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St. Patrick’s Day Email Strategy

Green beer and shamrock-shaped sunglasses might not be traditionally Irish, but they helped push St. Patrick's Day to a record $5.9 billion spend in the U.S.

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You need more than the luck of the Irish to spin your St. Patrick’s Day email campaign into gold. But when you put some effort into it, the payoff can add a bit more green to your email sales column.

According to the National Retail Federation, about half of U.S. adults will participate in some St. Paddy’s Day activity in 2021, in spite of the pandemic times. It’s definitely a holiday for a younger crowd, with nearly three-quarters planning to party.

Shamrock-shaped sunglasses, green beer, and corned beef and cabbage aren’t traditionally Irish, but they help push St. Patrick’s Day spending into the billions, according to the NRF’s’s annual spending predictions.

Where does all the money go?

NRF survey data shows consumables (food, drinks, and candy) account for the largest share of spending. But historical data shows that Americans are shifting their dollars to clothing, gifts, accessories, and décor.

How can you turn St. Patrick’s Day into a lucky day for your brand? What type of email marketing strategy should you follow for this peculiar holiday?

We’ve collected some great examples of St. Patrick’s Day email campaigns for and further down this page, we’ll share our top tips for putting together an effective St. Patrick’s Day marketing campaign.

St. Patrick's Day Email Examples
St. Patrick's Day Email Marketing Best Practices

St. Patrick's Day Email Examples

Get the party started

First, we love email copy that uses “shenanigans” in the copy. Second, the hero image clearly captures the 18-34 age group that drives the St. Paddy’s party vibe and it manages to feature some green products at the same time. Third: The shipping schedule nudges people to act, reminding them that the longer they wait the more they have to pay in shipping. All of this combined with a sweet 30% off St. Patrick’s Day sale results in an action-driving email.

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Promote your social media

Freshly Picked plays with the St. Patrick’s Day theme of luck. There is the “Feelin’ Lucky” subject line with the lucky clover, and the email itself displays a rainbow leading to a pot of gold.

No special sale in this email. Instead, the two CTAs lead subscribers to the brand’s Instagram page where they can find clues that lead to prizes. This is a great example of how you can use a St. Patrick’s Day-themed email to promote one of your social media channels.

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Go pink for St. Patty's Day

So many things to love about this email, but we’ll start with the color: an on-brand pink that stands out in a sea of green-themed emails. The animated four-leaf clover directs the eye to the call to action and the easy-to-remember promo code (“Jackpot”). The rainbow and clover in the subject line combined with the clovers in the email are just enough to satisfy the Pinch Squad (the leprechauns who pinch you if you get caught not wearing green on March 17).

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Showcase your green side

Fossil wishes its subscribers a Happy St. Patrick’s Day with this subtly themed email. On display – and on sale- are the brand’s golden and green watches, presented against a green background. The animation draws attention to the different graphic modes available on different watch styles. It conveys a wealth of info without pushing up the email and image weight so high that it affects deliverability and the overall user experience.

Lastly, notice how the discounted prices pop out through the red color, and how Fossil’s standard free shipping removes an important purchase barrier.

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Be creative with promotions

Don’t open this email campaign if you’re hungry, especially if you have a sad desk lunch waiting in the fridge. An animated GIF series cycles through one up-close, appetite-whetting food image after another, and just before the reader gets hypnotized, a giant four-leaf clover appears with the $40 incentive. It’s a great opportunity for subscribers who’ve been on the fence.

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Tell a story

Shinesty stands out as a brand because of its ballsy tone of voice and why would they change that for St. Patrick’s Day? While the subject line doesn’t refer to St. Patrick’s Day, it does incite curiosity. Those who open the email, find a full-cycle story based on a customer complaint that four-leaf clovers aren’t Irish. We don’t want to spoil the ending (you’ll have to sign up and read the full email) but will point out how Shinesty manages to showcase its products while sharing a ton of facts around St. Patrick’s Day.

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Promote sustainability

If sustainability is one of your brand’s core values, you can use your St. Patrick’s Day campaign to highlight that. In this email, Celtic & Co uses showcases green products to remind subscribers that their clothing is made with natural materials to last a lifetime.

While there are CTAs to “shop now”, the main focus goes to the “Read blog” button which leads to more information about sustainable clothing.

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St. Patrick's Day Email Marketing Best Practices

The St. Patrick’s Day emails above show you how other email marketers tackle the holiday. You can use them as inspiration for your own St. Patrick’s Day-themed campaigns and combine them with the strategic tips below.

Zig where everybody else zags with St. Patrick's Day email subject lines

It’s easy to rely on classic phrases and stereotypes when writing copy and subject lines, and St. Patrick’s has plenty. But remember that every other copywriter is using the same phrases.

If you want your St. Patrick’s Day email campaign to stand out in the inbox you need to watch out for overused phrases like “It’s your lucky day,”, “feeling Lucky”, “the luck of the Irish,” “wearing o’/saving o’ the green” or “pot o’ gold.”

Using emojis is another tactic that can get you noticed. We’ve seen a lot of shamrocks ☘ and four-leaf clovers in subject lines, which are attention-grabbing in both size and color. Other popular emojis include rainbows, top hats 🎩, the green heart, and one beer mug 🍺 or two clinking beer mugs.

Weekend celebrations can mean spending spikes

Ten years of data in the National Retail Federation’s spending tracker shows St. Patrick’s Day projected spending dropped in 2015 and 2016, when the holiday fell during the week, spiked to records in 2017 and 2018 when the day landed on weekend days, then retreated again in 2019 and 2020 when the party moved to mid-week.

Coincidence? We think not.

But even in years when St. Paddy’s Day falls on a party-unfriendly Tuesday or Wednesday, you can aim for a bump in sales by starting promotions on the previous weekend to catch early partiers or extend your celebration through the week and into the weekend.

Go edgy.

St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just shamrocks and soda bread. Given its appeal to the 18-to-34 demographic, the day has an underlying edge, too. If that’s your customer demographic, going edgy can help you grab attention, entertain subscribers, consolidate your brand image and drive a purchase.

Of course, edgy is risky too. Don’t spend so much time entertaining your audience that you distract them from clicking to your website to buy something or otherwise convert.

Edgy also only works when it’s already part of your brand. You could end up alienating your audience and damaging your reputation. Use everything you know about your customers and how much brand equity you have with them before wandering too close to the line.

Create St. Patrick's Day email templates for easy testing

Use all of the tips on this page to create an email template for your St. Patrick’s Day campaign. This allows you to easily A/B test with email subject lines, copy, and imagery whilst always keeping the version that works best for you.

Run a test, adapt your template, repeat.