Brilliant Spring Email Subject Lines That You Can Use in Your Campaign

What makes great spring email subject lines

An email subject line is one of the most important parts of the email. According to the research by Superoffice, 33% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line. Here are a few tried and tested ways to improve your email subject lines and get the open rates up when preparing spring email campaigns.

Questions

A question in the subject line is the easiest way to spark interest. 

Even when we know the answer to a question, our brains still want to confirm we’re right. By putting a question in the subject line, you make it so that the only way to confirm the answer is to open the email. It should set expectations and then the email copy itself should answer them.

The best questions to provoke curiosity are ones in between the clickbait type and the vague/generic one. the question subject line sets expectations and then meets them

Sparking curiosity

”Curiosity killed the cat”, but it can help your emails get opened. 

The mechanic behind curiosity email subject lines is that they play with our innate desire for knowledge that makes readers want to open your email to learn more. 

The trick is to leave out just enough information to create a sense of intrigue and pique people’s curiosity. 

Emojis

Emojis add an emotional nuance to otherwise flat text, can be used to replace words in a sentence, and give a twist to the otherwise boring phrase. They have become an integral part of all forms of digital communication, including email marketing

Emojis can also stand out in your recipients’ crowded inboxes.

Relevance

Relevance is about things that matter to people right now. 

What is relevant to people in spring? Spring cleaning, the start of the gardening season, celebrations and sales that come with Easter, Women’s day, St. Patrick’s day, Mother’s day, and so on.

Here is some research backing this up:

• 74% of Americans do spring cleaning yearly.
• $20.8 billion were expected to be spent in the United States to celebrate Easter in 2022.
• 61% of Americans planned to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in 2023.

Symbols and punctuation

Exclamation points, periods, and question marks are all part of a healthy email marketing strategy. Punctuation (question and exclamation marks, full stop) can help you better transmit the meaning, but at the same time, it needs to be used sparingly and only where it makes sense.

• Exclamation mark. Use it to show that a particular sale or announcement is special, and when you want to tell your reader: “The deal inside is so good, we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it”. 

The Dunkin Donuts in the example below used the exclamation mark to underline their “twice the cards” offer, and it did a good job at transmitting how good of a deal that is.

• Question mark. Use it only when your subject line is a genuine question, and avoid using two or more in a row. 

Another way to use question marks is like in this example from Fatty 15 — as a part of a subject line followed by a strong “Yes, please!”

• Full stop. A period does have an effect on the open rates, but the best result is achieved when it is not used often — only in 2% to 4% of all of your subject lines.

MailChimp research suggests it’s best to use no more than 3 punctuation marks per subject line — too many punctuation marks could make it look like SPAM, especially if you are using multiple special symbols like $, %, or & in the same subject line.  

Numbers

Email subject lines with numbers have higher than average open and reply rates, based on Yesware analysis:

• 53.2% open rate for emails that include numbers in their subject line, against 51.9% for emails without.
• 32.0% reply rate for emails with numbers in their subject line, against 29.8% for emails without.

Personalization

Personalization could mean the recipient’s name, or it could mean referencing something else about them: category of products they ordered before (i.e., books in a detective genre or office-style clothing out of multiple styles of clothes the shop carries), or them owning an Apple laptop, or referencing specific newsletter categories they are subscribed to.

It is important because the studies suggest that the presence or absence of personalization influences people’s decisions — 72% of customers only engage with emails tailored to their interests. 

Catchy spring email subject lines for your campaigns

Here are 200+ examples of the best spring email subject lines for Easter, Women’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, and other holidays and events, along with tips that make them work.

Spring sale email subject lines

Spring promotion is most often tied to a particular event, which means its subject line references that event. But you can also run a seasonal sale and tie it to the spring season itself (i.e., a clothes shop might hold a spring sale to unload last year’s collection).

From: Tattly

Subject line: Get Ready for Spring with 30% Off

Women’s Day email subject line ideas

Every year on the 8th of March we celebrate in recognition of women’s achievements and a growing awareness of gender equality. Women’s Day is an awesome opportunity for marketers and businesses to show that they care about more than just selling the product. 

Consider these Women’s Day-specific tips to write email subject lines for your campaigns:

• Encourage and support.
• Appeal to the emotions of women and their families and friends.
• Acknowledge the resilience and achievements of women.

From: Saucey

Subject line: it’s International Women’s Day 💙

St. Patrick’s Day subject lines

St.Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17, which is believed to be the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. Originating from Ireland, it is now celebrated all over the world, especially throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. 

It is a perfect opportunity to launch a St. Patrick’s Day email marketing campaign — people love holidays and celebrations, and it’s an opportunity to tap into that affection. 

These tips could help you write great St. Patrick’s Day email subject lines:

• Use wordplays referring to the associated color.
• Connect your sales and discounts with St. Patrick’s Day traditions (these include preparing food like corned beef and cabbage, musical gatherings called “céilí,” and decorating with symbols like shamrocks and leprechauns). 
• Add clover, the symbol of the celebration, to give your subject line a festive mood and make it immediately recognizable.

From: Harry’s

Subject line: #SAVETHESTOUT

April Fool’s Day subject lines

1st of April is a celebration of Fool’s day — in other words, an opportunity to make a creative marketing campaign. Some companies make brilliant use of it — like this prank about Youtube being shut down — so much so that people still remember it almost a decade later. 

April Fool’s Day pranks and jokes shouldn’t be malicious or offensive, so there is a thin line to walk if you decide to actually play a trick instead of just playing off the words. 

Quartz in the example below brilliantly hooked the readers with the subject line, then went on to explain what they mean by it and that it was a joke. 

From: Quartz

Subject line: April Fools’ is canceled

There is no need to force yourself to make a joke or come up with a smart prank. There are multiple types of campaigns you could run. Here are some of April Fool’s email ideas for your inspiration.

Easter email subject lines

Easter is a very lucrative holiday for many companies from a business standpoint. Although it is not as widely celebrated as Christmas or Mother’s Day, it is ahead of Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, and Halloween in terms of sales. An average of $169.79 per person was expected to be spent on Easter-related items in 2022.  

If we put the religious part of it aside, Easter is a holiday centered around giving gifts and family gatherings. Also, customers are used to having an Easter sale. 

Consider taking advantage of these points when you’ll be crafting email subject lines for Easter email marketing:   

• Make use of the long weekend — the fact that the holiday covers a weekend and often continues into the following Monday (many people take Monday off to extend the celebration). I.e.: Your long Easter weekend sale is here ✨
• Speak about family get-togethers.
• Catch their attention with Easter egg hunt and Easter deals subject lines.
• Make use of puns — they are an Easter tradition.

From: Fairytale Brownies

Subject line: Crack into these savings. 🐣 15% off Easter & Happy Spring gifts.

Preheader: Fairytale Brownies Shipping Included, No Minimum > Morsels in Easter Eggs S

Earth Day subject lines

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, and by 1990, it was an event honored by more than 140 countries around the globe. Every year on April 22, more than a billion people come together to raise awareness about environmental issues and to protect the planet from things like pollution and deforestation.

Earth Day is a great opportunity for marketers to speak about their company’s contribution to the fight against climate change, and to show that their overall values and mission reflect their customers’ environmental concerns. The email could also speak about specific steps the company took — as Hitch did in the example below.

From: Hitch

Subject line: 🌍🌿💦Together, You Made This Year Matter

Cinco de Mayo email subject lines

Cinco De Mayo, or “5th of May” origin is a celebration of the victory of the Mexican army over France in the Battle of Puebla in 1862 during the Franco-Mexican conflict. It turned into a day of Mexican culture and heritage over time and is nowadays accompanied by a succession of email campaigns, special vouchers, and celebratory greetings. 

Cinco de Mayo symbolizes a victory against invaders and honors victory in a harsh situation where the Mexican side was badly outnumbered. In the 1980s, it went beyond being a holiday for those of Mexican-American heritage and became popular nationwide in the U.S.

The emails and their subject lines bring in the Mexican origin of the holiday. 

From: Bakell

Subject line: Shop Cinco de Mayo Sales!

Preheader: Get 15% off this collection!

Mother’s Day subject lines

International Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in May, and is a chance for people to show appreciation for the mothers in our lives. 

It is a major retail holiday when brands compete for consumers’ attention, with Mother’s Day email marketing taking a big part in it.

The email subject lines in Mother’s Day campaigns appeal to sentiments that people have towards their mothers. 

From: Holt Renfrew

Subject line: Fragrances Mom Will Love this Mother’s Day

Preheader: Signature scents for Mother’s Day from Creed, La Perla, and more.

Memorial Day subject lines

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the U.S. that is meant to honor and mourn the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May, and sales on this day give businesses quite a boost.

Common features of many of Memorial Day email subject lines are expressing gratitude or playing off the military theme. Because the weather is getting better at the end of May, grills and other outdoor party equipment become relevant, both offline and in email subject lines.

From: Joy Organics

Subject line: Memorial Day – 20% Off!

Final thoughts

Spring email subject lines don’t have to be too clever or creative. Consider trying out these techniques when crafting subject lines for your next campaign:

• Induce curiosity by asking a question, or teasing your readers by telling only a part of information.
• Personalize by using your recipients’ first name or refer to something else relevant for them, i.e: homeowners within a specific zip code, owners of cats, or even more narrow — pets with dietary prescriptions (this can be inferred from their purchase history).
• Use relevant, straightforward subject lines.
• Include emoji, exclamation and question marks where it fits.

Spring has plenty of opportunities to tie your marketing campaign to: spring cleaning, Easter, Women’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, April’s Fool, Mother’s Day, and more. With the right approach, your spring email subject lines can help you connect with your subscribers and drive more engagement and sales for your business.