Summer’s lazy days and laid-back activities can be challenging for email marketers. How can you get subscribers to pay attention to with your newsletters or email marketing campaigns when they’d rather be floating around in a swimming pool, hiking in the mountains, or exploring a national park?
The answer is to tailor your content to resonate with their summer mindset. Here are seven ways to capture their attention, increase open rates and conversions during the summer months.
1. Send Email Campaigns with Seasonal Content
Seasonal content hits the spot because it will be timely and relevant. Think about how your product or service can tie into summer themes. This could be anything from summer sales and special offers to tips and guides on making the most of the season.
For example, if you’re a fitness coach, you could send out a guide to workouts to do on the beach or in the park. If you’re in the travel industry or are boutique at a tourist attraction, share destination guides, tips on local food favorites, or suggest popular souvenirs. Let subscribers know if you offer shipping, so they know they won’t have to try to squeeze their purchase into their luggage.
If yours is a business market, focus on hot tips and products to help your readers breeze through their work so they can spend more time soaking up the sun.
By using your ingenuity to align your content with the season, you’ll create a sense of relevance that can boost engagement and conversions.
For help choosing seasonal themes, see our lists of email marketing for June, July, and August.
2. Sun-Kiss your Subject Lines
Crafting catchy subject lines that evoke summer vibes is another effective strategy for getting your emails opened in summer. Utilizing words and phrases that are associated with summer, such as “sunny savings” or “cool deals,” can pique curiosity and encourage recipients to click through to your email content.
Subject lines that offer relief from drudgery work, too.
3. Optimize Send Times
During the summer, your subscribers’ routines might change. They may check their emails at different times, on different days, or more sporadically than usual.
Your email marketing platform’s analytics can help you monitor open rates and adjust your strategy accordingly. If you’ve had your email marketing account for more than a year, for instance, you could go back and look at last summer, and see what were the most successful days and times to send.
Here’s an example of how you can sort campaign results by date range in Constant Contact accounts.
Once you choose the date range, you can see the days, times, campaign names, opens and other data.
Although the subject line will influence the open rate, too, the open rates can help you determine the days and times your subscribers may be most likely to engage with you mailings.
By strategically scheduling your emails to reach your audience at these optimal times can significantly increase the chances of your messages being seen and read.
4. Use Vibrant Visuals
Summer is a bright and visually appealing time of year, so reflect that in your email designs. Use bright, summery colors and high-quality images that capture the essence of the season. Search for appropriate images in your email program (if it includes a source for stock imagers), from Canva, and from image licensing sites like iStockphoto and DepositPhoto.
Or try your hand at having AI generate sunny images for you. Just be sure to scour the images the AI services create for anomalies such as beach balls floating overhead, misshapen heads, and misspellings if words are included.
5. Offer Exclusive Summer Promotions
Everyone loves a good deal, especially in the summer when spending tends to increase. Offer exclusive summer promotions or discounts to your subscribers. Limited-time offers create a sense of urgency, prompting immediate action. Make sure to highlight these promotions in your email subject lines to catch your subscribers’ attention right away. Whether it’s a summer sale, a special discount, or a freebie, these incentives can drive higher engagement and conversions.
6. Personalize Your Emails
Personalization remains a key factor in email marketing success. Use the data you have about your subscribers to tailor your messages to their preferences and behaviors. Segment your email list to send more targeted campaigns. For instance, you could send different emails based on past purchase behavior, location, or engagement level. Personalized emails make your subscribers feel valued and understood, increasing the likelihood that they will pay attention to your messages.
7. Plan Ahead
Create and schedule your summer emails ahead of time so you can enjoy your summer, too.
Enjoy the beach, don’t be the dolt sitting there working instead of swimming. Use the tools available from your email service provider to create your emails in advance and schedule them to go out on the days and at the times you want.
Some email services, such as Constant Contact, can also offer AI features that will help you write your emails.
Timely Content, Strategy and Timing Are the Keys to Succes
Getting your subscribers to pay attention to your email marketing campaigns in the summer requires a mix of timely content, strategic planning, and engaging visuals. By creating seasonal content, optimizing send times, using engaging visuals, offering exclusive promotions, and personalizing your emails, you can maintain high levels of engagement even during the busiest summer months. Adapt these strategies to fit your brand and audience, and you’ll see a positive impact on your email marketing efforts.
By implementing these tips, you can ensure that your email marketing campaigns continue to capture your subscribers’ attention, keeping them engaged and connected with your brand all summer long.
