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Sizzlin’ hot summer newsletter ideas for 2024

· 25 min read · Email marketing · Jun 20, 2024
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.


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 personal favorite, World Martini Day on June 19th, with this newsletter.

From: Boozeat
Subject: Celebrate #WorldMartiniDay with Boozeat
Summer newsletter example from Boozeat

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 8 World Oceans Day
June 8 Best Friend’s Day
June 14 Flag Day (US)
June 18 International Picnic Day
June 18 Father’s Day
June 20 World Refugee Day
June 21 International Day of Yoga
June 21 Summer Solstice (First Day of Summer)
June 23 Take Your Dog to Work Day

Find 75 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 6 International Kissing Day
July 7 World Chocolate Day
July 9 International Skinny Dip Day
July 14 Bastille Day (France)
July 15 World Youth Skills Day
July 17 World Emoji Day
July 18 Nelson Mandela International Day
July 20 International Moon Day
July 20 World Chess Day
July 28 World Nature Conservation Day
July 30 International Day of Friendship

Find 69 July content ideas here:

Summer newsletter events for August

Date Event
August 1 National Girlfriends Day
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 10 National Lazy Day
August 12 World Elephant Day
August 12 International Youth Day
August 13 International Lefthanders Day
August 15 National Relaxation Day
August 17 Nonprofit Day
August 19 World Humanitarian Day
August 26 National Dog Day
August 31 National Eat Outside Day

Find August content ideas here:


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 2024. Some were invented by our customers, others taken from our inboxes.

E-commerce subject lines

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!

ZerotoTwo - Sunny Summer Styles You'll Love - Starting At Only $59

Shopbop - Your summer wardrobe starter pack

Sabo - Packing for Summer

Flannels - Summer beauty made easy

Niche Beauty - Magic Scents for Endless Summer

AllSaints - Beach, please.

Travelpro - Let's Colour Your Summer Travels 🎨

Travel and transportation subject lines

Selina - 🌞Hey, Erin, heard you were looking for sunshine...

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 ✈

The Infatuation - Where To Eat On Your Summer Vacation

The New York Pass - ☀️ Get sorted for your summer travel plans!

Vrbo - ​​The top-rated homes your summer is searching for

Fitness and health subject lines

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!

Media and publishing subject lines

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? ⛅

Electric Literature - Write More this Summer with WritingWorkshops.com!

Various industries summer subject lines

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

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

Refinery29 - The French manicure is getting a Summer makeover

Lost + Found Drinkery - Summer Kickoff with Cool Cocktails & Hot Events

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

Find more inspiration for creating awesome subject lines in this guide:


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 is the perfect time for e-commerce businesses to engage customers with dreamy content and compelling offers. Here are some tried and tested campaign ideas that are sure to get your audience in the Summer spirit. 

1. Summer essentials guide

Create a guide of all the must-have Summer products on sale in your e-commerce store. You can make the guide more valuable and complete by including complementary products from other brands. For example, if you sell swimwear, include all your top-selling pieces along with the accessories that complete the look.  

2. Beat the heat promotions

Start a special promotion on all the products that will help your subscribers stay cool, calm, and collected during the Summer months. Sell custom water bottles? Give a discount for all water bottle purchases and include tips on how to stay healthy and hydrated. 

3. Summer DIY projects

Share tips, ideas and tutorials for Summer-themed DIY projects and blend in your products. You can share ideas for outdoor makeovers and decor, outdoor games, kid’s crafts projects, and more. 

4. Vacation ready campaign

Create a vacation guide with checklists, tips and recommendations for the most hassle-free vacation experience. Include your most popular Summer products as recommendations. If you sell clothing, put together your favorite beach resort looks. 

5. Summer fashion trends

Put together a lookbook of Summer fashion trends, incorporating your own products. Try to think outside the box and use your own unique interpretations of this year’s trends to stand out from the crowd. 

6. Healthy summer living

The change in season and warmer temperatures means that many people around the globe adapt their lifestyle during the Summer months to stay healthy. Whether it’s healthy eating using in-season ingredients, tips for staying hydrated, a guide on how to protect oneself from the sun, or how to maintain a healthy exercise plan even when the weather heats up, there are many ways you can provide value to subscribers while promoting your brand and products. 

7. Summer recipes

Do you love to share cooking and lifestyle content? Summer is the ideal time to create exciting new recipes for food and drinks and share them with your subscribers. You could even ask them to submit their own favorite Summer recipes.

8. Festival and event preparation

Summer is always jam-packed with festivals and events of all kinds, especially well-known and trendy music festivals. Create a guide on how to survive a multi-day festival, or share tips on how to stay safe, healthy and enjoy the experience. You can even throw in a downloadable checklist for everything someone needs to do and bring when they’re attending an event. 

9. Backyard fun ideas

Share your outdoor summer game ideas for keeping everyone occupied when at home during the summer months. 

10. Summer beauty essentials

Reveal your secrets on how to get the perfect, glowy Summer look with product recommendations for cosmetics products and, of course, all-important sun protection. Share your must-have products for the ultimate Summer beauty regimen.


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.

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).

From: Pauline Alice
Subject: NEW HACK: AN EASY SUMMER DRESS WITH VERA ☀️
Pauline Alice summer newsletter vera dresses created using mailerlite
Image credit: Pauline Alice

Bikinis, shorts, shades, fun, sand and sun. Get fired up by these fashion newsletter examples designed in MailerLite.

2. Summer travel newsletter theme

Vrbo gets readers dreaming about a far-away summer vacation in their summer newsletter campaign showcasing the perfect international summer getaway rentals.

From: Vrbo
Subject: Explore international stays for summer
Vrbo summer newsletter example
Image credit: Vrbo

Take a trip to destination inspiration with these travel newsletter design examples.

3. E-commerce summer newsletter theme

Skincare brand and e-commerce store, Skin Rocks, takes an informative 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 whether or not it’s safe to use retinoid products during the Summer. They also include a link to another Summer-themed skincare article and a call to action to shop sun protection products.

From: Skin Rocks
Subject: Can You Use A Retinoid During Summer? ☀️
Skin Rocks summer blog newsletter example
Image credit: Skin Rocks

Got some cool content on your own blog? Check out these newsletter examples to inspire your own value-add campaign.

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.

From: Musicbed
Subject: Our best new music releases
Musicbed summer newsletter example
Image credit: Musicbed

Get inspired by these music email design examples for your own summer newsletter line-up.

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.

Summer newsletter from Hotel June with a GIF of alternate holiday themed images
Image credit: Hotel June

6. End of summer newsletter theme

French Summer clothing brand Sundress pushes for end-of-season sales with an end-of-summer discount code.

From: Sundress
Subject: SUMMER NEVER ENDS 🌞
End of summer newsletter example from Sundress.
Image credit: Sundress

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.

From: Everyday Explorers
Subject: [Thursday Treat] Document your summer! ☀
Everyday Explorers summer newsletter example summertime printables
Image credit: Everday Explorers

Thrillist curated a list of the 33 books they can't wait to read in the summer.

From: Thrillist
Subject: 33 Books That Should Be On Your Summer Reading List
Thrillist summer newsletter example animated gif sunglasses book
Image credit: Thrillist

Tip: Not sure how to design a good-looking downloadable? Online tools like Canva make it easy to design like a pro.


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.

From: Lovebox
Subject: 🤩 Your Festival, Your Lens 🤩
Lovebox summer newsletter example animated gif video festival promo
Image credit: Lovebox

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.

From: Primally Pure
Subject: Enter to win over $1700 worth of summer essentials
Primally Pure summer newsletter example minimal white tones
Image credit: Primally Pure

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 template design changes will help brighten up your emails and keep your newsletter readers engaged!

Design

Color: Summer means COLOR! Bring out the brights, the lights, the tropicals, the neons, and the pastels. Summer is the ideal time to experiment with different color palettes and tones, just make sure that it fits your branding plus, choose a theme and stick to it to remain consistent. Here are some examples of Summer color palettes you can use.E

Examples of Summer color palettes.

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

Typography: The fonts you use in your template designs are an excellent way to imbue your emails with the fun, carefree vacation vibes that make Summer so great. For best results, keep the main content of your templates the usual font that you use and experiment with the fonts used in your graphics or headlines. 

Background: Set the mood and inspire subscribers with Summery colors and imagery for your email template backgrounds. Yellows, oranges and blues are great if you want to go for a solid color, while tropical plants, beach scenes, and summer landscapes are images that make and impact.

Content

Summer is all about relaxing, having fun, and making the most of the beautiful weather—it’s a happy time! You want your email intro, headers and main content to use language that reflects this, connects with the reader, and inspires them.


Adjusting your tone of voice to be more casual and friendly is a nice way to do this, but only if it’s appropriate for your brand! You’ll also want to sprinkle in Summer-themed language, references—and if you’re a bit cheesy like we are—some fun Summer puns.

Imagery

Your images, icons and patterns should all play into the Summer theme. 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. Some ideas for imagery include:

  • The beach/sea

  • Swimming pools

  • Plants/flowers/palm trees

  • Fruit

  • Swimwear

  • Sunglasses

  • The sun/sky

  • Cocktails

  • Grilling/al fresco cooking and dining

  • Ice cream

  • Travel

Interactive elements

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.

Accessibility

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. Check out this email accessibility guide to learn more.


With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it’s easy to 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 Summer season to get your email marketing back into a healthy shape.

1. Segment 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! Ulta Beauty does this in an engaging, interactive way in their monthly recap emails.

From: Ulta Beauty
Subject: Amy, your May Rewardy Recap is here! 💌
Ulta Beauty segmentation example
Image credit: Ulta Beauty

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.

Revolut shows how to gather feedback in the newsletter below.

From: Revolut
Subject: Let's improve business cards! 💳
Email survey example from Revolut
Image credit: Revolut

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. Refresh and optimize 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.
- Cole Schafer, Copywriter

4. Send your newsletters at the right time

Have you experimented with the best time to send emails to your subscribers? Looking at our own data, we found that Thursday is the best day of the week to send, as this is the day emails get the most opens. We also found that most opens occur between 11 AM and 12 PM. You’ll want to test out different sending times to see what works best for your audience.

In MailerLite, you can also use the Smart sending feature, which allows you to send out your newsletter individually to each subscriber at the time they are more likely to open it.

Check out our guide on the best time to send emails to learn more.

5. Split test your emails

Carrying out A/B tests for your emails allows you to see which content, subject lines, CTAs, and design elements perform the best among a small selection of your audience. The winning email is then sent to the remainder of subscribers. Continuously split testing emails over time allows you to keep optimizing your emails based on real performance, so you can make informed decisions about what color buttons to use, whether to use emojis in your subject lines, and much more.

6. Use AI to help

AI is a wonderful thing, as long as we remember that it’s there to help us, not replace us! Use AI to help with content ideas, creating newsletter copy templates, or creative subject lines that you might not otherwise think of.


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.

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Jonas Fischer
Jonas Fischer
I'm Jonas, Content Manager at MailerLite. I’m not the 4th Jonas Brother, but I do write content (which is similar to being a teen heartthrob). After writing for a bunch of companies over the years, I discovered my professional passion—helping add some humanity to B2B marketing. Email is the perfect place to start!