Holiday Pre-Send Checklist

Your sending practices over the holidays can determine your email

deliverability long after the fireworks have popped and

decorations have been put away.

Here are our top 4 things to consider before you press send…

#1. Content #2. Volume #3. Subscribers #4. Metrics

#1. CONTENT

Stay consistent with your brand.

Though it may be tempting to play up the holidays with new branding, design, etc.,

remember your customers need to be able to recognize you. Keep your “from address”

the same!

Personalize the content.

The last thing you want your recipient to feel is that they’re just another address on your list. Use

their name in the greeting or even reference a purchase they made recently with suggestions to

similar products!

#2. VOLUME

Build up volume while staying relevant.

If you are looking to increase the amount of email you’re sending now, you’ll need to

gradually increase the volume. Make sure you’re providing value in those emails – increasing your sending for the sake of sending an email is not the right plan.

Don’t be too aggressive.

Erratic sending volumes trigger Internet Service Providers to flag you

as a suspicious sender! Slow and steady wins the race.

Watch your sending frequency.

Though you may want to increase how often you communicate, watch out for exhausting your recipients. Sending

unwanted email to your list is a different form of spam!

#3. SUBSCRIBERS

Use good list hygiene.

How old is your list? Do you treat all of your subscribers the same regardless of engagement? Look into segmenting and treating old subscribers differently

from the new.

Who are your VIP recipients?

Pay attention to who your most engaged users are – especially if you

are looking to change your email program in any way. Test here first!

Listen to what your subscribers want. !

If you see a lot of unsubscribes, spam complaints, and low open rates, you probably are not sending content

that’s truly valuable to your recipients.

#4. METRICS

TEST! !

Start small with several templates. Test one thing at a time. Proceed with the winner from each test, and remember to circle back to the beginning when you think

you’re done. ;)

Closely watch opens, clicks, and spam reports.

!Be extra responsive to these metrics – they are your way of seeing into your

recipients’ inboxes!

Don’t stop testing. !

There is always something to test. Once you’ve tested everything (and enough time has passed) you can

circle back to test what you started with!

Key Takeaways

Messing up your reputation with poor holiday sending habits won’t be automatically forgiven come January.

The holidays can be a very exciting time for your email program. They're a chance to re-engage and reward your subscribers. Just be sure to keep these tips in mind to benefit from better deliverability and subscriber satisfaction!

For more information on email best practices, check out our resources section!

Happy emailing!