A swipe file is a record of your top-performing campaigns that you return to for learnings and ideas. It was this concept that inspired us to create the Email Swipe File on Pinterest, where we share the emails and landing pages that excite and impress us. In this report, we highlight 20 examples from the pinboard that illustrate 14 important holiday email design tactics.

1. 2013
Holiday
Inspirations
from the Email Swipe File

2. 2 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 3exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
A swipe file is a record of your top-performing campaigns that you return
to for learnings and ideas. It was this concept that inspired us to create the
Email Swipe File on Pinterest, where we share the emails and landing pages
that excite and impress us. In this report, we highlight 20 examples from the
pinboard that illustrate 14 important holiday email design tactics.
Holiday
Inspirations
from the Email Swipe File
Kristina Huffman
Design Practice Lead
ExactTarget
@etdesign
Holiday Email Tactics:
Trumpet the Start of the Season
Be Festive
Bring Seasonal Flair to Triggered Emails
Accommodate Santa’s Fat Fingers
Incorporate Learnings from Other Seasons
Remember Christmas Past
Help with Gift-Finding
Encourage Wish-Sharing
Get Progressively Better
Create Urgency
Be of Service
Provide the Perfect Last-Minute Gift
Delight Spirits
Don’t Stop on December 25th

3. 4 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 5exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Neiman Marcus
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
October 9, 2012
Subject Line:
The Christmas Book has arrived!
With 178 layers, the animated GIF in this email announcing
the launch of Neiman Marcus’s Christmas Book makes a huge
impression! Plus, the first animation frame is solid in case the
animation is blocked by Outlook 2007-13.
– Kristina Huffman, Design Practice Lead
View the Neiman Marcus email on Pinterest →
More inspiration:
The holiday season is one of the most anticipated times of the year. Clearly
mark the transition with some fanfare, a holiday-themed re-skin of your email
template, or some holiday expectation-setting.
Trumpet the Start of the Season
Neiman Marcus →

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Zappos
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
November 11, 2011
Subject Line:
Just a little holiday heads up...
Expectation-setting can be critical to subscriber satisfaction.
In this email, Zappos gives their subscribers a heads-up that
they’ll be increasing their email frequency during the holiday
season. It’s also a timely cue to subscribers to start their
holiday shopping.
– Andrea Smith, Design Lead, Content Marketing & Research
View the Zappos email on Pinterest →
Trumpet the Start of the Season

5. 8 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 9exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Bed Bath & Beyond
Type:
Headers
Send Date:
November 2012
Holiday headers are a great way to inject some seasonal flair
into your email template. Rather than a single holiday header,
Bed Bath & Beyond created four and rotated them throughout
the holiday season.
– Chad White, Principal of Marketing Research
View the Bed Bath & Beyond headers on Pinterest →
Retailers hang garlands, decorate Christmas trees, and splash red and green
all over their stores for one reason: It sends a clear signal to shoppers that
it’s time to start buying gifts. You should apply this same principle to your
email designs.
Be Festive

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Pre-season footer
Seasonal footer
Urban Outfitters
Type:
Gift services footer and social media bar
Send Date:
November 2012
While getting holiday motifs and links above the fold
is critical, don’t neglect the rest of your template. In this email,
Urban Outfitters added some seasonal links to their footer and
turned all their social media buttons into ornaments,
which was really clever and fun.
– Chad White, Principal of Marketing Research
View the Urban Outfitters footer on Pinterest →
Be Festive

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Triggered emails are not “set it and forget it.” Make your transactional, welcome,
cart abandonment and other triggered emails seasonally relevant by adding
seasonal imagery, promotions, and service content.
Walmart
Type:
Welcome email
Send Date:
November 2012
Subject Line:
Welcome to Walmart! Tis’ the season for special savings
on great gifts.
During the holiday season, Walmart made their welcome email
seasonally relevant by adding holiday messaging to the subject
line, using their holiday email template, and packing the email
with gift promotions.
– Jay Miller, Senior Marketing Consultant
View the Walmart email on Pinterest →
Bring Seasonal Flair to Triggered Emails

8. 14 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 15exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Bring Seasonal Flair to Triggered Emails
Williams-Sonoma
Type:
Back-in-stock email
Send Date:
December 2012
Subject Line:
Now Back In Stock
While some back-in-stock emails are sent by request,
Williams-Sonoma sent this one to subscribers who browsed
this product and abandoned their site because it was out of
stock. They wisely add seasonal secondary messaging to
better speak to holiday shoppers.
– Tana Babcock, Design Consultant
View the Williams-Sonoma email on Pinterest →

9. 16 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 17exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
This will be the first holiday season with responsive email design, a tactic that will
really shine on high-mobility days like Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas.
But simple mobile-aware design tactics like using larger text, images, and buttons
will also bring holiday success to retailers.
Accommodate Santa’s Fat Fingers
JCPenney
Type:
Gift services footer
Send Date:
December 2, 2012
Subject Line:
Everything On Their List At Great Prices Everyday
JCPenney was ahead of the curve with this touch-friendly
gift services footer. Mobile-friendly is now an imperative.
– Chad White, Principal of Marketing Research
View the JCPenney footer on Pinterest →

10. 18 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 19exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Incorporate Learnings from Other Seasons
Ice.com
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
December 11, 2012
Subject Line:
The Reindeer Game! Play to Win up to 30% off...
Ice.com leveraged the success of a Halloween jack-o’-lantern
game email by re-skinning it with delightful reindeer for the
holiday season. That’s a smart way of extending your
winning campaigns.
– Susan Prater, Senior Marketing Consultant
View the Ice.com emails on Pinterest →
When it comes to seasons, the holidays are a completely different animal.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate tactics that worked for you in
earlier months.

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Remember Christmas Past
Norm Thompson
Type:
Promotional email
Send Dates:
12/10/07, 12/8/08, 12/16/09, 12/7/10, 12/9/11, and 12/11/12
2012 Subject Line:
30% OFF ends today. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
These emails from Norm Thompson best exemplify what having
your own personal swipe file is all about. They identified a top-
performing email years ago and have brought it back year after
year with incremental improvements.
– Chad White, Principal of Marketing Research
View the Norm Thompson emails on Pinterest →
Every holiday season is slightly different, but how subscribers responded to
your messages last year is still your best guide forward. Take your winning
campaigns from Christmas past and improve or reimagine them for your
Christmas present.
2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012

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Help with Gift-Finding
J&R
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
November 28, 2012
Subject Line:
Introducing Our 2012 Holiday Gift Guides
J&R’s holiday emails featured their gift guides extensively.
They debuted them in this email, promoted them in a banner at
the bottom of subsequent emails, and dedicated several emails
entirely to some of the gift guide personas.
– Anna Meier, Design Consultant
View the J&R email on Pinterest →
More inspiration:
A good deal is no good if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Help your
subscribers find gifts at different price points, in different categories, and for
different people in their lives.
Uncommon Goods →CB2 →
Gift guide email Gift guide banner
Email dedicated to “geek” persona

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Encourage Wish-Sharing
ShopNBC
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
November 12, 2012
Subject Line:
Win a spending spree!
Pinterest gives retailers a very public and share-spurring
platformforwishlists.ShopNBCusesasweepstakestoencourage
subscribers to set up a wish list on Pinterest in this email,
whichincludes the 4-point instructions right in the email.
– Kristina Huffman, Design Practice Lead
View the ShopNBC email on Pinterest →
Help your subscribers do your marketing for you by making it easy and fun to
share their holiday wishes—and dangling the chance for a Christmas miracle
doesn’t hurt either.

14. 26 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 27exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Landing page
Email
Tiffany & Co.
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
December 13, 2012
Subject Line:
Drop A Hint (or Two)
Forward-to-a-friend (FTAF) has been largely supplanted by
share-with-your-network (SWYN), but Tiffany’s “Drop A Hint”
feature gives it new life. The preview of this fun, well-branded
message shows you exactly how the information you provide
will be used.
– Amanda Monroe, Design Consultant
View the Tiffany & Co. email on Pinterest →
Encourage Wish-Sharing

15. 28 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 29exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Get Progressively Better
Newegg
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
November 13, 2008
Subject Line:
Hands Down, Our Best HDTV Deal of the Season!
$499.99 42” LCD HDTV and more
What if you could send your subscribers the perfect Black
Friday offer? Newegg tried to do that with this progressive
profiling email, whose landing page form let subscribers select
from 8 product categories and 7 prices ranges—for 56 different
combinations. That’s hefty segmentation!
– Chad White, Principal of Marketing Research
View the Newegg email on Pinterest →
Because many subscribers are making once-a-year gift purchases,
segmenting emails during the holidays based on past behavior can be very
hit and miss. Do progressive profiling to determine their short-term interests.
Email
Landing page

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Create Urgency
OfficeMax
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
November 26, 2012
Subject Line:
HOURS LEFT to Shop Cyber Monday
Because they accurately show the time remaining for a sale
or other event, countdown clocks powered by “live content”—
like the one in this OfficeMax email—are becoming more
common because of the urgency they create.
– Hannah Kleyn, Design Consultant
View the OfficeMax email on Pinterest →
More inspiration:
The holiday season is a cascading waterfall of deadlines. Sales expire, items
sell out, and shipping deadlines pass. Drive home the urgency of these
deadlines to increase sales.
Timberland →

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Create Urgency
Bass Pro Shops
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
December 1, 2012
Subject Line:
Saturday Only Web Busters + Free Shipping
One of my favorite tactics for creating urgency is updating
image files with “SOLD OUT” overlays, as Bass Pro Shops
does here. It’s the equivalent of seeing empty shelves in a store,
which makes you worry that items you might be interested in
will be out of stock soon, too.
– Chad White, Principal of Marketing Research
View the Bass Pro Shops email on Pinterest →
More inspiration: Home Depot →

18. 34 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 35exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Be of Service
Lands’ End
Type:
Gift services footer
Send Date:
November – December 2012
Gift services footers (GSFs) pull together many service-related
links all in one handy package. A longtime user of GSFs, Lands’
End creating this jumbo-sized one speaks to the performance
they’ve seen from them in the past.
– Chad White, Principal of Marketing Research
View the Lands’ End footer on Pinterest →
More inspiration:
Your email subscribers represent your most loyal customers, and some of them
will be turning to your emails as much for service information as for deals. So
make sure that order-by deadlines, store hours, gift wrapping details, and other
information are clear and easy to find.
Nordstrom →

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Provide the Perfect Last-Minute Gift
Sephora
Type:
Promotional email
Send Date:
December 23, 2012
Subject Line:
Gift instantly
Sent on eGift Card Day, this Sephora email stood out for not only
promoting the usual e-gift card and store combo for last-minute
shopping, but then also promoting social gifts and Passbook.
– Kristina Huffman, Design Practice Lead
View the Sephora email on Pinterest →
More inspiration:
The e-gift card has long been dubbed “the perfect last-minute gift,” but the
rise of smartphones and tablets and the digital delivery of apps, games,
books, and magazines mean brands have more options for procrastinators
and forgetful Santas.
Barnes & Noble →

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Delight Spirits
Lands’ End
Type:
Season’s greetings email
Send Date:
December 25, 2012
Subject Line:
Merry Christmas
I love this Christmas send. The design is beautiful and striking,
the copy is simple and impactful, and the secondary messaging
is a nice, engaging social call-to-action.
– Susan Prater, Senior Marketing Consultant
View the Lands’ End email on Pinterest →
More inspiration:
By the time Christmas arrives, some subscribers may be feeling shopped-
out and overdrawn. It’s the perfect time for a season’s greetings email that
demonstrates that you’re a brand with heart.
J.Jill →Sur La Table →

21. 40 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 41exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Delight Spirits
Email after first open
Post-contest email
Email after several opens
Email after several opens
Style Campaign
Type:
Season’s greetings email
Send Date:
December 24, 2011
Subject Line:
Xmas slots - refresh to play :)
Pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with an email,
Style Campaign created a Christmas slots game that’s played by
refreshing the email. Each time it’s opened, you get another spin
and a new chance to win points. Those who opened it did so an
average of 14.5 times, with one recipient opening it 980 times!
– Chad White, Principal of Marketing Research
View the Style Campaign email on Pinterest →
More inspiration: Style Campaign →Walmart →

22. 42 | 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File 2013 Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File | 43exacttarget.com exacttarget.com
Don’t Stop on December 25th
Pinhole Press
Type:
Post-holiday survey email
Send Date:
January 8, 2013
Subject Line:
We want to know what you think!
Christmas messaging doesn’t end on Dec. 25—or even in
December. This post-holiday survey email is a great example
of sending the right message at the right time with the
right incentive.
– Anna Meier, Design Consultant
View the Pinhole Press email on Pinterest →
The holiday season stretches into the New Year. In addition to after-Christmas
sales, consider encouraging subscribers to redeem their gift cards, buy
accessories for their new gadgets, send “Thank You” gifts and cards, and
take other actions.

23. exacttarget.com
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