Holiday greeting emails to clients: templates and wording for businesses

How do you write a holiday greeting email to clients?

A good holiday greeting email to clients is short (60 to 150 words), thanks them for something specific from the year, wishes them a good season in wording that fits their culture, and asks for nothing in return. Send it from a real person, between roughly 8 and 17 December, and keep offers, discount codes and "book a call" buttons out of it. Below you will find seven ready-to-use templates, subject lines, the right wording in six languages, and the design choices that keep a greeting out of the spam folder.

Key takeaways

• Pick the tone first: formal for corporate clients, warm for long-standing ones, inclusive ("Season's greetings", "Happy holidays") when you do not know how a client celebrates.
• One specific line about the year ("thank you for trusting us with your rebrand") does more than three paragraphs of general goodwill.
• Best window in 2026: Tuesday 8 to Thursday 17 December. Avoid 23 to 26 December, when inboxes are full and offices empty.
• In France, Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland, formal "meilleurs vœux" greetings are traditionally sent in January, until the end of the month.
• No selling. A greeting that turns into a promotion is read as a promotion.

What should a holiday email to clients include?

A holiday email to clients needs five parts: a personal greeting, a thank-you, one concrete detail from the year, a seasonal wish, and a signature from a named person. Everything else is optional.

1. Greeting with the client's name — "Dear Maria" beats "Dear valued customer". Insert names automatically with personalized contact fields rather than sending a generic version to everyone.
2. A thank-you — for their business, their trust, their feedback, or their patience during a busy year.
3. One specific — a project you finished together, a milestone, a year-anniversary of working together. This is the line clients remember.
4. A wish that fits the reader — rest, time with family, a good start to the new year. Choose inclusive wording unless you know the client celebrates Christmas.
5. A human signature — first name, last name, role. A reply-to address that a person actually reads.

Optional: a single line with your holiday opening hours (one sentence, not a schedule), and a small team photo or illustration. Leave out: discount codes, product links, surveys, "let's schedule a call in January" and anything with a deadline.

Which holiday greeting should you use: formal, warm or inclusive?

Use a formal greeting for corporate and public-sector clients, a warm one for clients you know personally, and an inclusive one whenever your list mixes cultures or you do not know how people celebrate. This table helps you decide quickly.

Remember that December is not only Christmas. In 2026 Hanukkah runs from the evening of 4 December to 12 December, Kwanzaa from 26 December to 1 January, and Orthodox Christmas falls on 7 January. "Happy holidays" and "Season's greetings" cover all of them.

Holiday email templates for clients you can copy

Each template below is ready to send: replace the brackets, cut anything that does not sound like you, and keep the length. They are written for B2B clients and service businesses, not retail promotions.

1. Formal holiday greeting to clients

Subject: Season's greetings from [Company]

Dear [Title] [Last name],

As the year draws to a close, all of us at [Company] would like to thank you for the confidence you have placed in us in 2026. Working with [Client company] on [project or service] has been a privilege.

We wish you and your colleagues a peaceful holiday season and every success in the new year.

With best wishes,
[First name] [Last name]
[Role], [Company]

2. Warm holiday message for clients

Subject: Thank you for a great year, [First name]

Hi [First name],

Before everyone switches off for the holidays, I wanted to say thank you. This year you [trusted us with your first campaign / stuck with us through the move to the new office / sent us three new clients], and it genuinely made a difference to our team.

I hope you get a proper break, good food and some time away from screens. Looking forward to picking things up with you in January.

Warmly,
[First name]

3. Inclusive "happy holidays" message for clients

Subject: Happy holidays from all of us at [Company]

Dear [First name],

Whatever you celebrate this season, and however you spend it, the whole [Company] team wishes you rest, warmth and time with the people who matter to you.

Thank you for being part of our year. We look forward to working together in 2027.

Best wishes,
[First name] [Last name] and the [Company] team

4. Thank-you-for-the-year email

Subject: What 2026 looked like, thanks to you

Dear [First name],

This year we [delivered 40 projects / welcomed 120 new clients / opened our second office], and none of it happens without clients like you. Three moments we are especially grateful for: [one line], [one line], [one line].

From all of us, thank you, and our warmest wishes for the holidays and the year ahead.

[First name] [Last name]
[Role], [Company]

5. Holiday greeting with a closing-hours line

Subject: Happy holidays, and thank you

Dear [First name],

Thank you for working with us this year. Everyone at [Company] wishes you a restful holiday season and a happy new year.

Our office will be closed from [24 December] to [2 January]; for anything urgent, you can reach [Name] at [email].

Kind regards,
[First name] [Last name]

Keep the hours to that one sentence. If you need to explain support cover, delivery cut-offs and reopening dates in detail, send a separate closure notice instead of overloading the greeting.

6. Plain-text note from an account manager

Subject: A quick thank you before the break

Hi [First name],

Just a short note to say thanks for a smooth year working together, especially [specific moment]. Have a lovely break, and see you in 2027.

[First name]

This one works best as a plain-text email with no logo, sent individually or as a personalized send to a small segment of your top clients. It reads like a real message because it is one.

7. January greeting ("best wishes for the new year")

Subject: Best wishes for 2027

Dear [First name],

At the start of this new year, the whole [Company] team sends you our best wishes for health, happiness and success in 2027. Thank you for your trust in 2026; we are looking forward to the projects ahead.

With our best wishes,
[First name] [Last name]

For a full designed New Year campaign rather than a short greeting, see our New Year email templates.

Sending the same greeting to your whole client list? With Mailpro™ you pay by emails sent, not by contacts stored, so one December send costs exactly what you send. See Mailpro pricing

Holiday greeting subject lines for clients

The best holiday subject lines for clients are short, personal and clearly non-promotional, so the reader knows at a glance that nothing is being sold. Ten that work:

• Season's greetings from [Company]
• Thank you for 2026, [First name]
• Happy holidays from the [Company] team
• A quick thank you before the break
• Warm wishes for the holidays
• From all of us: thank you
• Wishing you a restful end of year
• Happy holidays, [First name]
• Our best wishes for 2027
• Thanks for a great year together

Avoid words that look like offers ("gift", "free", "exclusive", "last chance") in a greeting: they lower trust and can push the email toward the promotions tab.

How do you say happy holidays to clients in other languages?

Holiday greetings do not translate word for word: each market has its own safe phrase, its own level of formality and sometimes its own calendar. If you write to clients in several languages, send each group a greeting written for them rather than one English email.

The French January custom matters for timing: a French-speaking client who receives "Joyeuses fêtes" in December may still expect a short "Meilleurs vœux pour 2027" in the first weeks of January. Many companies in France send only the January greeting.

When should you send a holiday email to clients?

Send a December holiday email to clients between Tuesday 8 and Thursday 17 December 2026, on a weekday morning in the client's time zone. Earlier than that, it feels premature; later, it competes with hundreds of retail emails and out-of-office replies.

Avoid 23 to 26 December and 31 December to 2 January. Prepare the email now and use scheduled sending so it leaves at the right hour in each time zone, even if you are already on holiday.

How should a holiday greeting email look?

A holiday greeting email should look like a card, not a catalogue: one image at most, a short text block, your logo, and a signature. Design choices that help:

• Text first, image second. A greeting sent as a single image is invisible when images are blocked and looks suspicious to spam filters. Write the message as live text and add the image as decoration.
• One visual. A team photo, a hand-drawn illustration or a seasonal colour band. Not a collage. Start from a ready-made Christmas email template and strip it back.
• Neutral imagery for inclusive greetings. Snow, lights, a winter landscape or your team work across traditions; Santa and nativity scenes do not.
• Mobile width. Keep the layout single-column around 600 pixels wide, with text at 16 pixels or larger.
• Alt text on the image, for example "The [Company] team wishes you happy holidays".
• A real sender. "Anna Keller, [Company]" in the From name, and a reply-to that a person reads. Clients often reply to greetings; those replies are worth answering.
• Keep the unsubscribe link. A greeting from a business is still a bulk email, so send it only to clients and contacts who agreed to hear from you.

Should a holiday greeting email include an offer?

No. A holiday greeting email to clients should not include an offer, a discount code or a sales link, because the moment it asks for something it stops being a thank-you. If you also run seasonal promotions, send them as a separate campaign; our Christmas newsletter ideas cover that side.

Common ways greetings slip into selling, and what to do instead:

For more traps to avoid in December sends, see holiday email mistakes to avoid.

Frequently asked questions

Is it OK to say "Merry Christmas" to clients?

Yes, when you know the client celebrates Christmas or when it is the norm in their market, as in much of the UK and Europe. For mixed or international lists, "Happy holidays" or "Season's greetings" is the safer choice.

How long should a holiday email to clients be?

Between 60 and 150 words. A greeting that needs scrolling has become a newsletter.

Should the CEO or the account manager sign it?

The person the client knows. Key accounts should get a note from their account manager; a company-wide greeting can come from the CEO on behalf of the team.

Is a holiday email better than a printed card?

An email reaches remote and hybrid teams, can be personalized for every client and arrives on the day you choose. Many companies send a printed card to their top 20 to 50 clients and an email to everyone else.

Is it too late to send holiday greetings in January?

No. A New Year greeting sent in the first two weeks of January is normal everywhere, and in French-speaking markets it is the tradition until the end of January.