It's that time of year again – the goose is getting fat and the shrewd internet marketers are busy putting finishing touches to this season's killer email campaign. For many businesses, Christmas is a superb opportunity to capitalise on the nation's willingness to splash out on family and friends.

Experts predict that approximately £6.4 billion will be spent online during December 2010, an increase on the £5.5 billion spent in December last year, according to IMRG and Capgemini. In this article, we'll take a look at how you can ensure you get a slice of the pie this Christmas.

Email Marketing Ideas to Boost Christmas Sales
As with all forms of marketing, your company's email newsletter shouldn't stand still. With increased online buying comes more competition and greater shopper expectations, happy to give their well earned cash to those offering the best Christmas shopping experience and value for money.

The following tips are designed to help hone your email marketing techniques in preparation for the holiday season.

1. Check Your Calendar
Timing is everything. Ireland, for example, has a traditional day (the 8th of December) set aside for shopping. Are there any regional variances relevant to your target audience? Consider arranging your campaign to coincide with this collective surge in consciousness. Learn from last year, what worked well, what was the busiest period?

2. Subject Line
Don't under estimate the importance of your email's subject line. Time spent working through ideas and trying them out on people can make all the difference with how many of your emails actually get opened.

• Use relevant product names where possible
• Create a sense of urgency
• Include your unique proposition
• Avoid generic, unimaginative headings at all costs

Your offer may be amazing, your copy outstanding, but all to no avail if your email subject line doesn't entice your customers to open the mail.

3. Less Is More
Instead of bombarding your audience with promotions, consider focusing on a single well thought through offer. A genuinely attractive promotion over a longer period is likely to carry far more weight than a splash of one-off, low value deals.

4. Conversions
Bringing people to your site is one thing, but converting those prospects to sales is entirely another. Ensure your call-to-action is clear and defined on the page and double check the 'customer journey' – from shopping cart to payment. Consider using split testing with small samples to gauge responses.

5. How Much Is Too Much?
If you're going to step up a gear this Christmas compared to your usual mailing frequency, consider warning your customers first. Suddenly and aggressively targeting current subscribers could well result in customers unsubscribing. Building a little excitement with an imaginative campaign comprising of a sequence of emails will both warm your subscribers up and, better still, pique their interest.

Online shopping is an increasingly popular activity, especially in view of the busy schedules people keep. By running these few checks you can ensure that your Christmas email marketing campaigns will be an effective resource for your customers, and a sound investment for you. If you need help preparing an email marketing campaign for Christmas contact us