February is an fascinating month for e-mail entrepreneurs.

On one hand, it traditionally sees the lowest retail gross sales of any month. That’s not preferrred.

However that doesn’t inform the total story. Knowledge from GetResponse exhibits that February enjoys higher-than-usual e-mail open charges—at 20.66 p.c vs. a full-year common of 19.66 p.c—and click-to-open charges which are 27.5 p.c greater than the common month.

So customers usually tend to open your emails in February—and, once they do, there’s additionally a a lot higher likelihood they’ll click on by to your web site.

This tells me two issues:

1. Gross sales are at a premium early within the 12 months, with many customers actively striving to economize…
2. …however there’s an actual alternative for e-mail entrepreneurs to drive opens, clicks, and gross sales in the event that they get their messaging proper.

To make half #2 slightly simpler, I’ve rounded up seven of the very best February publication concepts from Drip’s exhaustive e-mail advertising and marketing archive.

Figures from the Nationwide Retail Federation present 53 p.c of US customers rejoice the event. Deliberate Valentine’s Day spending climbed to $23.9 billion in 2022, with the common American dropping over $175 on presents.

The very best information for ecommerce manufacturers? On-line is the highest procuring vacation spot for Valentine’s Day purchases, with 41 p.c of customers shopping for on-line—in comparison with 32 p.c who shopped at malls, 28 p.c at low cost shops, 18 p.c at native small companies, and 17 p.c at florists.

My colleague Seray has beforehand rounded up a bunch of high-quality Valentine’s Day e-mail examples, so I’d suggest checking them out if you would like a deeper dive into V-Day advertising and marketing. 

However final time I checked, the celebration of affection occurs on February 14th, putting it squarely inside this text’s jurisdiction, so I’ve included a few Valentine’s Day examples right here too.

First up is espresso subscription service and presents model Bean Field, which reached out to its viewers with a V-Day purchaser’s information. It opened with a persuasive e-mail topic line promising inspirational concepts for Valentine’s buyers:

This can be a sensible play, as a result of it seems a variety of us really feel fairly anxious about shopping for Valentine’s Day presents. A survey from eMediHealth revealed that 28.5 p.c of customers fear about being judged primarily based on their selection of present, whereas 24.5 p.c admit V-Day procuring is a supply of monetary stress.

Bean Field’s e-mail incorporates a bunch of coffee-themed Valentine’s presents, every accompanied by product imagery, a brief description, and a “Purchase Now” CTA:

And when you don’t like what you see, there’s additionally an above-the-fold name to motion prompting prospects to browse Bean Field’s full present choice:

The topic line grabbed consideration with actionable messaging that careworn the urgency of ordering straightaway:

As you’ll be able to see, all of it additionally featured an emoji—a tactic that has been proven to seize consideration in a crowded inbox.

The theme of urgency continued within the e-mail physique, with Greetabl including a countdown timer exhibiting how a lot—or, reasonably, how little—time prospects needed to place an order for assured Valentine’s Day transport:

Clearly, you shouldn’t add countdown timers to each e-mail you ship—they’ll lose their impression. However used sparingly, they’re a extremely efficient approach to drive motion, with information from Sale Cycle revealing that countdown timers in emails and on-site messages lead to:

• 30.49 p.c greater click-through charges
• 200 p.c greater conversion charges

These figures sound too good to be true. A 200 p.c upturn in conversions, simply from including a countdown timer to your emails? Absolutely not.

Nevertheless, we found one thing comparable in our evaluation of 20+ million on-site popups. Our analysis revealed that popups with countdown timers see a 113 p.c greater conversion price than these with out timers, so that they’re clearly a potent software for prompting prospects to take motion.

Analysis printed within the journal Psychology & Advertising revealed that it’s higher for retailers to place a promotion as a “free present” reasonably than a “bundle”. 

Why? As a result of free presents improve the perceived loss felt by prospects enthusiastic about returning a purchase order, thereby lowering return charges.

Apparently, this technique is particularly efficient when the free present with buy is obtainable by a well-recognized model. Which makes it an ideal tactic to leverage in your February e-mail advertising and marketing campaigns.

That’s precisely what The Physique Store did in my subsequent instance:

Certain, the free present—a sheet masks—isn’t a big-money buy in its personal proper. As you’ll be able to see from the e-mail copy, the promotion solely saves prospects as much as $6. Nevertheless it seems that, from a psychological perspective, we simply love presents. 

Whereas I’ve included this instance as considered one of my February publication concepts, you’ll be able to clearly use it at any time of 12 months to drive down these pesky returns.

Lowering returns is all properly and good. However what are you able to do to increase gross salesat a time of 12 months when customers simply aren’t trying to spend their hard-earned money?

One tried-and-trusted tactic is to share buyer evaluations of your hottest merchandise.

Mix a top-selling product with a convincing, persuasive, user-generated overview and also you’ve primarily created a license to print cash.

Reality is, even when you’re the world’s greatest copywriter, you’ll by no means write something as convincing as a testimonial from a real buyer. 

Based on Tint’s State of Person-Generated Content material 2022 report, 72 p.c of customers really feel customer-submitted evaluations and testimonials are extra credible than branded content material. What’s extra, a staggering 93 p.c of entrepreneurs agree that customers belief user-generated content material (UGC) greater than content material created by manufacturers.

Oribe Hair Care is one model utilizing UGC to its benefit. On this instance, it showcases no fewer than 5 real-world buyer testimonials to advertise its anti-humidity spray (together with the one within the screenshot):

And, in fact, it wraps the entire thing up with a name to motion encouraging prospects to purchase now.

For an much more actionable technique, contemplate selling a limited-time low cost code, free transport, or gift-with-purchase supply alongside your product evaluations to offer your viewers an added incentive to purchase.

It appears Mavi Denims bought the memo. This e-mail, despatched in late February 2022, presents subscribers a glimpse at its just lately launched spring assortment, with loads of product imagery and persuasive copywriting that highlights key promoting factors:

Then there are two calls to motion pointing readers within the route of its “for him” and “for her” collections.

Mavi Denims makes this e-mail much more persuasive by including a 15 p.c low cost code for purchasers who join its SMS advertising and marketing listing:

This can be a sensible play, with Shopify analysis revealing that multichannel advertising and marketing can increase income by 38 p.c, 120 p.c, and 190 p.c for every further channel a buyer engages with.

February is US Black Historical past Month—a chance to acknowledge the struggles and successes of African People all through the nation’s historical past.

This represents a dilemma for entrepreneurs.

On one hand, you wish to display your assist for African American communities. Particularly provided that four-fifths of customers choose a model’s values to align with their very own, in accordance with analysis from Google.

However on the opposite, no model desires to be accused of leaping on the Black historical past bandwagon in a cynical try and drive gross sales. Certainly, Google’s analysis additionally revealed that three-quarters of customers have “damaged up” with a model resulting from a battle in values.

Fabletics bought issues proper in 2022: 

Not solely did it be a part of forces with two Black creatives, however it additionally pledged to donate one hundred pc of web proceeds to grassroots organizations concentrating on that assist Black communities.

When you’re going to become involved in Black Historical past Month, bear in mind: it’s not all about you.

Make sure you’re centring Black voices. Don’t fall silent the second Black Historical past Month ends. And don’t use the occasion as an try to spice up your earnings.

Construct Income-Driving E-mail Automations With Drip

It takes a bunch of time, effort, and information evaluation to come back up high-performing publication concepts.

So the very last thing you want is to spend much more time on low-value duties like constructing, segmenting, and sending particular person emails.

That’s why you want Drip.

Our confirmed pre-built e-mail workflows are able to go if you want them—simply add your personal branding and e-mail copy.

Need to customise your workflows? That’s simple, too, because of our point-and-click workflow builder.

Give our advertising and marketing automation instruments a spin by signing up on your 14-day free trial.