It’s nearly that time of year: frosty mornings, football on the weekends and the holiday frenzy we all love. If that last statement is difficult to take, or you suddenly gulped when you realized it’s near, don’t worry; we have some helpful tips to make your holiday email delivery easier.

Grow Your (Nice) List: Add opt-in links to your email marketing messages. It may seem like overkill since you already have an opted-in mailing list, but you’ll capture new names and get up-to-date email addresses in time for the holidays. Also, encourage your subscribers to forward the message to friends or social networks to help gain new email subscribers.

 Give Thanks: The weeks before Thanksgiving is the ideal time to send a brief message to build your customer relationships and keep your reputation strong.  Instead of a sales-minded offer or promotion, send a personal note of thanks to your customers for their support. This is a great way to keep your mailing lists fresh, and to re-engage more dormant list members before sending big holiday promotions later on.

 Ask and You Shall Receive: Before holiday email traffic heats up, ask email recipients to add you to their address book, priority mailing or “approved senders” list. Then they’ll be less likely to miss your super-duper holiday offers and messages.

Provide an Email Weather Forecast: If you plan to add more emails to your current marketing plan, give your recipients a heads up first. Let them know what your holiday mailing frequency will be so they know what to expect (and when you will return to the original mailing plan). Also, if you do plan to increase your mailing schedule, start with your most engaged customers and then move on to the less engaged to see if you can get some of that list to respond.

There you are – a few tips to help you breeze through the holidays. Now if only we could help whittle down your holiday shopping list!

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