Show, don't tell

Instead of spelling out for your supporters each way their dollars kept the needle moving forward for your organization, make your recap dynamic and visual. You can even consider it a preview of what your annual report will look like in the new year.

The result looks like an infographic for the company's year in data with a link to its website for more highlights, including what their most popular email was for the year.

Likewise, retail platform Big Cartel had some seasonal fun with its year-end email in 2015, turning their year of accomplishments into a board-game style timeline.

Put the Spotlight on Your Viewers

Think 'Here's what you helped us do'

instead of 'Here's what we did'

Focus on their accomplishments, not yours

Don't be like Taylor Swift. Flip the script from “ Look what you made me do ” to “Look what you did.”

Chances are your organization's successes in the past year were thanks to the support of countless donors and advocates.

Give them something to do!

Drive shares

As you start thinking about your year in review campaign, you’ll find that most campaigns incorporate social sharing elements, but some aim specifically to promote sharing inside an organizations’ platform. When a viewer clicks into the topic, they see the top blogs and are encouraged to ‘reblog’ or follow the user that posted. While there are other benefits to this campaign, like brand building and engagement, Tumblr’s call to action is specific:

“Follow along for a daily dose of creativity, humor, humanity, fandom, and sharing.”

Build Your Brand

Building your brand is another benefit to this type of campaign. Marketers can use year in review campaigns as an opportunity to generate buzz, and reinforce their position in the market for their fans. Incorporate campaign highlights with the most popular hashtags of each month iand then allows users to dive deeper into the story and look at individual posts.

Drive Engagement

Marketers utilizing this type of campaign also look to drive users to engage with their product. Driving product engagement, especially in a subscription business, offers the organization the benefit of increased loyalty. If a user has already invested time and money into learning the platform and adapting it to their needs, they are less likely to abandon their subscription for a competitor. Essentially, driving engagement makes a product ‘stickier’. It also provides a good opportunity for upsell (an upgrade in features for higher fees); once a user has explored all the aspects of the product, they are more likely to upgrade and unlock more capabilities.