When is the best time to send holiday emails?
How early should you start emailing about major holidays? It’s the age-old question for marketers and ecommerce planners.
Go too early and you risk giving away margin, overwhelming your audience, or prompting unsubscribes. Wait too long and your competitors may have already captured attention and sales. There’s real pressure in getting this timing right, that’s where data can make all the difference.
Because all kinds of brands send campaigns through the Dotdigital platform every year, we can see exactly when marketers begin referencing key holidays in their subject lines.
We’ve analyzed the last three years of holiday email sends to see how early brands are starting their campaigns. See how this differs by region, looking at the UK and Europe, the United States, and Australia and how this behavior is changing year-on-year. The result is a clear, numbers-led guide you can use to time your holiday emails with precision.
Valentine’s Day email marketing stats
Valentine’s Day has one of the shortest run-ups of any major holiday in this list, and it’s getting shorter each year. In 2025, brands began referencing Valentine’s Day in subject lines an average of 9 days before.
When to send
That short window also creates an opportunity. Because most brands move late, you don’t need weeks of build-up to be competitive, but you do need to be ready. If you can get into inboxes a few days earlier than the pack, you give yourself more room to influence buying decisions before the noise peaks.
What to send
Valentine’s is a perfect excuse to show some love to your subscribers. Take the opportunity to offer something just for them like:
- Early access to your Valentine’s Day sale
- A stackable discount to layer onto your website offers
- Free shipping or a free gift
Perks like this reinforce that being subscribed has real value and builds loyalty long after the holiday has passed.
With a short promotional window, urgency-led messaging and promotions like flash sales or free next-day delivery will encourage conversions in the moment.
Valentine’s Day marketing email marketing campaign statistics
The number of days before Valentine’s Day that brands begin referencing the holiday in subject lines.
2023
- Global average: 11
- APAC: 13
- EMEA: 10
- Americas: 12
2024
- Global average: 10
- APAC: 11
- EMEA: 10
- Americas: 9
2025
- Global average: 9
- APAC: 10
- EMEA: 10
- Americas: 8
Halloween email marketing stats
Falling on the last day of the month, October is the official spooky season. Europe and America both begin sending around 23-28 days before Halloween, and this is consistent over recent years. However, Australia has changed how early Halloween campaigns are sent, with a steady year-on-year decline and 2025 seeing a much shorter lead-up of around 13 days.
When to send
Your audience, your product, and the offers you have to share will all influence when to start sending, but you won’t be creating jump scares in your audience’s inbox if you send any time within October.
What to send
Halloween gives you tons of room to have fun with your email design. There are lots of ways to lean into a Halloween styling, even if you don’t have Halloween product imagery. Get five frightfully good Halloween email campaign ideas in this blog. We share how to make your campaigns captivating, no matter what industry you’re in.
Halloween email marketing campaign statistics
The number of days before Halloween that brands begin referencing the holiday in subject lines.
2023
- Global average: 26
- APAC: 28
- EMEA: 25
- Americas: 28
2024
- Global average: 23
- APAC: 17
- EMEA: 24
- Americas: 26
2025
- Global average: 23
- APAC: 13
- EMEA: 23
- Americas: 28
Black Friday email marketing stats
Black Friday originally began as an in-store discount event in the US, marking the day after Thanksgiving. Now, it’s a worldwide sales holiday that is very much online, blurring the lines with Cyber Monday. This overspill of the day has led to terms like ‘The cyber five’ and even ‘Black Friday month’.
The data shows that around two weeks before is the sweet spot for brands. This is consistent across the three regions studied, proving that Black Friday is cemented as a global sales holiday.
When to send
Aim for two weeks before Black Friday itself, and use the lead-up to encourage people to subscribe to mobile marketing channels like SMS, MMS and WhatsApp. This gives you another direct line to your audience on one of the busiest weeks for email inboxes.
What to send
Get inspiration for Black Friday campaigns with this lookbook full of inspiration and tips from the 2025 season.
Black Friday email marketing campaign statistics
The number of days before Black Friday that brands begin referencing the holiday in subject lines.
2023
- Global average: 9
- APAC: 8
- EMEA: 8
- Americas: 15
2024
- Global average: 12
- APAC: 9
- EMEA: 12
- Americas: 16
2025
- Global average: 12
- APAC: 14
- EMEA: 11
- Americas: 16
Cyber Monday email marketing stats
Cyber Monday was the online equivalent of Black Friday, bookending the holiday weekend. It’s now simply a continuation of the sales weekend. Cyber Monday has a much shorter lead-up than Black Friday, with 3 days being the average lead-up. This tracks as you don’t want to cannibalize your Black Friday traffic by jumping ahead to Cyber Monday.
When to send
As soon as the clock strikes midnight and Black Friday ends, it’s Cyber Monday lead-up time. In the US, brands tend to start earlier than in other regions. Use this window to warm up shoppers ahead of the peak. Set expectations for what’s coming, and encourage customers to follow you on social media or sign up for mobile marketing so they’re first to know when Cyber Monday offers go live.
What to send
Mix up your promotions and messaging so that it doesn’t feel like a diluted version of Black Friday. For design, brands often lean into a silver color palette to evoke the ‘cyber’ theme of the sales event.
Cyber Monday email marketing campaign statistics
The number of days before Cyber Monday that brands begin referencing the holiday in subject lines.
2023
- Global average: 3
- APAC: 3
- EMEA: 3
- Americas: 4
2024
- Global average: 4
- APAC: 2
- EMEA: 3
- Americas: 10
2025
- Global average: 3
- APAC: 1
- EMEA: 2
- Americas: 7
Christmas email marketing stats
Christmas is the biggest moment in the retail calendar, so it’s no surprise it has the longest build-up of any holiday in this blog. What’s interesting is how consistent this pattern is year-on-year, the timing barely changes. That tells us this isn’t a one-off trend, it’s become an industry norm.
In 2025, the global average time brands began referencing Christmas in email subject lines was 65 days before December 25. In 2026, that puts the starting line at Wednesday, October 21. Meaning, many brands are talking about Christmas before Halloween has even happened.
When to send
If you wait until November to think about Christmas, you’re already behind a large part of the market. Even if you don’t go full festive in October, this is the moment to start warming up your audience with early access, wish lists, or “coming soon” messaging, so you’re not playing catch-up when the peak hits.
What to send
Christmas campaigns work best when they build momentum over time. Start with low-pressure messages like gift guides, wish lists, or early-access collections to help shoppers plan ahead. As the season progresses, layer in urgency with delivery cut-offs, limited stock reminders, and last-chance messaging.
Segment where you can, tailor recommendations, and use clear, helpful messaging to make decision-making easier during the busiest shopping period of the year.
Christmas email marketing campaign statistics
The number of days before Christmas Day that brands begin referencing the holiday in subject lines.
2023
- Global average: 58
- APAC: 41
- EMEA: 59
- Americas: 69
2024
- Global average: 58
- APAC: 46
- EMEA: 59
- Americas: 64
2025
- Global average: 65
- APAC: 43
- EMEA: 67
- Americas: 68
Conclusion
Holidays and sales events are great opportunities to grab engagement and orders, as consumers are often in the mood to shop and are actively looking for discounts. The data in this blog gives you a clear view of when most brands ramp up their sending so that you can plan your promotional email calendar with confidence to time it perfectly. Use this data as your baseline, then test around it to find what works best for your audience.
If you want more exclusive email performance data, check out our Global benchmark report 2026 to add insight to your planning and see how your competition performs.
