The Best Email Subject Lines for Holiday Discounts and Promos

In 2021, digital revenue for the holiday season is predicted to surpass $200 billion. Email marketing can help eCommerce brands achieve a hearty slice of this money-making holiday sales pie.

But how?

Sometimes, it’s okay to cheat. Use this best sales email subject lines cheat sheet to make your holiday extra special and lucrative for your brand.

Best practices for boosting email open rates

Once you’ve got your email marketing strategy and your templates nailed down, now it’s time for the copy. But if you don’t employ these standard email marketing best practices, those sugar plum fairy sales won’t be dancing on into your bank account.

Stick to these four simple rules before you type your email and hit “send”.

#1. Keep the character length mobile-friendly

40% of consumers use a mobile app to view their emails. So, you’ll want to make sure that your email subject lines are optimized for mobile viewing — anywhere from 30 to 60 characters is ideal. In some cases, super short, to-the-point email subject lines will do wonders to boost your open rates.

Don’t be afraid to A/B split test and experiment!

#2. Sync up your preview text

The preview text should complement your subject line; however, not all email service providers will display the preview text.

So, while the preview text should complement the subject line, you’ll want to keep the essential information in the subject line itself. Subject lines display no matter what service provider the recipient uses.

#3. Use emojis and personalization (sometimes!)

Personalization is an excellent strategy to use for getting your emails noticed and opened. But too much of a good thing is never a good thing.

When running a holiday email marketing campaign, sprinkle personalized subject lines throughout the campaign.

We suggest using a personalized subject line for the launch email to capture attention. Then use personalization for last chance emails before the promotion ends to again grab attention and feed into the urgency you’re trying to create.

Think about it. If someone was trying to get your attention and kept saying your name, it would come across as too pushy or sales-y.

The same rule goes for emojis.

Emojis can add some color and playfulness to your emails, helping them stand out in an otherwise crowded inbox. But if you use emojis too much, you might come across as unprofessional.

#4. Use holiday slogans and references to boost open rates

Humor is a powerful tool in your email marketing arsenal. Use holiday slogans, puns, and cultural references to grab people’s attention and entice them to click your email.

Like this:

Yule never believe these discounts!
Are You a Rebel Without a Clause?
Sleigh your shopping list, {Firstname}
In a Holidaze? Here’s the Cure

When crafting subject lines for your promotional emails, feel free to get creative.

Best Sales Email Subject Lines for the Holidays

There are no hard and fast rules for getting your holiday sales emails opened and clicked. It’s more of an art than a science. But with that said, there are a few tips and tricks you can deploy to increase the chances of getting your emails opened.

Remember to do an A/B split test and check your subject line performances for previous campaigns in your dashboard.

And, use some of these tricks to get your emails to stand out in the inbox:

Ask a question
Switch up sentence and title cases and vice versa
Go bold or all caps with certain words
Replace words like to with the number 2, are with the letter R, etc.
Put the biggest offer in the subject line

Without further adieu, here's your email subject lines cheat sheet for the holidays:

Launching the holiday offer

{Firstname}, Yule Not Gonna Believe This
The Biggest Sale of the Year is ON
Santa called. He says you’ve been good this year
Celebrate Cyber Mon-Yay 🥳
Ready to Sleigh This Christmas?
Save. Big. Now 🤯
Red Alert ⏰
Biggest Sale of the Year Starts NOW
Big Deals Incoming 🚀
Drop Everything. Sale Starts Now

Teasing with mega deals and sales

Be the Best St. Nick with Just 1 Click
Unwrap Your Presents Early 🎁
Indulge your sweet tooth with these savings 🧁
Get Ready 2 Save Big
Deals This Good Only Happen 1X a Year
Who's been a good elf this year?
No Mo' FOMO
20% Off the ENTIRE STORE 😱
Warm Up Your Winter 4 Less
Take 10% Off Sitewide. You’re Welcome 😉
Stumped for Gift Ideas?

Last chance and reminder email subject lines

{Firstname}, Don’t Miss Out
Biggest Sale of the Year’s About to End
This Will All B Over Soon 😢
Last Chance 4 Big Savings
Last Call
last chance 2 save
Your coupon is expiring.
3, 2, 1 GAME OVER
Hate to see you miss this!
Have you seen this yet? 👀
Think you missed this 🤔
Your holiday savings are about to end.
Stock Up On Stocking Stuffers
Save before it’s too late!

Best email subject lines for the holidays: Key takeaways

Always A/B split tests and look back through your data to see what kinds of subject lines and send times are your biggest performers and heavy hitters. Use puns and slogans, make cultural references to the holidays, and even include industry-related puns and jargon to capture people’s attention.

Now, go out there with this cheat sheet and sleigh your holiday sales!

Reach out to us today to learn more about our bespoke eCommerce marketing strategies.