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Thanksgiving Email Marketing Ideas to Be Grateful For

Beefree team
Beefree team
Aug 8, 2023
Thanksgiving Email Marketing Ideas to Be Grateful For
Thanksgiving Email Marketing Ideas to Be Grateful For

On Thanksgiving Day 2022, Americans spent $5.29 billion online shopping. That’s a lot of money flying around. Did your business rake in your share?Email marketing is a powerful way to capitalize on holidays like Thanksgiving and make them profitable days for your business or your client, and that’s true for e-commerce and other industries alike. It all comes down to technique. How do you construct a masterful Thanksgiving email newsletter that grows your relationship with customers while also making use of this kick-off day for the holiday shopping season? We have the tips and tricks you need to know.

Does email marketing top your gratitude list this year? Take a look at these Thanksgiving email marketing ideas that every email marketer will be grateful for.

Thanksgiving Email Newsletter Ideas

What type of Thanksgiving email content could you include in your email newsletter? On holiday like Thanksgiving, you want to strike a balance between advertising to prompt sales and relating to your customers in a genuine way. Consider these possible paths you can take in your Thanksgiving emails.

Express Gratitude for Your Subscribers

Your email subscribers are an important part of your organization. They’re typically loyal customers who continue to trust and patronize your business time and time again, and they have contributed to the community you have built. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to let them know how much you appreciate them with a heartfelt thank you, potentially with a peek at your business family too.Take this example from Outerknown for instance. We love how Outerknown introduced its employees with a photo (including what seems to be the office dog). It’s always a good idea to put faces with a brand. And there’s no better time than Thanksgiving to welcome your customers into the family.Subject line: "A Thanksgiving Message from OK."

thanksgiving email marketing idea

Create a Festive Design

One of the trickiest parts of marketing is anticipating your customers’ mindsets and creating content that relates to them. Holidays make that easy - on Thanksgiving, you know your readers will have Thanksgiving on the brain. An email with a Thanksgiving-themed design will catch their eyes and feel familiar and relatable to them. Thanksgiving imagery and color schemes can go a long way in your email design.Leesa does a great job of connecting its products with the holiday in this Thanksgiving email marketing campaign. The copy is minimal but effective, and the CTA buttons are descriptive and well-placed, enticing you to click. Finally, Leesa tops it off with adorable fall leaves dancing across the screen. This Thanksgiving email is a hit!Subject line: "A Thanksgiving Treat for Kelly."

thanksgiving email marketing campaign

Include Relevant Products or Services

What might your customers want or need to buy on Thanksgiving? Which of your products or services may align with their mindset on Thanksgiving? Selecting and highlighting those products in your Thanksgiving email is an excellent way to both benefit from the holiday financially and offer convenience to your customers.Terrain knows how to do Thanksgiving email marketing. This email starts with a simple message wishing customers a happy Thanksgiving. Then it seamlessly transitions into sales mode, showcasing product photos with simple frames for readers to explore. Terrain does an excellent job of combining a Thanksgiving newsletter with a promotional push.Subject line: "Happy Thanksgiving from Terrain."

thanksgiving email marketing examples

Promote a Thanksgiving Sale

After the turkey and mashed potatoes have been eaten, and the family has enjoyed quality time together, Thanksgiving is an excellent time for customers to relax on the couch and enjoy some online shopping. You can take part in this tradition with your own Thanksgiving sale, and your Thanksgiving email newsletter is an excellent place to prompt customers to check it out.This colorful Thanksgiving email from Paper Source tells readers to hurry — the discounts will be gone soon! Colors and patterns catch your eye: The email is busy without being overwhelming.Subject line: "Hurry! Set the Thanksgiving Table at 20% OFF."

thanksgiving email

Share Impact and Highlights From the Year

Thanksgiving is a sentimental holiday and one that leads many people (including your customers) to reflect on the positives in their lives and embrace gratitude. Customers love to see organizations reflecting in this way too. Your Thanksgiving email is an excellent place to share some of the highlights from the year that you’re most grateful for and to talk about the impact your organization has had. For instance, you could share some statistics about your charitable initiatives and the effects they have had.

Be Empathetic and Inclusive

Thanksgiving is a time for not only shopping and commercialism but genuine human-to-human connection. Make sure your Thanksgiving emails don’t focus purely on sales but also have an empathetic and authentic touch that makes your customers feel seen and appreciated, and be sure that this is inclusive of all customers.This Thanksgiving email marketing message from Ethan Allen looks like a handmade paper card, with one main image and a few lines of text wishing the reader a happy Thanksgiving. Ethan Allen acknowledges that everybody has different family structures, and everybody celebrates this holiday in a different way.Subject line: "A Thanksgiving Wish."

empathy marketing thanksgiving email

Showcase Black Friday Promotions

The run-up to Thanksgiving isn’t too early to start advertising for Black Friday. In fact, many shoppers start buying before the turkey is served. Many retailers start advertising their Black Friday deals as early as Wednesday, and consumers are getting used to the deals being a multi-day event. So it’s not inappropriate to advertise your Black Friday discounts in a Thanksgiving email. Tarte sent this colorful email on Thanksgiving Day around noon, hoping to catch customers before they sat down at the table.Subject line: "Before Thanksgiving Dinner Starts." 

black friday discount email

Thanksgiving Email Marketing Design Tips

The ideas above can help you develop your Thanksgiving email marketing strategy, but then it’s time to do the boots-on-the-ground work of designing and creating your emails. We’re here to help you dream up an impactful, memorable Thanksgiving email design that is both relatable and lucrative, thanks to these design tips.

Keep your Thanksgiving message simple

Sometimes simplicity is your best friend. The more concise and straightforward your message is, the more clearly it will be received, and the more likely customers are to actually read it rather than skip it.Check out this email from Publix, for example. It’s short and to the point, but the simple design makes it easily digestible and visually appealing.

Publix Thanksgiving email campaigns

Create Personalized Thanksgiving Emails

You know you’re not the only email list your customers are subscribed to. They’re likely seeing dozens of Thanksgiving emails, so how do you make yours stand out? An excellent way is by making the email personalized and relatable to them specifically. Not only does this help customers feel seen and understood, but it makes your email more relevant to them in a practical way, so it’s more likely to grab their attention and their time.Check out this email from Hayneedle. While it leads with a sweet Thanksgiving sentiment, it goes into a specially curated section that sends personalized product recommendations based on the customer’s previous searches and purchases. Customers are more likely to see something they like, and that will make them stop scrolling and take notes.

Hayneedle thanksgiving email

Thanksgiving email templates

The easiest way to create beautiful Happy Thanksgiving newsletters is to use a Thanksgiving email template. Check out some of our favorite professionally designed Thanksgiving email templates to get started:

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Or give thanks with this colorful Thanksgiving Day email template.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Standing Out with Thanksgiving Email Marketing Made Simple

Thanksgiving is an excellent opportunity to grow your relationship with your customers and subscribers, along with capitalizing on a popular shopping day. It’s not easy to both encourage purchases and offer genuine relatability in the same email, but the strategies and tips above will help you do just that and make the most of this opportunity.Want to do this as simply and efficiently as possible? Our Thanksgiving email templates give you an easy and quick way to customize the perfect Thanksgiving email newsletter. Check out Beefree and our email design tools that will help you make an impression on customers on Thanksgiving and beyond.

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two emails from thanksgiving day

Editor’s Note: This post was updated on August 2023 to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

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If you’re using Salesforce Account Engagement (formerly Pardot), you’ve likely hit a wall with its native email editor. Whether you’re a nonprofit, a growing SaaS company, or an enterprise with multiple brands, the common complaint is the same:

"Pardot is just way too restrictive for our needs."

"The collaboration part just isn’t happening smoothly. It is too hard to involve writers and designers effectively."

 "It isn’t like we were doing anything overly creative—it just doesn’t give us the flexibility we needed."

Let’s face it: as powerful as Pardot is on the automation side, its design capabilities often fall short. And Salesforce doesn’t seem in a rush to improve them. If you’ve been trying to get more from your marketing emails—faster, better, more on-brand—it’s time to consider a better way.

Beefree isn’t a replacement. It’s the perfect addition to your workflow

The good news is that you don’t have to abandon Pardot. It is excellent at what it’s built for—automation, CRM integration, lead scoring, and financial compliance. 

But when it comes to design and collaboration, the limitations start to pile up. Whether it’s because of its clunky editor, lack of customization, or the time spent fixing buttons and web fonts (insert eye roll). 

Pairing Beefree with Pardot doesn’t just improve how your emails look, it transforms how your team works. This pair is especially perfect for: 

  • Healthcare & Financial Services: where compliance and approvals are non-negotiable.
  • SaaS, Consumer Brands, and Professional Services: where keeping brand consistency across touchpoints is critical.
  • Higher Ed, Manufacturing, Real Estate: where teams juggle multiple departments, audiences, and localizations.
  • Nonprofits: where lean teams need to move fast 

Teams from all walks of life all come to Beefree looking for the same thing: a fast and flexible email design solution that seamlessly integrates with their tech stack (without slowing their team down).

(source)

From chaos to control: Why teams choose Beefree

Now that you know what Beefree is, it’s time to talk about how it can help. 

When email production feels scattered (we’re talking files everywhere, last-minute edits, branding inconsistencies), it’s not just frustrating, it’s risky. It opens the door to real mistakes: off-brand messaging, broken layouts, missed approvals, or worse, emails that get flagged for non-compliance.   

1. Keeps your team organized with Workspaces

Instead of one cluttered space where everyone shares the same templates and folders, Workspaces allows you to manage email assets across brands, departments, and regions in unique environments. 

  • Create separation without silos: Marketing ops can manage everything in one platform, while individual teams work independently within their own workspace. It’s the best of both worlds.
  • Prevent cross-team mixups: With workspace-specific templates and permissions, there’s no risk of someone accidentally launching a healthcare email from the real estate workspace.

2. Allows you to move faster without sacrificing brand integrity

Beefree empowers teams to scale production while keeping every email perfectly on-brand.

  • Style Kits: Automatically apply your brand’s fonts, colors, and design settings to every email in a workspace
  • Saved Rows: Save your most-used content blocks (like hero sections, testimonials, or product features) and reuse them across campaigns.
  • Synced Rows: Make a global update, like changing your holiday promo footer or legal disclaimer, and Beefree automatically applies it to every email using that row. 

3. Helps you catch mistakes before they go live

Beefree helps your team build error-resistant emails with features designed to catch issues before they go live. 

  • Smart check: Beefree’s Smart Check automatically checks your designs and alerts you of any red flags, such as missing links, heavy images, and large HTML files, so you can fix them before they cost you. 
  • Built-in approval flows: Ensure the right eyes are on every email. No more chasing approvals in Slack or email threads.

Learn more about sending error-free emails with Beefree: https://beefree.io/blog/error-free-emails-beefree

4. One click export from Beefree to Pardot

With Beefree’s native Pardot integration, your team can export emails with confidence. What you see in Beefree is exactly what your audience gets in Pardot. No weird spacing. No layout issues. No surprises.

Real results: How USC Marshall scaled campaign production with Beefree

In 2020, Dwayne Rice, Senior Associate Director of CRM Management at USC Marshall, was juggling comms for 11 graduate programs. Each had its own drip campaigns, deadlines, and unique audiences.

“I needed an efficient process to crank out emails,” he said.“But Pardot’s editor was slowing us down.”

By switching to Beefree, Dwayne’s team was able to build reusable templates and modular elements—cutting production time and removing the need for third-party vendors.

“Beefree has enabled us to create content efficiently enough to bring multiple processes in-house and discontinue relationships with several vendors, saving time and money.”— Dwayne Rice, USC Marshall

Read the full case study

Stop letting Pardot’s email builder hold you back

From higher ed to healthcare, SaaS to nonprofits—teams across industries are making the switch to Beefree not to replace Pardot, but to complete it. With Beefree you can:

  • Design polished, responsive emails in minutes
  • Collaborate seamlessly with writers, designers, and stakeholders
  • Export to Pardot with full confidence

Start building better emails for Pardot today — Try Beefree for free

Or if you're a non-profit, apply for a $1,000 annual credit!

(source)

Frequently asked questions about using Beefree with Pardot

1. How does Beefree integrate with Pardot?

Beefree serves as an external email design tool that integrates seamlessly with Pardot. Users can design emails in Beefree and export them directly to Pardot as new templates or update existing ones. This integration streamlines the email creation process by allowing for more flexible and visually appealing designs than Pardot's native editor.

2. Does Beefree provide analytics for email performance?

Beefree focuses primarily on email design and does not offer built-in analytics. However, once emails are exported to Pardot, users can leverage Pardot's robust analytics and reporting tools to track performance metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.

3. How does Beefree enhance email design capabilities for Pardot users?

Beefree offers a no-code, drag-and-drop email builder that allows users to create visually appealing emails without HTML knowledge. It integrates seamlessly with Pardot, enabling users to export their designs directly into the platform, thereby overcoming Pardot's design limitations .​

4. What collaboration features does Beefree offer compared to Pardot?

Beefree offers robust collaboration features that surpass those in Pardot, including:

  • real-time design-specific comments
  • role-based permissions
  • approval workflows

all available directly within the email design environment. These tools make it easier for teams to co-create and review content without switching platforms. In contrast, Pardot’s collaboration tools are more limited and typically rely on Salesforce’s broader ecosystem for team coordination.

5. Does Beefree support features like AI copywriting or mobile optimization?

​Yes, Beefree supports both AI-driven copywriting and mobile optimization features. Its AI Writing Assistant enables users to:

  • generate email and landing page content or revise existing copy
  • create alt text for images
  • translate content to different languages

Additionally, Beefree's Mobile Design Mode allows for editing of mobile-specific styles, such as:

  • text alignment
  • padding
  • font size
  • and more

to ensure responsive and user-friendly designs across devices.

6. Can Beefree help maintain brand consistency better than Pardot?

Yes, Beefree helps maintain brand consistency more effectively than Pardot through its Brand Style Guidelines feature, which lets teams lock in brand colors, fonts, and content blocks across all email designs.

Users can also create reusable templates and design systems that ensure uniformity, even across multiple teams or clients. While Pardot offers some branding controls, it lacks the same level of built-in visual governance and flexibility found in Beefree’s design-focused environment.

Send Error-Free Emails with Confidence Using Beefree

Learn about the Beefree features that can help you and your team catch mistakes, streamline collaboration, and send with confidence every time.
Beefree team
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We’ve all been there: You craft the perfect email, hit “send”, and just as you settle into the satisfaction of a job well done, someone slacks you: “Hey, something doesn’t look right with that campaign.” 

If this sounds familiar, you should know that you’re not alone: According to the 2025 Really Good Email Survey “90% of email marketers say they have a history of noticing mistakes in their emails after they’ve hit the send button.

This becomes especially common when your team constantly juggles multiple campaigns or makes edits until the last minute. Sadly, even the smallest mistakes don’t just slip through the cracks; they cost you.

Luckily for us all, mistakes can be avoided. And no, not by lighting a Pre-Send Protection Candles™ and hoping for the best. But rather by equipping your team with the right tools that work with your team – not slow them down. Let’s talk about it!

Building your team’s safety net for mistake-free emails with Beefree 

When everyone involved in the email creation process is aligned and supported by smart systems, executing mistake-free emails becomes second nature. Instead of scrambling to do damage control, you’ll want to set up the tools and processes that help your team focus on what they do best: creating emails that connect, convert, and confidently represent the brand.

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can use Beefree to: 

  • Reduce human errors 
  • Implement systems of checks and balances 
  • Establish guardrails & frameworks for on-brand email design

1. Catch mistakes before they happen with Smart Check

Missing links that lead nowhere? Forgotten subject lines? HTML emails that get clipped in Gmail? It’s easy to make little mistakes that derail your campaign’s performance. 

Learn more about Smart Check → 

Beefree’s Smart Check automatically checks your designs and alerts you of any red flags so you can fix them before they cost you opens, clicks, or conversions. Think of Smart Check as your built-in QA partner who will catch:

  • Missing links
  • Heavy images that could slow down email load times
  • Missing subjects & preheaders that impact engagement
  • Missing alt text on images that hurt your email’s accessibility
  • Large HTML files that might affect deliverability (or get clipped in Gmail)

2. Keep every email on-brand with built-in guardrails 

Most of us don’t nail the perfect campaign on the first try. Great emails are a team effort. However, when multiple teams are involved in the email creation process, branding can quickly go off the rails. 

A misused font, clashing colors, or buttons that are too small to click don’t just make emails look disjointed—they can damage your brand’s credibility.

With Beefree’s Advanced Style Kit, you can set clear, predefined guidelines for fonts, colors, spacing, and more—so every design starts on the right foot. Once configured, all new emails automatically inherit your brand styles, reducing the need for constant oversight and minimizing errors.

Advanced user permissions let you lock down specific design elements, giving you full control over what can (and can’t) be edited. That means anyone on your team—regardless of design expertise—can confidently create emails that look and feel like your brand.

3. Empower your team to create with confidence with reusable content

When your team isn’t bogged down by the cumbersome process of creating content from scratch (or fear of going off-brand), they can move faster—and with far more confidence.

With Saved and Synced Rows, you can provide your team with pre-approved content blocks—like headers, footers, and other commonly used design elements—that they can use in their designs without creating them from scratch. That ensures design consistency, eliminates redundant work, and makes email creation a lot faster.

Learn more about Saved Rows → 

4. Ensure your team is aligned with centralized reviews and approvals:

Creating the perfect email often takes a team of designers, copywriters, marketers, and other team members working together. But when multiple people are involved, endless back-and-forth and feedback scattered across multiple conversations and channels can slow things down, lead to miscommunication, and ultimately cause mistakes. 

With Beefree’s built-in commenting, your team can collaborate and share feedback where the work is actually happening—right inside the builder. And if you’d like to involve external reviewers into the review process, you can do that as well. 

Learn more about commenting → 

Plus, with Beefree’s built-in Approval flow, you can ensure your designs are reviewed and approved by the right stakeholders. Stay aligned with real-time notifications on design changes, lock edits on approved content, and get a clear view of project status for smoother team collaboration and high-quality results.

Learn more about Approvals →

5. Need an additional pair of eyes? Use the power of AI to support your team

Take some weight off your team's shoulders and use AI to support them in the final stretch. Whether it’s catching typos, flagging inconsistencies, or suggesting optimization, AI can be a saving grace when deadlines are creeping in.

For those times when you can’t remember the difference between “there, their, and they’re,  Beefree’s  AI Writing Assistant is there to help. This eager-to-learn helper can  review your copy for grammatical errors, tone of voice, and even share suggestions for making it just a bit more compelling. Our AI Writing Assistant can also seamlessly translate content or automatically generate ALT text for images to enhance the accessibility of your emails. 

Learn more about AI-powered content creation in Beefree →

The tangible cost of email mistakes

Mistakes don’t just impact performance; they slowly erode credibility. What starts as a small oversight can be a massive inconvenience for your readers, sending them straight to the unsubscribe button. As for your team, mistakes chip away at their confidence. Instead of brainstorming for the next campaign, they’re scrambling trying to figure out how to do damage control.   

When done right, email is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience. But a single mistake can unravel that connection and undermine trust.

  • A missing or broken links can interrupt your subscribers’ journey to conversion, negatively impacting campaign performance.
  • A missing subject lines means your emails won't stand out in the inbox, hurting your open rate
  • An awkward typo might signal a lack of attention to detail
  • An off-brand design can make your brand look disorganized
  • An email that gets clipped in Gmail because it’s too big means some subscribers might never see the full email content.

Design error-free emails and send with confidence with Beefree 

Beefree helps teams of all sizes create polished, on-brand emails—without the risk of costly errors. With built-in safeguards, streamlined approval flows, and collaboration tools that keep everyone aligned, Beefree acts as your team’s system of checks and balances. From first draft to final sign-off, you’ll have everything you need to send with confidence, build trust, and get results.

Try Beefree's Business for free for 15 days and get access to all of Beefree’s tools that help you catch mistakes, streamline collaboration, and send with confidence every time. Or schedule a call with one of our experts to discover everything Beefree can support your team.

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