Five tips for a successful company holiday card

We’re feeling delightfully festive this year in the wake of our highest performing year-end email campaign. In addition to a compelling headline, our email campaign included a short holiday video that gave a behind-the-scenes look into the antics of our mischievous office elf named Franc.

This video paid homage to office humor—and our appreciation of fine wines, and it includes Easter eggs featuring some of our esteemed clients. It allowed us the opportunity to distinguish ourselves from the generic Christmas cards that are sent out to overflowing inboxes every year. Most importantly, we had a ton of fun doing it!

TWEET THIS: This Elf is Off His Shelf: Franc’s @MerlotMarketing adventures show how to make a delightful company holiday card: http://bit.ly/1PkiR3P

We were pleased to see that many of our recipients enjoyed our holiday card as much as we did—with an open rate of 57% (and climbing), this “Caught on Camera” campaign quickly became our most successful email marketing venture of the year! Reflecting on what worked best with this campaign, we’re sharing five tips for creating a successful company holiday card:

1. Look to video – According to Hubspot, 78% of people watch online videos every day, and videos account for 50% of all mobile online traffic. Video means you have your customer’s eyes and ears, so take advantage of this medium.
2. Grab attention with your email subject line – “Happy Holidays from X Company” will get lost in your recipient’s inbox. Intrigue your customers with something catchy but honest.
3. Keep it short and sweet – Holidays are a busy time for everyone, and it’s likely that your customers won’t have time to watch a 10-minute video or read a 1,000 word email. Keep text short and use lots of visuals.
4. Show the love – If your clients or customers are what your company is all about, show them! Thank them in your email, feature their product in your video—anything to show that you are thinking of them.
5. Have fun! – Our “Elf on the Shelf,” Franc, was zip-lining across the office while all of our team members pitched in ideas about how to make his adventures fun. Not only is a memorable year-end campaign fun for your clients, it can make for a great team-building project.

If you want to see more of our office elf Franc in action, check out our Instagram page!

Clients featured: PlacerGROWN, Eldorado Stone, True Residential