Every year people spend more and more on their Valentine’s gifts. In 2019, roughly $162 was spent per person on average. In the age bracket of 35-44, that average climbed up to $279 per person.
The overall shopping pool for Valentine’s day exceeded 20 Billion US dollars.
It’s an insane amount of money spent on one occasion! And it definitely sounds like a motive to plan your promotional campaign for upcoming Valentine’s Day 2020.
Don’t let the florists and candy shops eat all of the Valentine’s Day pie. By launching well-thought-out promotional email campaigns you can get a significant piece of it too.
We’ve collected a list of the best Valentine’s Day email subject lines as well as beautiful email examples to inspire you. Take it as our early Valentine’s gift to you.
Valentine’s Day Email Marketing Best Practices
After analyzing a bunch of Valentine’s Day newsletters, we see some tendencies and best practices that you can use to have a lovely and profitable Valentine’s Day 2020.
That’s what you should do and think of before launching your campaign.
1. Define your purpose of the campaign
Do you want to help customers get ready for Valentine’s Day or treat them for the occasion?
Your newsletter schedule and even the number of emails will depend on the answer to this question.
If you want your customers to buy presents for others that means you have to start your campaign in advance so you would be on time with delivery. A lot of brands start their Valentine’s communication at the end of January. Moreover, they send email reminders about the last chance to order just before the holiday.
But if you say “treat/love yourself on this special day”, your campaign can be sent closer to Feb 14. In this way, you can still carry on with your Valentine’s campaign a day or even a few days after the actual date.
2. Segment Your Subscribers
We keep talking about the increased effectiveness of segmented campaigns vs. non-segmented. Your promotional campaign for Valentine’s Day is not an exception.
Consider building segments for your audience and better target them with your messages and subject lines.
Below find some ideas for segments and messaging:
- A segment of loyal customers (bought three or more times) – say that you appreciate them for loyalty, and this crush is mutual.
- Segments of men and women – Gifts for him, gifts for her, “don’t forget yourself” for men and women separately
- A segment of dormant customers – say you miss them + discount. (This email should be automated and sent automatically to all customers that become inactive for 30 days. However, if you don’t have this automated workflow yet, use this idea for your Valentine’s campaign)
3. Consider Adding Extra Channels to Your Campaign
Retargeting campaigns can make any marketing strategy fly. It’s a powerful tool that all merchants should have in their arsenal.
However, if you still don’t feel comfortable enough to initiate it with Facebook or Google ads, try channels that are easier and cheaper to start with. For example, use SMS campaigns or cart abandonment messages via push notifications, or even both. Here are a few examples of omnichannel marketing you can implement:
3.1. Re-engage with subscribers that haven’t opened your initial email campaign
If the average email open rate in ecommerce is 18%, try to imagine how many subscribers don’t see your email campaign. Grant your campaign with the second chance – change the subject line and resend the campaign to non-openers of the initial one. If you see that subscribers ignore it for some reason, try to approach them via SMS.
SMS gets great engagement results and can be your groundbreaking move towards ecommerce success.
3.2. Reconnect with Your Inactive Customers
Retaining your existing customers costs 5X less than acquiring new ones. So you should have a tactic to win back your inactive customers. According to best practices, the customer reactivation campaign should be automated. However, you can try out a standalone campaign and see if it works, and either it has to be improved or not when you automate it. For that, you will need to make a segment of inactive subscribers on your email marketing platform.
Inactive customers are those who haven’t purchased from you for a while. The gap of inactivity mostly depends on your buying cycle. For apparel sites, books, and small electronic devices, this gap is about 30 days.
The text message, in the beginning, is vital to grab the customer’s attention and re-establish the connection. After that, a series of emails follow up.
Valentine’s Email Templates
So if you have an idea and a plan for your upcoming campaign, the next part is newsletter design.
For this, you won’t need extraordinary artistic solutions. Based on time, human, and financial resources you have, you can pick one of the following Valentine’s Day newsletter design approaches:
- Combine love-themed photos of your regular products with your regular email structure and design.
- Use your regular templates and layouts, and only add minor design tweaks that would make your email fit the look.
- Use your regular template but highlight themed products you have for this special occasion. They will spread the love.
- Take your regular template and include a simple postcard with a short lovely message.
All four ways are equally good and can be used as they are or even combined.
Now let’s take a look at some examples of Valentine’s Day emails and their subject lines. In these examples, you will see the different design approaches mentioned above.
19 Valentine’s Subject Lines and Newsletter Examples
Pay attention to emojis that most of the ecommerce sites on this list use. Small icons help stand out from the rest of the emails in crowded inboxes. To learn how to use emojis correctly, follow the link.
1. YOOX
Subject line: Chocolates for Valentine’s Day? You can do better…
2. Cath Kidston
Subject line: Treat your Valentine with free P&P – ends midnight tonight!
3. Personal Creations
Subject line: {FREE SHIPPING} Top-Rated Gifts Your Valentines Will Love
4. Michael’s
Subject line: 50% Off Coupon Expires Today: Make Your 💘 Gifts for Less!
5. Crate&Barrel
Subject line: Be our Valentine?
6. Society 6
Subject line: How To Have An Epic Solo V-Day
7. Sol De Janeiro
Subject line: Kiss + Crush = NEW LOVE
8. British Airways i360 Viewing Tower
Subject line: Leap into February with us ❤️
9. Merce & Me
Subject line: Happy Valentines! Shop Now!
10. Lulu’s
Subject line: SOOOO in Love! Shop Valentine’s Day Dresses & MORE!
11. George Hats
Subject line: ❤️ Valentines Truckers are LIVE❣️
12. Nordstrom
Subject line: Valentine’s Day: everything you need no matter how you plan to celebrate
13. Sixt
Subject line: ❤ Be our Valentine, Karolina
14. MeetEdgar
Subject line: Win free Edgar for life with our Valentine’s Day giveaway 💕
15. Ryanair
Subject line: 💌 Stuck for a Valentine’s present idea?
16. Baby 2 Body
Subject line: It’s Valentine’s. But first, love yourself 💕
17. Torrid
Subject line: You’re gonna LOVE our V-Day Shop! 😍
18. Asos
Subject line: We have a new love interest
19. Honest
Subject line: You’re never alone, Mama
________
All the above examples reveal the variety of Valentine’s Day emails sent by ecommerce sites. Subject lines, as well as email designs, can be so different and yet still be effective.
Use these examples, adjust to your brand, and enjoy growing income on Valentine’s Day.
Boost your email open rates:
analyze and improve your subject lines with our free tester!
This article was originally published by our friends at Omnisend.
