July 4th is fast approaching, and while you may have your mind on barbecues, beach trips, sparklers & bottle rockets, and other celebratory fun, you should also consider sending a special holiday email promotion to generate some fireworks in your bank account this Independence Day.

You may be thinking, “July 4th? Why would I run an art promotion on July 4th?”

If you have Americana-themed work, the answer is obvious. If not, the July 4th holiday is still a great time to promote your art.

Many people assume Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Black Friday, and other major gift-giving holidays are the only times to run a sale or send an email promotion, but if you take a look at your own email inbox, you’ll notice tons of sales and promos from holidays minor to major from every retailer whose updates you subscribe to.

In 2015, Americans spent $6.7 billion on the 4th of July. Don’t you want a piece of that?

While you don’t want to inundate your subscribers with “buy, buy, buy” all the time, if you’re sending your subscribers regular romance emails between your sales offers, a July 4th promotion won’t be a problem.

Plus, you probably have new subscribers on your email list since the last time you ran a sale, and those folks might be waiting for just the right opportunity to buy.

Enter July 4th.

Independence Day Email Statistics

Let’s review a few stats to help you determine the timing of your email campaign.

Leaders in data driven email WhatCounts.com found that:

• 76% of email generated revenue comes from campaigns a week before the July 4th holiday
• 67% of emails are sent a week before the holiday
• 32% of sales came in on July 4th itself
• Email campaigns with offers in the subject lines drove the most revenue

When it comes to the timing of your sales offer, consider how 4th of July differs from other holidays:

According to Russell Research and Experian Marketing Services, four-fifths of Christmas holiday shoppers start shopping before Thanksgiving, but July 4th shoppers tend to open their wallets within a week of the holiday.

You can plan farther out in advance, but you don’t have to to take advantage of this holiday.

For 4th of July emails, Experian Marketing Services found that, no surprise, discounts work.

For example, having free shipping in the subject line led to three times more transactions, and coupons in the subject had twice the transaction rate of those without.

And while we’re on the topic of discounts, 20% is by far the most popular discount offered according to several email marketing analyses over the last few years.

Let me share just one more interesting factoid:

62.7% of companies sent just one email mentioning the 4th of July. There was no follow-up, and no reminder.

Consider using this to your advantage by sending an email campaign promoting your special offer, sale, or discount.

Product-Specific Promotions

Don’t forget that a store-wide discount is not your only option when it comes to running a promotion!

Why not discount just one of your product types?

For this, we recommend offering a 10%-20% discount, or free shipping, on Art Walls.

We believe Multi-Panel Art Walls – a collection of several pieces sold together – are the most effective up-sell currently available to artists, so this is a great opportunity to generate some extra revenue by highlighting them in your 4th of July offer.

July 4th Subject Line Tips

According to the email studies referenced above, 57% of promotion emails used the term “4th of July” in their holiday subject lines, compared to “Independence Day” or “July 4th.”

This is important, because using a term that sounds and looks familiar helps drive email opens.

But I wouldn’t get too hung up on whether to use “4th of July” or “July 4th.” The important thing is to send your emails.

Of all the research I’ve done over the last several months to write the Art Storefronts holiday-themed email marketing guides, and I’ve done a lot, about half of the research says to use clever subject lines so you’ll stand out in your subscribers inbox, and the other half says that a clear subject line is more likely to reach and convert readers.

You may not want to do A/B testing, but you can certainly look at the open rates on your previous email sales campaigns to gauge what’s worked best.

Just be sure your email body copy matches what’s mentioned or promised in the subject line of your email; that’s a must-follow email marketing rule.

Subject Line Examples

Here are a few subject line ideas, some of the “clear” variety, and some of the “clever” variety:

A Note on Email Body Copy

Many online retailers sending multiple emails in the weeks leading up to 4th of July use the same email template.

If you’re sending more than one email, and you should, you don’t have to send a unique email each time.

The goal is to stay top of mind as July 4th nears, without being too aggressive.

Change your subject line as the holiday approaches, and your body copy slightly, and you’ll do fine.

For more details on how to run a 3-part email campaign, writing email body copy for your 3-part series, and using scarcity/urgency phrases to pump up your sales, check out our previous Email Marketing Guides for Artists here: