Back To School Email Marketing & Email Design Ideas

A ten percent increase in customers planning to buy electronics, compared to just a few years ago, stands at around 65 percent. Retailers and E-commerce businesses await the Back to school shopping season with excitement and for good reason.

According to the National Retail Federation, Back to School and Back to College spending for 2022 reached $864 per household.

We made a step-by-step guide on how to create a successful back-to-school email marketing campaign even if you do not sell the usual top-of-mind products for back-to-school shopping.

We will provide back-to-school email ideas, email templates, and email copy that will help you make your back-to-school marketing campaign a smashing success.

Focus on online shopping for back-to-school this year

Online shopping wins the day as 50 percent of customers planned to purchase products online last year. Even after the pandemic ended, most people still prefer shopping online instead of going to physical stores. This is an absolute opportunity worth utilizing in this period.

Electronics & office furniture are expected to sell more

In the last 5 years, the highest increase in back-to-school spending took place in these sectors. Last year families spent $293.05 on electronics compared to $187.1 in 2018 which is a 56 percent increase. College students spend 30 percent more on electronic devices at $299.96 and 55 percent more on furnishing dorms or apartments at $170.29.

Pens, pencils, and other school supplies shopping is expected to slightly increase

Average spending on school supplies such as pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, highlighters, and others slightly increased among college students from $83.56 in 2021 to $86.89 last year and stagnated among customers shopping for younger children at $139.56.

Back to school email 2023 examples

In this section, we will provide you with examples from real email campaigns being sent right now! We’ve divided them by theme, to help you find the perfect message that suits your products and brand.

Tips for Successful Back to School email campaigns

Back-to-school email marketing shouldn’t be different from any other email campaign you are preparing.

Here are some tips to guide your upcoming back-to-school email campaign in 2023:

Write a catchy email subject line for Back To School

During the back-to-school season, your target segment members will probably receive hundreds of back-to-school emails. Retailers are fighting to get the attention of their subscribers.

You need to stand out from the crowd with your email. The first step to do that is to come up with a creative back-to-school email subject line.

Email Subject Lines affect open rates, so make sure to include the words “Back to school” in your email subject line.

In fact, studies show that the highest-converting email subject lines included words related to “back to school”.

We have gathered a list of email subject line examples that you can use for your next back-to-school email campaign

1. BACK TO SCHOOL! Join the FUN!
2. Shop our back to school checklist ✔️✏️
3. We’re back to school ready! Are you?
4. Time To Get Ready For School 🤸
5. Check out these Back to School must-haves!
6. Check out our back-to-school best – Not just for kids 🍎
7. Hurry, Before the Bell Rings! Get 60% Off For Back to School!
8. $5 Back to School Deal  ✏️
9. Student Exclusive: 20% off sitewide🤩
10. School’s on the Horizon
11. Save for Back to School with these Bundles!
12. Back to School never looked so good! Specials all week!
13. 30% OFF BACK TO SCHOOL SALE  🏃
14. Still short on school supplies?
15. MIGHT BE TIME TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL
16. Have you saved on our Back to School sale yet?
17. Saved by the 🔔 Get huge back-to-school deals today!
18. A special Back to School gift for you 🎁
19. Don’t miss the bus – save 30% today
20. Our Top Picks for Back to School 🍎💎
21. 40% OFF Everything! Stock up on back to school basics!
22. HUGE Back to School Bedding SALE – Today Only!
23. Back to School Wrapped.
24. Ready. Set. Learn!
25. 📝 Back to School Sale: Up to 50% Off Footwear →
26. 🍎 Back to (Nutrition) School: Thought For Food 📖

Make a beautiful Back To School email design

Once you get your subscribers to open your email, your next objective is to get them to click through to your landing page.

This depends largely on email design.

Here are some elements that you should consider when building your back-to-school email design:

Email structure

Following the inverted pyramid structure will never fail you. Here’s how it goes:

• Start with the most important information that will catch the attention of your readers right away: BIG & BOLD BACK TO SCHOOL EMAIL HEADLINE
• Give more details about the headline as you go through the email layout, and make the elements under the main headline smaller.
• Include a hero image that highlights your product.
• Each section of your email should end with some sort of CTA button ( visually distinguishable ) that will guide your customers to the next step.
• Repeat the steps above until you are satisfied, but make sure not to over-stuff the email.

Email color scheme

The best color palette you can opt for is your brand colors. This helps with brand recognition and keeps your communication material coherent across all emails and other digital channels.

This also goes for the fonts used in the email. There are tools online that can help you determine which fonts go well with your brand font.

Here’s a breakdown of a good back-to-school email design:

Email animation

If you want to stand out from the crowd and spice up your back to school email template, you can include animation.

This can be a video or a simple GIF.

Welcome to Stock Up & Save 101

blendjet used a lot of animation at once to make its email as eye-catching as possible.

Back to School Savings! 🏫

Email rendering and compatibility

When sending out your back-to-school email blasts, the last thing you need is to deal with technical issues related to compatibility and email rendering.

Your back-to-school marketing emails should look professionally designed and on-brand, but most importantly, they should look the same on every device and mobile client.

Here’s a breakdown of what you need to consider when it comes to your back-to-school email design:

• How will your back to school email look like on all versions of Android, iOS, and Desktop?
• How will your email look like in different email clients (Gmail, all versions of Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, etc.)?

These questions can be a bit tricky to answer if you are not an email designer, and have limited knowledge of HTML email coding.

Your best option, in this case, is to use a responsive email builder. You can find back to school email templates and promotional email templates, ready to use, and you don’t need to worry about the HTML code or how it will look on different devices.

Include a compelling & effective call to action

The call to action in your back to school email campaigns should be highlighted.

Here are some useful tips to keep in mind when coming up with a back to school call to action:

• Give emphasis to the call to action button visually, using bold colors and a bigger size.
• Focus on the benefit that will occur if your subscriber clicks on the CTA button, For example, you can say “ Shop All Deals”- which implies that you will get to enjoy all the deals mentioned in the email if you just click on that CTA button,  instead of simply saying “ Shop”.

⭐ Score our BIGGEST BACK-TO-SCHOOL DEALS! Up to 60% OFF today only!

This back-to-school email from Pottery Barn Kids is a great example of well-written calls to action:

• 25-60% Off Backpacks
• 25-60% Off Lunch Boxes
• 25-40% Off Food Storage & Water Bottles…

Each CTA  reminds the reader of the amazing deal they can get, simply by clicking the button.

If you are looking for a more simple version of a call to action in a back-to-school email, here is your example. Sometimes it is more than enough to use an eye-catching phrase, a picture about your item and add a shop now button under it. Here is a great example from be rooted:

Princess Polly makes its call to action button more interesting with its 1000$ gift card giveaway. Also offers 25% off, if you click on the button as they wanted from the beginning.

NEW SCHOOL YEAR, NEW FAVE ‘FIT ♡

You can learn more about how to write a compelling call to action for your back-to-school marketing emails here.

Add a sense of urgency to your Back to School email

During the busy shopping season, your subscribers might forget about your offer. That’s why it helps to create a sense of urgency around your deals.

Telling your customers that your discounts and promotional coupons will expire quickly will make them want to shop from your store as soon as possible.

Creating urgency for your offer can be done using 2 techniques:

Back to school email copy

Email copy is one of the most powerful tools to use to influence your customers’ thoughts and emotions. If you want to create urgency surrounding your offer, make sure to give the impression, through your email copy, that your offer is ending soon, and that if they don’t take it now, they will miss out.

In your Back to school headlines, use words like exclusive, limited, Available only until [date], etc. These terms will push subscribers to act promptly, decisively, and without delay.

Back to school email subject line: Back-to-School Sale | Save up to $20

In this back-to-school email example, the first thing you see and read is “TODAY ONLY”, making the offer included in the newsletter very exclusive and urgent. This captures your subscribers’ attention and makes them think twice before heading toward that close button.

Include a countdown timer

in your back-to-school emails: Email Countdown timers are a great way to leverage your email design and make it more eye-catching and memorable. Countdown clocks in emails are also perfect to let your subscribers know that your back-to-school offer is temporary and that they should grab it soon.

Target different audience segments

In email marketing, it’s important to segment your email list and customize your email campaign according to the specific characteristics of each email segment.

This way, you present each audience segment with valuable information that resonates with them. Targeting specific segments will also affect your offer, email copy,  email design, and even sending time.

When it comes to back-to-school email campaigns, you have three main audience segments to target: students, college students, and parents.

Younger audience

Brands acknowledge the influence children have on the parents’ decision-making.

A study shows that in the US, parents of 13-year-old kids or younger tend to feel more pressured to purchase whatever their kids suggest.

As they get older, children’s inputs are more valuable to their parents.

This is undoubtable evidence that sending back to school emails directly to your younger subscribers- even if they cannot pay for your product, is beneficial for your sales.

However, this needs to be applied with caution. There are several laws related to marketing and email marketing to minors that you need to look out for before deciding to target your younger audience.

College students

Let’s not forget that back to school season also includes college students, who mainly want to shop for clothes, electronics, and new dorm room furniture.

Back-to-school styles to opt for

This email from H&M is a great example of what to include in a back-to-college email. The email copy is fun and playful, right for young college freshmen. Using words like semester, dorm, and campus… makes the reader instantly relate to the content and want to know more.

It’s that time of year again

adidas new back-to-school sports collection

Parents

Parents get ready for back-to-school season just like their children.

You can send emails to parents helping them get ready for the start of the academic year, not only by purchasing obvious back to school products for their K-12 Grade Kids  (backpacks, school supplies, the first day of school outfits, etc.) but also by purchasing products for working mothers and fathers. During Covid, there is no shortage of ideas to target parents: starting from kid masks to tips for a successful homeschooling routine.

FAMILY: How to get your kid to wear a mask

Combine Back to School email with other holidays

If you are running late for your back-to-school email campaign, or simply want to send a reminder email to the late shoppers, you still have time. Even in late August and early September, back-to-school shopping is not over yet. In fact, studies show that by the end of August, American families have only completed less than 45% of their intended back to school shopping.

You can use your weekly newsletter to remind your subscribers that your back-to-school promotions are still available or combine holiday emails with back-to-school emails.

Up to 75% off clearance + 50% off select back-to-school

Here’s an example of an email sent by Hannah Andersson combining labor day and back-to-school sales. The colors in the email (US Red and Blue) refer to labor day celebrations and the back to school mentioned in the subject line result in a balanced and convincing email design and copy.

Integrate social media into your Back to School email campaign

Back to school email campaigns should be part of a holistic digital marketing strategy, where you manage different digital channels in a coherent way and engage with your audience on various levels.

Staples Back to School Campaign 2018

Communicating your back-to-school offer via email, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter establish strong brand recognition in your followers’ minds.

A great way to combine email marketing and social media for your back-to-school campaign is to run a contest for your subscribers with the chance of winning a free product, a coupon, or a gift certificate…

You can learn how to integrate email and social media to amplify your marketing efforts and gain leverage here.

Send out Back To School emails – no matter what your product is

Even if you are not selling the typical top-of-mind school products, you can still benefit from the whole back to school shopping surge.

You just need to be a little creative and find a way to link your brand with the back-to-school season.

Here’s an example from the coffee machine company Keurig which utilized the back-to-school season to re-engage with its audience and promote its affordable products.

Last Day of Back to School Savings

Here’s another example of pure creativity and goofiness. PetSmart knew how to take advantage of the back to school season to get closer to their customers, provide valuable and relevant advice, and promote their products and services in a clever manner.

Everyone can get in on the back-to-school action

You can do the same for your customers, even if, on the surface, your product is not related to the back to school fuss. All you need to understand your customers’ motivations and concerns and send them valuable and relevant information.

Don’t forget that everyone wants to take advantage of the back to school sales and promotions despite not being in school or not having any children. It is simply common sense. So don’t be afraid to experiment and think outside the box.

Types of Emails To Send This Back to School Season + Examples From Real Brands

In this section, we will list different types of back to school emails that you can send out and provide some back to school email template examples.

Most examples concern eCommerce businesses and online retailers, however, we made sure to include other examples for nonprofit back to school email campaigns and a back to school email for a SaaS business.

Back to School Promotional Emails: Discounts, Coupons, Promotional Codes, Deals, etc

The most common back to school emails are promotional emails.

Retailers fight to drive traffic and sales to their stores.

Whether you have an online shop or a good old brick-and-mortar store, you most probably are planning a promotional offer for the back to school shopping season.

But before you do, here’s what you need to do to design a sales promotion campaign for back to school:

• Define your objectives: Like in every project, you need to set SMART objectives and goals that you are planning on accomplishing by the end of the back to school season. A sales promotion should increase your sales and increase your profits, to make the most out of the back to school shopping surge.
• Identify your target audience: Back to school promotional emails are usually targeted towards parents whose motivations are generally financial. During the back to school shopping season, parents are on the lookout for deals, promotions, and discounts.
• Select the promotion: Buy one get one for free, coupons, discounts, giveaways, buy more save more offers, flash sales, etc. These are just some ideas of what you can do for your back to school sales promotion campaigns.
• Define your budget: This is the tricky part where you need to calculate costs, projected paybacks, promotion duration and period, and all the other metrics that will determine your flexibility margin.
• Design your back to school promotional email: now comes the fun part. You need to start by writing an email copy that highlights your back to school offer, building a responsive back to school email template, scheduling your email campaign and collecting data to measure the success of your campaign.

Here are some examples of back to school promotional email campaigns:

Promotional Code

✏ Back-to-School Sale begins NOW! Get your Deal!

Members enjoy 20% off Kids for back-to-school

65% OFF! Back to School Sale is here!😍

Back to School Coupon Email

Back to school Coupon email subject line: Open soon! You’ve earned an EXTRA-EXCLUSIVE promo code!

Back to School event invitation email

If you are having a big clearance event in your shop and want to let everyone know, or if you simply want to increase traffic in your store, you can send out an invitation email and later on an event reminder email.

This email example from IKEA shows how they took advantage of the back to college shopping season to drive more sales to their physical stores.

Don’t miss the IKEA College Life Your Way Event

IKEA Back to College Event Invitation Subject Line: 

Source

If you have an online shop, you can still turn back to school shopping into an event. Here’s how one online business did that using email.

Customer testimonials

This type of back to school email takes more time and planning to send out since it involves people from outside your company.

Basically, you need to contact a number of loyal customers (or just one is enough) and get them to talk about how your product or service helped them during the hectic back to school season, or during the academic year.

Testimonial emails also work great for private universities who are targeting future college students, looking to integrate a new university.

Non-profit Emails for Back to School

Back to school is a very busy season for everyone: families, retailers, and even non-profit organizations.

In fact, during big shopping seasons such as this, non-profit charitable organizations receive more donations.

Back To School Drive For Foster Children

Nonprofit Back to School email subject line:

Source

BACK TO SCHOOL!!! Shop Ethical Backpacks, Journals, Crayons & More!

Non-profit email for back to school subject line:

Source

Back to School email campaign for SaaS

Who said that only retailers and e-commerce businesses can make profit out of the back to school and back to college season?

Here’s an example of a clever email that Grammarly sent to its subscribers, encouraging them to upgrade their accounts to the premium package in preparation for the new academic year.

With a well targeted back to school email copy and a fun email design, Grammarly hit the nail right on the head.

Wrapping up

It’s clear that back to school and back to college seasons are very profitable for businesses. Whether you are selling school supplies, computers, and accessories, dorm furniture and bedding, or non of the above, you can still make a profit and get your piece of the pie.

All you need is a good market segmentation, a relevant back to school email copy, and a beautiful email design.