Ah, the holiday for love. Generally, we first think of couples giving each other romantic cards or flowers for Valentine’s Day, but the day isn’t just for romantic love. And it doesn’t have to last a single day, either.
Valentine’s Day can be celebrated all week or even all month long for some customers and businesses. That’s why it’s important to cover every demographic and keep an open mind when deciding what deals or campaigns to roll out this month.
Luckily with emails, they can be sent starting any time in February up until the 14th and beyond!
Stuck on campaign ideas? We got your back. We’ll discuss what particular industries can do to capitalize on Valentine’s shoppers' needs and give inspiration for the types of emails they can send this season.
Table of Contents
- What's Included in a Valentine's Marketing Email?
- Valentine's Day Campaigns for Different Industries
- The Valentine's Email Order of Operations
- What's Next?
What’s Included in a Valentine’s Marketing Email?
Let’s go over the nine things to keep in mind when constructing a Valentine’s message. Some of these ideas may be optional depending on the type of business you own or work for. Others will be vital to almost every message you send, whether it be to a loyal client or brand new lead.
Messages that Cherish the Relationship
If you’ve got loyal customers, show them the love, too. Any way you can make these emails personalized will mean a lot to your customers. If you’re offering a special deal that sounds like it’s just for them, even better!
Beautiful Aesthetic in Design
Flowers and hearts are great to add to your images of items for sale, but the design of your email can do more than pictures to give off Valentine’s vibes.
Subtle charm will help potential customers get in the mood… for buying their loved ones gifts. (See what we did there?) Whether you sell Valentine’s-specific items or not, now’s the time you can have marketing emails with cute, flirtatious language to get your message across.
Don’t be afraid to say to your audience, “Hello, beautiful” or “We couldn’t stop thinking of you”. Customers will appreciate knowing right off the top what type of campaign you are pushing out.
Make a Promise to Customers
If customers don’t buy something from you for Valentine’s Day, it’s not because your offers aren’t good. It is most likely that you cannot promise they will get their gifts to their loved ones in time.
Ensuring you can deliver purchases in time for the holiday will help convert leads and boost sales in February. Ways to relay this message to possible buyers is to:
- Put it in your subject line. What’s better? Offering free shipping on top of guaranteeing delivery by February 14th.
- Include an image, such as a husband or wife getting the gift in the mail on Valentine’s Day.
- Repeat the promise of fast delivery in the footer of your email.
Offer Gift Guides and Wish Lists
Suggesting products for purchase are a great way to convert leads into customers, especially if your collections of items are Valentine’s themed and specific to couples, family members, or friends. It all depends on who your target demographic is for your business.
Offer Gift Cards
Gift cards are something extra that is often offered after customers go to their online cart to check out. You can offer gift card deals, such as a buy 1 get 1 half off for all of your potential customers’ loved ones.
This is a simple campaign that can target a wider demographic. Don’t forget to advertise the fact that buyers can use their gift cards electronically and immediately once it is delivered to the recipients’ emails.
Enticing Subject Lines
The “perfect”, “ideal” “gift” are words customers are looking for when they are indeed in search for something for their significant other, parent, or friend.
Depending on the items you sell, you can put a Valentine’s Day spin to work it in your favor. For example, clothing companies can showcase dresses or suits for Valentine’s Day dinners. This, along with certain keywords, should be included in the subject line of your email.
Using emojis is also cute and eye-catching when part of a subject line. <3 Remember you can A//B test emails with different subject lines to see which have better open rates.
Target the Right Audience
You have only a few seconds to catch the attention of your audience – the right audience. This means businesses must appeal to their customers based on the relevant deals to them.
You can segment your list of contacts to be gender specific. Going back to our clothing retail example, the business may want to separate emails directed for male gifts from emails for female gifts.
This does not necessarily mean some gifts can be gender neutral! If that’s the case with your services or products, make sure to appeal to the flexibility of this V-day gift.
Have you ever bought a Valentine’s gift for yourself? Probably because you saw an email with a great deal and thought, “I deserve that”. Never forget the audiences that are buying for themselves this time of year as well.
Use Testimonials or Reviews
Have reviews of customers who are happy with the gifts they gave? Were the recipients of the gifts over the moon? It’s a great idea to add this to your marketing emails.
Sometimes, these reviews are saved for the end of the email. But feel free to start off your email this way if there is a product you want to push for the lovers’ holiday.
Promote Freebies with Valentine’s Deals
We already mentioned one freebie, which was free shipping. As much as leads love to see this, you can convert customers by offering:
- Multiple free products F
- Free gift-wrapping with every Valentine’s gift throughout the month of February
- Free returns on all orders made from January 30th to February 14th, for example.
- Free travel-sized items with every purchase, such as a free mini mascara with every makeup purchase.
Your Valentine’s newsletters are guaranteed to get traction if customers can get extra gifts for more than one sweetheart of theirs.
Valentine’s Day Campaigns for Different Industries
Worried your business can’t benefit from Valentine’s Day? You don’t need to have a chocolate factory to give deals to couples or other loved ones around this time of year.
Independent contractors, event venues, and even dry-cleaning services can take campaign ideas from the following industries.
Salons and Spas
Salons and spas, this includes tanning salons, are all about making clients feel pampered and look refreshed. Whether they just want to feel great this month or want to look like their best selves for a special night out on Valentine’s Day, the email campaigns will look different for this industry.
Take the below example to heart. Offering deals for a facial or massage just for the month of February will get customers to book easier. (Don’t forget the booking CTA button in your email).
Ad courtesy of Tropical Sun Tanning & Wellness.
B2B Valentine’s Campaigns
If you are a business that serves another business, such as a Saas company, your Valentine’s campaigns are likely not for lovers. This means your message will be directed towards showing your love and appreciation for businesses.
Make sure to share the idea that your client can give themselves a gift this holiday to service their business. Your company can still use words and techniques used as we discussed above as well.
Car Dealerships
Valentine’s Day for car dealerships can reach pretty much any demographic other than younger kids who obviously cannot drive. But you can relay the email campaign’s message of giving “peace of mind” or “car love” or “love of safety” to a loved one.
No matter on you want to market the cars on your lot, you can advertise special deals for those who are looking for Valentine’s gifts. For example:
- Advertise that any gifted car can be returned or traded in for another car on the lot by the receiver of the gift by a certain date.
- Give a simple V-day deal of 25% off any mid-size vehicle (or ANY vehicle)!
- Offer a special discount to couples who come in to look at vehicles and buy one the same day during the month of February.
These are all great deals to place in your email campaigns even the week or so before February 1st to give customers and leads more time to think on such a large purchase.
Non-profits
Non-profits generally do not target individuals but rather spread the love of giving. The message these non-profits, say for children’s literature or an adoption non-profit, may want to give are for showing affection in a “bigger” more “meaningful” way.
Restaurants
Restaurants can capitalize the most on Valentine’s campaigns. Upscale dinner reservations rose a dramatic 228% on Valentine’s Day in 2020. These businesses can capitalize in a different manner than they can for other winter holidays that are, on average, emptier since customers would rather eat at home with family on these days.
Generally, restaurants have one night (sometimes one afternoon) to advertise specials for couples or even families. Some campaign ideas to include in your email newsletters are:
- Special menu items (with images) for couples who book dinner for Valentine’s night.
- Discounts for couples who book a table through a certain service, such as OpenTable, by a certain date, which can be a week or two before Valentine’s Day.
- A coupon for visitors to dine in and receive free menu items, like a chocolate lava cake you can share with your significant other.
Retail Stores
Retail stores definitely benefit from the holiday. It seems as though every store you walk into nowadays starts putting heart-shaped chocolates out in January.
The Valentine’s Day deals they can offer depend on the type of retail store. For clothing-based retailers, they can:
- Offer a buy 1 get 1 lingerie piece
- Give discounts on Valentine’s-themed gift cards
- Share savings on items specifically for a dinner or night out, such as dresses and suits
It’s no secret Valentine’s Day is known as the holiday to pop the question. In fact, it’s only second to Christmas Day as one of the most popular days to get engaged. This means jewelry stores can have a field day with deals on diamond rings, unique gemstone rings, and more.
We will put grocery stores in this list of retailers since most superstores regularly sell food. Some campaign ideas for these retailers, include:
- Buy 2 get 2 chocolate boxes for everyone in the family
- Gift card credit of $5 if a customer spends $20 on Valentine’s cards.
The Valentine’s Email Order of Operations
Let’s face it. Valentine’s Day is not as popular as Christmas or other holidays of the year, but it is still one of the top five holidays for card-sending. This means your love-filled drip campaigns better be on point.
You may find your business doesn’t need to send as many emails as larger holidays demand, but here’s the bare necessity of emails you should consider for Valentine’s Day.
The Email to Send Before Valentine’s Week
Get customers hyped about something coming their way. This is a great way to make your business known. If you’re a competitor with Valentine’s deals, you have a greater shot at converting leads before you send your *actual* marketing email.
Segment Your Audience to Send the Next Email
With a great email app, you can view which contacts have opened your first Valentine’s email and which haven’t. Segmenting is a great way to better target your audience.
You still want to target leads who are slow to open your messages, but segmenting allows you to send different emails to customers who have put items in their online carts or who have clicked on the email to view a Valentine’s deal you’ve advertised.
The Reminder Emails
Let’s say a lead clicked on a massage bundle for two. Great! They even put it in their cart but never checked out. This is a great time to remind the potential customer that Valentine’s Day is coming around the corner, so it’s best to check out with their item now before the holiday is over.
Another type of reminder email is one for leads who haven’t really taken much action on your site. You can still send a different email to these folks to remind them that they can get their loved ones a gift in time for Valentine’s Day.
Upsell on Confirmation Emails
You’ve certainly seen or even received confirmation emails after purchasing something online. Below your order confirmation details, you may even have seen more items advertised that you had missed.
Depending on what the customer had ordered, your confirmation email can suggest related items. The key to having customer buy more is offer free shipping for a second purchase. If you knew you could get something quick even after completing a purchase, wouldn’t you be more likely to go for it?
Tracking Emails with a Valentine’s Vibe
It doesn’t hurt to put red hearts or have pink backgrounds along with your brand colors in a customer’s tracking email either.
The most important thing to remember here is the tracking details. It’s best to have an interactive button in these emails that a customer can click on to track their package, whether it goes to a tracking page on the business’ site or directly to the carrier’s site, which could be UPS, USPS, Fedex, etc.
Ad courtesy of MailCharts.
What’s Next?
View the tools you need in an email builder to make a great Valentine’s campaign. Remember to give different messages to those returning customers and leads. You may be advertising something for clients to buy for loved ones, but you can show your leads and customers the love as well with great offers, clear email messages, and great follow up emails on purchases or bookings.
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