Your customers are in decision mode. December is dense with gifting, last-chance deals, service renewals, and year-end planning. Inboxes are busy, but attention is focused on timely, useful messages.
Costs are predictable. Compared to ads, email typically costs less per message and gives control over timing and audience.
Privacy shifts continue. As tracking across sites remains constrained, owned channels like email help you build direct relationships without relying on third parties.
Email works best when it is targeted, respectful, and consistent. The goal this month is to be useful, not loud.
Set clear goals and a modest budget
Define one primary outcome for December - examples include booking Q1 service appointments, clearing seasonal inventory, or selling gift cards.
Choose 2 to 3 supporting metrics - delivered rate, unique clicks, direct sales, calls or bookings, replies, or coupon redemptions.
Plan a workable schedule - for many local businesses, 1 to 2 sends per week with segmentation is sustainable through December, then a New Year follow-up in early January.
Track spend and returns - use iCash to record campaign costs like creative, software, and discounts, then tag incoming revenue by campaign or coupon code to see net results.
Build a clean, permission-based list
Collect consent at every touchpoint - checkout, booking forms, and events. Be clear about what you will send and how often.
Centralize addresses - if you have emails spread across spreadsheets, CSV exports, and past correspondence, use eMail Extractor to pull valid addresses from files and text, deduplicate them, and assemble a master list. Only import contacts who have opted in.
Reduce hard bounces before you send - run addresses through eMail Verifier to identify invalid or non-existent mailboxes. This helps deliverability by lowering bounce rates.
Segment from the start - split by recent buyers, product interest, location, or engagement. Even basic segments increase relevance right away.
Strengthen deliverability and trust
Authenticate your domain - set up SPF and DKIM with your email provider or DNS host, and consider DMARC to align your sending practices. Authenticated mail tends to be treated more favorably by major inbox providers.
Send to engaged contacts - recent openers and clickers are the safest group to message more frequently in December.
Mind complaints and frequency - give people an easy unsubscribe link, honor it promptly, and avoid sudden increases in volume that your list has not seen before.
Send consistent, recognizable branding - from name, subject style, and reply to address should be familiar and trustworthy.
Build a simple seasonal plan from now through early January
Week 1 - last-minute gift guide or year-end service bundle. Offer pickup windows, delivery cutoffs, or appointment slots.
Week 2 - customer favorites and low stock alerts. Keep it factual and helpful.
Week 3 - gift card push or accessory add-ons that ship quickly or require no shipping.
Week 4 - closed dates and warm wishes message. Light content, clear hours, and customer support details.
Early January - New Year welcome back, service tune-up, or plan-ahead offer. Focus on helpfulness rather than discounts.
Write emails people can scan and act on
Subject and preview text - keep it clear and specific. Avoid stacking sales words. Include a concrete benefit or deadline when relevant.
Lead with value - top of the email should state what the reader gets and how to get it.
One primary call to action - make the main button or link unmistakable. Secondary links can live below.
Be accessible - readable font sizes, good color contrast, descriptive alt text, and tap-friendly buttons help everyone.
Mobile first - most people will read on a phone, especially during holidays.
# Tiny A or B subject test plan for a 10 percent segment subjects = [ "Last-minute gift ideas under $25", "Your 2025 starter kit - simple, useful, affordable" ]
Send with control and personalization
Use MaxBulk Mailer to schedule sends at the times your audience engages most, throttle delivery to respect your SMTP limits, and personalize fields like first name, last purchase, or store location.
Segment before sending - create separate messages for recent purchasers vs prospects, or for different product interests.
Keep images lightweight - link to hosted assets rather than embedding large files to reduce message size and speed up rendering.
Test your template - send test messages to a few inboxes to check links, images, and mobile layout before a full send.
Use an internal link to learn more - see the Maxprog software page for product details and options.
Measure outcomes and handle bounces fast
Track the basics - delivered, opens where available, clicks, replies, and direct conversions. If you use coupon codes or dedicated booking links, attribute them to the campaign.
Process bounces after each send - run your bounce mailbox through eMail Bounce Handler to classify hard vs soft bounces and remove undeliverable addresses. This protects list quality and improves subsequent deliverability.
Learn from patterns - high clicks but low sales may signal landing page friction. High unsubscribe rates may indicate that frequency or relevance needs adjustment.
Keep your list compliant and customer-friendly
Make unsubscribing easy - one click where possible, and a plain link in the footer.
Offer a preferences link - let subscribers pick topics or frequency to reduce total unsubscribes.
Use confirmed opt-in where practical - especially for new lists or high-risk sources, confirmation helps ensure real interest.
Respect data privacy - store consent records and avoid sharing lists. Limit access to customer data to staff who need it.
Control cash flow and attribute ROI
Record costs by campaign - in iCash, create categories for design, software, and incentives. Enter spend as it happens to keep totals current.
Log revenue signals - coupon redemptions, call bookings, and paid invoices tied to a campaign can be tagged in iCash to see the net outcome.
Use a simple payback view - compare campaign costs to gross profit associated with the campaign. If a campaign breaks even quickly, schedule a second wave to high-intent segments only.
Practical tool stack and workflows
eMail Extractor - consolidate addresses from legacy files and export into a single list, remove duplicates, and filter out noise. Use it when merging CRM exports and old mailing lists. Only keep contacts with consent.
eMail Verifier - verify mailbox existence to reduce hard bounces before the first send. Run it monthly on new signups if your list is growing quickly.
MaxBulk Mailer - stage campaigns, personalize content, segment audiences, and schedule delivery windows that align with your customers' time zones.
eMail Bounce Handler - after each send, process the bounce inbox to suppress bad addresses and flag transient issues for retry on a later campaign.
iCash - maintain a simple ledger of email-related costs and attributable revenue so you can compare campaigns and decide where to invest in Q1.
Seasonal ideas you can adapt today
Service businesses - offer a limited block of discounted January appointments to customers who book before December 20. Email recent clients first, then your broader list.
Retail - highlight a curated set of low-risk gifts that ship quickly or are available for pickup. Use short, benefit-led bullets instead of long descriptions.
Hospitality - sell gift cards paired with a small bonus for the buyer. Make the redemption terms clear and straightforward.
B2B - share a concise year-end checklist that helps customers finish strong, then offer a 30-minute planning call for January.
Checklist
Define one primary December goal and 2 to 3 supporting metrics.
Consolidate and deduplicate your list with eMail Extractor.
Verify new or old addresses with eMail Verifier.
Authenticate sending domain with SPF and DKIM, and review DMARC settings.
Build 2 to 3 segments and a simple content calendar through early January.
Write clear subject lines and preview text, one primary CTA per email.
Set up sends in MaxBulk Mailer with throttling and personalization.
Test across devices and inboxes before each full send.
Process bounces after sending with eMail Bounce Handler.
Record campaign costs and revenue signals in iCash to see net results.
3 Actionable Takeaways
Clean your list today - run Extractor and Verifier so your next send lands well and wastes fewer messages.
Ship a focused calendar - two useful emails per week through December, then a helpful New Year follow-up.
Measure what matters - clicks, conversions, and net profit in iCash decide which campaign deserves a second run.
iCash is a software intended to control your personal finance, keeping track of incomes, expenses, credits, debts and Banks transactions for you. As simple as creating the accounts you need and move money between them! You don't even need to know about accounting or even care about it! Your finances depends largely on good organization that lets you know where your money comes from and to where it goes.
iCash is an easy-to-use, full featured and multi-purpose Personal Finance Manager tool for macOS and Windows intended to help you control all kinds of money issues. iCash can serve several small accounting needs for either private users, or clubs, associations, self-employed, small businesses or simply to be used at home, making keeping track of incomes, expenses and Banks transactions a snap.
With a few clicks you can begin creating accounts and making transactions in minutes.
iCash is versatil and user-friendly. For this reason it doesn't use the principle of double-entry bookkeeping making it much easier to be used by people with very little or no accounting knowledge at all.
Simply create accounts for all your expenses, incomes, Banks... and start moving money between them! iCash will then allow you to find out where all your money comes from and where it goes. All accounts are well organized according to user-defined categories and built-in types so reports can be tailored to include all records or only ones meeting specified criteria.
Cash also allows you to have as many money manager documents as necessary so you can control almost anything from Clubs, associations, home and so on at the same time.
▾ Last videos, Online events and Q&A Sessions ▾
🔐 Secured by Sectigo SSL | UptimeRobot - Site Loaded properly
Maxprog ® by Stan Busk - © 2001-2025 - All Rights reserved
