Christmas Email Template Ideas with 20+ Inspirational Examples
Christmas is just around the corner and Christmas fever is spreading! Let’s be honest — the holiday season means shopping. It’s the best time of the year to boost your sales. Christmas has always been the number 1 consumer spending even of the year. And this year, despite the pandemic, 87% of customers plan to spend to celebrate their winter holidays. By late November, 85% of consumers have already started their shopping for the holidays.
In 2020, consumers plan to spend around $1000 on gifts, food, and decorations, for themselves and their loved ones. As 2020 comes to an end, Christmas time is the last chance retailers have to make a profit.
The most personal online space is still the email inbox. That’s why your chances of reaching your audience are five times higher with email than with social media channels.
How to create a good Christmas email design?
Below we will show you the examples of best practices and what to include in the email copy. In order to create a good email design, we recommend you to use a professional email template designer because of its flexible drag and drop editor. You can craft a beautiful Christmas email template within minutes. There are email template builders & designers that you can use for free.
For example, in Chamaileon, you can create a Christmas email template that renders perfectly on all devices- it’s fully responsive. You can create your template for free.
While designing a happy Christmas email, take a look at these examples below as inspiration.
Christmas Email Design Inspirations to Delight your Subscribers
Here are a few examples from real Christmas emails and subject lines sent by companies for the (2020 and other) holiday seasons.
I know it’s sometimes challenging to come up with something creative, something extraordinary that will cause your subscribers to have a WOW feeling. That’s why I collected my favorite email design for you below.
You might also want to check out this blog post for additional email design inspirations, it includes a list of sites where you can look for ideas.
Revolve – 🎁 To: YOU, Love: REVOLVE
Revolve is sending out a 12-step Christmas campaign called 12 days of Revolve. This genius idea is inspired by the 12 days of Christmas rituals combined with people’s love for advent calendars. For 12 days, Revolve will send to email subscribers exclusive offers, until December 19th. The email sent to introduce the 12 days sale is short and catchy, thanks to the GIF, that’s very expressive.
Modcloth – On the 3rd day of Giftmas…
Modcloth has launched a very similar Christmas event: the 12 days of Giftmas. Their email, however, has a completely different feel to it. Where Revolve’s email is refined, elegant, and girly, Modcloth’s email has a more laid back feel, modern and playful, using illustrations and Sans Serif font. The email copywriting is also different: Revolve’s email has more context and explains in more detail the upcoming sales event, whereas Modcloth only employs a total of 13 words, including the 2 words of CTA.
Two brands are doing the same sales campaign but presenting it in their own, unique, on-brand way.
Victoria’s Secret – 7 FOR $32 PANTIES! ENDS TODAY!
Adding visual elements is a sure way to grab subscribers’ attention. This fun email campaign sent out by Victoria’s Secret utilizes the main product of the campaign to create a Christmas tree. All Pink panties in a Christmas tree shape – this is what Christmas is all about! But jokes aside, this technique is great to showcase different products on sale while staying in the Christmassy theme.
The email CTA is bright red, and can’t be missed, directing the attention of the subscriber straight to it after the panties tree.
Nordstrom- The MICHELE Watches & Burberry Fragrances Events start now
I chose to include Nordstrom’s email because it doesn’t really use any of the traditional Christmas theme visual elements: no Christmas tree or ornaments, no sparkly background, no stars or snow effect. But you can still tell that it’s a Christmas campaign. Nordstrom’s email design is clean and well structured. Different email blocks are separated by the top and bottom margins and are in different colors to help distinguish them even further.
By using keywords like gifts, merry, and holiday, we understand that it’s a Christmas campaign, without necessarily following the same stereotypical visual elements or going off-brand.
American Eagle – This Festive Flash sale ends today!
This email campaign by American Eagle is the complete opposite of their competitor Nordstrom. From bright popping red to sparkly lights to Christmas tree effect, and even the checkered pattern, the email is the incarnation of Christmas.
Below you will find another email sent out by American Eagle for Christmas 2020. Notice how they keep in the same theme and visual design elements. The email messages are also coherent and perfect for the current context: everyone is stuck at home due to the pandemic, and need all the coziness they can get.
The coziest email you’ll open all week
In every promotional email sent out after the covid-19, we find a dedicated block to shipping information and curbside pickups. Other brands go one step further by providing details about their store’s health measures, and sterilization practices to reassure their customers.
Toms – 40% off oh-so-cozy SLIPPERS 🥰
Staying in the theme of cozy Christmas at home, Toms illustrates this message perfectly through their email campaign. Using white fluffy background and professional product shots, we are filled with a craving for comfy shoes and feel-good Christmas movie!
Littlewoods – The Christmas Ad is here
The Littlewoods Merry Christmas HTML email template starts with a statement “It’s never too early!” followed by a CTA to start celebrating Christmas by shopping now. The second part of the email is a video ad redirecting to the company’s youtube channel.
Littlewoods utilizes the most compelling content format and includes a video in their Christmas email. The email copy is cheerful and evokes emotions of the Christmas season perfectly. The newsletter was sent on the 4th of November with a highlight that it’s never too early to start feeling festive and merry.
Bath & Body Works – Deck The Halls
FINAL HOURS for $2.95!
The Bath & Body Works email template is all Christmassy! The email was designed using Christmas related colors and ornaments. With the invitation to deck the halls, subscribers are urged to get every inch of their home into the holiday spirit with Bath & Body Works candles and indulge in body care rituals with the company’s branded products.
The main goal of this newsletter was to inform about a one day only offer and that was highlighted in the HTML template by the use of an interactive gif.
The email also offers ideas for Christmas gifts and invites subscribers to visit the brand’s social media channels. It’s surely one of the best Christmas emails I’ve seen.
Nasty Gal – Holy ship (ping)
Source: Pinterest
Timely delivery is something that is important both for customers and brands during the busy Christmas season. Nasty Gal uses their email design to highlight important dates when customers can make sure their orders will be completed on time, by showing their subscribers a calendar where they can easily spot the important dates.
The email design is clean with one goal in mind. The email copy is also smart, pinging customers to think of their orders early enough.
BarkBox – Dog people give the best gifts
BarkBox Xmas email is a great example of a personalized email design. On top there is an image presenting a little tweak on a famous seasonal song: “All I want for Christmas is you” followed by a CTA. The second template block highlights the actual offer and repeats the CTA.
The email is personalized to the brand’s target group – dog lovers – and uses language that will speak to them most effectively. This kind of message is more engaging and gets clicked more often. The color scheme is not very Christmassy but rather sticks to the brand’s CI.
Brit + Co – White Elephant Gift Guide
The email sent by Brit + Co definitely catches the recipient’s attention after they open it in their inbox. It’s funky and a bit absurd, as said in the email copy. The only Christmas element is an interactive gif image of funny Christmas tree spectacles.
Even though almost everything in this email design moves, the smart use of animation elements brings attention to the CTA button. If you’re looking to drive sales during holidays, fun Christmas designs will definitely help you.
New Look – Pug-Mas
Top Shop’s holiday email looks more like an HTML Christmas letter template than a promotional email. It shows an interview with a holiday mascot Blondie, the Christmas Angel. Only after recipients get familiar with what Blondie has to say about her Christmas attitude and preferences they are invited to shop for a holiday deals. There are two CTA’s, one for men and one for women, which is a good practice for an e-commerce brand.
On the bottom of the email, there is a sale offer in a bright red color which is a good choice, both for the Christmas season and for the purpose of catching attention. Every Top Shop newsletter template has a navigation menu on the top, and a footer with a mobile app link, social media links, categories links, privacy policy and delivery policy links, and resignation links. If you want to send a happy Christmas email to your boss, you can just modify the images. Make sure to put an image of something that he or she really likes. It’s simple but makes a big impact. You can also think of a great Christmas email banner to match it!
The Iconic – Upstage Santa this Christmas
The Iconic newsletter is short and to the point. The design leverages green Christmas color in a gif image at the top of the email.
The reader can click on separate content blocks and be redirected to different categories in the online store. The footer in this template is really clean and intuitive.
United Colors of Benetton – Merry Christmas
This email design by United Colors of Benetton is really simple. It doesn’t use traditional Christmas colors but instead, it maintains the brand’s gorgeous aesthetics in the email. The Christmas tree made out of hangers in vibrant colors is the icing on the cake.
Your clients will be thrilled with this Christmas email example!
Top Shop – This is the final call
This email template by Top Shop is an example of how smart use of white space makes a compelling design. Products are effectively highlighted and separated, each element of the email offer is distinguished and is not getting lost in the overall email design.
Every CTA is clearly visible to ensure the email is as effective as possible. Recipients of such an email for sure will know where to click and what to do after receiving the email.
Soap & Glory – Get Jingle with It
The Soap & Glory email design shows you how to use typography to convey your message. Words “Christmas Gifs” are the ones that clearly catch readers’ attention. The typography is complemented by the wise choice of graphics and the opening slogan “Get jingle with it”. The CTA button could be a bit better distinguished for my taste. This is a beautiful Christmas email sample you can send out as a happy Christmas email to your colleagues.
Chanel – The Beauty of Holiday is Giving
Chanel’s email design is very minimalistic and consistent with their brand identity. Sometimes a single image can say more than a thousand words, and in this case, it is completely true. The choice of gold color also highlights the premium brands’ nature and recalls the image of the famous perfumes in the recipients’ eyes.
Ann Taylor LOFT – Unwrap me…
Even if you’re a smaller brand than Chanel is you can still use a single, carefully chosen image to leave a great impression on your potential customers. Even better if you present it as an interactive gif version, as Ann Taylor LOFT did in their Christmas email template. Here a little movement is enough to surprise a reader and get them to click.
Additionally, this email has a great piece of personalization added. It shows locations near the customer in case they’d like to go to the physical store, rather than shop online. Are you working in a company and you prepared a special gift for your employees? You can send a happy Christmas email to your employees based on this example. It clearly shows you have a nice gift for them.
Swatch – Get into the holiday spirit with Swatch X You
The Swatch Christmas email template starts with the large and original main image inviting the reader to design their own customized watch.
The next template block explains a bit more about how the customization works and ends with a simple and clear CTA.
The layout of the template is very consistent and walks the recipient through the customization process of the watch.
The last template block invites readers to visit a local store, instead of shopping online. The template ends with social media buttons. This is a nice example of a Christmas email message to invite your clients to your shop.
Canva – Your best Christmas card yet
Canva’s claim is to make design simple for everyone. Such is their Xmas email template. The design uses images that users know directly from the app which strengthens the CTA to create a holiday card in Canva. This Xmas email template ends with a footer with social media buttons and a resignation link. Use this example to wish happy Christmas to your customers and send them your new deals.
Mothercare – Top tips for a magical Christmas
The Merry Christmas HTML email by Mothercare follows the “do not sell, tell’ rule, and offers tips on how to make Christmas amazing for the little ones. Such email copy builds up trust among readers overwhelmed with sales offers during the busy holiday season. The template uses seasonally themed images in a very consistent way. After clicking CTA’s below each and every box with a tip, subscribers can view a particular product in the online store.
On top, there is a navigation menu which the reader may use to browse through the website. The second part of the email presents products with direct information about the deals. The bottom of the email provides a categories menu and information about free delivery.
BONUS: Two UK’s interactive Christmas tree
Here is a really cool email design that leverages interactivity and advanced CSS animations. The recipient can light up Christmas lights and burn down the tree!
Click here to play.
30 Christmas email subject lines that will give you an Open Rate fever
Customers get tons of emails in their inbox every day and they only spend 3-4 seconds deciding if they are going to read your email or not. Especially during Christmas time, when inboxes are even more crowded, your subject lines have to stand out and evoke emotions.
Here is a list of awesome Christmas email subject lines to inspire your own!
- Shutterfly: We’re feeling very merry. Get 50% off your order
- Fortnum & Mason: Making Christmas merrier since 1707
- Moo: Great gift idea! Write that down!
- Bath&Body Works: A wonderland of NEW products +20% OFF
- Dorothy Perkins: Be the life and style of the party 🎉💃
- Debenhams: Maria, You Shall find your fairytale Christmas
- Boots: Stay in, chill out and treat yourself with skincare offers
- Ann Taylor LOFT – Unwrap me…
- Disneyland Paris: Grab this magical offer before it melts away!
- New Look: Happy Pug-Mas!
- Newegg: 🎅 Santa Missed Your House? Newegg Remembered 🎅
- Ernest Jones: It’s still not too late…
- Fast Company: 10 Last-Minute Gift Ideas That Can Help Make The World A Better Place
- Asos: Guaranteed in time for Xmas!
- BarkBox – Dog people give the best gifts
- BloomThat: It’s all for YOU.
- Old Navy: Merry? — We got you a gift…
- JetBlue Airways: A sale to escape the winter weather!
- UberEATS: Brr — warm up with some free hot chocolate.
- Seafolly: All she wants for Christmas is S E A F O L L Y
- Orbitz: Good gravy! 20% off
- Rapha: Cold weather riding essentials
- New Look: Signed, sealed, delivered – no worries 🎁
- House of Fraser: Still shopping? Gifs for all the family
- Littlewoods: And relax…
- STA Travel: The best Christmas gifts for travelers
- Sweaty Betty: How to survive the festive season
- Mothercare: Getting you ready for Christmas
- Sweaty Betty: Don’t freeze your knits off
- New Look: Worth getting excited about
- Gifted at Gifting: That’s How They’ll Describe You
These Christmas email subject lines will guarantee you a great open rate!
Christmas Email Signature Examples
One thing that must be missing in your email is a Christmas email signature. But don’t worry, we are here to help. We prepared the following happy Christmas email signatures that will make your emails even more stunning!
We took this Christmas email signature sample from Pinterest.
Another beautiful signature example from Pinterest. We must admit, this second one is our favorite. Use it as inspiration while designing your own one.
Christmas Email Newsletter Templates for Free Download
We made a couple of free Christmas email templates in our professional email template builder for you to use for free. We will add more templates in the next weeks.
This one is very Christmassy and suitable for all industries. You can access it here.
You can access the template here.
We have more Christmas templates that you can use from our email template collection here.
You can also check out this collection which includes hundreds of free responsive email templates.
We’ve put together a Christmas email gift pack with all the examples, subject lines, sites with Christmassy images, and free Christmas templates from the article. You can download the Christmas pack here. 🎁
Have you prepared your happy Christmas email?
To win your subscribers over by evoking holiday mood and to stand out in busy inboxes make sure your email campaigns have:
- A compelling Christmas subject line that catches their attention.
- A high-quality Christmas email template that effectively conveys your holiday message.
To sprinkle your email marketing efforts with Christmas cheer I gathered:
- brilliant Christmas newsletter design examples
- compelling Christmas subject lines
- free resources for Christmas email template downloads
If you are not sure how to wish happy Christmas in an email, you came to the right place.
Set yourself for a merry holiday season and get some inspiration for your next campaign.
No matter which resource you use to come up with your Christmas email design this year, make sure to:
- Choose a subject line that will make your subscribers open your email
- Customize the copy of your email to match it with your audience’s taste
- Make your design look unique to your brand
- Add a little spice to the recipe: it can be an animated GIF, a unique illustration, just a bit of extra color, or anything unusual that fits the occasion and adds some extra fun
I hope my article helps you to come up with a more compelling and higher-converting design for your Christmas email templates.
If you have any more free templates to add, I would love to see your links in the comment section.
Note: There are 100+ free templates available in Chamaileon, our email template builder. Join thousands of happy users and design your Christmas emails faster.
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