• by Jess Nelson , March 16, 2017

A majority of Americans will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Friday, according to personal finance company WalletHub, with 56% of Americans expected to drink 13 million pints of Guinness beer.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that 139 million Americans will spend $5.3 billion this weekend -- the highest spend predicted in the NRF’s 10-year history of tallying consumer spending on St. Patrick’s Day, with a poll of 7,500 consumers via Prosper Insights & Analytics. 

This is the first time the NRF has predicting spending to top $5 billion on St. Patrick’s Day, with Americans ages 25-34 expected to be the holiday’s biggest spenders. Older Millennials are expected to spend $46.65 each on St. Patrick’s Day, compared to the national average of $37.92 per person.

Seamas Egan, associate director of revenue operations at email marketing service Campaigner, says email marketers can take advantage of the popular holiday with themed content that stands out in a competitive inbox.

Campaigner released five suggested email marketing strategies to Embrace The Luck Of The Irish. Recommended tips include sending newsletters earlier on in the day, A/B testing campaigns to determine what messaging tactics are most effective and sending responsive content that can be read on mobile devices.

Email marketers should aim to send responsive, dynamic campaigns to serve subscribers fresh content they can peruse “while they’re having their first beer, browsing email, and waiting for their friends to show up,” says Egan. 

Themed campaigns don’t just benefit B2C brands, either. B2B companies can also use creative content, timed around themes, says Egan.

The critical element is to understand your audience, says Egan. If you know your targeted audience is most likely to be celebrating on Friday night, particularly if they are Millennials, Saturday morning may be the most effective time to send an email.

“Send an email the next day with the subject line ‘Regrets of Last Night’,” laughs Egan. “You might have a captive audience in bed with a headache, and an email could really resonate with them.”