OREANDA-NEWS. November 20, 2015. At this point, most of your Black Friday planning is probably complete, but you can still do a few check-ups to make sure your holiday emails are successful.

According to the National Retail Federation, holiday spending in 2015 will be comparable to 2014, as retail sales are expected to rise 3.7 percent and consumers plan to spend around \\$805 on holiday merch. This season, nearly half of holiday browsing and buying will happen online — so make sure your emails are easy to peruse and purchase from on any device.

Take heed of these tips and give your holiday email strategy a final once-over. Get our 2015 Email Marketing Holiday Calendar for even more stats and guidance.

1. Have a game plan for Thanksgiving Day. Having stolen Black Friday’s thunder, Thanksgiving is turning into “Gray Thursday” as consumers start their shopping from tablets or mobile devices while reclining after dinner. If you’re sending marketing emails on Thanksgiving, you also need to make sure your call center and social media channels are staffed in case customers have problems or questions.

2. Appeal to impatience. In Black Friday emails, remind your customers that they don’t have to stand in line at a store to buy from you. Black Friday isn’t about those long lines anymore, although doorbusters still work for many companies. Today, e-commerce on Black Friday is just as important as in-store purchases, and the rise of mobile email has made it critical to engage subscribers when they’re out shopping or waiting in lines.

3. Convey urgency. Remind subscribers that there’s a limited time to receive certain discounts and products. Countdown timers (showing one day left or only 300 units remaining) are effective tools in late November.

4. Don’t tease people with something they can’t have. Buying gifts for close friends and family members can be emotional — people may feel strongly that one item is truly the perfect gift. Have a contingency plan in place if items start to sell out or if there’s a problem with shipping. For example, don’t feature an item as your top-billed product in an email if it’s already sold out, and remove language about free two-day shipping if that’s no longer an option.

5. Capitalize on the trends. People feel a sense of pride in snagging the trendiest holiday gifts. Remember the Cabbage Patch dolls, Tickle Me Elmo, and Furby? Communicate in your emails which products are trending, best-reviewed, most popular with similar customers, or about to sell out. It’s the social proof in the pudding.

6. Regularly inspect email, e-commerce, and website data. Retailers make 20%–40% of their annual sales in November and December. Are you on track to make that happen? Meet regularly throughout November and December and check numbers constantly with your teammates to make sure emails are opened and shopping carts are filled. For instance, imagine that a recent email had a strangely low conversion rate. Was there an issue with a website link? Investigate anything unusual immediately.

7. Communicate final order-by deadlines. On a practical level, ensure all email messaging is aligned with current shipping statuses. Your shipping cutoff messaging for next-day, standard, and overnight shipping must be crystal clear, so meet with other groups internally to send the accurate message.

8. Stay agile. You’ve already put in a lot of work to help your holiday emails soar — and now it’s time to stay flexible and tweak any elements that aren’t working. You might find that an unexpected product rises to be your most popular or a certain email offer just isn’t connecting with customers. Leave room in your email strategy to let data be your guide to last-minute changes.

9. Remember Cyber Week, not just Monday. Cyber Monday is the most popular email marketing day of the year, and it has increasingly turned the surrounding days into Cyber Week. Many brands now offer different online deals every day of the week. This could be a way to make an impact on a less-busy email marketing day.

10. Create your season’s greetings email. Whatever phrase you decide to use (whether that’s happy new year, season’s greetings, merry Christmas, or something else), create the well-wishing email that you send to subscribers in late December. As always, your chosen messaging should fit with your brand and audience.

Are you feeling the holiday spirit yet?

Download our free 2015 Email Marketing Holiday Calendar for even more tactical advice on giving your customers the gift of better emails this November and December  —  and yourself the gift of more ROI.