6 inspiring Memorial Day email examples & subject lines

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Memorial Day is a very meaningful occasion for Americans. The day is dedicated to honoring and remembering fallen soldiers. 

But there are more themes to this day than solemn remembrance. People also anticipate spending quality time with family, relaxing, or starting their summer season plans during this period.

Here’s where your business comes in: According to a Numerator survey, 84% of celebrators are open to spending on products related to the holiday – whether it’s gifts for soldiers’ families or travel essentials for summer. 

So, rolling out targeted Memorial Day emails and special offers can potentially convince subscribers to choose your business. And even if your product doesn’t fit, sending sincere Memorial Day emails is still a fantastic way to strengthen connections with your American subscribers. 

Today’s guide will showcase some great Memorial Day email examples to inspire your campaign. We’ll also provide subject lines and tips for executing your campaign flawlessly: 

6 examples of Memorial Day emails

Let’s look at some of the best Memorial Day email examples. We hope these will give you some ideas for your campaign. 

1. Advertising a sale by Nest

As mentioned earlier, a significant portion of consumers are open to spending during Memorial Day. Using email campaigns to promote relevant deals can give you a better chance of securing these people’s business. 

Check out this Memorial Day flash sale email from Nest. The company is advertising its $50 and $20 discounts alongside a complimentary Google Home Mini on select products.

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The example above offers so much to learn, from the straightforward and prominent CTAs to the precise criteria and sales message. 

But one thing that stands out is the seamless checkout flow. Nest allows customers to shop and add products to their cart without leaving their email, making it easy for customers to buy from the sales promo. 

Plus, there’s a lesser chance that customers will abandon their carts due to a lengthy checkout process.

2. Gesture of respect by The Atlantic

Not every Memorial Day email has to promote a sale. You can also explore the emotional side of the day by sending subscribers emails expressing your respect and gratitude to fallen heroes. 

Such a sincere gesture makes your brand more likable and creates a positive association in the minds of your audience.

For example, you may share an emotional poem about the occasion. That’s what The Atlantic did in this example:

Gesture of respect by the Atlantic Daily in their Memorial day email

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Another way to show your respect for the day is via charity. For example, you can pledge to donate a certain percentage of the product you sell to the families of these fallen soldiers. See how On/Go does this below: 

On/Go Memorial day email marketing

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For this strategy to work, you need to be sincere and authentic in your message. Also, don’t make promises you can’t keep regarding donations. Otherwise, you risk attracting negative publicity down the line. 

3. Promote matching products by Tuft and Needle

If you want the best results for your sales emails, promote a product that fits Memorial Day themes. People are more likely to spend money on such products during this holiday. 

Here are some examples to better explain this strategy:

Memorial Day is the unofficial kickoff to summer. And you know, this season is also synonymous with sleeping in and vegging out. So, it makes sense why Tuft and Needle focuses on advertising mattresses in its sales email:

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Also, the Memorial Day colors are red, white, and blue. Deep Blue Watches offers watches in these colors, which make the perfect fashion sense for the day:

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You can also show how the product can help your subscribers celebrate the Memorial Day holiday.

Let’s say you sell outdoor gear. You can mention how your product helps with exciting activities like camping and scenic trail hiking. That allows email recipients to visualize themselves using the product and enjoying the holiday. As a result, their purchase intent naturally increases. 

4. Offer free shipping by In The Swim

47% of customers abandon their carts due to extra costs, including shipping fees. So, one effective way to draw your subscribers closer to buying from you is to offer them free shipping. That’s what In The Swim did in its Memorial Day email: 

Memorial day email big savings

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Free shipping is even more attractive when combined with other compelling offers. If it fits your marketing budget, consider bundling free shipping with discounts, exclusive deals, or loyalty program rewards to maximize its impact. 

For instance, In the Swim paired its free shipping offering with percentage-off deals. 

5. Playful brand message by Tuft and Needle

Chances are, your subscribers are already slogging through piles of serious and formal promotional emails. So, injecting humor and playfulness into your emails is an excellent way to stand out. After all, who doesn’t appreciate a good joke? 

Just take a cue from Tuft and Needle’s playbook. It nailed this strategy by using a playful tone to encourage the reader to imagine an improved sleep experience with its products: 

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The key here is to keep your playfulness tasteful. And avoid anything that could be perceived as disrespectful or insensitive.

6. Highlighting the discount code by Aosom 

Making your discount code visible and accessible increases the chance that your readers will see and use it. Thus potentially increasing your sales and conversion rates. 

Check out how Aosom pulls this off: 

Aosom Email Marketing on Memorial Day

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Aosom’s strategy teaches us an important lesson: display your discount code prominently in the email. Ideally, it should be near the beginning of the email. 

The code also has to be visually distinct to grab readers’ attention. You can achieve this using bold text, contrasting colors, or a dedicated box.

Catchy Memorial Day email subject lines

How can you ensure your email isn’t lost among other unread emails in your recipients’ inboxes? It’s simple: use a catchy subject line to make your subscribers curious about the email. 

The easiest way to achieve this feat is by highlighting the value the email brings—discounts or exclusive offers. For instance:

  1. Hey, [Name]! Don’t miss these Memorial Day steals
  2. The only holiday weekend checklist you need
  3. Save up to 50% on Memorial Day must-haves
  4. Honoring Heroes: Share the memories 
  5. Make the most of your Memorial Day weekend
  6. Relax & save: Memorial Day essentials

Another way to grab your recipient’s attention is to infuse a sense of urgency into your subject lines: 

  1. Don’t miss out! Last chance for Memorial Day deals
  2. Flash sale alert: 24 hours only – Memorial Day discounts!
  3. Limited stock! Shop Memorial Day Deals now!
  4. Last chance! Memorial Day savings end today
  5. Memorial Day deals disappear soon! Shop now!
  6. Huge Memorial Day sale running out fast

But you see, using urgency too frequently can desensitize your audience to it. So, it’s best to reserve it for genuinely time-sensitive situations to maintain its impact.

Regardless of the tactic you’ve chosen for your Memorial Day subject lines, always keep them short, descriptive, and sweet. Ideally, they shouldn’t go beyond 25 to 50 characters. 

You can also use an AI subject line generator to enhance this process. This tool only needs a prompt, including your business type and email’s purpose. It will then generate an attention-grabbing subject line for your campaign within seconds. 

5 key tips for the Memorial Day email campaign

You’ve seen some inspiring email examples and subject lines to inform your campaign. Now, let’s cover some key tips to guide you as you plan and execute your Memorial Day email campaign:

1. Use vibrant visuals

Our 2024 email marketing benchmark report revealed that emails with visuals perform better than text-heavy ones. 

Think about it this way: would you be more moved by a text-heavy Memorial Day email or one that includes a powerful video of a veteran? The second one, right? That is to say, vibrant visuals can make your Memorial Day email campaigns super impactful. 

The theme you’ve chosen for your email will ultimately determine the visuals you’ll use. 

Let’s say you’re approaching your email from the family time angle. You may feature images that showcase families. This is similar to what 8 Sleep did below: 

Eight Sleep Memorial Day Email


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Another nice idea would be to include visual elements that reflect the occasion. For instance, you can feature images or videos of soldiers or the American flag. You can also use Memorial Day colors like blue or red. 

See how Farmers Defense did this: 

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No matter the creative direction you decide to take, ensure that your visuals are of very high quality. To save you the stress, find an excellent Memorial Day email template that you can edit to your preference. You can tweak one of our versatile holiday email templates to fit your Memorial Day theme.

2. Be experimental

Experimenting with your Memorial Day campaign is essential. It will give you insights to help you plan better future holiday campaigns. 

For example, you might discover that your funny subject lines record a higher open rate. That’s your cue to prioritize them in subsequent campaigns.  

So, segment your audience and test different versions of key email elements, such as:

  • The type of promotional offers, such as discounts, free shipping, and percentages off 
  • Email copy and tone 
  • Call to action (CTA)
  • Send times 
  • Subject lines 

Track metrics related to each element to discover the approach that generates better results. For example, monitor the click-through rate to see which CTA format works better. 

Our email marketing software offers an incredible A/B testing feature to simplify the entire process. With this software, you can easily create and send different email variations to your subscribers. The analytics dashboard also includes a comprehensive report showing how each variation performs in real-time.

3. Segment your customers

Memorial Day is exclusively a USA-only holiday. So, suppose your list includes people from other countries. Bombarding them with Memorial Day emails, which isn’t their cup of tea, would be counterproductive and even give off the wrong impression. 

That’s why, before anything, segment your audience into those connected to the US and those who aren’t. Then, focus your campaigns on the former. 

But don’t stop at national segmentation; local segmentation is just as important. With region-level segmentation, you can tailor your campaigns to specific regions based on the events, preferences, or characteristics relevant to that location. 

Let’s assume you sell fitness wear and want your campaign to focus on the summer theme. You may offer hiking kits to people living in mountainous regions like Colorado. Then, target those in coastal areas like Florida with beach wear. This adds another layer of personalization and makes your messages more impactful. 

You’d likely have your subscribers’ location information from the data you collect during signups or through previous interactions. But if you don’t, consider engaging your audience directly via survey to get this information. Then, use it to segment your audience. 

The GetResponse email marketing platform offers built-in features for segmenting your list based on various criteria, including location. Use it to categorize your subscribers by geographical location and craft content to target all segments effectively. 

4. Plan in advance

A successful Memorial Day email marketing campaign doesn’t happen overnight. It takes weeks or even months of careful planning. Thorough planning gives you enough time to perfect every aspect of your campaign, ensuring a smooth execution process without any last-minute scrambling. 

Start your plan roughly eight to 10 weeks before Memorial Day. You should also aim to complete all plans three weeks before the holiday. Ensure everything, including your content, sending schedule, subject lines, and visuals, is all sorted out by this deadline.

When planning, conduct a test campaign to assess your email marketing software’s deliverability. You can use personal email addresses or those of colleagues for this purpose. 

The test helps you uncover deliverability issues like low delivery rates and high bounce or spam rates. So you can address them proactively before they affect your campaign. 

5. Build a smooth campaign flow

Your Memorial Day email shouldn’t be a one-time event. The ideal approach is to set up a flow of strategically timed emails leading up to the day. This helps you build excitement and keeps your brand on top of your audience’s minds before, during, and after the massive Memorial Day event. 

Here’s a typical Memorial Day sales email flow you can leverage:

Seven to ten days before the sale, you can set the stage for your campaign with a pre-campaign email. Use this to introduce your upcoming Memorial Day sales or events. 

Next is your main Memorial Day sales email. Assume you have a product your subscribers typically need after Memorial Day, say summer essentials. In this case, you may bring your main Memorial Day sale emails to them during the weekend leading up to the occasion. 

But suppose it’s a product they would need for Memorial Day, like BBQ grills. The ideal thing is to bring this deal earlier, before the weekend. So they’ll have enough time for decision-making and delivery. 

Furthermore, a day before the sale closes, you may send an email reminding subscribers about it. Here’s an example from White Hat Holsters: 

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Finally, a week after the campaign, you may send your subscribers a post-campaign either to remind them of abandoned carts, appreciate those who bought from you or even offer post-purchase support. 

Even if you prefer a non-sales approach, you can create a flow of heartfelt messages to celebrate Memorial Day. 

For instance, you can start with an email honoring the fallen heroes. Afterward, transition to highlight the celebratory aspect of the holiday and conclude by expressing gratitude to subscribers for engaging. This approach would help you foster deeper connections than just a one-off email. 

The good thing is that you don’t have to send or monitor these emails manually. The best email marketing software can help you build an autoresponder to create an automated Memorial Day email marketing campaign flow. That makes the entire process hands-off for you.

In closing

Memorial Day offers a golden opportunity to strengthen your bonds with American subscribers and potentially boost sales. However, generating the best results ultimately depends on your strategy. 

This article examined five successful email inspirations to help you craft outstanding Memorial Day email marketing campaigns. You also learned tips to ensure your campaign generates the desired results during this long weekend. 

These include using vibrant visuals or Memorial Day email templates, experimenting with your approach, planning ahead, and segmenting customers by location. Lastly, structure your campaign with a cohesive flow. 

Need help building your Memorial Day email campaigns? Our email marketing software provides list segmentation, campaign flow automation, efficient deliverability, and A/B testing to enhance your Memorial Day email marketing. Sign up today for a free account.


Nael Chhaytli
Nael Chhaytli
Nael Chhaytli is a Digital Marketing Expert and a Senior Content Marketing Specialist at GetResponse with a diverse background in marketing specializations. He has used his expertise to drive success and growth for businesses in the service, SaaS, and e-commerce sectors.
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