How to Write a Heartfelt Thanksgiving Email

Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving, and how to incorporate that into our email campaign?

Thanksgiving is a holiday that is celebrated out of pure thankfulness. We know this sounds cheesy, but it is the only holiday that revolves around inclusiveness. It is to remind the United States and Canada to give thanks for the harvest that has been throughout the year. In other words, it is created to give thanks for what we have. Gathering between family, friends and loved ones is what stands out when celebrating thanksgiving. The idea of being thankful is often overlooked, this generation moves so fast and expects things so gratitude is left behind. Sending a thanksgiving email to customers, clients, employees etc is a great way to not only make somebody's day but for the time it takes to read that email, they are feeling good about themselves. This being said, the emails sent out must produce the same level of gratitude. 

Appreciation is the big idea behind Thanksgiving, so we must pass that spirit along to the readers. The ability to have creative freedom regarding the heartfelt and sincere campaign you wish to run, is exciting. Having the ability to make the email heartfelt and warm is often only seen during the holidays, below we will emphasize different ways to incorporate these tactics. During this season, subscribers' inboxes are probably flooded with deals, sales, black Friday, and cyber Monday campaigns, so it is essential that the subject line is sweet and not overwhelming. 

Thanksgiving is a classic

Thanksgiving has been celebrated since 1621, meaning it has earned the definition of an antique holiday! That said, we must keep our emails classy in all aspects. Color schemes are often flexible when it comes to email marketing. As long as they display the message and are relative to the brand, there is no problem. In this case, an unspoken aesthetic goes into fall and celebrating Thanksgiving. When creating a color scheme, stick to colors such as gray, whites, blacks, browns, burnt orange, and mustard yellow, which are aesthetic, pleasing to the eye, and welcome Thanksgiving. 

Additionally, subject lines carry immense importance; as mentioned, inboxes are flooding with deals and sales for black Friday and cyber Monday - Thanksgiving is a great way to get recipients' attention softly. A few fun examples are:

• Let us show our thanks - take up to 25% off
• Gobble up this sale while it lasts!
• We have cooked up some tasty deals
• The perfect thanksgiving fit
• From Us to You! Happy Thanksgiving

During the holidays, personalization has a little leeway. I know there has been mention of how important personalization is when it comes to standing out in an inbox but during Thanksgiving a simple thanks or a deal can catch somebody's attention just as well. Personalization is almost incorporated into the email body as opposed to the subject line. By including different ways that the customer or recipient has been active in the brand and it's a good way to switch that up.

You are writing your Thanksgiving message

There are a couple of factors to consider when writing a message for Thanksgiving. First, the goal is not to sell something or get the subscribers to sign up for something - instead, you want them to feel appreciated and 'taken care of. Three key ingredients to the perfect thanksgiving email are as follows:

• Make it come from the heart - Writing an email that comes from the heart shows an authentic and genuine appreciation for subscribers, informing them that there would be no brand without them. It is the brand's opportunity to say thank you. It is time to stop pushing sales and products and instead make the idea of community, family, and friends. 
• Stay true to your brand - Frequently, the point of an email is to push a sale; in this case, it is the brand's opportunity to voice its gratitude. You have the chance to be creative and express the brand's personality instead of sticking to a product's marketing strategy. 
• Know your audience - Adapting the thanksgiving message is essential. You are using previously collected data such as CRM personality profiles, demographics, ideal personas, and product interests to understand the audience before reaching out and creating a thanksgiving campaign. 

Questions To Ask Yourself: 

A great way to draft your thanksgiving email is to take a moment and think about what your brand does for its subscribers and ask yourself, 'Why should they be thankful for us?' A brand is supposed to go beyond selling a product. Then remind yourself of why you're thankful for your customers, and capitalize on that. 

• What precisely can I thank my audience for? 
• How have my customers helped my business?
• What business accomplishments can I share to remind customers of our journey? 
• What other types of accomplishments or milestones can I share (i.e., products the customer has bought, membership status, the anniversary of when they joined, etc.)

What to include in a Thanksgiving email?

1 . Customer Loyalty - Thanksgiving is built around appreciating everything you have or giving back to the community. It goes a long way when a brand reaches out and thanks the customer for their contribution, and show your loyal customers that you are thankful for them speaks volumes. Making these emails more impactful by using specifics - such as them being a VIP member, or reminding them where they started, possibly doing a little 'your very first purchase' and 'look where you are now—showing the recipients that they have grown with the brand. 

Something unnoticed is the retention that these thankful emails can increase. Customers see that they have grown with your brand and that you appreciate them - it only makes customers what to stick around more because they have given so much of their time browsing and money. 

2. Three Approaches - a few approaches to consider when writing a thanksgiving email campaign. 

1. Short and Sweet: Diving in and going straight to the point is an approach that can be taken when writing your thanksgiving email. Be calm when emailing your recipients and remind them why they became a customer or subscribed in the first place. Sending a sweet and powerful message with either a solid subject line or personalization will go a long way in making recipients feel appreciated. 
2. Storytelling Email: Capture your audience's attention and create an entertaining email. Attempting to incorporate storytelling into an email is the best way to entice positive emotions and experiences with your brand. Deepening the relationship with your recipients by telling positive stories will contribute to how they view the brand. Sometimes you can get away with the account not entirely relating to Thanksgiving in the first place; as long as it pulls at some heartstrings, that foundation for growth is already being built. While writing this portion, you can ask yourself questions to better understand the direction you'd like your campaign to go - such as What are some everyday thanksgiving experiences? What Thanksgiving-related themes and emotions are going to make an impact on the audience? Etc. This will also increase how the customer views the brand, noticing that there is more to offer than product and that the company goes deeper than making sales.
3. Helpful (Tips and Tricks): Break the holiday ice! A fun way to thank your recipients is by helping them. Putting effort into tips and tricks, they may need to learn our brand's attempt to make their lives easier. It can be something other than obnoxious tips and tricks; the idea behind it is making their holiday easier. A few tips and tricks that you can include are:

• • Make your list Nov 1 
  • Set the Table the night before
  • "Make your own breakfast" policy.
  • Square and Rectangle pan for oven optimization.
  • Save easy jobs for early birds.

Another great approach with helpful tips and tricks is depending upon what you sell as a brand you can make the tips and tricks specifically to the products that you offer so they can see firsthand how what you cell could genuinely make their lives easier during this holiday season. This then doubles as a thankful and helpful email but a little brand publicity scattered in.

4. Segue to Black Friday Sales and Cyber Monday: Let's be honest - Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the most significant revenue holidays of the year. Your company is excited about it, and so are your customers. Briefly incorporating or mentioning Black Friday deals or Cyber Monday deals is a great way not to overwhelm your audience but to promote something to look forward to. Building up anticipation for the sales waiting for them - including a release date - such as 'starts at midnight 11/30'. Another great way to catch the user's attention is to put in the email campaign feature something that might go on sale for black Friday—showing customers what they could potentially have. Making sure to build the excitement but not make the email specifically about Cyber Monday and Black Friday. 

 5. Make it relatable and comical! - Thanksgiving has a familiarity no matter where you spend it. That said, familiarity does not prepare you for the awkward questions, the relatives you don't want to see, or your favorite football team playing while dinner is served. Essentially offer a Thanksgiving survival guide - showing that your brand is relatable to many people. 

6. Generosity - be the brand that keeps on giving! Now it is time to give to those who give to you. There are essentially two approaches that can occur, an email code, discount, or sale included in their thanksgiving email. A way that this can increase website traffic and revenue is to have the customer click on a link to receive their code - this then leads them to a spinner on the website they can spin it and receive a discount of 10%, 15%, 20% or something similar and then give a deadline that they must use it. You can also give gifts like a free product, shipping, trial, etc. 

Do not forget your employees!

In email campaigns, they are generally shifted for the customers or recipients to express gratitude. Often, employees doing the work's grunt should also be thanked. Showing appreciation, recognition, thankfulness, and gratitude are all ways to show employee appreciation that can go a long way. Here are a few examples:

• I am so lucky to have such a hard-working employee like yourself. The past few months/ years have shown you can handle all challenges. Your dedication and time spent with us has not gone unnoticed. We are thankful to have you as a part of our team. Happy Thanksgiving!
• In this time of gratitude I would like to thank you for all the time and work you put into our company's success. Please continue to do what you are doing and strive for greatness every day. Have a great Thanksgiving!
• You have done a great job here at _______, and you have played a massive role in our success. We are so thankful to have you on our team and look forward to working with you in the new year. Happy Thanksgiving!

Wrapping up Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday built around being grateful and appreciating the world for what it has been able to give you. Everybody wants to feel appreciated, and even the simplest gesture or email can be the difference in somebody's day, so why not be that difference ? Offering coupons, deals, codes, exclusive offers, etc., is a way to benefit the brand as well as the customer. As mentioned above, there are many ways to approach a thanksgiving email and ensure that it is heartfelt and genuine; that being said, make sure to stay on point with your brand. Mailsoftly allows you to customize templates and mass email a multitude of customers at one time, engage with what mailsoftly has to offer, and learn more about how to send an email in the snap of a finger, or in this case, in the time it would take to eat a bite of thanksgiving pie!