Gift card email marketing: how to sell more gift cards over the holidays

Gift card email marketing: what actually sells more gift cards over the holidays?

Gift card email marketing works best as a short campaign of its own, not a banner at the bottom of your Christmas newsletter. The stores that sell the most gift cards in December run four distinct email moments: a bonus offer around Black Friday, a corporate gifting push for business buyers, an "it's too late to ship, send an e-gift card" message in the final days, and redemption reminders in January. This guide covers each one, with timing for the 2026 season, bonus offer maths, a template for the e-gift delivery email, subject lines, and how to present expiry dates clearly.

Key takeaways

• The holidays are a major gift card occasion: gift cards suit buyers who do not know what to choose, are short on time, or have many people to buy for.
• A bonus offer ("buy a $50 card, get a $10 bonus card") is the most common holiday hook. Make the bonus redeemable in January so it brings customers back in your quietest weeks.
• The e-gift delivery email is a product, not a receipt: name the sender, show the code and amount, explain how to redeem, and state the expiry date.
• The sale is only half the job. Many recipients spend more than the card's value when they redeem, so January reminders turn gift cards into extra revenue.
• State the validity period clearly and follow your local consumer rules, both in the offer email and in the delivery email.

Why do gift cards deserve their own email campaign?

Gift cards deserve a dedicated campaign because they solve a different problem than your product emails: they sell to people who do not know what to buy, who have run out of time, or who are buying for many recipients at once. That is why the holidays are such a strong gift card season, and why a gift card is a safe choice for the buyer: the recipient picks exactly what they want.

Gift cards are also often worth more than their face value: many recipients spend more than the card's value when they redeem it. A gift card sold in December often brings a new customer into your shop in January, at a moment when traffic usually drops.

Gift cards also need a different message from the rest of your holiday calendar. Your Christmas newsletter ideas cover the full season; a gift card campaign focuses on one product with one promise: the right gift, delivered instantly, for any budget.

When should you send gift card emails in the 2026 holiday season?

Send gift card emails in four waves: the bonus offer from Black Friday week, the corporate gifting push from early November to early December, the last-minute e-gift message once shipping cutoffs pass, and redemption reminders from late December to February. The table below maps each wave to the 2026 calendar.

For other occasions, shift the same pattern: Hanukkah begins on the evening of 4 December 2026, and in Spain, Portugal and Latin America, Three Kings' Day on 6 January gives you a second last-minute window.

The last-minute window, briefly

Once standard shipping can no longer reach customers by 24 December, the gift card becomes your best-selling product. Keep this email simple: a headline that says the card arrives instantly, a choice of amounts, and an option to schedule delivery for Christmas morning. A dedicated guide to last-minute holiday emails and shipping deadlines covers the rest of that week's calendar.

How do you build a holiday gift card bonus offer that pays off?

A gift card bonus offer pays off when the bonus card is redeemable only after the holidays, carries a clear expiry date, and is sized so that buyers move up to a higher amount. The classic format is "buy a $50 gift card, get a $10 bonus card": the buyer gives the $50 card as a present and keeps the $10 card for themselves.

Three rules make the offer profitable rather than a simple discount:

1. Delay the bonus. Make bonus cards valid from 1 January to 28 February 2027. Revenue you would have made in December stays intact, and the bonus brings the buyer back in January.
2. Tier the bonus to raise the average order. A bonus that only unlocks at $50 or $100 nudges people who would have bought a $25 card.
3. Cap and date the offer. "This weekend only" or "until 30 November" gives the email a real deadline. A countdown timer in the email makes that deadline visible.

The bonus only costs you money when it is redeemed, and part of that redemption usually comes with extra spend on top. Before you launch, check your margin on the products people typically buy with a card, and write the bonus terms (start date, expiry, exclusions) into the email itself, not only into a terms page.

Who should receive the bonus offer first? Past gift card buyers and customers who bought gifts last December. Your holiday email segmentation can isolate these groups so they get the offer a day early, while the rest of the list gets it on Black Friday.

Sending four gift card waves to your whole list between November and February adds up. Mailpro charges by emails sent, never by number of contacts, so a bigger list does not raise your bill. See Mailpro pricing

What should an e-gift card delivery email include?

An e-gift card delivery email must tell the recipient, in a few seconds, who the gift is from, how much it is worth, and how to use it. It is often the first email a new customer ever receives from your brand, so it should look like a gift and work like a receipt.

• Subject line with the sender's name: "Emma sent you a $50 gift card from [Brand]". Recipients open messages from people they know; a generic "Your gift card" looks like spam or a scam.
• The personal message written by the buyer, at the top.
• Amount, gift card code and PIN, plus a barcode or QR code for in-store use.
• One main button: "Shop with your gift card".
• How to redeem online and in store, and a link to check the balance.
• Expiry date and key terms, in plain text, not only in a linked document.
• Customer service contact in case the code does not work.

Two more details matter in December. First, offer scheduled delivery so a buyer can order on 20 December and have the card land on Christmas morning. Second, send a separate confirmation to the buyer with the order details and the delivery date, so they know the gift has left.

Gift card emails are a favourite disguise for phishing, so deliverability and trust need extra care. Send from your own authenticated domain (SPF, DKIM and DMARC), keep the sender name your brand name, and state in the footer that you will never ask for a gift card code by email or phone. Delivery emails are transactional: in Mailpro you can send them as automated emails, or connect your shop to Mailpro's SMTP relay so each order triggers the delivery email.

One point people often forget: the recipient did not subscribe to your newsletter. A person who receives an e-gift card has not consented to your marketing emails. Add a clear "Get our news and offers" opt-in link to the delivery email instead of adding the recipient to your list automatically.

How do you sell gift cards to businesses (B2B corporate gifting)?

To sell gift cards to businesses, send a separate, earlier campaign to company buyers that focuses on bulk ordering, invoicing and branded delivery rather than on the gift itself. Corporate buyers decide in November, not on 22 December, because year-end gift budgets need approval.

What a corporate gifting email should cover:

• Volume made easy: order 20 or 200 cards in one step, with one amount or several.
• Bulk delivery: upload a list of recipients and send each one a personal e-gift card on a chosen date.
• Company branding: the company's logo or message on the card or delivery email.
• Invoice and payment terms: a VAT invoice and, if you offer it, bank transfer payment.
• A volume incentive: for example 5% extra value from 25 cards, rather than a consumer-style bonus card.
• A named contact: a reply-to address that reaches a person, not a no-reply inbox.

Send the first corporate email in the first half of November, then a reminder in the first days of December for the late deciders. If you sell to both consumers and businesses, keep two segments: a business buyer who receives your "buy one, get a bonus" consumer email is less likely to read your bulk order offer later.

How do January gift card reminder emails increase revenue?

January reminder emails increase revenue because a gift card only pays off for you once it is redeemed, and recipients who redeem tend to spend more than the card's value. Some cards are used quickly, others sit forgotten in an inbox; a well-timed reminder brings those recipients back.

A simple three-email sequence works for most shops:

1. 26–28 December, "How to use your gift card": redeem online or in store, check the balance, and a link to your winter sale if you run one.
2. Mid-January, "Your balance is waiting": show new arrivals or best sellers just above the card's value. A $50 card plus a $65 item is the natural upsell.
3. About 30 days before a bonus card expires: "Your $10 bonus card expires on 28 February". A precise date beats "soon".

To target only people who still have a balance, import the gift card data from your shop (card amount, expiry date, balance) as contact fields, build a segment on it and trigger the reminders with scheduled sending or a date-based automation. Recipients who never shopped with you before deserve a short welcome too: the gift card is a chance to turn them into regular customers, as explained in our ecommerce email marketing strategy guide.

Gift card buyers who started an order and did not finish should get the same reminder logic as any product: your abandoned cart emails can include gift cards, with a line reminding the buyer that an e-gift card still arrives in time.

What are good gift card email examples and subject lines?

Good gift card emails make the card the only subject of the email, show the available amounts, and answer the buyer's real worry (time, choice or budget) in the headline. Here are three blueprints you can adapt.

Example 1: the Black Friday bonus offer

• Subject: Buy a $50 gift card, get $10 for you
• Preheader: This weekend only. Your bonus card is valid in January.
• Body: headline "One gift for them, one for you", three amount buttons ($50, $100, $200 with matching bonuses), bonus dates in one sentence, deadline at the bottom.

Example 2: the last-minute e-gift

• Subject: Missed the delivery date? This gift arrives in 2 minutes
• Preheader: Choose an amount, add a message, schedule it for Christmas morning.
• Body: one image of the card, one button, a three-step "how it works" list.

Example 3: the January redemption reminder

• Subject: Anna, you still have $50 to spend
• Preheader: New arrivals picked for your gift card.
• Body: remaining balance, four products around the card's value, expiry date of any bonus card.

More gift card subject lines, by wave:

Avoid wording that looks like a scam, such as "free money", "claim your reward now" or several exclamation marks: spam filters and cautious readers both react to it.

How should gift card emails present expiry dates?

Gift card emails should state the validity period clearly, in plain words, wherever the buyer or recipient makes a decision. Rules on gift card validity vary from one country to another, so state the validity period clearly and follow your local consumer rules.

For your emails, this means three things. State the expiry date of every card in the delivery email. Show the bonus card's validity and conditions in the offer email itself. And never describe a promotional bonus card as a "gift card" in a way that hides its shorter validity.

Frequently asked questions

When should I start promoting gift cards for the holidays?

Start with corporate buyers in early November, launch the consumer bonus offer in Black Friday week (27–30 November 2026), push e-gift cards once your shipping cutoff passes, and keep sending until 24 December. Redemption reminders follow from 26 December into February.

Are gift card bonus offers worth it?

Gift card bonus offers are usually worth it when the bonus card is only valid after the holidays, because it brings buyers back in January and only costs money when it is redeemed. Size the bonus at around 15–25% of the card value and check your margin first.

Can I add gift card recipients to my newsletter list?

Not automatically. A person who receives an e-gift card has not consented to your marketing emails, so ask for their opt-in and follow your local data protection rules. Include a clear subscription link in the delivery email instead.

How long does a gift card have to be valid?

It depends on where you sell. State the validity period clearly and follow your local consumer rules, and show the expiry date both in the card terms and in the delivery email.

Should I send gift card reminders by SMS as well?

SMS works well for the very last days before Christmas and for bonus card expiry reminders, because these messages are short and urgent. Send them only to contacts who have opted in to SMS, and keep email for the full details.