The winter slump is finally coming to an end. Spring is here and it’s time to start planning for summer email marketing campaigns that fuel your conversions. As more customers begin to step out of their hibernation state and prepare for the festive season, you can expect to see their spending habits increase significantly.

Summer brings plenty of opportunities for marketers, and a stirring email campaign strategy will drive your audience to make the desired response. To ensure you make an impact that results in action, here are a few tips you should follow.

The subject matter goes a long way in email marketing

Catching your audience’s attention is very dependent on first impressions, which are initially influenced by the subject line. It’s important to create a clear message that infuses elements of the season and your offer.

Werda, a niche business that offers ready-to-eat salads, is an excellent example of how using a clear concise message can have a profound impact on open rates. Their subject line – Summer, sun and salad – Win with Werda this summer – for a summertime competition mailer resulted in a remarkable 39% open rate.

If you dissect the subject line, you’ll notice the use of key phrases such as:

• Summer – Winter is synonymous with gloomy weather and staying indoors. So the mere mention of summer is enough to get people excited, as it elicits memories of being outdoors and taking part in a variety of activities with family and friends. Reinforced by the word sun, and you’ve got the reader’s undivided attention.

• Salad – Summer is also synonymous with a better dietary regimen, and salad goes hand in hand with good health. Werda took advantage of its products by including the term in their subject line.

• Win – Not only is there a prospect of enjoying good weather, but there is also an incentive for engaging with the mailer. Letting your audience know there’s a chance of winning something of value increases the chances of open rates.

Design your email with a spring colour palette

Once Werda had gotten the audience’s attention, it kept it with a refreshing design that shows off the colour palette of spring. Granted, the brand’s colours are already green and white, but they infused the colours in a clean style that made the mailer easy on the eye.

The message should say what it needs to say

Emails that beat around the bush tend to get lost in a sea of noise, which is why you should be straight forward. This doesn’t mean you should neglect creativity, but the audience is busy and needs to know what you have to offer and want in return.

As soon as you’re done glossing over the design, you notice that Werda’s message gets straight to the point. The brand wanted its audience to make its salad a mainstay of outdoor activities such as braais and picnics. In return, Werda would give away three Smokey Joe Webers – and we’ve got a winner, which brings us to our next point.

The incentive needs to be relevant

Few people are going to buy products meant for winter when they’re preparing for summer. And why would they? It makes no economic sense. Apart from the message being clear, Werda aligned their competition with an incentive that is so synonymous with summer – Weber BBQs.

 

Everyone wants to braai during summer and what better way to do so than with a brand new Weber? It’s a must-have summer accessory. Add to this a prize hamper, and you have a winning email. As a result of the message, Werda achieved a remarkable 12.42% Click-Through Rate (CTR). Certain brands struggle to achieve an open rate of that scale, so their success isn’t to be taken lightly.

Email marketing that adds value

Werda’s winning formula didn’t stop at prizes. The brand also included a recipe and useful tips that people could use at picnics. This all stuck to the summer theme, making the mailer more relevant and influential.

There’s no doubt that the formula was behind such a considerable success. Not only does it apply to spring email marketing campaigns, but the holiday festive season as well. Therefore, making use of such design elements, messages and incentives can have a considerable impact on how many people engage with your email too.

Have you sent out an email for spring day? How did it perform? Let us know in the comments section.