This summer has been so hot, it's almost too toasty to even think. So let's take a moment to cool off with these stunning summer sales emails. This season's email campaigns are all about light-hearted GIFs, inspiring photography, and bold color. Scrolling through these inbox beauties is like taking a dip in a cool pool! So kick back, relax, and get inspired for your next campaign...
1. Hem
Subject:the FLORAL SUMMER SALE continues! — Green Chrysanthemum
Hello, beautiful hero image! The stunner caught our eye—and we love how the rest of theHememail continues the green-tastic vibe. There's always something visually satisfying about going monochromatic and arranging images by color. This is a perfect trick for the doldrums of summer. Just line up an HTML-colored content block alongside the perfect photo, then curate the rest of your art by color. Tada!
2. Equinox
Subject: Your exclusive summer offer.
The first thing that caught our eye about this Equinox email was the sweet lil' animation in the logo header:
The GIF is unexpected and playful. A nice touch! Plus, we're a sucker for an ultra-focused message with a sleek design. If you ask us, simplicity is always the way to go.
3. Flywheel
Subject: Here’s 3 months of FREE WordPress hosting!
Flywheelkept its email fully responsive, even as it stretches the span of our inbox, which makes an especially big impact on a desktop screen. That hero image totally screams summer, and the spot illustrations help convey a lot of information elegantly.
4. Trade
Subject: Cool for the summer
Tradeopens with a gorgeous photo that grabs our attention as soon as we tap. It's so big that even the header is enveloped by it. That gives the email a real energy—almost as if you're outside with that iced coffee right in front of you. Yum. And if you're going to go big, just situate your live text and bulletproof CTA button over top of your image—it's possible with our tutorial!
5. West Elm
Subject: Goodbye spring, hello summer savings: Pillows starting at $9.99!
Okay, this is a pretty typical West Elm email (which we had to trim because it kept going, and going, and going), but check out the animation in the hero image:
No doubt, thisWest Elm email is playful and beautiful. And it's a great example of getting creative with your art. This GIF has nothing to do with theproduct; it's just about glorious summer (in the form a juicy watermelon)—and that connects to the main takeaway: shop the sale before it's too late!
6. Rent the Runway
Subject: Looking for a new summer dress? We found it.
We love this carousel GIF from Rent the Runway. What a fun way to display dresses and have a little fun. Plus, the simplicity of the entire email is admirable. There's one head, one line of text, one image, and one CTA button. Only a few words—but a big, effective message. The only thing we'd recommend is upgrading to live text and minimizing the size of the GIF to be more inbox-friendly!
7. ClassPass
Subject: Inside: Your free trial for summer workouts
Simple, summery, smart. Looking at this ClassPass email, you can almost feel the fun the designer had making this illustration. And that's the way it should be, right? The double CTA approach is interesting here, too, and we'd be curious to know if they A/B tested it against another email with a single CTA. Overall, we're digging the sleek, playful vibe.
8. Brit + Co
Subject:???? Ready to Create the Most Memorable Summer?????
We had to share the opening content block from this Brit+Co email because it's just so darn summery. Talk about vacation envy. One thing we noticed is the subject line and thefirst header contain the same text. We're so curious to know if you've tried this technique and what you think of it! So let us know in the comments.
9. Cook Smarts
Subject: Summer sale! 20% off a season of delicious dinners
Who needs a real pool when you can have an illustrated one?
Like Flywheel, Cook Smarts uses what we'll call "swimming pool blue" in this evocative, sunny email. There's something joyful and refreshing about it. We'd be curious to see how a version of this email would perform without a paragraph of text, too. Like Rent the Runway, sometimes super streamlined simplicity is the way to go.
10. Warby Parker
Subject: Summer + Fridays =
Warby Parker sends emails that always look sharp, and this one is no exception. It's also another lovely example of how text can be arranged atop a background image—and in the best case scenario, it's live text with a bulletproof button. What do you think of the side-by-side CTA buttons?
11. Havenly
Subject: Summer surprise! Free Shipping for 1 more day
Bold color—this time the color of a sunset—carries this Havenly email. While we love the stunning photography we've seen in a lot of summer emails, a design approach like this is still eye-catching and effective.
12. Everlane
Subject: The Popover Shirt
One of the things we love most about Everlane emails is the way their text and images play together. The copy is always bold and spot-on, and the images do the rest. Line breaks and ample padding between content makes the email easy to read and beautiful to look at. All told, it's just so pretty!
13. Blind Barber
Subject: So Fresh, So Clean
We love the classic design Blind Barber used here, with a spin on the hero image: four photos instead of one. The look is evocative of Instagram and feels modern and approachable. The custom text on the main CTA button is fun, too.
Send Your Summer Sales Emails
Feeling inspired? Start creating your own summer sale emails now! Make sure to sign up for a freeBEE Pro trial. We havedozens of tutorialsto help you get started (and inspired!), and the drag-and-drop tool is super easy to use. Give it a try!
