Presidents’ Day Email Strategy, Design & Subject Line Inspiration

Being the day right after Valentine’s Day this year, February 15th, Presidents’ Day is easy to overlook as a merchant. 

But while Valentine’s appeal is relatively limited to couples, Presidents’ Day and the long weekend that comes with it is celebrated by a much wider group of Americans. 

Additionally, there are also several key reasons why the day presents an ideal sale opportunity beyond the fact it’s another public holiday. 

With winter on the way out, merchants take advantage of Presidents’ Day to get rid of their winter inventory. This is especially true for apparel retailers. 

Secondly, tax returns will have started to arrive in the bank accounts of early-birds who completed their returns in January. This means there’s a lucrative segment of consumers cashed up and looking for a bargain right as Presidents’ Day arrives. 

So regardless of what you sell, Presidents’ Day is a holiday you shouldn’t overlook and one that’s well worth a dedicated email campaign.

Presidents’ Day sale email design and strategy

As with any other event, your email campaign will generate more sales if you tailor your strategy to the holiday. 

And with Presidents’ Day, it’s a good idea to think about your campaign with the mindset of some of America’s greatest Presidents. 

• Plan like Washington – George Washington’s successes in the Revolutionary War is in large part attributable to his strategic mindset, a mindset we should have with our email campaigns.
• Be responsive and flexible like Jefferson – Thomas Jefferson was a President known for his openness to new ideas. Likewise, the best email marketers are also looking for and are willing to incorporate new trends like emojis into their campaigns.
• Test new ideas like Roosevelt – Teddy Roosevelt thought outside the box and knew taking risks was necessary for continual improvement. We too should always be looking to test and improve our email campaigns.

To help you get into this mindset and succeed with your Presidents’ Day campaign, we’ve broken down five past email campaigns below both in terms of strategy and design.

Brooks Brothers

Brooks Brothers campaign is a perfect example of your typical Presidents’ Day email – red, white and blue color scheme, use of a couple of stars, and a clear sale offer with the save up to 50%. 

The “hurry for the best selection” in bold at the top along with terms like ‘clearance’ and ‘final collection’ also adds a slight but not obnoxious sense of urgency that’ll help with conversions.  

Mattress Firm

Instead of sending their customers two separate emails in quick succession, Mattress Firm has combined their Valentine’s and Presidents’ Day campaigns into the one email.

If you want to take advantage of both events, finding a way to combine the two into the one sale gives you the opportunity to have your campaign last longer and as a result reach a greater audience.

Of course, the more seamlessly you can combine the two holidays, the greater your messaging and emails will resonate. 

Toms

While Toms’ campaign does away with the red white and blue color scheme, the design still ties in with Presidents’ Day with the stars and happy birthday scroll. All of which keeps in the email on-brand and in line with the classic Toms style.

The notable element in this email however is the offer being 17.32% off. 1732 being the year George Washington was born and whose birthday Presidents’ Day is meant to coincide with. 

Also notice that the sale lasts for the whole long weekend instead of just the Monday. This is what most merchants will go with and gives customers more time to shop with you.

Asos

Instead of holding a blanket sale over the weekend for all their customers, Asos has decided to email their list about their sale along with a coupon code to redeem the offer. 

This creates a degree of exclusivity for their email subscribers which helps make them feel as though they’re unlocking their own special offer. 

The PREZDAY promo code also keeps things casual and on-brand.

Dockers

Dockers has managed to work their product offering into the essence of Presidents’ Day in the most creative way we’ve seen so far. 

The orange call to action buttons are also eye-catching which will increase the click-through rate for the campaign. 

Staggering your discounts where the percentage customers save increases with how much they spend like how Dockers has done in this campaign is also a great way to increase your average order values.

Presidents’ Day subject lines

Now that we’ve taken a look at various email examples and the strategy behind them, it’s time to consider one of the most important yet often overlooked parts of any email: its subject line. 

While subject lines may be an afterthought for many email marketers who just come up with one on the spot after finishing their email, they actually have a major impact on your open rate. 

The more you make your subject line stand out in customers’ inboxes and the more captivating it is, the more opens your email will get. 

Subject lines are so important that a third of people actually base their decision on whether to open emails or not entirely on the subject line. 

So no matter how great your email is, if you use a poor subject line it’ll get fewer opens which means fewer people clicking through to your Presidents’ Day sale and ultimately your sale will be less profitable.

Subject line best practices

So what goes into a good subject line that’ll boost your open rate?

The good news is that writing good subject lines is fairly simple when you keep the following best practices in mind: 

• Keep it short
• Keep it clear and have it accurately reflect the contents of your email
• Personalize it with your customer’s name whenever you can

It’s hard to go wrong if you keep these three points in mind when coming up with your Presidents’ Day email subject lines. 

The other thing you might want to consider is adding an emoji to help your subject line stand out in customers’ inboxes.

For more tips, check out our guide on the best practices when writing subject lines.  

Subject line examples

To help give you some inspiration when coming up with your own Presidents’ Day subject lines, below is a list of some examples from previous campaigns.

Like with the email examples above, these will give you a good idea of what the top local and international brands are doing. 

• EXTRA 20% OFF Presidents’ Day Sale – Now Up To 75% Off! – Bluefly
• Presidents’ Day Sale Starts Today! Up to 25% Off – Disney Store
• Celebrate A Presidents’ Day Flag-Waver, Valued Customer, with FREE S&H – Colorful Images
• Extended for 24 hours! Double savings at our Presidents’ Weekend Sale! – Current Catalog
• Final Hours to Save Big on Presidents’ Day! – Dick’s Sporting Goods
• Last Chance For Presidents’ Day Savings + New Must-Have Tees – Lane Bryant
• Preview our Presidents’ Day 48-Hour Sale! – Radio Shack
• President’s Day Weekend Savings – Save up to 75% – Cooking.com
• Presidents’ Deal: FREE SHIPPING for one more day. – Newport News
• President’s Weekend Event: 15% MORE OFF SALE! – Norm Thompson
• Celebrate President’s Day All Week + $20 Coupon – Office Depot
• This Weekend Only–Our President’s Day Sale! 40% Off 1 Full-Priced Item + Extra 40% Off Sale Items – Ann Taylor
• Presidents Day Sale…Savings Throughout The Store! – LOFT Outlet
• Happy Birthday Mr. President! Save up to 40% + Free shipping. – Banana Republic
• Free Shipping + 2-day specials at the Presidents Day Sale! – Macy’s

Wrapping up

Presidents’ Day is a prime sale opportunity for any merchant in America. The tendency for stores to overlook the holiday only makes it easier for you to stand out which adds to the appeal. 

Hopefully now you also have plenty of inspiration for your own email marketing campaign which you can put into action.  

The other good thing about Presidents’ Day is that you can easily repurpose elements from your Memorial Day and 4th of July campaigns and vice versa!