Valentine’s Day Email Campaign Ideas To Fall in Love With

Why send out Valentine’s Day emails

Valentine’s Day is one of the most fruitful periods for marketers. While your customers obsessively search for gifts and celebration ideas, use this time for your own good by creating the most irresistible offers. 

You may think that this holiday targets a relatively narrow group of love doves — but people actually spend a lot on V-day. According to the report by the National Retail Federation, consumers planned to spend around $25.8 billion in 2024 — it’s around $200 per person! As you can see in this graph, the holiday spending is no longer affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But what will all these people spend all this money on? Here’s a rundown from the NRF for 2024:

If you’re not offering any of these, don’t give up on Valentine’s Day email marketing yet. Here’s a survey conducted by YouGov to consider:

As you can see, the top-5 gifts from the NRF is only representing the majority — other businesses can join the party too! For example, clothing and gadget retailers, or even cleaning companies are free to use the opportunity to make a quick seasonal buck as well. And even if your niche is not on this large list, don’t forget that people are different and some of them would want a quirkier gift for the occasion. 

Best practices for Valentine’s Day emails

So, we’ve prepared some quick-win strategies to level up your holiday email marketing content strategy, avoid email mistakes and transform your newsletter into a Valentine’s Day conversion machine, be it regular marketing or transactional emails.

Send the first campaign before Valentine’s Day

Send your subscribers a sneak peek of your upcoming sales before February 14th. It’ll make them realize that the holiday is just around the corner –– it’s time to start shopping! They’ll be grateful for this reminder and information on the upcoming deals.

Usually, e-commerce companies send about 3-4 emails between February 1st and February 12th. On these days, your subscribers’ inboxes will be overloaded with commercial emails, so to stand out from the crowd, you can send your campaign before these dates – then your emails are more likely to be noticed.

For example, this email from QALO was sent at the beginning of January. It’s a wiser decision that you think! Since the email is only announcing new holiday goodies, both sending a message that early and not revealing a lot except for a few mysterious lines of copy and a blurred picture sparkles just the right amount of curiosity.

Starting Valentine’s Day email marketing campaigns early makes even more sense for online stores. Deliveries, even within one city, take time, and it would be so sad to get a V-Day gift for your partner on February 16th! So, warning your customers and persuading them to order early is not just marketing — it’s a good shopper experience. Take inspiration from In Good Taste — because their Valentine’s Day email definitely is 😉

Segment your list

A common email segmentation tip for Valentine’s Day email marketing is to use gender-based segmentation. For example, if you’re selling loungewear and lingerie, this is the kind of content you’d send to men.

However, this type of segmentation is not common now — we had a hard time finding a proper example!  Content like this excludes entire groups of people. So, with more companies embracing inclusive marketing, you can see more Valentine’s Day email examples like this:

Yes, this campaign is not segmented but it doesn’t assume anything about the reader and allows them to decide for themselves and choose gifts according to their relationship situation — it cares more about customers than “treat her/him” emails. 

Which kind of segmentation can you still use without becoming exclusive? Here are some ideas:

• Location — warn your non-local customers about delivery dates, since it’s the most relevant information to them.
• Age — both for generational marketing and just so you don’t suggest hard drinks or adult toys to your teen subscribers.
• Email engagement — use different tactics on more and less engaged subscribers to catch their attention.
• Customer journey stage — approach differently to your regular and new customers, those who know a lot about your brand and just learned about your existence.

Create irresistible Valentine’s Day email subject lines

Sure, there are no magic words that’ll make your readers open an email and take the desired action. We strongly suggest running A/B tests on your subject lines for maximal efficiency. But even testing won’t work if both your variants are not that good.

Feeling stuck figuring out a perfect Valentine’s Day subject line? Here are some tips to consider:

• Create a sense of urgency with words like “Last chance” or “Expires now”.
• Describe the offer briefly — your subscribers need a reason to open the email in the first place, so give them one.
• Or spark curiosity — for example, say something like “A gift is waiting for you” instead of directly saying what you’re going to give.
• Use the pain points — for example, if choosing a gift is a pain point, promise to relieve it via the email content.
• Make your subjects relevant to the holiday — with theme-appropriate emojis, mentions of love, or simply wishing your subscribers a happy Valentine’s Day.
• Test your subject line ideas on mobile devices — you need it so your subjects display correctly without cutting off at awkward places.

For your inspiration, we picked some great Valentine’s Day subject line ideas from real campaigns on Milled.

For couples:

• Sail Away With Your Valentine on the TCM Classic Cruise (Turner Classic Movies)
• A deal so good you’ll want to be single for it! ❤️‍🩹 (5% Nutrition)
• Gourmet (and Romantic!) Valentine’s Gifts (Citarella) 
• Ideas for celebrating your love 💕 (Interflora)
• Sweet things for your sweet thing 🌹 (Diaspora Co)
• What She ACTUALLY Wants For Valentine’s Day 😉 (Taylor Chip)
• Spoil your Valentine with a date hamper (A Year of Dates)
• Don’t Forget a Gift for Your Valentine (M&M’s)

For singles:

• Be Your Own Valentine Giveaway 🥰 (Kegelbell)
• 💞 Products for Self-Love & Care! (Healthycell)
• Be Our Valentine? 💘 (Mixtiles)
• You’re Getting Something Awesome ❤️ (Coach)
• 💌 There’s no Love without Self-Love 💕 (Pure Rose)
• be your own valentine. (Perfect White Tee)
• Single? We’re ready to mingle. (Last Crumb)
• To Me, From Me ✨ (Modern Gents)

For everyone: 

• Need a gift by Valentine’s Day? We’ve got you covered! 💋 (Diamond Candles)
• A sweet deal this Valentine’s (Free Caramel)
• Feel the love this Valentine’s Day (Bobbi Brown)
• Final call for your Valentine’s Day look! 😍 (IKRUSH)
• 💓Last 48 hours to get 10% off this Valentine’s Day! (Sweetnight)
• Valentine’s Day Made Easy ❤️ (MUAVES)
• Spice Up Your Valentine’s Day ❤️ (Mr Vitamins)

Offer special V-Day discounts

On Valentine’s Day, lots of e-commerce sites offer their products to customers. Your subscribers need some motivation to pick your store over competitors. An incredible way to encourage them is to offer time-limited discounts, free shipping, etc.

Here’s a short and sweet example of an email offering a discount for Valentine’s Day. As you can see, you don’t have to write lengthy and wordy emails — just a discount code and a CTA button are enough.

Cherish your relationship with the customers

Valentine’s Day is not just a holiday for couples — it’s a perfect opportunity to spread your love to your loyal customers. Add a little personalization to your campaign and show your subscribers and customers they mean a lot to you.

It’s also a nice idea to send your most loyal customers a small discount just for them which can be used on Valentine’s Day only. Or send them a coupon for your products or services to remind them how much you appreciate them and their loyalty.

Below is a great example of a personalized email by RitualsCo we found on Really Good Emails. It invites subscribers to reminisce about their time with the brand and shows unique statistics on each subscriber’s activity. It will definitely make your customers feel unique and special!

Send a gift guide

Save your customers’ time and give them ready-made lists with ideal gifts for their partners. This email will remove the shopping obstacles and prevent visitors from wandering around your website looking for suitable variants.

The most common approach is including a bunch of pictures and links to gifts for men and women, and gifts of different prices. But you can go beyond that. For example, add season-appropriate gifts or bestsellers — the latter is especially smart if you’re sending emails to first purchasers. Here’s a great example of this approach from Tata Harper.

Here’s another fun gift guide example from Eat Cake Today. We like that it includes options for cake lovers, treats for those wanting a little bit of everything, and non-food gifts — maybe your Valentine is not a sweet tooth, right?

Speaking of gendered gifts, here’s a great gift guide example for those with a male Valentine. It includes a bunch of items you can shop right away without having to go to the online store and go insane from the decision fatigue trying to pick an option from a long list — that’s what we call customer care!

What if you’re promoting a grocery store or a food brand on Valentine’s Day? Take inspiration from Momofuku — give a fun selection of recipes that can be brought to life on your dinner datenight table with a little help of your products. It might work even if you’re not selling anything unique or exotic!

Think of different ways to celebrate

Single people shouldn’t feel excluded from this feast of life. Many people celebrate Valentine’s Day without looking for a perfect gift for their partners. Or their relationships are falling apart, so it’s a triggering topic to them. Don’t exclude these groups of subscribers from the celebration and send creative campaigns focused on self-love — or even breakups?

Here’s another cool breakup-themed campaign example from Our Place. So, cheers to non-toxic kitchenware and (hopefully) non-toxic future relationships!

Express gratitude

Sometimes it’s enough to simply say “thank you” without trying to sell anything, and your customers are likely to appreciate that. V-Day is a nice occasion to demonstrate gratitude to your loyal subscribers and customers –– as Rebecca Taylor did below.

Ideas to design your Valentine’s Day email campaign

Get inspired with our ideas on the minimalist email design (and not only that) of your holiday email marketing campaign!

Use festive colors

Every holiday has its own colors –– for example, when preparing Halloween emails, marketers often use orange and black. Red is considered to be the color of love and passion, so it is traditionally associated with Valentine’s Day. You can use it as a dominating one, or just add several bright accents in your design.

Send love letters

Love letters are so V-Day style! Send one to your subscribers, or follow Frank Body’s example and let the customers write the letters for their loved ones.

Display products in a romantic way

There is no need to cover the email with hearts and roses to make the customers feel your love and support, though. Look at the BOSE’s email –– it has no traditional festive attributes, but still looks romantic and represents the occasion.

Use GIFs

Valentine’s Day GIFs capture attention and excite curiosity –– that’s exactly what we need when creating a holiday email marketing campaign.

Make your emails interactive

Give your readers an exciting experience, making your emails more vivid and interactive. Add some elements like a love quiz, a small game, or a video –– anything that makes subscribers interact with the email.

Design a Valentine’s email in the style of your online store

Represent your product or service in a lovely and romantic way while staying consistent. Look how neatly Tiffany&Co implemented it in their email marketing campaign. Love is literally in the air!

Wrapping things up

Valentine’s Day is a perfect time to start a festive email campaign. When planning your email marketing campaign, use the following techniques to make creative templates and stand out in your subscribers’ inboxes:

• Send the first campaign before Valentine’s Day. 
• Segment your list to make the offers and the email content more relevant to your subscribers.
• Create irresistible V-Day subject lines to inspire subscribers to open your email and see what you offer.
• Make your emails interactive –– add elements like a quiz, a small game, or a video. It will make your emails more catchy and vivid.
• Cherish your relationship with the customers, and show how much they mean to you.
• Create wish lists and guides to make choosing Valentine’s Day gifts easier.

• When designing your Valentine’s Day email marketing campaign, consider using festive colors, designing your email as a love letter, displaying your products in a romantic way, using GIFs, thinking of different ways to celebrate, and expressing gratitude.

Follow these rules to create outstanding V-Day email campaigns. Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️

This article was first published in December 2023 and updated in January 2025 to make it more relevant and comprehensive.