75+ Christmas Email Subject Lines for Holiday Newsletters to Boost Your Open Rates – for eCommerce and Small Business

Christmas is an extremely busy period for marketers – and you will surely find yourself sending more newsletters and writing more Xmas social media posts than usual. No matter how creative we are – we all reach a point where we ultimately feel like we’ve run out of creative juices. We’ve decided to come with some help and give you a list of over 80+ Chrismas Email subject lines for your holiday newsletters guaranteed to boost your open rates – for eCommerce and different small businesses.

Newsletter subject lines are critical for your open rates – approximately 40% of newsletter subscribers decide whether they want to read an email or not based on the subject alone. It’s really important to get them right – so we based our subject lines on psychological principles guaranteed to boost your open rates 😉

1. Principles behind good Christmas Email Subject Lines
2. Christmas Email Subject Lines for e-commerce sales 
3. Christmas Email Subject Lines for B2C
4. Christmas Email Subject Lines for B2B
5. Christmas wishes Email Subject Lines 
6. Christmas Email Subject Lines for Restaurants 
7. Christmas Email Subject Lines for Hotels/ Travel Destinations

6 Principles of good Christmas Email Subject Lines

There are some widely accepted psychological principles that pique our interest (Jonah Berger mentioned them all in his book ‘Contagious – Why Things Catch On’ – a highly recommended read by the way). Some are more “obvious” – like putting the words “last chance” and “80% OFF sale” in one sentence is surely going to do the trick 😎, but have you thought of e.g. using odd numbers or emojis to boost your open rates? Grab our list of ideas below 👇

1. Create a sense of urgency 🕚

The laws of supply and demand apply to our buying behavior in email marketing just like ‘in real life – if your subscribers know that your offer is time-sensitive or that the stock is limited, they will tend to make their buying decision faster. So remember to add elements of scarcity such as real-time stock counters or cutoff dates to your Christmas email subject lines.

Examples: 

• 🕚 It’s the final countdown! Our Christmas sale ends in 24 hours! 
• Hurry up! Our Xmas sale ends on 28 December! 🎄
• The last 17 Christmas Sweaters are left on sale! Hurry!

2. Use numbers

…preferably odd numbers. According to the Content Marketing Institute, odd numbers in titles get 20% better click-through rates than even numbers. Be it blog titles, newsletter subject lines, or even book titles – 5 is going to perform better than 6.

Why?

Examples: 

• 7 Best Christmas Gifts You Can Give to New Mums 🎁🎄👪
• We are starting 13 Days of Christmas! 😁🎁 Yes, you heard it right…
• Don’t Miss Our Christmas Offer – valid till 29 December!

3. Use Christmas-related words but in a creative way

Sounds obvious, right?

And if something is obvious then…everybody is doing it. That’s right – if you limit yourself to using the usual ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Check out our Christmas sale!’ – chances are your emails will be buried under a ton of another newsletter with pretty much the same Christmas subject lines.

How to stand out then?

Make sure the subject line is still closely related to your product/ brand name and try to do some plays on words:

Examples: 

• Ho, ho, ho..w’s your Christmas shopping going? 🎄🎁🤔😱 Oh…not well? 
• Christmas at Christie’s: get inspired with our Christmas tree decor exhibition 
• Have yourself a very merry…sale! 🎁🧨

4. Use words that boost conversions

Here’s a list of words that are guaranteed to put your Christmas email subject lines on fire 🔥: 

🔥 Sale, Off

🔥 Exclusive, Discover, You

🔥 Be the first, Now, Instantly

🔥 Limited, Reduced, Offer

As you can see, the words pertain to the psychological principles of scarcity and urgency, as well as uniqueness and individuality…which brings me to my next point…

5. Use personalization

Nobody likes getting generic emails addressed to everyone. Adding personalization in your Christmas email subject line (aka – first name) can substantially improve the open rate. Better still – segment your list in such a way that you can adapt the content to different recipients based on their earlier purchases, and interactions with you:

Examples: 

• Emilia, what would you like to get for Christmas from us? 🎁👉 Choose your gift!
• Don’t miss our Xmas sale, Emilia! Only 24 hours left  🎄🎁
• Only 3 days left to claim your Christmas gift, Emilia! 🎄

#6 Use emojis 🤩😛😍🤣🚀👉🎄🎁

As you can see from all of the examples above, I have used emojis in almost all the ‘model’ subject lines. Why? These little funky icons can literally *double* your Christmas email open rates.

Christmas Email Subject Lines for e-commerce

1. Are Christmas present bills running expensive? Save 50% on our Holiday Sale Now!
2. The Ho..ho..ho..ttest sale of the year is here! 🎄🤩
3. {Personalisation}, save up to 75% off Christmas shopping this weekend
4. 🕚 Hurry! Only 24 hours of our Christmas S-A-L-E left! 🎄🎁
5. 👉Play Santa this weekend and enjoy your Free Shipping! 🚢
6. Hurry! Christmas shipping closes tomorrow! 🎁 🚀
7. Shop This Weekend and Get Your Holiday Shipping FREE!
8. 12 Days of Christmas…sales 😉🎄
9. Looking for Christmas gift inspiration? 🤔🎁We have you covered! 
10. Time is running out: Our Christmas sale ends TOMORROW! 🕚🧨

Christmas Email Subject Lines for B2C

1. 🎄 17 Christmas Decoration Examples You will Love 
2. 🎁 Gifts for Her👸 & for Him🤴
3. Can you hear the bells jingling? 👉1️⃣2️⃣ Days of Christmas Starts Now
4. All SHE wants for Christmas is… 13 Christmas gift ideas for your Princess [under $100]
5. Stressing about holiday shopping? 😱 Worry no more!
6. {Personalisation}, now pick a present for yourself… 🎄🎁
7. 7 Christmas stories to light you up this holiday season 
8. With Seasonal Greetings and some good news
9. What are you going to serve this Christmas dinner? 13 special-requirements Christmas Food ideas: light, vegan, gluten-free… 🍽
10. Make sure you don’t miss these Christmas drink inspirations! 🍹🍸

Christmas Email Subject Lines for B2B

1. 11 Ways to Boost Your Sales This Christmas 
2. 7 Must-have tools to survive Christmas for Small Business Owners 
3. 8 tactics to make December the best month of the year in your business
4. {Personalisation} how to make your Chrismas SALES a big success? 
5. Secret Christmas Deal for Our most loyal clients
6. Top Christmas Marketing Tips for Business Owners 
7. Best Christmas promotion ideas for SMEs
8. Get 50% off our Business Plans this Christmas!
9. 👉How to make Christmas 2019 the best ever for your business? 
10. Make 2020 the best year for your business – with our subscriptions on Christmas sale

Christmas wishes Email Subject Lines

1. 🎄 Have yourself a very merry Christmas…
2. Seasonal greetings to you – from us! 🎄🎁
3. Best Christmas wishes from our team
4. May your day be merry and bright…
5. Wishing you Christmas as good as ours! 😁🎄
6. Ho ho ho! Santa has arrived early for you this year 😉
7. Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! 🎉🎇🎄
8. May 2020 be the best year for you yet 
9. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! 🎄🎇
10. We have a little gift for you inside… 🎁

Christmas Email Subject Lines for Restaurants

1. Can you taste the winter’s coming? 🍽🎄
2. Looking for a place to throw a Christmas party? 
3. Bring your team to {Your restaurant name} for the best Christmas party EVER! 
4. Christmas dishes with a modern twist 🥧🎄- check out our new Xmas menu! 
5. Vegan? Kosher? Gluten-free? We have Christmas meals for all! 🎄🥧🎉
6. Our Indulgent Christmas Desserts have arrived! 🥧😍🎉
7. Mince pies. Roast. Christmas Pudding – we say no more. Try yourself! 
8. 🕚 Book your Christmas dinner table now! 
9. Only 24 hours left to book your Christmas dinner! 
10. 👉 Looking for a place for Christmas drinks? Look no further! 
11. Treat yourself this December – a FREE drink on us! 🎉
12. Take your team out to {Your restaurant name} – a FREE starter for all of you! 
13. The Holiday Season has officially started! 🎉🎄Where are you going to celebrate? 

Christmas Email Subject Lines for Hotels/ Travel Destinations

1. Where will you go this Christmas? 🎄✈
2. Make Christmas 2019 the most memorable ever! 🎄💃
3. Why spend Christmas at home if you could do it like *THIS*? 👇
4. Visit the most beautiful Christmas Markets in Europe 🎅🎄
5. Book family time at the most beautiful Christmas Markets! 
6. Have a *hot and sunny* Christmas! 🎄💃
7. Tired of the Christmas frenzy? Relax and enjoy it to the full in our Christmas retreat! 🎄✈
8. Give yourself the Christmas gift of travel…50% off 
9. Book now and spend amazing Christmas in [destination] 20% cheaper! 🎄💃
10. Too cold at home? 🥶🥶😱 Check out our *HOT* Christmas deals!🎄 😍
11. It’s gonna be -5 this Christmas in the UK. How about +28 in Thailand? 😉
12. Fancy Christmas under a…palm tree? Last-minute deals from $459!