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Email Marketing for Seasonal Businesses
If your business has a season, such as a garden center, pool service, ski shop, tax preparer, summer camp or holiday market, your email marketing does too. You email hard for a few months and go quiet the rest of the year. A monthly subscription charges you for all twelve months. Pay-as-you-go email charges only for the months you actually send.
What it costs across a year
| Business | In-season sending | Price per in-season month | Year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden center, 5,000 customers | 2 emails a month, March to June | 10,000 emails: $14.95 | $59.80 |
| Tax preparer, 1,800 clients | 3 emails a month, January to April | 5,400 emails: $14.95 | $59.80 |
| Summer camp, 1,000 families | 2 emails a month, February to August | 2,000 emails: free | $0 |
| Ski shop, 12,000 customers | 4 emails a month, November to March | 48,000 emails: $39.95 | $199.75 |
The off-season months cost nothing, and contacts stay on your list at no charge until next season. Compare a year against your current tool in the pay-as-you-go calculator.
Plan your season's emails
- Pre-season announcement: opening dates, early-bird offers, booking links.
- In-season rhythm: a regular send on the same day each week or fortnight. Schedule them all in advance.
- Peak-moment promotions: holiday weekends, first warm day, filing deadlines.
- End-of-season thank-you with a reason to come back next year.
Post the same offers to Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok or X from the same dashboard when you send the email.
Restarting a list after the off-season
A list that hasn't been emailed for months has more dead addresses and less engaged readers, which can hurt deliverability.
- Send the first email of the season to your most recent customers first, then the rest of the list a few days later.
- Make the first email clearly welcome back, so people recognize who you are and don't mark it as spam.
- Let bounces clear out: MailAddiction removes hard bounces and unsubscribes automatically after each send.
A sample season calendar
Here's what a season could look like for a garden center emailing 5,000 customers:
- Late February: “We open March 1”, with spring hours and an early-bird offer. 5,000 emails: $9.95.
- March to June: two emails a month, such as what's in stock, planting guides and weekend sales. 10,000 emails a month: $14.95 each month.
- July to January: nothing scheduled, so nothing to pay. If you send one fall bulb promotion in September, that's 5,000 emails for $9.95.
Write and schedule the whole spring run in one sitting before the season starts, so the emails keep going out on your busiest weekends.
Keep the list warm without paying for it
The risk of a long off-season is that customers forget who you are. On a pay-as-you-go plan you can stay in touch cheaply: a single “see you next season” email or one holiday greeting costs one month's tier, and a small list of up to 2,500 recipients costs nothing. Because there's no charge for storing contacts, you also keep everyone who bought from you this year on the list until next season, with no pressure to delete people to save money.
Getting started
- Export customer emails from your point-of-sale or booking system as a CSV file. Only include people who agreed to receive email.
- Create a free account (no credit card) and upload the list.
- Draft your pre-season announcement. AI writing help can turn a few notes into a first draft.
- Schedule the season's emails, then check the reports after each send to see which offers people click.
Measure what worked before next season
At the end of each season, look back at your campaign reports: which subject lines got opened, which offers got clicks, and when people unsubscribed. Note the two or three emails that performed best and plan next season around them. Export or jot down those results before you go quiet, and remember there's no charge for keeping your lists between seasons.
FAQ
Do I pay anything in the off-season?
No. A month with no sends is free, and there's no charge for keeping contacts on your list.
What if my peak month is much bigger?
Each month is priced on its own volume, so a big month costs more and a quiet month costs nothing. See all tiers on the pricing page.
Is there a contract?
No. No contract, no subscription, and no card needed to start.
Get ready for your next season
Create a free account, upload your customer list, and schedule your pre-season announcement.
