70 Summer Email Subject Lines for 2023

If you’re looking for summer email subject lines, then you’ve come to the right place!

Summer tends to be a great season for email marketers. And of course this year, it’s coming on the back of a lousy spring, which has seen most of us locked down during the Coronavirus pandemic.

So, now is the time to start planning your summer email marketing campaigns and crafting your summer email subject lines!

And mid- to late-May is the time to starting sending them out, just as the weather starts to warm up in earnest and people begin to look forward to the season ahead.

Of course, right now it’s impossible to know when summer does come around whether we’ll be looking at something like this:

Or whether we’ll still all be stuck in a scene like this.

We’re going to have to plan for both scenarios.

But there are two bits of good news. Whatever happens:

👍 #1 Email behavior remains the same

👍 #2 The “psychology of summer” remains the same

In this blog, we’re going to run through what those points mean in practice, before giving you 75 summer email subject lines you can start using today!

Click on any of the links below to skip ahead:

1. Email Behavior Principles 101
2. Summer Psychology
3. Your 70 Summer Email Subject Lines

1. Email Behaviour Principles 101

OK: we’ve said this many times before on this blog, but it bears repeating.

💥👉Your email subject line is the single most important part of your newsletter 👈💥

Why?

Because if the recipient isn’t tempted to click on your email by the subject line, THEY WILL NEVER SEE ANY OF THE REST OF IT.

Plus, your email subject line plays a bit part in whether your message even reaches the recipient’s inbox.

If it contains known spam words or violates the recipients’ email policies then :

• At best your message will be dumped to the Gmail Promotions Tab (see this previous blog for details on how to avoid that fate!)
• At worst it will go to spam or junk mail

And THAT is a problem.

Being sent to spam will damage your sender reputation – making it even harder to get future messages in front of people.

Even if they get to the inbox, most emails are ignored.

The average open rate across all sectors is just 21.33%.

So if we’re going to do better than that, your summer email subject lines are going to have to do some heavy lifting!

When you’re coming up with your own subject lines, make sure you follow these six guidelines:

1. Keep it short: Research suggests that 41 characters is optimal, but some email clients (eg Gmail mobile) display even fewer than that
2. Include personalization wherever you can: Personalized emails get opened 26% more than generic emails
3. Ask questions: Create a sense of intrigue with your subject line that makes opening the message hard to resist
4. FOMO, scarcity and exclusivity drive interest: A sense of urgency is a very powerful behavioral influencer
5. Be relevant: Nothing is more offputting than an email subject line that tries to be intriguing without actually telling the reader what it’s really about!
6. Above all, know your audience: All general rules give way to what you know to be true SPECIFICALLY about your own audience

2. Summer Psychology

Do people LIKE summer?

Do people LOOK FORWARD to summer?

😎🌞 YES, THEY DO!!! 😎🌞

Summer is a time that people celebrate: it’s warm, most people take time off or go on holiday, families get to spend time together, etc, etc.

Summer is also a time when people travel, when they go to festivals, and when they host parties and barbecues…

So successful summer email subject lines are POSITIVE, CHEERFUL and CAPTURE THAT SENSE OF CELEBRATION that we all experience as the weather improves.

But as we’ll see in the next section, there are a few different summer vibes to tap in to…

3. Your 70 Summer Email Subject Lines

🌞 1-10: Here comes summer!

These summer email subject lines are for late spring and early summer, as people are starting to get excited about and ready for the fun times ahead.

1. Summer is nearly here! Celebrate with [brand]
2. 20% off your new summer wardrobe this weekend only
3. Are you ready for the heat [name]?
4. Summer is on the way: all spring lines discounted!
5. Swim into summer this year
6. Kick off a summer to remember with [brand]
7. Start of summer sale now on
8. Are you ready to chill?
9. Our summer sale is coming…
10. How to make the most of the summer months

🌞 11-20: Fathers’ Day

Nothing particularly summery about this one, but it falls in summer, it’s a big eCommerce calendar date and neither the weather nor COVID-19 can spoil it!

1. Fathers’ Day gift ideas
2. What to get Dad this Fathers’ Day
3. Get Fathers’ Day sorted
4. 50% off Fathers’ Day gifts from [brand] – sale ends Monday!
5. Who’s the daddy?
6. Thank you Dad
7. Do something great this Father’s Day
8. What have you got your Dad, [name]?
9. Treat your Dad in style this Fathers’ Day
10. REMINDER! FATHER’S DAY IS [date]!

🌞 21-30: End of School/Graduation

Although school years have been disrupted by the pandemic, the end of the year is always a cause to celebrate.

1. School’s out for summer!
2. Celebrate the end of school with [brand]’s summer discounts!
3. 20% off everything at [brand] for new graduates this July
4. You did it! Here’s our exclusive discount code
5. Put the books away and get outside with [brand]
6. Grads are rad! Check out our exclusive end of school offers
7. Hot promo codes for cool school leavers
8. Just another school year? Not quite…
9. Hey teacher! Leave them kids alone!
10. Trade-in your old textbooks today for CASH

🌞 31-50: General Summer Email Subject Lines

These headlines are not related to any particular event – they just celebrate the spirit of the season.

1. Discounts that are too hot to handle
2. Surf’s up…but prices are down
3. Hello sunshine! Don’t miss these offers
4. Don’t sweat it: we’ve got savings for you [name]
5. The heat is on! 20% off everything [brand] this week only
6. We’ve got hot stuff waiting for you…
7. Spending summer at home this year?
8. Get your garden fit for summer
9. Beach-body ready? Check out our members’ only sale
10. Summer arrivals keep on coming
11. Our summer collection is here at last!
12. Dive into summer with [brand]
13. [name] – have a cold one on us!
14. Summer sale ends Saturday
15. You don’t want to miss these summer deals!
16. Join [brand] for our exclusive members’ virtual beach party
17. Summer weekend style – 25% off
18. Free delivery for summer lovers
19. Can you feel it? Hot deals for warm weekends
20. Don’t let coronavirus spoil the summer vibe!

🌞 51-60: End of summer

Make the most of the sunny feelings before they go into hibernation.

1. There’s still time for summer fun! Book ‘em before they’re gone
2. Up to 40% off – but the days are getting shorter…
3. It can’t last forever: [brand]’s summer sale ends on Sunday
4. Summer sale ends soon – everything must go!
5. End of summer close-out sale now on
6. New lines added to our end of summer blowout!
7. Make the good times last longer with this exclusive promo code
8. Are you ready for autumn? No!!!
9. Bye-bye beach…
10. Keep summertime rolling [name] with these [brand] savings

🌞 61-70: Back to School

Another big eCommerce event, as everyone gets ready to go back to normal.

1. 20% off all your back-to-school needs
2. Back to school savings from [brand]
3. [name]: are you ready to go back to school?
4. Goodbye summer. Hello school!
5. A new class of 2023 – welcome to [brand]!
6. Don’t leave us summer!
7. Your back to school checklist
8. Back to school discounts all this September
9. Nights are drawing in… More time to party!
10. Planning your Christmas shopping yet?

That last one is a bit of a joke, but it always pays to be prepared!

So that’s our summer email subject lines advice.

Remember, the earlier you plan your campaigns, the better you are likely to execute them.

Don’t forget to be flexible: who knows what summer 2023 is going to look like?

But like we said at the start, whatever happens, summer makes people happy as the weather warms up and they get to spend more time outdoors.