Holiday gamification in emails: Interview with Kevin George

During the holidays, email subscribers feel open to play, connect emotionally, and engage with brands that make the season more joyful.

Gamified emails are becoming more common. Both B2B and B2C brands, including SaaS companies, use games to make their holiday newsletters more engaging and fun.

Key takeaways

1. Holiday gamification works when it matches the mood of the season. Choose games only when people are ready to play, not during deal-driven moments like Black Friday.
2. The right game type depends on your audience. Challenges, luck-and-chance, and quizzes shine for different industries and subscriber expectations.
3. Holiday games work best when they tap into real emotions, such as fun, nostalgia, friendly competition, or generosity, and feel naturally connected to the brand.

In his interview with Stripo, Kevin George shares how to design holiday emails that people genuinely want to play, as gamification is becoming more widely used.

To gamify, or not to gamify your holiday emails, that is the question

Stripo: Before even starting on adding a game to your holiday email, how do you decide whether a holiday campaign should include a game or stick to a traditional promotion like a discount?

Kevin: That really depends on what mindset your customers are in. During Black Friday, shoppers are more into deals, right? In those moments, adding a game can feel like friction. It gets in the way of conversion.

However, that’s not going to be true for holidays like Christmas or Halloween. There, the energy is emotional and festive. People are curious to play, explore, and engage. So getting them to interact with your gamified emails is a lot easier. And more rewarding, too. Since they’re already primed to have fun, the engagement your emails generate feels organic. 

How to make people actually want to play

Stripo: Which game types, like luck and chance, challenges, or quizzes, are performing best, and why?

Kevin: You have to look at the brand and the audience.

From our experience:

• challenges tend to win for fitness and wellness brands because subscribers love tracking progress. That small dopamine hit when they achieve goals makes gamified emails go a long way for such audiences; 
• for eCommerce brands, luck and chance mechanics like spin-the-wheel or scratch cards are star performers. They know it’s marketing but it’s still fun due to reward psychology;
• quizzes tend to shine for educational or lifestyle brands where subscribers want to level up a skill, learn, or gain self-discovery insights.

One of our favorite campaigns was a “Spin to win” email for first-time subscribers for a client. After signing up, recipients received an email inviting them to spin a virtual wheel for a surprise discount or free upgrade. The spikes in open and click rates were impressive. More importantly, it created a sense of excitement and reward from the very first touchpoint.

Stripo: What fresh game mechanics or ideas do you see becoming popular for holiday campaigns in the next couple of years?

Kevin: We’re seeing gamification move the usual “spin and win” format. Interactive storytelling, progress-based rewards, and AI-personalized games are starting to catch on. The next frontier, we expect, is to see focus shift from simple “play once and win” to experiences where subscribers aren’t just playing once but are part of a small, evolving narrative. Having said that, you have to decide based on what type of gamification your audience’s email client can support and if you have the required resources.

Stripo: Which emotional triggers make holiday games effective: fun, nostalgia, competition, or generosity?

Kevin: Personally, as we see it, the most memorable holiday campaigns are those that stir up the core emotions of the season. The fun of play, nostalgic memories, healthy competition, or a sense of generosity are good to tap into with email gamification. Like how a little nostalgia in a game makes an email feel warm and personal, reminding people of joyful holiday moments from the past.

Likewise, gaming fun lifts mood, and competition injects excitement and motivation.
Giving resonates deeply, of course. Especially when a game subtly reminds them of the fuzzy feeling of sharing and kindness.

It’s important to balance these intrinsic emotions with triggers from the story you’re telling. When that happens, your audience not only sees the season but revels in it. And then, the engagement takes care of itself.

Stripo: What’s the biggest mistake brands make when gamifying holiday campaigns?

Kevin: Hands down, it’s when the game doesn’t feel connected to the brand, the holiday, or the audience. It’s not uncommon to see campaigns where the mechanics are shiny, but the moment just doesn’t make sense.

Subscribers, instead of being delighted, feel a bit confused or even turned off. The gamified email campaigns that work best are the ones where the holiday energy, the brand’s personality, and the reason the audience is engaging mesh well in the first place.

Getting it right: What to consider before launching a game

Stripo: How often should brands run gamified campaigns during the holiday season?

Kevin: No hard number. It doesn’t always have to be a single email. You can plan a one-off game or convert it into a multi-stage quest over an email sequence. Both approaches work as long as it doesn’t strain your goals, resources, and how much time you can invest in crafting a polished experience. But we’ve found that twice a season hits the right note. Just enough to get people excited without pestering them with too many emails amidst the holiday rush.

Stripo: Do different audiences (age, region, culture) respond differently to gamified campaigns during holidays?

Kevin: Of course. Age makes a big difference.

• younger generations are more upbeat about interactive experiences. They enjoy challenges, quizzes, and game-like elements on mobile or in-app campaigns. This makes them more likely to act, whether that means making a purchase or sharing the game;
• on the flip side, the older demographic prefers simpler mechanics. They seek clear instructions and straightforward rewards while interacting with gamified emails. If they’re not digitally confident, they won’t respond well to gamification.

Culture and region play a role, too. Not customizing holiday email games to the local climate and cultural nuances could make them feel out of place. To create emails uniquely suited to your audience, it’s essential to reflect cultural norms and holiday traditions in the theme, visuals, or rewards. It strikes instant resonance.

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Building your own holiday game

To make a game work inside an email, it has to be interactive, and recipients should be able to click, answer, or play without leaving their inbox.

The challenge is that not all email clients support the same building method:

• AMP (Gmail, Yahoo, FairEmail) allows real-time interactions but reaches only about 30% of recipients;
• kinetic HTML (HTML5 + CSS3, supported by Apple Mail, Samsung Mail, Thunderbird) covers around 50%;
• the rest need a static fallback or a link to a landing page that mirrors the game experience.

This means that no matter which building method you choose, a large share of your subscribers still won’t be able to experience interactivity. 

To avoid this, combine all three formats so every subscriber can play, no matter their device or inbox. This layered approach can now be built through UI, without coding, thanks to Stripo’s Interactive Module Generator, which creates AMP, kinetic HTML, and fallback versions in one go.

Gamification goes beyond holidays

Stripo: Years ago, you recommended saving gamified emails strictly for holidays and special occasions. Do you still believe that’s true today?

Kevin: We definitely remember saying that. Holidays and special occasions have always been the natural playground for gamified emails. Those moments invite energy. Turning otherwise routine holiday greetings and discount offers into something dynamic and memorable fits well. But the use cases have evolved for sure. Brands are experimenting beyond festive campaigns. 

At Email Mavlers, we have noticed more brands experimenting with mini quiz-style games or subtle gaming elements in their regular emails. Like the use of small interactive touches to entertain subscribers when there’s not much news, add some fun to educational content, or tease upcoming products without giving everything away.

So, the scope of gamified emails has extended past “holiday only.” 

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Educational games in emails: How brands teach, inform, and boost results

Wrapping up

Holiday gamification can lift your campaigns when it fits the moment, audience, and story you want to tell. With the right game that works across all inboxes, subscribers are far more likely to play, explore, and convert.