The 10 Best 4th of July Email Campaigns

Below are some of the best examples of 4th of July email campaigns. Enjoying fireworks, having family and friends over for a barbecue, or simply staying at home and watching the parade, there are a lot of ways to celebrate the Fourth of July. 

And it turns out that there’s another pastime that’s as American as apple pie that’s increasingly becoming a holiday tradition: shopping. 

With the average American looking at spending $73 on holiday-related purchases for a combined total of nearly $7 billion nationally, business owners have another reason to love Independence Day. 

But in order to maximize your 4th of July sales, you’ll need to take full advantage of email marketing. 

Not only is email marketing the most profitable marketing channel there is, but July 4th emails have been found to bring in a third more sales than standard marketing emails. 

So to help you compose your own email campaigns, we’ve curated this list of the 10 best Fourth of July examples we’ve seen.

4th of July email examples

Patriotic Independence Day email

Fourth of July emails don’t get much more patriotic than this. 

Red, white, and blue color scheme, “Stand Proud” title, and a limited edition product called “The 1776” all make it obvious that holiday this email is for. 

This is a great starting point if you’re looking for a typical Independence Day email to get inspiration from.

Animated GIF 

One of the best ways to make your email campaign stand out in people’s inboxes is to bring it to life with animated GIFs. 

While Rover is an online marketplace for pet services, the use of a hotdog keeps the email holiday-themed and is a clever use of the American slang “hotdog!”

The simplicity of showing the hotdog being eaten also keeps the animation from being over-the-top. When it comes to animated emails, less is definitely more. 

While you might want to show off your animation skills, anything overly complicated risks ruining the experience and resulting in a large file size which can cause problems when people open your email.  

Old Glory

A lot of marketers will make their emails holiday-themed by incorporating an American flag into the design. 

However, while many will go for the easy option of simply inserting a royalty-free image of Old Glory, Alviero Martini has put a bit more effort into their design. 

They have used red, white, and blue variants of their Geo Raffia backpack to create a stylized flag. 

This keeps the email sophisticated and simple, true to their brand, while also making it obvious this is a holiday sale email. 

Subtle stars and stripes

If you’re looking for a more subtle way to reference the holiday, you can try incorporating any holiday-themed products you have like Old Navy has done. 

By simply featuring a red and white striped woman’s dress along with a girl’s blue dress with stars, it becomes obvious what occasion this sale is celebrating. This is without the email becoming too promotional or over-the-top in referencing the holiday.

4th of July sale announcement

Your Independence Day email campaign shouldn’t be limited to just one email. 

Ideally, your email campaign should consist of a series of emails with the first one announcing your sale sent a week or two in advance. 

This is exactly what Helix has done with their 4th of July campaign.

By announcing your sale early, you’ll increase your chances of getting people’s attention instead of having to compete with the barrage of emails people will be receiving on the holiday itself. 

Of course, you should still send an email on the 4th as well. 

Final countdown

After you’ve sent your announcement, it’s important to follow up with emails reminding your subscribers of your sale. 

If your sale is only lasting for the long weekend, then you can get away with sending an email every day. 

If you’ve stretched your sale out over a long period, like in the week leading up to Independence Day or even the whole month of July, then space your reminder emails out more sparingly. 

Regardless of however long your sale lasts for, as it draws to a close, you’ll want to send a ‘last chance’ email out as Hot Topic has done. 

By including a countdown timer in the email header, Hot Topic has increased the sense of urgency (the goal of ‘last chance’ or ‘final reminder’ emails). This will help compel more people into making a purchase so they don’t miss out on their discount. 

The use of fireworks ready to take off is also a new visual way to link the end of sale countdown to the 4th of July without explicitly mentioning the holiday. 

Free shipping

One of the biggest hurdles to making sales for ecommerce merchants is shipping costs. 

Few things cause would-be customers to abandon their online carts more than seeing high shipping costs at checkout. 

This makes free shipping offers so powerful.

And while it might not be feasible to offer free shipping all the time, if you’re trying to think of an attractive offer for your 4th of July sale, then free shipping for a limited time might be the perfect choice. 

If you do decide to go with a free shipping offer, be sure to display it prominently as Kusmi Tea has done in their email. 

Simply celebrate the holiday

Not every email you send has to be about making a sale. 

Most of the time, a genuine July Fourth message will do more good for your brand in the longterm than any sale will. 

Even if you’re holding a 4th of July sale, you might want to consider sending one holiday email that isn’t trying to directly push a sale as a part of your campaign. 

And if for whatever reason you’re not holding a sale this July, you can still send this type of email to your subscribers to maintain your relationship with them.

Sophisticated 4th of July email design

If you’re put off by all of the bright red, white, and blue, fireworks, stars, etc. in most of the 4th of July email designs, then fear not: The Dreslyn’s email is a good example of high-end design. 

As The Dreslyn sells luxury homewares, the abstract watercolor painting with minimal use of blue and red is a helps tie the email to the holiday while remaining on-brand. 

This shows that no matter how prestigious your brand is, you can still get involved with 4th of July emails.

The only potential issue with this particular email design is the call-to-action at the top to “Shop Now” is so small that it is easy to miss entirely. 

Whenever you add a call-to-action (which you should in every email you send) it should be obvious so that subscribers are naturally drawn to click on it. 

Provide your subscribers with extra value

Brooklinen’s email suggests online shopping as a way to prevent a “Weekday Holiday Hangover” in a lighthearted manner. 

Further down the email, they provide some more serious suggestions for taking it easy while celebrating the holiday. 

While you don’t have to provide your subscribers with similar pointers, it’s worthwhile considering how you can provide extra value to your audience. 

For instance, if you’re running a hardware store, you might want to provide a few guides to projects people can do over the long weekend. 

Or if you run a grocery store or butchers, you might want to suggest some cooking tips or recipes that go well with barbecues. 

Instead of simply wishing your customers a happy July Fourth and trying to sell some merchandise in the process, adding extra value to your emails will strengthen relationships with your brand and when done well, will help you sell more products as well! 

The rest of your Independence Day campaign

Now that you have plenty of ideas for your own campaign strategy and design inspiration, it’s time to think about the other parts of your emails. 

In particular, your email subject lines. 

It doesn’t matter how great your email design is or how tempting the offer inside is if people aren’t opening your emails. 

And in order to improve your open rates, you need to turn your attention to your subject lines. 

After all, a third of your email list base their decision on whether or not to open your email entirely on its subject line. 

Thankfully, if coming up with good subject lines is a challenge, or if you’re just looking for some inspiration, we have a list of 4th of July subject lines that you can check out.