• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

Are you still trying to get holiday emails out? After this week, we then enter the big return week and after that the January sales cycle. It may be a little late to offer suggestions, but here are some tips from Altcraft: 

• Use gamification—add a mini-game into the email using AMP; the consumer doesn’t need to use a browser. 
• Share something useful, like a gift guide or a curated list of holiday ideas. 
• Keep in mind charity and social impact—shoppers like brands that do more than simply sell; try a “one order = one good deal” campaign, where the company donates an item to charity.  
• Use a multichannel approach—provide a greeting and a small gift offer in an email, and send notifications to update shoppers on pending deadlines. One caveat: “Don’t stick to a single channel, but don’t overwhelm people by repeating the same message everywhere either.” 

That’s the jolly side of the process. Want to bomb out? Altcraft offers these tongue-in-cheek tips:

• Start as early as possible—maybe in September. 
• Offer questionable giveaways, such as a contest with a hundred rules and requirements.
• Give fake “gifts,” like a calendar from last year.
• Spam relentlessly.
• Keep creativity to a minimum.
  
• Don’t think about tone—send the exact same email to everyone.  
• The "buy it if you care" pressure.

 We trust this is it until next year.