Brace yourself; the spooky season is upon us.
What does that bring? Candy, costumes, and lots of promotional emails. Halloween is a marketer’s dream. With people competing with each other over outrageous costumes, decorations, and parties, it is marketers that benefit from this extra consumer spending.
If you, too, want to benefit from a surge in revenue this Halloween season, then you’re in luck. We discuss the tips that’ll help you create boo-tiful Halloween emails that’ll compel your audience to convert. Make sure to check out the five scary good Halloween campaigns at the end for some good ol’ inspiration.
Let’s get started.
Should You Send Halloween Emails?
Halloween comes to haunt us each year on 31st October - just a few weeks shy from Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas.
With such big holidays coming in the future, should you really burden yourself with an additional marketing campaign on Halloween? The answer is a big yes.
Halloween is Americans’ third favorite holiday. This means that they’re in the mood to celebrate and spend cash in the process.
According to the National Retail Federation, consumer spending on Halloween in 2021 is expected to reach an all-time high of $10.14 billion. Additionally, the average person is expected to spend $102.74 during this holiday.
With Covid-19 lockdowns easing up compared to last year, people are even in a greater mood to go trick or treating.
In a nutshell, you should be sending Halloween emails no matter your audience. Period.
Halloween Email Best Practices You Must Follow
You’re not the only one trying to benefit from this lucrative season - as far as we know, your competitors are pulling all-nighters to stand out with their Halloween emails.
Don’t worry; the following tips will ensure all eyes are on your emails and you’re rolling in cash.
1. Capture attention from the start
When you were a kid, how would you decide which house to go for trick or treating? Obviously, the ones with lots of pumpkins and spooky figures. First impressions matter, even more so when you’re sending Halloween emails.
Aim to capture your subscribers’ attention from the get-go with compelling subject lines. You can create attention-grabbing subject lines by;
Including Halloween-based puns
Creating a sense of urgency
Adding Halloween-related emojis
The following examples of subject lines will boost the open rate of your emails drastically.
We’ve got all the treats you need
We just wanted to witch you a happy Halloween 👻
30% off on our fang-tastic fall dresses
Are you too hoarding everything pumpkin spice?
Scary savings - 10% off on your first order
2. Use readymade Halloween email templates
To make the most of this profitable season, you need to send a series of perfectly timed emails. But with more emails come greater design time and cost. The latter can be avoided using Unlayer’s free Halloween email templates.
These templates can be easily modified in a matter of minutes. All templates have been designed to stand out and grab your audiences’ attention. They display well on all devices and can be integrated with your favorite email service providers, like Mailchimp and Hubspot.
View some of these spooky templates below:
[
](http://unlayer.com/email-templates/halloween)
3. Include Halloween-based imagery
Halloween emails should look like Halloween emails.
Think ghosts, witches, and zombies, and find a way to include them and similar symbols in your email design. But don’t just add them for the sake of including them. Halloween-based imagery should marry well with your brand and the products offered. Try to find a creative way to showcase your brand identity and the holiday in the same email campaign.
When designing email graphics for Halloween, ensure to use relevant colors, like orange and black. However, use orange sparingly as it is one of the most disliked colors for visual design.
4. Make content pun-tastic
Just like you’re supposed to add relevant imagery in Halloween emails, the content must also change to fit the occasion.
Halloween is a fun time for all. Our recommendation? Include Halloween-related puns - they’re amusing and get the recipient excited to read the email. Puns ensure that the overall tone of your email is lighthearted and laidback.
Don’t (p)underestimate the power of puns in email copy. Humor leads to greater recall, and puns are the easiest (read: safest) way to inject humor into your Halloween emails.
What are some good Halloween puns? Read below:
Laughing till I’m coffin
Creep it real
Witch, please
You’re just my blood type
Bone Appetit
5. Avoid cliché in copy
Nothing makes one cringe faster than an overly used cliché. Yes, include puns in your email copy, but avoid using overly repeated phrases that repel your audience instead of converting them.
What do we exactly mean by Halloween cliché? Boo, trick or treat, scaredy cat, and many more. We’re sure you have your own list of Halloween clichés that make your eyes roll.
Get creative with words and break the habit of using commonly bombarded phrases. For instance, in one email Premier Inn Hotel played around the cliché ‘trick or treat’ and converted it into an original ‘no tricks, just treats.’
6. Get the frequency and sending time right
One crucial element that can make or break your Halloween email campaign is how many emails you send and when you send them.
Frequency of Halloween emails
Your campaign should begin as soon as October starts. Slow at first, you should accelerate your email marketing efforts once the last week of October begins. You should send at least two emails in the last week, with one email being sent on Halloween day. You can even send an email on 1st November to clear out any unsold Halloween stock at a discounted price.
Ideal sending time for Halloween emails
The best time for sending Halloween emails is either around 8 am to 10 am or between 3 pm to 4 pm. While you must send emails on Halloween, emails on other days should be sent either on Tuesday or Thursday as researchers have declared them the best days for email marketing.
With that being said, these sending times are a good starting point. But at the end of the day, you should follow the schedule that works specifically for your audience. The latter can easily be identified by analyzing your in-house historical data.
7. Use bold typography
Halloween is anything but subtle. Why not show this boldness in your emails?
The header is the first thing your audience sees when they open your email - better make it worth their time. Use a bold and elaborate font style to grab their attention instantly. Brownie points if you can add a spooky element in your choice of font style.
Disclaimer: Only use bold fonts for headings. For content appearing anywhere else, stick to email safe fonts for legibility.
Below are some examples of bold fonts you can use in your email design:
Atma Bold
Vampira One
Rubik Mono
Jeepers
Abys
Dingos Stamp
8. Move past promotional emails
Who said emails on Halloween are only supposed to be promotional in nature?
Holiday email marketing has greatly evolved from sending salesy emails to emails that focus on nurturing relationships and building a community.
This Halloween, send a fun and interactive email wishing your audience a happy holiday. You can also send them an email showing pictures of how you celebrated Halloween amongst your team or share tips on how your subscribers can make their Halloween costumes more memorable.
5 Brands with Scary Good Halloween Email Campaigns
Looking for some spooky inspiration? The below examples tick all boxes for Halloween emails that are fa-boo-lous.
Harry’s
The creative team at Harry’s knocked it out of the park with this Halloween email. They’ve played around with popular Halloween characters and used them to promote their trimmer.
ModCloth
Remember when we advised you to use puns in your Halloween emails? ModCloth’s email perfectly fits the bill with its humorous content.
Postable
Who said Halloween emails have to be complicated? This humorous gif is bound to bring a smile to the reader. The solid background color makes the content and gif stand out even further.
Magic Spoon
Talk about a colorful design! This email from Magic Spoon will surely grab the attention of anyone that views it. It’s also a refresher from the gloomy Halloween emails we’re used to seeing.
Land’s End
We love how the brand used its products to replicate popular Halloween symbols. The quirky (and poetic) email copy is compelling us to click on that call to action button.
Conclusion
Sending Halloween emails is a great way to make the most of this lucrative holiday. Follow our actionable tips to create emails that leave your audience shocked but in a good way.
