Sizzlin’ hot summer newsletter ideas for 2023
Jonas, Communications Team Lead
While summer can be a slow time for business with lower newsletter engagement, it's definitely not the time to stress.
Quite the opposite—summer is a time to bring new life into your email marketing campaigns!
Use this season to complete long-overdue email maintenance tasks, shake up your content and play around with your summer newsletter design.
Go get a refreshment and find a shady spot. We’re about to summerize your newsletters.
Let’s start with fresh summer content ideas
There are as many summer newsletter ideas as there are ice-cream flavors. Especially when you take into account all of the bank holidays and special occasions.
So when you’re running out of ideas, why not use an event to create newsletter content year-round?
The biggest summer happenings to mark on your email calendar are Father’s Day, the 4th of July, Labor Day and the last and first day of school.
And if that’s not enough, no worries.
At some point in time, someone, somewhere decided that July would be Hot Dog Month, August 3rd Watermelon Day and August 6th (wait for it) Fresh Breath Day.
Malaysian booze delivery service Boozeat celebrated our favorite, #worldmartiniday on June 19th, with this newsletter.
Summer newsletter events for June
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 1 | Global Day of Parents |
| June 1 | Say Something Nice Day |
| June 3 | World Bicycle Day |
| June 3 | National Donut Day |
| June 5 | World Environment Day |
| June 08 | World Oceans Day |
| June 18 | International Picnic Day |
| June 18 | Father’s Day |
| June 21 | International Day of Yoga |
| June 23 | Take Your Dog to Work Day |
Find 76 June content ideas here:
Summer newsletter events for July
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 1 | International Joke Day |
| July 2 | World UFO Day |
| July 4 | Independence Day (US) |
| July 7 | World Chocolate Day |
| July 9 | International Skinny Dip Day |
| July 15 | World Youth Skills Day |
| July 18 | Nelson Mandela International Day |
| July 20 | International Moon Day |
| July 20 | World Chess Day |
| July 30 | International Day of Friendship |
Find 68 July content ideas here:
Summer newsletter events for August
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| August 5 | International Beer Day |
| August 6 | Wiggle Your Toes Day |
| August 6 | International Hangover Day |
| August 8 | Sleep Under the Stars Night |
| August 8 | International Cat Day |
| August 12 | World Elephant Day |
| August 12 | International Youth Day |
| August 13 | International Lefthanders Day |
| August 17 | Nonprofit Day |
| August 31 | National Eat Outside Day |
Summer email subject lines for inspiration
We get it, surviving a day in your sticky office or home is already exhausting enough. That’s why we did you a favor and curated our favorite summer email subject lines for 2023. Some were invented by our customers, others taken from our inboxes.
Elysium Health - A science-backed guide for your healthiest summer ever
Vacasa - Skip the crowds this summer
JUDY - ⚠️ Summer Emergency Prep 101 ⚠️
Eccentrics Boutique - [VIDEO] Summer styles have hit the streets!
Travel Diaries - Summer deal: 20% discount on your diary!
Urban Jewellers - Giving away our summer collection. Free 18K chains for you Megan?
SHOPAHOLIC - O.M.G. 😲 80% OFF July 4th Sale Kicks Off
ZerotoTwo - Sunny Summer Styles You'll Love - Starting At Only $59
Selina - 🌞Hey, Erin, heard you were looking for sunshine...
Anna Ukolova - Traveling to Ukraine this summer...Is it possible? Check out?
San Antonio Things to Do - 15+ Restaurants w/ Playgrounds to Enjoy Before It Gets Too Hot
Dipaways - 5 WORST Travelers – Are You One?
Boston on a Budget - Travel Safe This Summer with RVshare!
Trekaroo, Inc. - What was your sweetest summer memory? Here's mine.
Tremendous Times - Ways you can travel with a 9-to-5 ✈
CheYoga and Ayurveda Wellness - Summer Solstice 108 Sun Salutations challenge 🧘♂️
Ray’s Indoor Bike Park - Summer Sessions are in FULL swing! Have you checked out the changes?
SlimLife Health & Wellness - ☀Summer Is Still In Full Swing & So Is This Restart Special!
Hohman Rehab and Sports Therapy - Megan, summer is HERE! Are you ready?!
Wellsome - Join our first Virtual Well Woman Retreat Day! June 27th (save your spot now)
RunToTheFinish - Kick Off Summer Strength {FREE}
Levine Family Fitness - Get Smokin' Literally and Figuratively with this BETTER BODY BBQ Challenge!
Clean and Sweet Deals on Romance - 💕 This back to school party is about to be over sooner than expected…
Roxy Reid - 💖 Grab hot & spicy FREEBIE reads for summer
Helena Hunting Books - Ready for a summer fling? Brand new FREE summer stories!
Virtual Book Club for Kids - Summer has started! PLUS a special summer bonus for all our virtual book club friends
Fresh Fiction - Kick-Off YOUR Summer with special giveaways, books, gift cards and FUN!
BM Mills - Goals for Summer: What are yours? ⛅
All My Good Things - Summer "Must Haves" for the kids and the Start of this Strange Summer ☀️
Year Round Homeschooling - Limited Time Freebie June Summer Bucket List
Cook’s Hideout - Chocolate Pudding Pops!! Easy to make Summer Treat 🍫
Mom 4 Real - Homemade Sunburn Relief Spray Right in Time for Memorial Day Weekend!
Thrillist - The Best Music You'll Stream All Summer Long
ELLE - Win a Luxury Getaway to Mexico + Flight Credit!
Joy Filled Eats - Want to try ButcherBox? Get a FREE bbq bundle today!
Joi Wade - ☀ Natural hair wash day routine for SUMMER!
Taylor Lynn Crochet - Summer Top Crochet-A-Long
Raffa Musa Designs - Last Day to Download the FREE Patterns of The Summer Stitch Along, Week 3
With missing sender information
⚡ Sizzling Summer Releases and Hot Deals ⚡
Need A Summer Escape?
Summer Sale & Last Part of the Wish Factor
Happy Fourth of July {$name}! What's your favorite summer barbecue food?
A Summer Gift for You!
How to Dress for a Summer Date
Summer Style Lessons
{$name}, how's your summer so far?
Happy almost summer!
What We're Wearing on Summer Travels
Summer-proof email campaign ideas
Your business might suffer from summer slow motion, but don’t give up on your email marketing efforts. Instead, take inspiration from these engaging summer newsletter ideas.
Summer newsletters are for something special
You see this in magazines all the time: summer specials. Why don’t you shake up your content?
Talk about family-friendly activities, mouth-watering recipes or airy summer styles. With a bit of brainstorming, you’ll soon come up with 101 summer ideas for your newsletters.
Example #1: Summer fashion newsletter theme
MailerLite customer Pauline Alice shows readers in their summer newsletter how to make their own dress from the sewing patterns that they're selling (which looks awesome, btw).
Bikinis, shorts, shades, fun, sand and sun. Get fired up by these fashion newsletter examples designed in MailerLite.
Example #2: Summer travel newsletter theme
Airbnb gets readers dreaming about their summer vacation in their summer newsletter campaign showcasing the perfect summer getaway rentals.
Take a trip to destination inspiration with these travel newsletter design examples.
Example #3: E-commerce summer newsletter theme
Coffee brand, Jot, takes a cool approach to their summer newsletter. Instead of pushing products in a summer sale, they provide extra value to readers by promoting a blog post on how to use their product to create thirst-quenching iced coffee four ways.
Got some cool content on your own blog? Check out these newsletter examples to inspire your own value-add campaign.
Example #4: Summer music newsletter theme
Musicbed knows that summer is festival season, which means it’s time to curate a summer playlist in preparation for dancing the night away.
Get inspired by these music email design examples for your own summer newsletter line-up.
Example #5: Hospitality summer newsletter theme
Hotel June makes the most of summer by offering late summer coupon codes. Painting a picture of poolside relaxation that makes you want to squeeze all the sunshine you can into the last days of summer.
Downloadable lists: Ready, prep, go!
Create a summer list to share with subscribers. What to pack for a solo trip to Asia, how to get in shape in 31 days, 33 must-read books to finish this summer—you can create a list about practically anything.
As downloadable PDF files (lead magnets), lists are a great way to collect new subscribers. Create a signup form that is linked to a welcome email. Then insert the URL to download the list in this email. Now you can promote this signup form on a landing page, in blog articles or as a website pop-up.
Look at Everyday Explorers, a website about travel, paper, and scrapbooking. Founder Christine Herrin created these super fun summer printables and offered them as a free download for her customers.
Thrillist curated a list of the 33 books they can't wait to read in the summer.
Tip: Not sure how to design a good-looking downloadable? Online tools like Canva make it easy to design like a pro.
Engaging summer contests
Ask readers to answer quiz questions, send their vacation selfies or team up with their friends to win prizes. This will surely boost your readers' engagement!
London’s Lovebox festival motivated visitors to send videos showing how they experienced the festival. This resulted in a super interactive and engaging newsletter.
Make sure your price is attractive enough for readers to take a break from tanning. Skincare brand Primally Pure nailed this. They gave away beauty products worth over $1700—an offer no mini-Kylie can refuse.
How to style your summer email template
Just like we pack up our heavy jackets and fill our closets with more airy materials, it’s also beneficial to make your email newsletters summer-ready. These email design changes will help brighten up your emails and keep your newsletter readers engaged!
A lot of people already read their newsletters on mobile devices. Once the temperatures rise, this number will only increase. Make sure your newsletter is responsive and uses bright, contrasting colors so the content is easy to read outside.
Using bright colors enhances your click rate. Try styling your buttons in yellow—this color not only gives off major summer vibes, it’s also recommended by psychologists to stimulate curiosity. This is why people tend to click yellow buttons more. Discover more color hacks in our blog post on what colors are best for email marketing.
Use beautiful photos to make your subscribers feel warm and fuzzy. There are plenty of great photos online that you can use for free (check our blog post about the best free resources for beautiful newsletters). Our tip? Use your own photos to be more personal.
Swimming, jogging, dancing, hula-hooping—summer is all about movement! Put some action into your summer newsletters and play around with GIFs, videos and countdown timers.
Give your email list a summertime refresh
With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, you easily forget about email maintenance.
When was the last time you sat down and took a fresh look at the different aspects of your email marketing? How’s your subscriber segmentation, the health of your email list and your subscriber forms?
Use the season to get your email marketing back into a healthy shape.
1. Segment: Group your readers
How can you get more personal with your readers? Analyze your list and group subscribers based on things like location, previous purchases, gender, age group, interests, and so on.
Marketers who use segmented campaigns note as much as a 760% increase in revenue, so this task is definitely worth getting sweaty for.
For example, when you know your reader’s location, you can send them flight offers for nearby airports or suggest weekend trips to neighboring cities.
Missing this information? Ask! KLM does this in an engaging, interactive way in their welcome email.
You can also gain customer insights by asking for feedback. This is easily done by embedding an email survey into your summer newsletter template.
Now that things are a little quieter, you'll have the time to really go through the survey answers, listen to your readers and brainstorm ways to strengthen your brand.
CurleeMe shows how to gather feedback in her newsletter below.
2. Verify subscribers: Dust off your email list
Regularly cleaning your email list ensures that you’re protecting your sender reputation and improving your deliverability.
With a tool like MailerCheck, you simply need to upload your email list to verify subscribers. Once your emails are analyzed, you can import your cleaned email list and enjoy subscribers that are in top shape. This will save you money when sending your next summer campaign.
3. Optimize: Refresh your landing pages and forms
Summer is a good time to check your stats and see what works best for your landing pages and which metrics you can improve. Maybe the wording can be more convincing or your images could use a touch-up. Small tweaks can make all the difference.
If you don’t believe me, ask copywriter Cole Schafer.
A good high converting landing page is like a sexy well-dressed super-powered salesman or saleswoman that can sell like a Florida snow cone vendor on the hottest day of the year.
On a last sunny note…
Use the summer to get your email marketing strategy in excellent shape and surprise readers with fresh content and eye-catching newsletter designs.
If you do, you won’t need to stress about your business suffering from summer fatigue. On the contrary, your readers will want to engage with your newsletters and celebrate summer with you.
How will you brighten up your newsletter this summer? Share your strategy in the comments.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in May 2019, but has been updated with new subject lines and summer newsletter examples.
Create your own summer campaign in minutes!
Our free plan gives you access to all important features, like bright landing pages and smooth automation campaigns so you can build automated workflows then chill out by the swimming pool. Sign up today and enjoy 14-day access to all premium features.
