Millions of people worldwide will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this March. If your business maintains a newsletter, you likely have a few of those celebrants on your list.
Maybe this is your first time running an email campaign for this holiday, or you’re looking for ideas. Either way, you’re in the right place.
This article provides several ideas to help you roll out a St. Patrick’s Day email marketing campaign. As a bonus, we’ll also list seven St. Patrick’s Day email subject line ideas you can modify for your own campaign.
But first, let’s learn about the…
St. Patrick’s Day celebration
St. Patrick’s Day (sometimes called Paddy’s Day or Patty’s Day) is a holiday held every March on the 17th. The date marks the death of Saint Patrick, a saint of Irish descent.
People observe this holiday to celebrate St. Patrick and get in touch with their Irish roots (diasporan Irish). Countries that typically celebrate St. Patrick’s Day include the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, and South Africa.
Celebrants get into the holiday spirit in numerous ways, including flying the Irish flag and clinking beer mugs. They also throw parades, hold festivals, and don the color green.
You may see people with a lucky clover or shamrock, two items symbolic of this holiday. Amidst the merriment, alcohol flows freely. These attributes and more are what make St. Patrick’s Day special.
7 Interesting St. Patrick’s Day email campaign ideas
Now that you’re up to speed on what this holiday entails, here are seven ideas you can incorporate into your St. Patrick’s Day emails.
1. Add value by offering discounts
The first way to craft an effective St. Patrick’s Day email applies to email marketing in general–offer value to your recipients.
A fantastic and time-tested way to offer value is through discounts, as West Coast Shaving does in the email below:
You can throw a special St. Patrick’s Day sale for items specific to the holiday. For example, if you sell alcohol by the crateload, your St. Patrick’s Day email can offer a percentage off each purchase.
If you want a more subtle St. Patrick’s Day email campaign, you can warm up your recipients first by giving them celebration ideas. Then, highlight how your products can enhance their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and offer a discount.
2. Give back to the community
As you read this, your competitors are preparing St. Patrick’s Day email marketing campaigns, which means your customers will be inundated with promotional emails. That begs the question: how do you stand out?
It’s easier than you think. If most of your customers’ emails are transactional, you can make your St. Patrick’s Day-themed email stand out by being less transactional.
The best way to do that is to go back to the holiday’s roots. At its core, St. Patrick’s Day is a Christian holiday, and nothing says Christian values quite like charity. Thus, you can make charitability a pillar of your St. Patrick’s Day campaign by donating some of your profits.
Tell your customers where the proceeds will go, and they may be more motivated to make this holiday a charitable organization’s lucky day.
Alternatively, you can tie your campaign to a social cause like climate change, as Sauna House does below:
These ideas are especially relevant if your business caters to Gen Z customers. A 2022 survey revealed that 50% of these customers prefer to buy from brands that support a social justice cause.
3. Do impressive storytelling
The St. Patrick’s Day holiday is rife with storytelling opportunities. Everything from St. Patrick’s life to the four-leaf clover that is so symbolic of this holiday has a rich story behind it.
You can make your St. Patrick’s Day email campaign stand out by incorporating stories about the holiday into your marketing.
These entertaining and educational emails could prepare your customers for the festivities while positioning your brand as knowledgeable. If you can promote your products alongside the story, it could help customers associate the holiday with your brand.
4. Create a pre-event campaign
Like other holidays, St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t fall on the same day of the week. Naturally, some of your customers may not be as enthused to celebrate when the holiday falls on a weekday (due to work commitments).
Depending on the nature of your business, this behavior may pose a challenge to your St. Patrick’s Day marketing. So how do you get around it?
You can try running a pre-event campaign that convinces your customers to celebrate earlier or hypes them up for the event.
For example, if St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Monday, your campaign could motivate your customers to celebrate the weekend before. Or, if there’s no getting around being in the office, your event could position your products as a way to celebrate with colleagues in a more subdued manner. Do you run a sweet shop? Offer St. Patrick’s Day sweets!
You can use a drip campaign in the run-up to the holiday to build anticipation. By the time St. Patrick’s Day arrives, your subscribers should be primed to celebrate with your brand in mind.
5. Gamify your email content
St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are typically jovial affairs. Your St. Patrick’s Day email campaign can run with that energy by incorporating gamification.
This tactic can be effective because it encourages subscribers to engage with your email. You can further sweeten the deal by offering them incentives for participating (e.g., prizes and discounts).
You can gamify your St. Patrick’s Day email through quizzes and puzzles that unlock St. Patrick’s Day gear. Another idea is to host contests that motivate your customers to buy your products and share their results in time for the holiday.
6. Color-match the big day
St. Patrick’s Day is all about the color green. Leprechauns, shamrocks, and four-leaf clovers, as well as millions of celebrants worldwide, wear this color.
Some of the best St. Patrick’s Day newsletter ideas revolve around green and you could capitalize on the trend.
One way is to promote a St. Patrick’s Day collection that features green-colored products in your inventory, as Astro West does below:
Whether you put this collection together with existing products or create a new line from scratch is up to you.
If your campaign isn’t solely about making money, you could give your subscribers suggestions. For example, you can provide tips on green-colored items to wear to spread holiday cheer or props needed for a St. Patrick’s Day event.
7. Collaborate with an influencer
Do you know any influencers of Irish descent? Consider collaborating with them in time for St. Patrick’s Day.
You can ask the influencer to create a recorded message and embed it into your St. Patrick’s Day email. Depending on your campaign’s goal, the video’s topic could be about your brand’s products or the holiday celebration in general.
Popular St. Patrick’s Day email campaigns
The companies that follow have rolled out some amazing St. Patrick’s Day email campaigns. Use these St. Patrick’s Day email examples for inspiration when planning yours.
Harry’s
Harry’s always finds creative ways to market their products and their St. Patrick’s Day email is a great example of this creativity. It uses humor to plug the Harry’s brand of razors while associating the products with a fun St. Patrick’s Day.
The thrust of Harry’s marketing is simple: use our product for pain-free St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Not only does it identify a potential pain point its target market may have, but it also positions the brand as a solution—clandestine marketing at its finest.
Postmates
Postmate’s St. Patrick’s Day email employs puns and visuals to amazing effect while catering to audiences who’d rather stay in.
The company encourages subscribers to use its service by using one of the holiday’s nicknames in a play of words. It subtly positions itself as a source for St. Patrick’s Day staples (corned beef and beer), accompanied by a simple call-to-action (“Order Now”).
Meanwhile, the green background, rainbow, and gold coins remind recipients of the holiday they’re celebrating.
Uber Eats
In the above email, Uber Eats likens the food it delivers during the St. Patrick’s Day holiday to pots of gold. This creative use of St. Patrick’s Day lore (rainbows, gold, and leprechauns) imbues this everyday service with festive cheer.
While the email’s copy does most of the heavy lifting (“a rainbow of flavors”, “food in a snap, no luck needed”), its visuals are no slouch. It employs simple illustrations and primary colors to align with the occasion and invite customers to get in on the fun.
Rugs.com
The Rugs.com email above doesn’t rely too heavily on St. Patrick’s Day-themed visuals. While it uses the color green and a four-leaf clover icon to call back to the holiday, its rugs take center stage. The choice makes sense since the email is meant to promote products by offering discounts.
Other things this email gets right include the creation of scarcity through time-limited free shipping and a 50-60% discount on all orders.
Leesa
Leesa’s tongue-in-cheek copy in the above email employs humor in two ways: through a knock-knock joke and sexual innuendo (“Get Lucky with Leesa”).
It also forgoes St. Patrick’s Day imagery almost entirely to keep the recipient’s focus on Leesa’s products. The only visuals that communicate “St. Patrick’s Day email” are the dog with a little leprechaun hat and the green text and call-to-action button.
This restraint seems on-brand for the hybrid mattress company, whose products customers would want to use after rambunctious St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Still, the company makes up for the minimal St. Patrick’s Day theme by incentivizing purchases with a $100 discount.
7 St. Patrick’s Day subject lines to get more clicks
Finally, here are seven compelling St. Patrick’s Day email subject lines you can use in your campaign.
1. St. Paddy’s Day Green Friday
2. Go Green 💚 Before You Get Pinched 🤌
3. Color forecast: serene greens?
4. Being green? Not easy. Saving 30%? Super easy!
5. ☘️ The Luck of the Irish is With You ☘️
6. Going, going, green!
7. Go Green With Our St. Paddy’s Day Collection!
Feel free to modify the above St. Patrick’s Day subject lines to fit your needs.
Wrapping Up
The ideas in this article provide an excellent starting point if you want to craft effective St. Patrick’s Day-themed emails.
Provide value through a St. Patrick’s Day sale, St. Patrick’s Day discount code, or other promotions. Make sure to stand out by being charitable and using storytelling to engage your subscribers.
Other ideas worth trying include email gamification, color-matching the holiday, and collaborating with an influencer.
Whatever you decide, don’t forget to wish your subscribers a happy St. Patrick’s Day.