Email Marketing Blog | Expert Insights, Analysis & Inspiration

Create Hot Summer Subject Lines That Get Great Open Rates

Written by Philip Storey | Jun 19, 2020 3:12:31 PM

As we approach the summer, it’s a key time for brands to promote seasonal campaigns with email marketing and leverage the summer anticipation at home or abroad. From relevant emojis to seasonal hooks and incentives,  there are plenty of ways to stand out of the inbox at this time of the year!

We take a look at some great tactics for creating click-worthy email subject lines and effective email marketing campaigns in the travel industry:

Personalisation + FOMO = clicks

Leveraging FOMO (fear of missing out) is one of the most effective persuasion tactics for email marketers in the travel industry, as subscribers can be hooked by the lure of a trip away and compelling subject lines utiltising FOMO really jump out of the inbox, especially when combined with personalisation. Here are a couple of good examples below from easyJet and Mercure:

easyJet

Subject line: "[Recpient name], it’s not too late to fly away to your perfect summer destination. Why not?"

Mercure

Subject line: "Up to 40% off: there is still time to book, [Recpient name]"

Big summer offers, deals and incentives

Last-minute deals, summer offers and big value is the name of the game when it comes to travel brands looking to encourage and incentivise customers to engage with seasonal email campaigns. This following example from Raileasy is simple, effective and click-worthy. The alliteration and hype of the subject line is matched by the bright and bold visuals and compelling calls to action:

Raileasy

Subject line: "Super Summer Saver!"

Get those emojis shining bright!

Who doesn't love an emoji to perk your interest and deliver instant emotional engagement? Emojis can really brighten up your subject lines, especially with travel campaigns. There's a load of different options to match the seasonal trigger of summer holidays and travel, such as planes ✈️; sunshine ; sunglasses ; palm trees and cocktails straight off the bat! Here's an example of emoji use in email subject lines from Travelodge, neatly bookending their summer travel offer with sun emojis:

Travelodge

Subject line: ☀️ 15% off Summer stays ☀️

Leveraging summer vibe

These final examples are not from travel brands, but they use the summer seasonal trigger to capture the interest of subscribers and stand out from the inbox. Mr Hyde, the cultural arm of ShortList magazine, uses the holiday season to create intrigue about their email content, whilst restaurant deal subscription service Tastecard leverage the summer feel-good factor, with a simple-but-effective subject line utilising emojis, to win back recipients who've previously had a trial or subscription with them. 

Mr Hyde

Subject line: "A holiday. Inside a book. Inside a holiday."  

Tastecard

Subject line: "The weather is ☀️ and the prices are ⬇️ "