May 5th commemorates the military victory of the Mexican army against the French empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Today, Cinco de Mayo (literally the 5th of May) celebrates Mexican heritage and culture.
Fun fact: Did you know Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more in the U.S. than in Mexico?
But it’s not all fiestas. For businesses, the holiday is an opportunity to connect with customers and meet business goals through festive Cinco de Mayo email campaigns. And you cannot talk about email campaigns without email subject lines.
Subject lines are like movie trailers—they get audiences excited about what’s to come. However, writing a great email subject line is tricky, even for the creatives.
So, we’ve put together tips and examples of Cinco de Mayo emails and subject lines to boost your open rates and take your marketing campaigns to the next level.
Cinco De Mayo email subject lines
Not all businesses have a relevant product tied to Mexican culture. That doesn’t mean you can’t join the Cinco de Mayo celebration. You can lean into Mexican themes in the travel and art industries.
What about the tech or financial industries?
Many customers would appreciate a simple Happy Cinco de Mayo email. You can also highlight the contributions Mexicans make to your industry.
Here are general subject lines to use to engage customers.
General Cinco De Mayo emails
- ¡Happy Cinco de Mayo! 💚🤍❤️
- Wishing our Hispanic customers a Happy Cinco de Mayo!
- From our familia to yours. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
- Cinco, quarto, tres, dos, uno…🎉🎉
- Capture the Spirit of Cinco de Mayo
Educational Cinco de Mayo emails
- Did someone say fiesta? 💃 5 facts about Cinco de Mayo💃
- The true meaning of Cinco de Mayo.
- Let’s🌮 taco ‘bout things to do in Oaxaca, Mexico.
- Question time: How much do you know about Mexican culture?
Transactional emails
- Thank you for your order. We tip our Sombrero 🤠 to you.
- ¡Gracias! Your purchase supports small businesses like ours.
- Bienvenido, Lola. 🌵The adventure of a lifetime is about to begin.
- Complete our survey and take a swing at our savings pinata 🪅
Pro tip: Of all the emails customers get, the ones most likely to grab their attention have their names in the subject line.
However, email personalization goes beyond inserting subscribers’ names into subject lines. It includes relevant details about the customer’s journey. So that new subscribers don’t receive emails meant for inactive customers.
Cinco De Mayo feast email subject lines
Americans consume more avocado and tequila on Cinco de Mayo than on other holidays. Food and beverage brands receive a significant boost during Cinco de Mayo.
Event planners and online food publications also benefit from focused interest in Mexican culture and can boost traffic with relevant articles and marketing.
Here are subject line examples that promote Mexican food or drinks.
Food industry
- The Tapas Room presents 🍸Tequila and Tacos 🌮 this Cinco de Mayo.
- Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at our 5 o’clock happy hour sing-along.
- Let us cater your Cinco de Mayo fiesta.
- Spice up your Cinco de Mayo fiesta with our Authentic Chili Rellano 🌶️🌶️.
- Indulge in the Tastes of Mexico this Cinco de Mayo.
- Cinco de Mayo Offer: Enjoy Mexican Cuisine at 20% Off!
- Is it hot in here…🌶️or is it our Stuffed Poblano Peppers? 🫑
Event planning
- We’ve got your Cinco de Mayo plans covered!
- Let us plan your Cinco de Mayo party!
- They don’t call us the Cinco de Mayo events specialists for nada
- Are you ready to party like there’s no manana? 💃🪇
Food publications
- How to make Cinco de Mayo delicious 😋
- Explore the Flavor of Mexico this Cinco de Mayo
- Hey Mary! Here are 3 Burrito 🌯recipes just for you.
- Five traditional Mexican recipes to wow La Familia
- Are you ready to guac and roll? 5 ways to add 🥑to your diet
- It’s Tequila Time: 5 recipes to wow guests
Pro tip: Asking questions is a great way to grab subscribers’ attention. Something like ‘Got a minute?’ can be more engaging than a generic subject line. To boost open rates, ask questions that speak to their pain points.
Cinco De Mayo sale email subject lines
Cinco de Mayo festivities revolve around eating and drinking, but that doesn’t mean other businesses can’t share the fun. Customers like offers, and adding incentives to your subject lines is an effective way to get customers to open your emails.
These subject lines mention sales to boost click-through rates.
General sale announcements
- Unlock 🔓Early access to Cinco de Mayo Discounts.
- Mucho savings during our Cinco de Mayo sale!
- Last Chance: Cinco de Mayo Deal Ends at Midnight! ⏳
- Holy Guacamole! 🥑Check out our specials on Mexican Beer!🍻
- Shop & Save with our Cinco de Mayo Sale.
- Incredible Cinco de Mayo Savings.
- Our deals Cinco de Mayo Sale is Fuego 🔥
Incentivized sale emails
- 🎊Nacho ordinary sale: 20% off all printed bookmarks!
- Here’s $5 off scented lotion to match your recent body wash purchase.
- Enjoy 5% off & more caliente deals. Don’t miss out!
- Celebrate Cinco De Mayo: Save 15% during our 5-hour sale ⏰
- We packed our piñata with $5 minis… 🪅take a swing!
- Shop our Cinco de Mayo sale and get free shipping!
Pro tip: You may think emojis don’t align with your brand message. However, research on emojis and subject lines shows that using emojis in the subject lines results in higher open rates than text-only. Emojis help your subject lines stand out in crowded inboxes. Plus, they help you write effective subject line lengths for mobile device formats.
These examples are by no means exhaustive. However, they will help jump-start brainstorming. Don’t forget to test your subject lines to see which ones hit home and which are duds.
Our email marketing software provides A/B testing features to enhance Cinco de Mayo campaigns. You can use it to test subject lines and the email content itself.
The software also has a drag-and-drop editor to build customizable emails. Our predesigned templates and AI-powered writing assistant also help you create emails faster.
That brings us to the second part of this article.
Cinco De Mayo email marketing ideas
Subject lines get customers to open your email, but that’s only half the battle. The other half is getting customers to engage with the content and click the email call-to-action (CTA) button.
Here are three marketing ideas to keep in mind to ensure your Cinco de Mayo campaign is a success.
1. Pay attention to the color palette
Color theory states that color is more than human perception of light. It communicates different messages and evokes emotions.
Color plays a pivotal role in Mexican heritage. In Aztec color symbolism, black, blue, green, and red represented the gods of the North, South, West, and East. In Mayan culture, red, yellow, green, blue, and black symbolized the sun, life, fertility/immortality, sacrifice, and war, respectively.
So, besides the colors of the Mexican flag (red, white, and green), there’s a vibrant palette of fiesta colors to help your email stand out.
This Weight Watchers email uses colors found in Salsa, a popular Mexican dish.
Be strategic about how you use color. A dazzling palette can be visually distracting and overwhelm the marketing message. There’s also logo visibility to consider. You want subscribers to know where the email is coming from. Otherwise, they will mark it as spam.
Alternatively, try a subdued color range if your brand colors compete with the traditional Cinco de Mayo hues.
This email uses the subdued colors of blue, green, and white to convey the true meaning of the holiday.
It’s likely your customers’ inboxes will be overflowing with bright colors. So, going in the opposite direction of other brands may help you stand out during Cinco de Mayo.
2. Use animations
Holiday email marketing is ideal for lively themes and messages. You wouldn’t usually send an animated GIF as a law firm, but come the holidays, and all bets are off.
Cinco de Mayo is one of those holidays where even ‘serious’ brands may consider including animation in emails.
The pinata in the above email bursts open, and the offer lands on the CTA.
Bouncing pinatas and dancing maracas are common visual elements for Cinco de Mayo emails. Given the short window for Cinco marketing, you can also add countdown timers.
3. Avoid stereotyping
Celebrating cultural holidays when you don’t come from that culture can be tricky. There’s a real risk of coming across tone-deaf and offending your customers. The Cartoon Network shelved the character Speedy Gonzalez in 1999 after criticism of unfair and untrue depictions of Mexicans.
Cinco de Mayo is a festive holiday. However, Mexican culture is more than margaritas and beers. Avoid using offensive puns like ‘Cinco de Drinko.’ There are plenty of ways to celebrate without promoting harmful stereotypes.
Sombreros, tacos, and maracas are also classic Cinco de Mayo associations. But they are more impactful if they are relevant to your business and not as decorative elements.
M&M gets away with using sombreros, maracas, and mariachi guitar imagery as part of the personalized product line.
Try to find cultural artifacts that are appropriate for your brand. That way, your campaign comes across as authentic instead of performative.
Don’t forget to double-check images and words with a native speaker to avoid reputational damage.
In Closing
The standard corporate email subject lines don’t cut it anymore, at least not for lively holidays such as Cinco de Mayo. If you want target audiences to open and engage with your Cinco de Mayo email campaign, you need subject lines that grab their attention.
Writing a catchy subject line for cultural holidays can be tricky. So, we shared over 40 Cinco de Mayo subject lines to help your emails stand out in customers’ crowded inboxes. We also shared tips to make your subject line more appealing.
Getting customers to open your email is just half the battle. You also want them to engage with the email copy. The marketing ideas in this article will ensure your Cinco de Mayo campaigns are effective and culturally appropriate. You don’t want to offend your target audience with stereotypes or performative representation.
We hope you can draw inspiration from these Cinco de Mayo email examples, boost your email open rates, and connect with your customers.