Let Customers Fall in Love with Your Valentine’s Day Email Campaign

This year, have shoppers fall in love with your brand by designing an irresistible Valentine’s Day email campaign. A good Valentine’s Day marketing campaign fits any ecommerce or retail business, not just those that cater to gift-giving, sweets or other things we associate with the holiday. For example, 19% of shoppers get a Valentine’s gift for their pets, while many others show their appreciation to friends and family beyond just a romantic partner. And if your business is especially niche, don’t take it as a disadvantage—consider how you might reframe Valentine’s Day as letting your customers gift themselves (don’t forget all the singles out there!).

So, how do you execute an effective Valentine’s Day marketing campaign? Let the tips below be our little gift to you for giving your campaign the effectiveness of Cupid’s arrow.

Boost Valentine’s Day Marketing Effectiveness with Segmentation

Segmentation means segmenting your list into different groups based on demographics and activity, which allows you to send more personalized messages to them in your Valentine’s Day email marketing campaign. There are a few demographics in particular that are worth segmenting for Valentine’s Day marketing. First, there’s gender: you want to know what gender your customer is and what gender they’re buying for so your Valentine’s Day email marketing can provide them with value. Second, age matters as well, since younger couples are likely to appreciate different types of gifts than older ones.

How do you capture this info? If users have provided their gender or age when signing up for an account with your store, then you already have the data you need for segmenting. If not, consider pushing out a survey in the weeks leading up to the launch your Valentine’s Day marketing campaign.

Finally, don’t forget to segment based on activity as well. Happy customers who have shopped from you before will likely respond well to your Valentine’s Day marketing, and you can tap into their previous shopping behaviors to cross- and up-sell. For example, if they reviewed an item highly in the past, you might reframe that same item as a gift they could get a loved one.

Timing is Everything

Most Valentine’s Day shoppers wait until February begins to plan or purchase gifts, which means you don’t have to hurry to launch a Valentine’s Day email marketing campaign. But you should certainly plan around procrastinators and building a sense of urgency leading up to the holiday. In fact, most revenue driven from email campaigns come in the last week before the holiday. While you might start the month with gift guides and ideas to raise awareness for customers, consider offering things like last-minute gift cards in the final day or two of the Valentine’s Day marketing campaign.

Support Your Valentine’s Day Marketing by Capturing New Leads

Don’t just send out Valentine’s Day marketing emails—support the campaign with social media and vice-versa. For example, target current email subscribers by uploading your list to Facebook and Twitter, then providing segmented ads and banners to grab their attention.

When directing new leads through social media or SEO, have a Valentine’s Day marketing landing page set up. This way you can make a festive first impression without going through the trouble of redesigning your entire storefront. The landing page can also be used to generate new signups for your email list—for example, offering a discount with a signup.

Share the Love with a Good Deal

This brings us to the next tip: sweeten the deal in your Valentine’s Day marketing campaign with a discount offer, free gift or free shipping. Ramp up the deals as the holiday approaches to capitalize on procrastinators and a sense of urgency. For example, UK chocolatier Thornton’s uses a live countdown timer in emails that counts down how much time is available for free shipping. With expertly-timed deals, you can provide irresistible offers to your customers.

Also consider fun ways you can frame up the offers with CTA’s. One great example is a scratch card that asks the user to click through for a result. Keeping with the holiday’s theme, you might instead offer a box of chocolates in which users select one to find a deal inside.

Provide Engaging Valentine’s Day Marketing Subject Lines

Subject lines are the first impression you make to your customers and have the biggest influence on whether they ignore or open your emails. That’s why it’s extremely important that you engage them with value-based messaging that isn’t too salesy—so while our previous tip mentioned the importance of deals and building urgency, we’d steer clear of terms like “percent off,” “reminder,” etc. which can come off as being too salesy. Instead, try for fun, holiday-based messaging: J. Crew probably did it best with their “Your secret admirer has a surprise for you” subject line. Offering ideas and guides, including emoji and leaning in on personalization (like localized content) are all great strategies for designing engaging subjects.

Each of these tips will help you provide real value in your Valentine’s Day marketing campaigns and increase their effectiveness. The most important thing of all is to show your customers that you really care for and appreciate them—just like how they want to share that appreciation with their loved ones. Remember to strike a connection with your Valentine’s Day email marketing and you’ll achieve success for the holiday’s shopping season.