15 great prompts for generating email campaign ideas this holiday season

Discover 8 useful prompts to generate great email campaign ideas for this holiday season. Write emails your customers will want to read that are perfectly related to your Shopify brand.

holiday email prompts for email marketers

This holiday season, we all want to be gifted high open rates and strong sales. As you're planning campaigns for your e-comm store, you’re probably juggling creative ideas, tight deadlines, and the need to stand out in crowded inboxes.

AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude can help you plan, write, and even design your holiday email campaigns faster. The key is giving them the right prompts. Below you’ll find 15 proven prompts you can paste directly into your chatbot of choice to generate calendars, subject lines, body copy, and even image slice briefs for Klaviyo.

Before you start: set the AI up for success

AI thrives on context. Before running any prompt, paste a short “brand briefing” message into the chatbot. Include:

  • Your brand description and tone of voice.
  • Top 5–6 products with short blurbs.
  • Best-performing subject lines or campaigns from Klaviyo (export these from last year).
  • Current promotions and shipping cutoff dates.
  • Your email cadence (e.g., “send twice per week”).
  • Once that’s in place, move on to the prompts below.

Campaign Calendar Planning Prompts

Your holiday campaigns will only work if you’ve mapped out when to send, what to send, and which products to feature. These prompts are designed to help AI act like a campaign strategist: suggesting timelines, send cadence, and ideas that tie your brand naturally into the holiday conversation.

1. Generate a holiday campaign calendar

You are an email strategist for {{BRAND}}. Using these shipping cutoff dates: {{DATES}} and promotions: {{PROMOS}}, create a one-month holiday campaign calendar. For each send, include: date, campaign name, target segment, 3 subject line ideas, a preheader, body theme, CTA, and KPI to measure. Keep cadence to 2 emails per week.

2. Brainstorm product-focused campaign ideas

We have these best-sellers: {{LIST}}. Create one campaign idea for each product with: subject line options, hero image concept, short body copy angle, and suggested Klaviyo personalization token to use.

3. Tie our brand to the holidays

Generate 5 campaign concepts that connect {{BRAND}}’s products to holiday traditions (decorating, gifting, family meals, travel). For each: campaign title, subject line, 1-sentence body, and CTA.

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Subject Line Planning Prompts

4. Create subject lines that maximize open rates

Write 10 subject lines for {{OFFER}} (max 50 characters). Split into 3 tones: playful, urgent, sincere. For each subject, add a matching 35–50 character preheader.

5. Experiment with emoji

Generate 8 holiday subject lines using emoji (snowflakes, gifts, trees, etc.). Include both an emoji-first version and an emoji-at-end version. Add a note about why each might catch attention.

6. Pun with products

Write 6 holiday subject lines that use puns or wordplay based on these products: {{LIST}}. Keep them fun but on-brand.

7. Optimize by price point

Give me 6 subject lines optimized around price-based gift guides: "Gifts under $25", "Under $50", "Stocking stuffers under $15". Make them short, scannable, and mobile-friendly.

8. Optimize by recipient

Write 8 subject lines that target gift recipients: "Best gifts for mom", "Perfect for your partner", "What kids actually want this year". Include a note on which audience segment to send each to.

Image Slice Prompts for Klaviyo

9. Generate a hero image brief

Create a holiday hero image brief for Klaviyo with these specs:
- Canvas: 1200x628 px
- Safe margins: 50 px all sides
- Bottom 90 px reserved for CTAs (no text there)
- Focal point left 40% for product
- Right side for headline overlay
- Style: cozy holiday textures, warm lighting, minimal clutter
Provide: alt text (20 words), caption idea, and mobile crop (600x900).

10. Product collage for gift guide email

Design an image slice showing 4 products in a gift guide grid (2x2). Keep white background, subtle shadows, and holiday ribbon accents. Include alt text for each product and suggested headline overlay placement.

11. Lifestyle imagery brief

Generate a brief for a lifestyle photo showing {{PRODUCT}} in a holiday setting. Include positioning of product, human elements, background details, color palette, and lighting notes.

Conversion & Flow Prompts

12. Cart abandonment sequence

Write a 3-email cart abandonment flow:
1. Reminder within 1 hour (friendly nudge)
2. 24-hour later (social proof + product reviews)
3. 72-hour later (urgency + shipping cutoff)
For each: subject line, body (2 sentences), CTA.

13. Last shipping day urgency

Create a 2-email sequence announcing final shipping day: 
- Email 1: 72 hours before cutoff (subject + short body + CTA)
- Email 2: Morning of cutoff day (subject + urgent tone + FAQ about delivery).

14. VIP early access

Draft an exclusive campaign for VIP customers offering 24-hour early access to our holiday sale. Include 3 subject lines, short body copy, coupon code idea, and follow-up resend strategy for non-openers.

15. Social proof/UGC spotlight

Turn these customer reviews/photos into a holiday campaign: {{REVIEWS}}. Write headline, hero copy, short CTA, and suggest 2 image slice layouts to feature UGC.

Quick Tips for Using These Prompts

  • Always paste your brand briefing first — AI will stick closer to your style.
  • Tell the model to output in JSON or bullet points if you want it structured.
  • Ask for A/B test ideas in the same prompt — e.g., two subject lines or CTAs.
  • Use Klaviyo tokens like {{ first_name }} in prompts to personalize outputs.
  • Push the AI to explain why a subject line or image might work — that gives you testing insight.

Wrapping up

With these 15 prompts, you can use AI as your co-strategist, copywriter, and even design assistant this holiday season. Start with your campaign calendar, generate subject lines and image briefs, then layer in flows like cart abandonment and VIP access. By feeding your chatbot the right inputs, you’ll have a steady stream of holiday-ready campaigns that are tailored to your brand and easy to drop into Klaviyo.