3 Quick Personalization Wins for Your Holiday Marketing

Key Takeaways:

Personalization is about relevance, not just a first name in a subject line.

Deciding who to leave out of a campaign is one of the fastest personalization wins.

Remarketing works best when browsers and recent buyers see different messages.

Direct mail should start with the audience and the purpose, not the design.

Every touchpoint across email, SMS, ads, and mail should have its own job.

Great customer service leaves people feeling recognized, remembered, and supported. In our recent article on new ways businesses deliver exemplary service, we explored how thoughtful businesses bring customer preferences and purchase history into the next interaction. That same attention should show up in your holiday marketing.

As your promotional calendar fills up, it’s tempting to send every offer to everyone. But more emails, texts, and ads aren’t necessarily helpful, and they may even have the opposite effect. A customer who recently purchased from you shouldn’t receive a message that treats them like a new customer. And someone shopping for a gift may need guidance, not another reminder that your sale ends soon.

Personalization isn’t just putting a first name in a subject line. It’s about relevance: choosing the right audience, sharing a useful message, and knowing when to give someone a break.

You don’t need to overhaul your segmentation to get started. This holiday season, stand out from the competition with messages that connect with your customers. Here are three quick wins to use across email, SMS, advertising, and direct mail.

“Personalization isn’t about knowing everything about a customer. It’s about not ignoring what you already know.“

– Jennifer Shaheen
President and Founder, Technology Therapy® Group

1. Personalize Your Email and SMS by Knowing Who to Leave Out

One of the simplest personalization decisions happens before you write a subject line: who shouldn’t receive this campaign? Let’s say you’re a jewelry retailer preparing an engagement ring promotion. Customers who purchased an engagement ring within the past year may not need the same “Find the Perfect Ring” message as someone actively shopping for one.

If you don’t have time to build detailed segments, here’s your shortcut:

1. Pull those customers from your POS or customer records.
2. Export and upload them as a clearly labeled list in your marketing platform.
3. Exclude that list from the relevant promotional sends.

Platforms such as Klaviyo let you exclude specific lists or segments from a campaign, which gives you a practical starting point without a complicated setup.

Match the exclusion to the message. That doesn’t mean you should exclude engagement ring purchasers from all your holiday marketing. They may still appreciate gift ideas for newlyweds and couples, jewelry care tips, or wedding band messaging. The goal is to avoid treating them as if their purchase never happened.

Think of the exclusion list as a shortcut for retailers who don’t have time for full segmentation. Start with one group and one campaign, then refresh the list as new purchases come in. Just remember that a manually uploaded list won’t update automatically.

Personalize the pace, too. Before scheduling another email or text, look at what customers are already receiving. Could a promotional campaign overlap with an automated reminder? Did someone purchase yesterday and still receive a “Don’t miss out” message today?

Frequency controls can help, but don’t assume they coordinate every channel. For example, Klaviyo’s email and SMS Smart Sending windows operate independently, so they don’t automatically prevent a customer from receiving both an email and a text close together.

Quick Win: Create one exclusion list and review your upcoming email and SMS calendar together. Sometimes the most thoughtful message is the one you don’t send.

2. Make Your Remarketing Match the Customer’s Next Step

Remarketing helps you reach people who have already interacted with your business. Platforms such as Google and Meta support audiences based on website activity and customer lists, along with exclusions that can keep specific groups out of a campaign. But a website visitor and a recent purchaser aren’t necessarily ready for the same message.

Rather than showing everyone the same holiday ad, start with two basic groups:

1. People who showed interest but haven’t purchased.
2. Customers who already purchased.

Then ask what would be useful next.

Give browsers a helpful reason to return. Someone who explored your holiday gift guide might respond to an ad featuring a few gift ideas or an invitation to get help choosing. A shopper who viewed engagement rings might benefit from a consultation invitation rather than another general holiday sale announcement.

These are starting points, not assumptions that one page visit tells you everything about a person. Use the information available to make the next message more useful.

Don’t keep selling what someone just bought. For existing customers, consider whether the campaign needs a different message or an exclusion. A recent engagement ring buyer could be excluded from your engagement ring acquisition campaign, while a returning local customer might instead receive an invitation to a holiday preview event. The goal isn’t to follow someone around the internet with the same product forever. It’s to offer a relevant next step.

Your customer list can support more than email. My recent article, Leverage Your Email List: They Are Your Best Local Ad Audience, explores how that audience can support local advertising and coordinated holiday marketing.

Keep in mind that setup depends on your platform, available tracking, audience requirements, and appropriate permissions to use customer information. Not every contact or visitor will be reachable through an ad audience.

Quick Win: Review one remarketing campaign. Does it distinguish between someone still considering a purchase and someone who already bought?

“A customer who just said ‘yes’ deserves a different message than one who is still deciding.“

– Jennifer Shaheen
President and Founder, Technology Therapy® Group

3. Bring the Same Personalization to the Mailbox

Customer segments aren’t just for digital marketing. They can also help you decide who receives a postcard, an event invitation, or a personal note.

As we discussed in our customer list article, targeted direct mail can include event invitations and purchase anniversary cards, not just general promotions. The key is to begin with the audience and purpose, rather than designing a postcard and deciding afterward who should get it.

Choose one group and one reason to reach out. Consider a few simple options:

1. Local VIP customers: Invite them to a holiday preview or private shopping event.
2. Past customers who haven’t returned: Send a thoughtful invitation to revisit the store.
3. Customers approaching a meaningful purchase anniversary: Share a personal note or relevant service reminder.

A personalized mail piece starts with why that customer is receiving it, not simply whether their name appears on it. You don’t need three separate mailing campaigns. Choose the group that makes the most sense for your holiday plans, check the mailing addresses, and allow time for production and delivery.

Coordinate your channels instead of piling on. A printed invitation can introduce an event, while an email provides details and a convenient way to respond. If you use SMS, reserve it for appropriately subscribed customers and a genuinely useful, timely reminder.

Each touchpoint should have a job. Repeating the same promotion across every channel isn’t the same as creating a thoughtful customer experience.

Quick Win: Send one targeted mail piece to one clearly defined group, supported by digital follow-up that adds useful information.

Your Holiday Personalization Guide

Before your next campaign goes out, ask:

• Who is this message truly for?
• Who should be excluded?
• Does it reflect something we know, or something we’re guessing?
• What else will this customer receive from us?
• Does this touchpoint add something useful?

You don’t have to implement everything at once. Start with one customer group and one campaign. Build an exclusion list, improve a remarketing audience, or send a targeted invitation.

Great service makes customers feel remembered. Thoughtful holiday marketing carries that feeling beyond your store and into their inbox, their feed, and their mailbox.