The holiday season has always been an enormous — and stressful — revenue opportunity for retailers, and the stakes continue to grow higher each year: forecasters predict $142 billion in online sales this season.

Running marketing campaigns based on instinct seems like a thing of the past in this data-driven industry. But as it turns out, modern marketing can make use of instinct — by utilizing behavioral psychology to nudge customers.

Many retailers think a purchase means the mission is accomplished and pursue the next conversion opportunity, tossing customers back into the day-to-day promotional marketing fold. But treating customers like commodities can make them feel unappreciated and under-valued, actually harming your brand.

The holiday shopping season, the busiest time of the year for most email marketers, is almost here—and yes, it does start earlier each year.

Get inspired, see what worked and plan for 2019’s holiday season.

Need a little inspiration for your holiday email marketing? Start with a review of the emails and strategies that worked (and didn’t work) from last year to help you plan for this holiday season.

Email marketing campaigns are only effective when messages reach inboxes—and even if your email makes it to the inbox, will it be opened and read? By knowing your audience and observing the best practices laid out in this guide, your business can achieve and maintain a strong inbox deliverability rate that will help drive revenue.

Automated browse recovery emails help move shoppers who abandon your site without carting products further along the purchase funnel — and these targeted messages produce higher metrics than your standard promotional messages.

Taking the time to go back and make sure your email marketing is built upon a sound, solid foundation of fundamentals will leave you better prepared to keep your customers happy and your bottom line growing.