• by Jess Nelson , February 10, 2016

Valentine’s Day is predicted to generate a record-breaking $18.9 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), and marketers should seize the opportunity to boost engagement rates by evoking the holiday in their email campaigns.

Timely and relevant keywords in subject lines can boost email opens by as much as 200%, according to new research from GoDaddy. The small business platform analyzed email data sent from its platform to pinpoint key email marketing tips for St. Valentine’s Day and discovered that subject lines containing the words “romance,” “date,” “cupid” and “crush” saw substantially higher open rates.

Inclusion of the word “crush” in a subject line increase clicks by 205%, “date” increased clicks by 166% and “romance” increased click-through rates by 155%.

The inclusion of popular Valentine’s Day gifts in subject lines also increased email engagement rates.  The word “chocolate” increased click-through rates by 110%, whereas “flower” increased click-through rates by 140%.

The NRF estimates that the average consumer will spend $142.31 USD to celebrate Valentine’s Day, with $96.63 being spent on a significant other and the rest split among family, friends, coworkers and classmates. The average man is likely to spend twice as much as a woman at $190.53 and $96.58, respectively.

Steven Aldrich, chief product officer at GoDaddy and head of GoDaddy Email Marketing, says the upcoming holiday is a perfect opportunity for small business owners to earn quick wins in email marketing.

“Depending on what words you use you can increase the click through rates up to 200%,” says Aldrich. “It doesn’t take Big Data and a giant team of analysts behind you to do very common sense improvements.”

Aldrich recommends that small business owners engage with their customers with timely and relevant subject lines that evoke the spirit of the upcoming holiday.