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Lunar New Year Email Strategy

Billions of people around the world celebrate Lunar New Year, which means another opportunity to engage with your audience. All you need is a well-crafted Lunar New Year email campaign

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Lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year, but note that while it’s an essential part of Chinese culture the holiday is celebrated in many Asian countries.

It’s important to remember this when putting together your Lunar New Year email campaigns as you don’t want to turn off a part of your customer base by solely focusing on the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Unlike the Western New Year, the Lunar New Year can begin anywhere from late January to mid-February. It all depends on when the second new moon appears after the winter solstice in late December.

Although the Lunar New Year is celebrated with many different customs and under different names depending on the country, Chinese themes do dominate in many an email design. Reds and golds, which symbolize prosperity and luck are popular colors to use, and the years are named according to the Chinese Zodiac (2022 is the Year of the Tiger, for example, and 2023 will be the Year of the Rabbit).

Lunar New Year offers a great opportunity to wish your subscribers good health and luck in the year ahead, and to weave some product promotions into those wishes. The holiday also allows you to acknowledge your Asian customers, even those who celebrate the Western New Year.

Lastly, with typical elements such as fire-breathing dragons, red envelopes, and fireworks, Lunar New Year gives your team a chance to get creative.

Not sure where to start? Check out the Lunar New Year email campaigns and Lunar New Year email subject lines below for inspiration and browse our database to see what kinds of Lunar New Year emails your competitors are sending.

Lunar New Year campaign ideas
Lunar New Year content strategies

Lunar New Year campaign ideas

Keep the party going

Sugarfina goes all out for Lunar New Year – the candy brand sent 13 emails from Dec. 30 to Feb 16, each with a different theme. This campaign email gets a lot right, including relevant emojis in the subject line, references to the zodiac year (2021 was the Year of the Ox according to the Lunar calendar), and wishes for good fortune.

The brand also created a limited-edition collection just for the Lunar New Year. It’s easily recognizable by the color red, one of the most popular colors used in relation to the Lunar New Year and thus also in many brands’ Lunar New Year marketing emails.

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Be thoughtful of who you portray

We have this question for many brands sending Lunar New Year campaigns: Why are you featuring European faces in campaigns that celebrate one of the biggest Asian holidays of the year? Lululemon avoids that cultural misstep by picturing an Asian model in its hero images and a racially diverse group of people in its secondary images as well as by referencing traditional themes of optimism and fresh starts in the copy.

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Go crazy with creativity

Warning: The clever animation in Tod’s email is mesmerizing! The signature red and gold for good luck and prosperity, the exploding lucky money, the ox-shaped coin purse for the Year of the Ox – it’s all there in this attention-getting message. We’ll bet the creative team had fun coming up with this design!

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Include product images that do double duty

Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day fall within the same promotional period. If you can’t do separate campaigns, follow David Yurman’s lead and use images that work for both, like red-and-gold jewelry pieces that would be appropriate gifts for either holiday. We also like the simple wish for “blessings and good fortune” that should be part of any Lunar New Year email copy.

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Celebrate and promote

Uniqlo sends a promotion-forward campaign tied to Lunar New Year with one distinguishing feature – it says “Happy New Year” in five languages: English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai. That’s a nice inclusive nod that acknowledges the holiday is celebrated throughout Asia and in various Asian cultures in other countries.

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Lunar New Year content strategies

Use the Lunar New Year email campaign examples above as inspiration when creating your own, and combine them with our strategic tips below.

Bring in key cultural influences

A Lunar New Year message can incorporate all kinds of cultural reference points as well as some potential land mines that could unintentionally offend:

Yes to these:

  1. Red and gold: Red symbolizes luck and gold represents prosperity in Chinese traditions.
  2. The Zodiac animal: Every year represents a different animal, like the Ox for 2021 and the Tiger for 2022.
  3. Coins: Coins represent prosperity, and “lucky money” wrapped in red paper packets is a traditional gift for children and single people.
  4. Lanterns: The Chinese New Year celebration ends after 15 days with the Lantern Festival, with lanterns representing illumination, vitality and prosperity.
  5. Numbers: The number 8 is considered a lucky number in China because it represents fortune.
  6. Relevant copy: Don’t stop at “Happy New Year.” Include good wishes for luck and prosperity, the two major themes of Lunar New Year celebrations.

No to these:

  1. Black and/or white: Both represent death or calamity in many cultures, so don’t promote clothing, products or themes that rely on them. Green can also be problematic as a sign of infidelity.
  2. Unlucky gift suggestions: Scissors or knives symbolize harsh words or the end of a relationship. The word for “shoe” sounds like “bad luck,” and handkerchiefs symbolize farewells. Other no-nos: clocks and watches, pears, cut flowers or umbrellas, all associated with breakups or funerals.
  3. Anything with 4 in it: 4 is an unlucky number in China, so be careful in how you use either the number or items that come in series or packs of 4.
  4. Stereotypes: Avoid the temptation to fall back on stereotypical images, like sampans, caricatures, chopsticks and other images that have nothing to do with the New Year.

Always check yourself first: If you’re creating emails for a different culture, it’s easy to either overlook a symbolic opportunity or offend with outdated or insensitive content. Ask around for people on your team who are from that culture and could review your ideas for anything inaccurate or misguided.

Don't forget your email campaign best practices

Call upon the best email marketing tactics to create a successful Lunar New Year campaign. Here are two:

  • Stick to your brand. Red and gold are popular theme colors for Lunar New Year emails, but your designs should always reflect your essential email template, everything from your inbox elements (from name, subject line and preheader) to your message layout, copy tone, images and navigation.
  • Send more than one email. Lunar New Year can last for a week or longer. If you’re promoting something special, like launching a limited-edition product or creating a unique discount (maybe an $88 price tag on a product that costs over $100), send a reminder before the celebration ends to nudge customers into taking advantage of your special offer.
    Another way to go about this is to make one of your emails a simple Happy Lunar New Year greeting. This gives your audience a break from all the promotional emails they’re getting.

Track and test everything

Is this your first year trying out a Lunar New Year campaign? Great! Now, measure everything from opens and clicks to conversions, sales and cart amounts to see how your special holiday campaign performed against your other campaigns.

We also recommend creating a template for your Lunar New Year email campaigns. Your Lunar New Year email template includes everything that’s worked best for you, from the email design of your Lunar New Year email campaigns to their copy, subject lines, and calls-to action.