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.
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 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 😉
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:
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:
For your inspiration, we picked some great Valentine’s Day subject line ideas from real campaigns on Milled.
For couples:
For singles:
For everyone:
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
Get inspired with our ideas on the minimalist email design (and not only that) of your holiday email marketing campaign!
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.
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.
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.
Valentine’s Day GIFs capture attention and excite curiosity –– that’s exactly what we need when creating a holiday email marketing campaign.
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.
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!
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:
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.