurge a little bit on just the right image from our stock image gallery in the Library.
• Use the RSVP action block to formally invite your contacts to your Cyber Monday online event.
• Insert Product blocks to promote your goods from your eBay, Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Square, or Wix store.
• If you're promoting more than one item in your email, enable click segmentation so that as you get closer to Cyber Monday, you can send more targeted emails to your contacts based on their interests.
• Check out our resources page for more ways to help you capture end-of-year sales.
  
  

Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday is "a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration;" it's the nonprofit answer to Black Friday and Cyber Monday where the goal is to kick-off the charitable season with a coordinated day for making donations.

A typical Giving Tuesday strategy is to send a series of emails announcing the campaign, telling a deeper story, and requesting a donation on Giving Tuesday, and then sending a follow-up email to say thank you and give an update on the progress towards your goal. Remember, donations don't always need to involve cash! If you need supplies or volunteers, don't shy away from the day.

• Start with a Giving Tuesday template. Just search "giving" when selecting a template.
• Splurge a little bit on just the right image from our stock image gallery in the Library.
• Use contact details to personalize your email content.
• Use a Read More block to link off to more information about your organization and its mission on your website or blog.
• Insert a Social Share block to encourage your readers to share your message with their friends and followers.
• Check out our resources page for more ways to help you capture end-of-year donations.
   
  

Bored with your usual email templates? Change it up with an animated template! Our team of experts brings emails to life using image animations. Get yourself an animated template today!

Want to learn more about planning out your email campaigns? Watch our webinar:

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