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33 Holiday Email Subject Lines And Most Favored Emojis

Written and researched by experts at AvadaLearn more about our methodology

By Sam Nguyen

CEO Avada Commerce

Drive 20-40% of your revenue with Avada
avada email marketing

The holiday season, starting with Christmas, is on the horizon! It is the busiest time of the year for many eCommerce businesses, and the competition in consumers’ inboxes will be fierce. If you want recipients to open your emails and check out what you have to offer this holiday season, the subject line will be crucial.

Perhaps you are already on the hunt for a festive and attention-grabbing holiday email subject line, so you ended up on this article. I’ve got 33 fantastic subject lines ready for you, along with the best practices and emojis, so your subscribers won’t be able to resist opening.

In a perfect eCommerce world, you would have all the time you need to look at the snow and craft memorable holiday subject lines. But, in reality, you have a billion things to do and prepare as an eCommerce store. So help yourself with this free buffet of holiday email subject lines. After reading, you will have more time to design beautiful holiday email templates and craft an effective email marketing plan.

Let’s see what we have in the gift box for you!

How to craft the best holiday email subject lines

How to craft the best holiday email subject lines
How to craft the best holiday email subject lines

First, let’s learn some basics and best practices to craft the best subject lines. By testing different variations and following these tips, you will increase the chances of getting noticed by subscribers and increase the open rate. Also, you will reduce the risk of ending up in the spam folder - which no marketer ever wanted.

Let’s check out how to craft the best holiday email subject lines:

Address the pain points

The holiday comes with many stressful situations for people, so let your subject lines be the guide to help solve problems, lift spirits, and ease the insane schedule one may have. You know what it is like to face many pain points during the holidays: shopping crowds, hyper kids, chaotic schedules, holiday travels, must-have gifts, etc. Include these realistic pain points in your subject lines and offer actionable solutions.

Put key information first

Email subject lines are always at threat of being cut off on mobiles. To avoid this, put your focus proposal in front of your subject line. If you have a special holiday sale going on, start your subject line with “Special Holiday Sale”, simple as that. By doing this, your subscribers will immediately know what your email is about and can decide to click on it more quickly.

Keep the subject line short

Try to be short and straight to the point with your holiday email subject line. To be perfectly visible on both mobiles and desktops, the sweet length for a subject line is about 4-6 words or 21-55 characters. With this length, your subject lines are optimal for all gadgets that people use to read emails.

Keep the preview text smart

Your preview text would be what complements the subject line. You don’t need it for essential information since not all email clients show preview texts. You would instead want your preview text to be relevant and engaging like a real conversation.

Power up with action verbs

Most eCommerce email campaigns call for simplicity. So your subject lines should deliver information that recipients actually need and can use to move forward. After highlighting the offer of sales, discounts, or free shipping, use action verbs to guide people to take action. Some inspirational words are “buy”, “book”, “discover”, “get”, “hurry”, “rush”, “save”, “beat”, and more.

However, if you overdo with spammy words like “free” or “100%”, your emails can end up in the spam folder. So be beware.

Make use of urgency and FOMO

People often procrastinate, until they see the clock ticking and know that something awesome will disappear soon. That is why your holiday email subject lines should create urgency and push your subscribers to act as soon as possible. You can do that by taking advantage of limited-time offers, such as “Only today”, “Last minute”, “24-hour offer”, or “Sales end tonight”, etc.

Including some FOMO elements is also highly recommended, using words like “Have you seen…”, “Don’t miss this”, etc.

Try some numbers and emojis

Many holiday subject lines include numbers, which you will see later in my top examples. Numbers are great because they can stand out from a jungle of text and provide specific information on your promotion. Also, customers can have a clear expectation of your campaign. Emojis act as the same tool to highlight your email in a crowded inbox this holiday season.

Evoke emotions

Fun wordplay, seasonal puns, song lyric reference, movie names, they can all act as a punchline and entice readers to open your holiday emails. They work even better if your subscribers can relate to the songs or movies you are referring to, such as the classic “A Christmas Carol” or the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”. Think of your brand’s personality and create a super-Santa fun subject line!

Give and get

Instead of marketing your promotion as a normal discount, why not showcase it as your generosity and a gift to your customers? Actually giving something can result in a lot back to your eCommerce store. Just make sure that your gift has a real value to your buyers. Also, this can be the time for some generosity and charity donations. Spread the words through your holiday emails on how customers can help to do good things.

Read more:

Top 33 holiday email subject lines

These festive email subject lines are what you can learn from and make a catchy phrase that can boost the open rate and revenue, whatever type of business you are! Let’s check them out!

  1. 💥 Holiday Special Deals!

  2. Gift Ideas for Everyone You Love 🎁

  3. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from [Your Brand Name] 🎄

  4. 🎁 You’ve Got a Present from [Your Brand Name]

  5. Baby, it’s cold outside, so let’s warm up with our holiday gift ideas 🎅

  6. Last-minute Gifts, Approved By Santa 🎅

  7. We’re Feeling Very Merry. So Here Is 50% Off Your Order 🔥

  8. Sleigh your Christmas list with these awesome gifts!

  9. Zip through the holiday shopping with our super-fast checkout

  10. We saved Santa’s best stocking this year just for you 🎁

  11. Rock the Christmas clock with these time-saving gifts

  12. Everyone shops our super-saver Christmas deals, and you?

  13. Give yourself something you deserve this Christmas

  14. Make room under the tree for these cash-saving Christmas funs 💰

  15. NEW YEAR NEW ME, BLAH BLAH OUR SALE IS GOING OUT QUICK 🔥

  16. Dazzling Christmas discounts are here!

  17. You can be naughty and still look fit this holiday 💪

  18. Have You Seen [Brand’s Name] Christmas Gifts Guide?

  19. Want Your Gift By Christmas?

  20. Some Christmas decorating tips that can make Martha Stewart jealous

  21. Enjoy fantastic discounts on our fabulous holiday fashion items

  22. Be Santa Claus for your lovely paws with special pet treats

  23. Dress up your fur babies for the holidays with these items 🐱

  24. Glow like a Christmas angel with these premium cosmetics

  25. Holiday Stress Level: Zero

  26. You Can Still Get These In Time For Christmas

  27. Order Now for Delivery by Christmas Day!

  28. 🎁Merry Christmas, And Thank You 🎁

  29. Our Surprise Offer Is Ending Soon!

  30. Dog People Give The Best Gifts, Agree?

  31. Turn your house into a palace with these dazzling holiday decor ❤️

  32. Deck the halls with [your brand’s name] unbelievable holiday savings

Most favorite emojis this holiday season

Most favorite emojis this holiday season
Most favorite emojis this holiday season

Emojis are getting more popular for marketers to use in email subject lines. In 2019, 18% of holiday email subject lines had at least one emoji added. Emojis have colors and look fun to draw your readers’ eyes. They also make your email stand out from the crowd.

If emojis fit your brand personality, you should seriously consider using them in your holiday subject lines because:

  • Emojis can increase your open rate
  • Emojis help your holiday emails stand out in a crowded inbox
  • They help convey emotion in readers
  • These little icons can save some space in the subject line
  • A/B testing won’t cost you a thing, so you can freely test if your subscribers like emojis or not.

During the holiday season, some particular emojis stand out from the rest. Obviously, they are the ones most related to the holiday season. Here are the most favorite emojis for eCommerce businesses, and you can use them too:

🎁🎄🎅💰❤️

Get pre-made email templates with appealing subject lines and emojis

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Ready to send some gifts?

Coming up with the best holiday email subject line will be much easier if you try the examples above for your campaigns. Give this year’s revenue a boost by combining the best ideas available with testing variations for your customers.

If you are looking for an email marketing service to test your holiday email subject lines, look no further than AVADA Email Marketing. Our app is free to start using, and you can send up to 1,000 contacts right now with many beautiful email templates and automation features. For more information, click on the link and check out the app!


Sam Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Avada Commerce, an e-commerce solution provider headquartered in Singapore. He is an expert on the Shopify e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Sam loves talking about e-commerce and he aims to help over a million online businesses grow and thrive.