6 emails templates small business owners can use to bring in customers and drive holiday sales

• The busy holiday season can make it difficult for small businesses to stand out among the flood of emails consumers receive in their inboxes daily.
• A low open rate is a major threat to business owners hoping to boost sales through email, said e-commerce founder Adii Pienaar.
• Pienaar provides six templates for small business owners looking to create engaging email campaigns.
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On a normal day, it can be an uphill battle for small businesses to stand out among the flood of emails consumers receive. Add holiday sales to the equation and it gets even more competitive.

A low open rate is one of the main threats business owners face when trying to boost sales through email, said e-commerce founder Adii Pienaar. "If someone doesn't open an email, they're not going to take any further action," he told Business Insider.

Pienaar is the vice president of commerce product strategy at email marketing company CM Commerce and he founded two companies. His first company, WooThemes, founded in 2007, sold website design and themes for e-commerce brands. His second company, Conversio, founded in 2014, was a marketing dashboard for e-commerce brands. Conversio was acquired by CM Commerce and rebranded as Campaign Monitor.

Successful email campaigns should follow a "one action rule," he said. This establishes brand identity the minute a customer opens an email and prompts them to engage. Small businesses can do this by announcing a new product or sharing a link with customers via email, he said. These emails start with company branding at the top, have a striking image to peak interest, contain descriptive copy, and end with a call to action.

Pienaar suggested segmenting customers based on level of engagement. Customers who have visited the website but never purchased should receive different emails than customers who have purchased before. For example, customers shouldn't receive emails promoting a product they've already purchased, he said.

Businesses should engage customers with both automated emails, like abandoned-cart messages, or scheduled one-off emails, like newsletters. Pienaar shared six email templates small businesses can use to stay top of mind for customers during the holiday season.