holiday greetings

I work for an international travel medical and security assistance company. The opinions expressed below are my own and may not represent those of the company where I work.

Our company sent generic holiday greetings via email to our subscribers – no mention of Santa Claus, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or any other holiday – just a general sentiment that no matter where in the world you are this holiday season,  you are wished peace and joy. Seems innocent enough, right? Apparently we weren’t specific enough with our season’s greetings for at least one subscriber. He asked to be removed because if I couldn’t wish him a Merry Christmas, then he didn’t want to be subscribed to our email list.

While I would love to have an email list that is specific enough to let me know what winter holiday each customer celebrates, unfortunately many companies (including the one where I work) do not have lists that targeted, so rather than further upset that reader, we removed him from our holiday greetings email campaigns.

Unless your company has a specific religious orientation like Catholic Charities USA or The Jewish Federations of North America, or represents a specific culture like the African American Cultural Center in Los Angeles, or has ties to any of the other winter festivals, it is my opinion that sending a holiday email with a generic “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” message is better than not sending any message at all.

Are you able to segment your emails to something as specific as holiday preference? If so, how did you gather that information? If not, what do you think – is it better to say Happy Holiday or Season’s Greetings, or is Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Enjoy the Winter Solstice the way to go? Please post a comment below and let me know what you would recommend!

Thanks to Tutorial9.net for the wonderful Santa graphic!