Valentine’s Day isn’t just about romantic love. It’s a celebration of connections, emotions, and, in the marketing world, an excellent chance to connect with your audience on a more personal level.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, marketers have a unique opportunity to channel their creative energies into crafting heartwarming and compelling email campaigns. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer looking for some fresh inspiration to elevate your strategies or a newcomer eager to make a memorable impact, this article is for you.
We’ll give you some valuable tips and illuminating Valentine’s day email examples to spark your creativity and guide you through emails that resonate, engage (see what I did there?), and, hopefully, convert.
Let’s dive in.
25 Valentine’s Day Email Examples
Ready to make your subscribers’ hearts skip a beat? Look at these Valentine’s Day campaign ideas.
1. Early Bird Valentine’s
You don’t have to wait until February 14th to send out your Valentine’s email. Consider sending at least one email or two in the week or two leading up to Valentine’s Day. Offer early bird discounts and special gifts.
LoveSilver has an “early Valentine’s gift” email giving subscribers to get 10% off their order.
2. “Tell Them What You Want”
Gift giving is hard! Sometimes, we wish the person would just tell us what they want. This campaign solves that problem. Compile gift ideas and encourage users to forward the email.
Urbanstems email suggests forwarding their email to your Valentine to make the gifting process easier.
3. Don’t Forget Your Furry Friend
Attach a furry friend to your Valentine’s Day deal – because who can resist a cute pup or kitten with a heart-shaped balloon? This email from Postable is a great example. Postable caters to customers’ unique needs with gifts for a lover, family member, or pet!
4. Valentine’s Gifts For Friends and Family
Craft a Valentine’s email for friends and family that goes beyond romance. For people who want to gift more than one “sweetheart,” feature diverse gift ideas like baskets and themed assortments.
Encourage celebrating platonic and familial connections. Use a lighthearted, inclusive tone. Frame Valentine’s as a time for all kinds of love.
REP Fitness’s “Swolemate” email is a playful rebellion against the traditional Valentine’s Day focus.
Gussi’s Valentine’s email offers a deal for subscribers and their “bestie.”
5. Valentine’s Day For Those Flying Solo
Don’t forget those who are “flying solo” this Valentine’s Day. Highlight the joy of self-indulgence and recommend personalized gifts to elevate their solo Valentine’s experience.
Check out Fitbit’s example of a solo Valentine’s campaign.
6. Interactive Content
Enhance engagement by incorporating interactive content into your emails. Quizzes, polls, or clickable elements are simple ways to get subscribers involved. Interactive content encourages recipients to actively participate and spend more time with your brand.
What activity could you invite your subscribers to participate in? Leibherr invites subscribers to participate in designing their fridges. The email also highlights Leibherr’s recycling efforts, making subscribers feel even better when they participate.
7. Special Offers and Promotions
Holidays are synonymous with discounts, promotions, and special offers. Marketers can use email campaigns to announce exclusive deals, limited-time offers, or bundle promotions, encouraging recipients to take advantage of these seasonal incentives.
This Fable email is a good example of a minimalist product recommendation campaign.
8. Gift Guides and Recommendations
Provide value to your audience by curating holiday gift guides or product recommendations. Choosing the perfect gift takes time and emotional labor. Take the frustration out of the process with gift guides.
Apple provides a last-minute gift guide for subscribers.
9. Customer Appreciation
Holidays are an ideal time to express gratitude to your customers. Email campaigns can include thank-you messages, exclusive perks for loyal customers, or even surprise gifts. For Valentine’s Day, you could share a customer appreciation email with a “Share the love” CTA.
Read Charity Water’s customer appreciation email. The layout and message are minimalistic and sweet.
10. Valentine’s Day Playlist
Compile a playlist of Valentine’s Day songs. Personalize the tunes based on gender or a date idea. For example, “Steal our Valentine’s Day Picnic Date Playlist.” or “Valentine’s tunes for her.”
Hugo and Marie provide a great example of a Valentine’s Day playlist.
11. Romantic Getaway Ideas
Who wouldn’t want a relaxing getaway? Compile a list of local or international destinations. Tailor the getaway to a specific event in the subscriber’s life, such as a honeymoon or anniversary. Essential Costa Rica has a great getaway email featuring a honeymoon getaway.
12. Share the Love with Referrals
Referral emails are a great way to convert current subscribers and acquire new leads. Encourage subscribers to refer friends, family, or their partners for exclusive discounts. Check out Ghia’s referral email.
13. Date Ideas
During Valentine’s Day, it’s not just about the gifts. It can be about experiences, too. Couples may spend weeks and months researching the “perfect date.” Make this a little easier on them with unique ideas.
Character is a great example. The email includes a common challenge couples face–finishing DIY projects around the house. The idea seamlessly connects with Characters products.
14. Secret Admirer or Secret Offer?
Share a personalized promotion in the form of a secret admirer’s love letter. This email from MacDonald’s is an excellent example of this idea!
15. Valentine’s Day 24-Hour Sale
Urgency tends to work really well to drive conversions. Create buzz with an exclusive and time-bound sale. This works for products or services and can be marketed as a gift for others or a personal gift! For example, “Hurry! 24h sitewide sale–our gift to you.”
Serenata Flowers offers a 24-hour sale for subscribers.
16. Encourage Sustainability
More consumers want to shop and behave more sustainably. Demonstrate that your brand aligns with this desire by sharing ideas with a low environmental impact. This could be sustainable date ideas or reusable products.
This email from Everest beautifully demonstrates this idea. The email includes multiple ideas and seamlessly connects their product.
17. Emotional And Mental Health
Consumers are increasingly concerned with their mental and emotional health. Brands that relate their products and services to these needs create a bond of trust.
Does your offering make life easier for your customers? Does your offer save someone time so they can be with their loved ones more? Consider using this email campaign to highlight the health benefits of your offering!
Calm has a wonderful “My dear self” email highlighting their application offering.
18. Valentine’s Day Collection Launch
Have a new product or service you are launching? Consider creating a Valentine’s collection or “launch” to showcase specific offerings.
Meemes sent out a special Valentine’s Day collection with new product announcements.
19. Opt Out Email
A unique and considerate email to send to subscribers who just don’t want to hear it. Considering these feelings, send a short but sweet “Opt Out” email.
Scribbler has a great Valentine’s opt-out email example.
20. “Our Most Gifted” Campaign: Highlight Popular Purchases
Do you have a product or service your customers can’t get enough of? Feature this product in your Valentine’s email campaign.
Lily & Roo’s “Our Most Gifted” email campaign features its top products in each category. It also includes gift wrapping and personalized engraving.
21. Personalized Poem
Personal letters and poems are often used as gifts during Valentine’s. Why not try this out with your subscribers? Create unique poems that touch on the holidays and your offering. Tangerine email is a great example.
22. Customizable Products or Virtual Cards
Help couples celebrate milestones and achievements. Customizable products like jewelry, flowers, sweets, and art can be tailored to each person. These types of gifts are more sentimental.
If your product cannot necessarily be customized, offer personalized messages or virtual cards with purchases. Minted offers customizable Valentine’s cards and free recipient addresses with a purchase.
23. Giveaway Raffle or Competition
Invite subscribers to participate in a giveaway. This strategy can boost engagement and build excitement. You can also increase the average purchase order using this strategy. For example, “All orders over $75 are automatically entered to win a $250 restaurant voucher.”
Take a look at No Excess’s hotel voucher email.
24. Exclusive New Subscriber Appreciation Offer
For new subscribers during Valentine’s Day, offer exclusive perks. This could be a free gift, exclusive discount, or early access to product launches. Blossoming Gifts has a simple new subscriber appreciation letter with an exclusive discount.
25. Almost Sold Out
For popular products that sell out quickly, send out an email notifying subscribers. For subscribers still on the fence, this email can motivate them to act.
Revolve has a “Soon To Sell Out” email campaign for their best-selling outfits.
Valentine’s Day Email Campaign Tips and Tricks
Like any holiday, Valentine’s Day offers many opportunities for marketers to deliver unique creative that you may not see during “normal” times of year. These tips below will help you craft a Valentine’s Day campaign that takes advantage of this opportunity and boosts both conversions and customer loyalty.
1. Timing is Everything – Like Love
Would you pop the question at the wrong time? Hopefully not.
Timing matters. And there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to that question of the “perfect time.” The good news? You get to find out!
Test different days and times and see what achieves the highest open rate. There are platforms and AI tools that help you identify which day and times to send campaigns.
Check these factors to identify the best timing to email your audience:
- Analyze Past Data. Review historical data for open, click-through, and conversion rates to identify patterns.
- Know and Understand Your Audience. Understand demographics and behaviors, considering factors like location and industry.
- Conduct A/B Testing. Use A/B testing to pinpoint the optimal timing for audience engagement.
- Consider Time Zones. Schedule emails to align with local times, especially for au diences in different time zones.
- Research Industry Benchmarks. Use this as a “level set” to see how you perform against the rest of your industry–but prioritize your unique audience.
- Identify Your Mobile Usage Patterns. Optimize for mobile and send emails during typical mobile usage times.
- Monitor Engagement Metrics in Real Time. Use real-time analytics to adjust strategies based on immediate feedback.
2. Use Subject Lines That Make Hearts Skip a Beat
The subject line is one of the first things your audience will see. Craft subject lines that are personal and intriguing. A/B test subject lines to identify what your subscribers respond to.
Consider these tips to improve your subject lines and open rates:
Tug at Heartstrings
Infuse emotion into your subject lines by appealing to the sentimental side of your audience. Use language that resonates with your audience’s feelings. For those who have a partner, align with feelings of love, joy, or nostalgia. For instance, “Rediscover Love: Our Heartfelt Valentine’s Day Collection Awaits You.”
Take a Playful Approach
Inject a dose of playfulness and humor into your subject lines. This is your chance to showcase your brand’s personality–so go the extra mile. For example, “Love is in the Inbox: Our Cupid-Approved Deals Await!”
Build Intrigue
Begin your subject line with a hint of mystery or excitement. Tease your subscribers with a question, a playful hint, or an enticing snippet that leaves them curious and eager to open the email. For example, “Unwrap Love: Your Secret Valentine’s Surprise Inside!”
3. Personalize, Personalize, Personalize
Use customer data to create personalized experiences. It’s like whispering sweet nothings directly into your inbox. Including someone’s name is a given, but don’t stop there. Personalize subject lines, body, promotional offers, timing, and images.
BONUS TIP: Email Segmentation by gender is a great way to level up personalization efforts. Send out gender-specific content, offers, gift lists, and more.
4. Mobile Optimization – Because Love Is On the Go
“On the go” consumers increasingly rely on mobile to view emails and shop. To cater to your audience’s needs, do not neglect mobile optimization.
Check these factors for mobile compatibility:
- Responsive Design. Ensure your email templates adapt to different screen sizes. View your email on different devices to check the elements.
- Legible Text. Use readable fonts and appropriate text sizes. Calligraphy and fancy fonts are pretty but can be challenging to read. If you choose to experiment with fonts, check their legibility.
- Image Optimization. Compress and optimize images for faster loading.
- Clear CTAs. Make buttons and links easy to tap and direct subscribers to the right links.
- Minimalistic Layout. Simplify the design for mobile users. Less is more on mobile.
- Thumb-Friendly. Place important elements within easy thumb reach.
- Single Column Layout. Consider a single-column layout for vertical scrolling on a phone.
- Alt Text for Images. Include descriptive alt text for blocked images.
Emails that aren’t optimized for mobile are deleted by 69% of users. Don’t get rejected by your subscribers because of this simple mistake.
5. Love Notes in the Copy
Write your email copy like a heartfelt love letter. Use language that resonates emotionally, making your subscribers feel like they’ve just received a sweet note from a secret admirer. After all, who doesn’t love a good love story?
Use your audience data to research and write relevant content. Make it informative, engaging, and relevant to their needs. If your audience is segmented, consider customizing the content for each segment.
If you struggle to create content for your audience, consider using an AI email marketing content generation tool.
6. Heartfelt Unsubscribe Option
Don’t be afraid to use a bit of humor in the unsubscribe process. Instead of the usual dreary goodbye, make it light-hearted! Something like, “Breaking up is hard, but if you must, we’ll send you off with a virtual hug. Unsubscribe with love!” It’s a quirky touch that leaves a positive last impression.
Ready to elevate your Valentine’s Day or other holiday email campaigns without the stress? Let us infuse passion into your campaign with our expert touch. Contact InboxArmy an email marketing agency based in US.
