Why should you consider getting involved?
Last year’s spending and consumer preferences demonstrate the opportunity out there for retailers who can take advantage of Valentine’s day. Like the bigger retail holidays, Valentine’s day is also seeing a steady incline in overall spending, coupled with a consumer preference for online purchases.
- In 2021, US shoppers spent $21.8B on gifts for Valentine’s Day
- In the same year, 38% of Americans bought gifts online, up from 32% the previous year (2020)
So whether your offerings are very ‘V-day’ adjacent or not, there’s probably still something you can do to engage with the holiday if you choose to. If you need a little inspiration, we’ve compiled a guide to Valentine’s Day with tips on how to get involved, things to consider, and some great examples we’ve seen.
Not everyone feels the love
Before we dive in, it’s also worth remembering that not everyone appreciates Valentine’s Day for a whole host of reasons. We have seen a rising trend in retailers allowing their subscribers to opt-out of Valentine-themed communications. Whether you plan to lean heavily into the holiday in your campaigns or not, this is something that you could consider to mitigate the risk of upsetting any subscribers. Equally, if your brand and consumers are both less aligned with traditional ideas of Valentine’s day, you might consider engaging more subversively with an ‘anti-Valentines’ sentiment and approach.
Popular sub-themes
These are some recognized themes and trends that can be explored across your channels in the build-up to Valentine’s day.
- Traditional red, roses, and hearts imagery. Adjusting the colors and tone to the holiday is a great way to lean into Valentine’s day in your design.
- Galentines Gifting (13th February) – If the emerging trend of celebrating friendships the day before Valentine’s fits more with your brand, then ‘Galentines’ could be a great opportunity to engage.
- Self-gifting – ‘Treat yourself’ is always a compelling message, and is nicely coupled with an appreciation campaign (examples below).
- Significant-other gifting – This theme ties nicely with gift guides or curated offerings personalized to different gift-receiving groups.
Valentine’s day campaign ideas by channel
There are plenty of routes you can take to bring Valentine’s day into your email campaigns. It’s a great opportunity to leverage relevant product recommendations, countdowns, or specific sub-themes, like the ones we highlighted above.
Our advice: Leading up to the holiday, make sure you are communicating ways to gift, whether for others or themselves, and include key information like shipping cut-offs.
Some examples we loved
Curated gift guides
Gift guides are a great way to connect with your subscribers, providing ideas ‘for him/her/the special person (or even pet!)’.
