Summer Email Inspiration: The Best Summer Newsletter Ideas to Boost Sales

Do you want to grow your mailing list? Check in with subscribers? Or nudge customers towards the checkout? Either way, newsletters are essential to your business marketing strategy.

But sending a regular newsletter filled with new and engaging content isn’t always easy.

That’s why we’ve put together inspiring summer newsletter ideas to get your customers opening, clicking, and buying all season long.

In summer, your customers are more relaxed. Their focus is on family, friends, and fun. This year more than ever, they want to have their best summer yet. Tap into this in your summer email marketing and you could boost your sales and win customers for life.

Find out which unexpected holiday could boost your click rate by 20 percent. Discover how to make your summer sale sizzle. And get a ton of tried-and-tested content ideas from other small business owners and marketers to last you until the leaves turn brown.

Summertime holiday newsletter ideas

Check out the best upcoming events, dates, and holidays to produce a bumper crop of newsletter ideas for summer. Focus on adding value to stand out from the crowd. How can you make this summer email the most helpful one in their inbox that day?

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is a natural opportunity to get in touch with your readers and show your warm side. As they think about treating Dad on his special day, deliver a newsletter full of ideas and special offers.

AO’s email taps into how hard it can be to find Dad a gift he loves. Use a fun quiz format to showcase your products while solving your customer’s problem.

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Related: Father’s Day Email Marketing Tips & Subject Line Examples

Memorial Day

Show you stand by your subscribers in honoring the military with a special email on Memorial Day. Reward their allegiance to your brand and welcome in the warmer months with one-off promos and product roundups.

If you have a new summer range or product category, now is an excellent time to build some hype and encourage early sales.  

4th of July – Independence Day

The 4th of July is the peak of summer’s holiday season. Your customer is gathering family and friends to celebrate and have fun. Get in the holiday spirit with a short and upbeat newsletter. 

Use a combination of red, white, and blue alongside popular emojis to keep the tone lighthearted. Many of your customers want to treat themselves or loved ones, so special offers or discounts are extra welcome.

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Flag Day

This one might come as a surprise. Flag Day, which falls on June 14, isn’t often in roundups of America’s favorite holidays. But small business owner, John Ross of Test Prep Insight, suggests you’re missing a trick.

“Flag Day is such an obscure holiday. Play it up as if it’s the most important holiday in the world to add lightheartedness and humor. The day also lends itself to emojis in subject lines, which always increases open rates.

“Our open rate for Flag Day is north of 40 percent, which is high compared to normal. The click-through is north of 20 percent — another major win.”

So, find the most obscure holiday you can and design a newsletter to give your customers some memorable fun in their inbox. National Donut Day, anyone?

Summer sales

As summer fades, your thoughts turn to fall stock. An end-of-season sale is a great way to thank your customers and make a fresh start. Here’s how to plan and design an attention-grabbing promotion.

Create a special edit of summer bestsellers from your product inventory. Start promoting the sale early to build anticipation. Send your subscribers an exclusive discount code to encourage early sales. 

Save time by scheduling your promotional emails beforehand. Here’s a useful template to follow for your email marketing as the sale approaches:

1. Newsletter 1 – Three weeks to go: Announce the dates of your sale
2. Newsletter 2 – Two weeks to go: Tease some products
3. Newsletter 3 – One week to go: Exclusive subscriber code or link
4. Newsletter 4 – 24 hours to go: Reminder email
5. Newsletter 5 – Launch: Links to bestselling products, specify a time limit

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Your end-of-summer sale campaign should give feel-good summer vibes, like this Everlane newsletter design. It builds a natural sense of urgency. Your customer will want to take advantage now to enjoy the last days of the season.

Summer newsletter themes

As well as holidays, develop newsletter content based on these classic summer themes. This keeps your newsletters and your products relevant to your customers’ lives. Marketing which feels relevant and timely is more likely to make the sale. 

Vacations

Post-pandemic, the excitement around vacations is greater than ever. Tap into that positivity with fun imagery, a light-hearted tone of voice (if it’s right for your brand) and vacation-themed offers.

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When the weather’s good, people spend less time on their screens. Stay top of mind by soundtracking their summer.

Jeff Vogl of ClassicCarStereos recommends creating a playlist on Spotify and promoting it in a newsletter. Readers can connect to your playlist of summer anthems or road trip classics as they live their best lives this summer.

It shows your brand’s human side and keeps you in the picture no matter what they’re doing.

The great outdoors

Associating your brand with adventures in nature is a great way to encourage sales. Summer can feel so short after a long winter. It’s easy to create a sense of urgency around the long days and warm weather.

A newsletter template like this one from Brooks will let the product and the call-to-action button do the talking. Find out more about using images in your email designs with our best practices for newsletter images.

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Family time

Summer is a time for family. With that in mind, offer discounts your customers can share with loved ones or special deals on family-size purchases.

Not only will you show your family values, you may win some new regular customers through referrals. 

Home improvements

As the weather improves and people get the chance to socialize more, thoughts naturally turn to getting the home in order. 

Help your customers out by running a promotion on paint or wallpaper. Or perhaps offer tips for creating the perfect outdoor dinner party setting. If your brand is there to support customers, you’ll remain trusted and memorable long after the summer ends.

The halfway point

Christine Glossop, SEO manager at Looka, takes a novel approach to summer marketing.

“Summer is the midpoint of the year. If your business is selling anything productivity, self-improvement, or work-related, this is your chance to re-energize your subscribers. 

“We used the subject line “Get ready for the second half of 2020 ⚡” on one of our summer newsletters last year. The email had a 21 percent open rate, better than four out of five recent newsletters. And with a 4.5 percent click-through rate, it beat all our recent newsletters.”

Summer email content ideas

So you’ve got your 4th of July email scheduled. You’ve designed campaigns around summer cook-outs, home improvements, and road trips. Good work. Next, find out how to fill your emails with valuable content your customers can’t help but click.

Make it useful

Make your customer’s life easier and you will gain their trust and improve open rates long term. Offering a cost saving is an obvious way to be of value. But there are so many more ways to help them out. 

Get creative by offering activities, advice, recipes, tips, or to-do lists, anything to ensure they have the best summer yet. Give them the ultimate recipe for barbecued corn, a ‘must bring’ list for a day out, or indoor craft ideas for that one rainy day on vacation. 

Stephen Light, CMO and co-owner of Nolah Mattress, says this approach offers more than just increased sales. “It can also increase the customer’s lifetime value if they learn to associate summertime with your brand.”

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Add video

You might have heard about the magic of video on social media. But did you know? Adding videos to your email can increase click rates by 300 percent.

Get creative. If you sell premium products in beautiful packaging, an unboxing video might entice your readers. For more practical products, a video showing it in action could be just the encouragement your consumer needs. If you’re selling a service, your video could show the results of that service and even include satisfied customers. 

The easiest way to embed video in your email is to simply add a static image or video still with a link to the content.

Contests and giveaways

What makes contests and giveaways so effective? According to Ray Ko, senior ecommerce manager at ShopPopDisplays, reader participation “starts community dialogue between you and your customers,” helping them bond with your brand. 

Try an essay writing contest for kids on Father’s Day or a competition to guess the number of candies in a jar. This personal touch on your summer email marketing campaign will help it stand out in a sea of mass-market newsletters. 

And the benefits don’t end there. Competitions generate low-cost, high-return content for your email marketing and social media. Ray explains, “When someone enters the contest or giveaway, share photos or videos on your social channels. Announce the giveaway in your email newsletters. Then use the photos and customer interactions in future emails.”

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Customer testimonials

If things are a little quiet in your product category over the summer, there’s still some user-generated content you can share. 

Product reviews in an appealing format make for a high-impact email campaign. Build credibility and induce FOMO as your reader sees what a great time everyone else is having with your product. 

With Sendinblue’s email template builder, all you need to do is copy and paste reviews into the drag and drop boxes. Save the layout down and create an updated version every month with your latest reviews. 

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Personalization

Personalization is an essential part of any email newsletter campaign. This summer, try segmenting your subscriber list by purchase history to send out relevant emails that sell. 

Promote a special offer on cocktail glasses for all customers who bought a cocktail shaker. Or tell customers who recently purchased a patio furniture set that your patio heaters are on sale. 

With Sendinblue’s advanced segmentation, it’s easy to send out targeted special offers to selected subscribers.

Show you care

After the year the world’s had, consumers are more interested than ever in what their favorite brands are doing to give back. Your newsletter is an opportunity to talk about your community initiatives, sustainable products or processes, or other policies designed to have a positive impact.

This could be as simple as thanking your customers for sticking with you. As Max Harland, CEO of Dentaly, says, “In the past year, we’ve been through volatile times. Thanking your customers for being by your side adds warmth and enhances your connection.” 

Summer email subject lines

Now you’ve got your content nailed down, here are our top tips for sizzling summer email subject lines:

• Create FOMO on your amazing deals by letting customers know they won’t be around for long
• Add humor and positivity if it feels right for your brand
• Use emojis: one or two in your summer subject line help your email stand out in a crowded inbox

Final tips for summer newsletters

Now your content calendar is loaded with holidays, themes, and content to keep your customers clicking. For even more inspiration as you plan this season’s marketing efforts, check out our best email newsletter examples. 

As you prepare your newsletters, remember,

• Get straight to the point so your customer can get back to enjoying the summer
• Include a compelling call-to-action to tell your reader what you want them to do next
• Plan ahead and schedule your newsletters to save time

For help with scheduling and automation, sign up for a free plan with Sendinblue and start sending memorable emails today.

Further reading: 125 Newsletter Ideas That’ll Impress Your Readers For Sure