Southwest Airlines email examples

The first email arrived on day 35, and its subject line, "👏👏 🛎️ Hey! You did the email sign up thing!", is the only one that is a greeting rather than an offer. Its content welcomes the subscriber and previews promotions, special offers and schedule openings, then points readers to destinations, travel deals and booking options.

The emails that follow arrive on day 39, day 45, day 46 and day 47. The credit card offer comes on day 39, the winter fare sale on day 45, a second credit card email on day 46, and a "FINAL DAY!" version of the fare sale on day 47. Four of the five emails are sale or discount emails, so after the welcome the sequence is mostly offers.

Every subject line after the welcome names an offer. "Earn 80,000 points—and a pretty sweet boarding benefit!" and "Earn 80,000 points + a complimentary seat benefit! 💺" both lead with the points bonus, and "$59 sale! Winter travel season is on sale. ✈️" leads with the price. The fare sale returns on day 47 as "FINAL DAY! $59 sale! Winter travel season is on sale. ✈️", so the same offer is repeated with a deadline added to the front.

Four of the five subject lines carry an emoji, and they are placed at the end or inside the line, for example "💺" after the points offer and "✈️" after the sale.

The credit card email on day 46 uses both a countdown and a single call to action. Its content leads with the offer and the application call to action, then gives eligibility rules and full terms. The final-day fare sale on day 47 uses a countdown, and its content says the offer ends that day and directs readers to book, with booking and travel restrictions included.

The earlier credit card email on day 39 has a single call to action but no countdown. Its content highlights the annual fee and offer deadline before the eligibility details. Across the five emails, the countdown appears only in the day 46 and day 47 emails, and the single call to action appears only in the day 39 and day 46 emails.