Email works year-round, but it matters most between now and the end of December.
Black Friday is November 27, Small Business Saturday is November 28, and shoppers are already hunting for deals. A good email gets your store in front of them first.
If you don't collect customer emails yet, start now. Unlike social media, your email list belongs to you, so you decide when and how to reach your customers.
This guide covers why email matters this season, how to write subject lines and offers people actually open, and how to use last year's point of sale (POS) data to staff your busiest hours. If you’re planning for Small Business Saturday, you'll find ideas for that, too.
Email is a low-cost or potentially free channel for driving sales. If you've never tried it, here's what it can do for your store.
If you already collect customer emails, now’s the time to turn those contacts into regulars. They gave you their information, so give them something in return.
Make customers feel like they have "VIP status." If they don't see a benefit in hearing from you, they'll unsubscribe in a heartbeat. Here are a few perks that work for a small store:
Subscribers feel like insiders, and the owner gets an early read on demand. Pair email with a loyalty program, and you give customers one more reason to hand over their address at the register.
Related Read: 7 Easy Ways To Make Your Retail Store Discoverable
Email is the easiest place to promote your holiday specials. Shoppers start looking for deals early, so get your offer in their inbox before the competition does.
A 30% off tag isn't always enough. Think like a sales rep and give shoppers a reason to buy now. Here are a few ways to frame your offer.
Related Read: 12 Proven Holiday + Black Friday Promotion Ideas To Try at Your Store
Shoppers are tired of stuffing paper receipts into bags and wallets. Emailing receipts cuts down on paper, and your POS system should be able to handle it.
What does that have to do with email marketing? Plenty. Offering an emailed receipt is an easy way to collect an email address without asking for it outright. Customers hand it over on their own, and they're happy to because it saves them one more piece of paper.
Then, use the receipt as a marketing touchpoint. Add a one-line offer, like a coupon for their next visit.
Check your inventory, profits, and daily reports to see how you performed this small business season. Your customers are also a great resource for judging how the season went, and email makes it easy to ask. It isn't only about coupons and promotions. It's also a way to check where there’s room for improvement.
Once things calm down in the new year, send a short survey. If anyone can tell you what worked and what didn't, it's the people who shopped in your store. Ask three questions:
Surveys also work any time you're testing something new, like a new product line or extended hours.
Not sure which reports to run? Learn how to turn your sales data into decisions. Get the retail sales reporting guide.
A great holiday email starts before anyone reads it. Three parts decide whether it gets opened and acted on: who it's from, what the subject line says, and what's inside.
1. Choose a real "from" name
An email from marketing@liquorstore.com or info@lawncenter.com doesn't inspire the warm and fuzzies, and it signals right away that the message came from a list.
If you can, send from a real person's address, like Liz@YourLocalGardenCenter.com. Customers recognize the name and are more likely to open the email.
2. Write a subject line that gets the open
Getting people to open your email is half the battle. The sender name and subject line are what entice customers in the first place, so make them count with these tips:
Include humor, a fact, or something personal, since your subscribers are getting everyone else's offers, too.
Here's how to rework a few common subject lines.
3. Make the content worth the click
Your offer and message are everything, because subscribers are one click from unsubscribing. Use high-quality photos and write fun, specific descriptions. Why should a customer buy this for a family member, friend, or significant other? It's the season of giving, so position your product as the perfect gift.
Try a few sneak peek emails to tease what's coming, like new products or a big promotion. Send exclusive "member" offers only to your list, and mix in coupons, specials, discounts, and contests to keep people watching their inbox. Here's a simple sneak peek email to model:
Related Read: Setting Up a Grocery Store Loyalty Program in 2026 [Tools + Examples]
Starting now gives you time to collect addresses before the rush. Use this sample schedule as a starting point and adjust it to your store.
Email will bring shoppers in. Make sure you have the right people on the floor when they arrive. Your POS already has the answer: Last year's sales data shows exactly when your store got busy. Our guide to using your POS data covers the basics. Here's how to apply it to staffing.
Pull last year's hourly sales
Run a sales time report for last year's holiday window: Black Friday weekend, the days around Small Business Saturday, and the two weekends before Christmas. If your POS doesn't have an hourly report, a transaction report works too, since it captures the time of each sale.
Find your peaks
Compare your busiest days against a normal weekday. Which hours had the most transactions? Did the rush start earlier than you expected? Note the biggest days, such as the Saturday after Thanksgiving and December 22 to 24.
Turn peaks into a schedule
Divide your peak transactions per hour by how many one cashier can ring up per hour. For example, if a cashier handles about 20 transactions an hour and you had 65 in your busiest hour, plan for four registers or checkout stations. That's a minimum for the front end, so add floor staff for stocking, fitting rooms, or helping shoppers.
Adjust for this year
Last year is a starting point, not a forecast. If sales are up, add coverage. If you're running a doorbuster or sending an email the morning of a big sale, expect a spike in the hour after it goes out, and schedule extra hands for it. Local events, like a holiday parade or a tree lighting, can also pull more shoppers downtown than usual, so check your community calendar before you finalize shifts.
Share the schedule early
Give your team plenty of notice so they can plan around holiday shifts. Post the schedule at least a few weeks before Black Friday, and tell staff which days are all hands on deck so no one is surprised. Early notice also gives you time to line up backup, like an on-call list or a seasonal hire, in case someone calls out during your busiest hours.
Related Read: Peak Hour Retail Operations: How To Manage Rush Periods
As a point of sale provider for retailers like you, our job is to support small businesses through the busiest time of year. It takes a lot of preparation, but it's worth it.
Ready to plan the rest of your season? Browse our small business holiday hub for more resources.
If you're ready for a more powerful, personalized POS solution, schedule a live demo with one of our product specialists today.