How publishers are using seasonal email subject lines this time of year to sell more products and increase email open rates
Using a seasonal subject line can be tricky; you have to be sensitive to different cultures and religions.
On the other hand, seasonal email subject lines have proven to be very effective at both building personality into your brand and as good excuses for sales.
The seasonal email subject line references a holiday or time of year. Often your control mailing can be adapted to use a seasonal reference, thereby increasing response.
Seasonal subject line examples:
- Your New Year’s Resolutions for Losing Weight
- Columbus Day Sale Starts Today
- Unique Gifts for Dads and Grads
- Huge Savings on Holiday Overstock
As the holiday season approaches, we’ve seen a lot of publishers already starting to take advantage of using a seasonal subject line.
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On November 3rd, PC World sent an email newsletter entitled “Photograph Spectacular Christmas Lights“. This email newsletter was for their “Digital Focus” email subscribers and included a link to the main article as well as related articles from the writer.
On November 5th, USA Today sent an email newsletter to their “Entertainment” subscribers entitled “Entertainment news: Christmas films already?” This newsletter opened with a link to their feature article on the new A Christmas Carol movie, with links to other entertainment news.
On November 17th, Canadian Living sent an email newsletter entitled “Plan a flawless holiday cocktail party“. This newsletter included links to recipes, but was actually a subtle promotion for their 2009 Canadian Living Holiday Celebrations special issue.
Other email subject lines we’ve seen recently:
Beading Daily – Create Sparks and Sparkle this Holiday Season
with 12 New Jewelry Projects
eMarketer Daily – eMarketer Daily – Holiday Web Shoppers Hit Social Networks
Ceramic Arts Daily – Ceramic Arts Bookstore – Top DVDs for the Holidays
Knitting Daily – Decorate with Knitted Holiday Ornaments
Marketing Experiments – Order path test nets 69% gain; ecommerce holiday playbook
If you can see the pattern, both B2B and B2C publishers can take advantage of the seasonal subject line, since it’s often associated with hot trigger words this time of year.
Join our Email Subject Line Smackdown on November 24th an information-packed 90-minutes with three of America’s top copywriting experts, who will analyze your subject lines and offer up their own alternatives.
