Buckle up those boots and bring out the Santa beard glue: it’s the holiday season. Prepare yourself for a mass media deluge of stories on people being stressed out, the hot new toy, at least one new viral video featuring Christmas lights set to rock music and of course, holiday shopping!

In the past few years, Black Friday (the post-Thanksgiving Friday where people wake up at ridiculous hours to buy stuff at big discounts and usually end up looking like something out of the Running of the Bulls) has found itself a new and more efficient cousin: Cyber Monday. CM is the Monday immediately following Black Friday, a somewhat official kickoff for the online holiday shopping season. Yep, retailers were actually able to replicate the savings experience of Black Friday and carry it over. Imagine that! In general, this is a great idea as more and more people seem hesitant to deal with the crowds, lines and overall pushiness of fellow shoppers. I get claustrophobic just thinking about it.

Of course, it’s only a great idea if you can get them to your site. Obviously, making your email list aware of great Cyber Monday offers is a key component to this success. Rewarding your loyal subscribers with special offers, promo codes and the like is a no-brainer, but what is the best time to hit ‘em up? That’s where today's post comes in: your handy pocket guide to navigating the holiday email snow drifts.

What you’ll find here is some key terms and dates from last year that you’ll want to keep in mind when planning your holiday attack this season. Give ‘em a look and learn them. I have a feeling that they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

But wait: nothing on design thoughts, subject lines or the like? Nah. Holiday emails should follow the same protocol as any other email you send out: the best ones. ISP’s don’t get the warm and fuzzies around the holiday season, so don’t expect traditional SPAM filters to suddenly disappear. If anything, this time of season is more important that ever in getting your message across.

There’s too much money to be made in this time of season. Is your email marketing campaign ready to make it snow green?

Glossary

Cyber Monday

The Monday following Thanksgiving. This is the Black Friday equivalent in the online space where retailers offer big discounts and special offers on their websites. In 2006, this day was the 6th largest retailer email day of the year and is billed as the biggest online sales day of the year.

Echo Mondays

The three Mondays following Cyber Monday. All three ranked in the top seven overall for top 2006 retailer email days, the highest being the Monday that fell two weeks before Christmas.

Take Everything Back Day

The day after Christmas when everyone either decides to use their gift cards or takes back everything they got for gifts. A huge retailer day, also Boxing Day in Canada. (Hey, I wanted to throw that one in). Amazingly, this was the top retail email day last year as 53% of retailers tracked by RetailEmail.blogspot.com deployed an email. I guess sometimes it isn’t the thought that counts, but rather where you can fix what that person thought.

2006’s Top Email Deployment Dates – Holiday Season*

A few items of note:

This list is compiled from the Top 20 overall retail email days, hence the skipped numbers.

Interesting that some of the days completely counteract traditional email rules of thumb like sending out on Fridays and Mondays. When it comes to the holidays though, all convention goes out the window, thus explaining why people were getting into fistfights about Cabbage Patch Kids in the 1980s.

Note that three of the top 5 fall within the two weeks leading up to the big day. I’m surprised no one has tried a December 24th email campaign for the last-day folks.

1)    Tuesday, December 26 – Take Everything Back Day

2)    Monday, December 11 – 14 days to Christmas

3)    Friday, December 15 – 10 days to Christmas

4) Monday, December 18 – 7 days to Christmas

6) Monday, November 27 – Cyber Monday (28 days to Christmas)

7) Monday, December 4 – 21 days to Christmas

8) Friday, December 8 – 17 days to Christmas

11) Friday, December 1 – 24 days to Christmas

13) Tuesday, November 14 – 9 days to Thanksgiving

16) Thursday, December 7 – 18 days to Christmas

17) Thursday, December 14 – 11 days to Christmas

18) Tuesday, December 12 – 13 days to Christmas

20) Wednesday, December 20 – 5 days to Christmas

*Credit:  Retailmail.blogspot.com and Mediapost’s Email Insider

Head spinning yet? Reach out to us at josh@sendlabs.com. You'll be singing Christmas carols and sipping egg nog in no time.