October is coming a.k.a. the spooky season for marketers. You’ll see Halloween-themed campaigns here and there from companies of different sizes and industries. Make it scary not to open your email.
What’s more spooky and scary is when you’re unable to come up with a campaign that will convert and engage your audience. So here’s a little help from some inspiring brands with examples of email newsletters from last year’s celebration. With these, you will surely not let this big marketing event pass.
Consider the following insights and email examples as our “treat” for you this Halloween.
- Show a quick guide to making your audience Halloween ready
- Make them try something new for a giveaway
- Create an engaging instant win promo
- How about the after-party?
- Try hosting a contest
Show a quick guide to making your audience Halloween ready
One of the best ways to offer a range of your products is by creating a tutorial or a guide for audiences to create something related to the event, occasion, or celebration. Creativity matters here. Also, make your tutorial quick and easy to digest, otherwise, the customers will bounce right to the next email in their inbox since they usually do not have much time due to their work or personal errands.
Take for instance this email example from Floom. Floom is a lifestyle brand that offers flowers and same-day delivery across the United Kingdom for occasions like birthdays, housewarmings, weddings, anniversaries, etc.
In this email, they put together all their Halloween-themed bouquets in one block. They made the layout so convenient that you can already see the range of items for a good selection, plus a CTA for each item that redirects to the product page. You didn’t have to scroll through or choose from the website if you’ve already made a choice.
Right after they presented a variety of stem choices, they also showed a quick guide on how to create something related to the holiday. In this case, they showed simple steps to creating a floral pumpkin, perfect for Halloween decoration.
Halloween ready? 🎃
Sent by Floom
Make them try something new for a giveaway
Some say that candies are overrated during Halloween. And who would want to rush to the dentist because of a sugar rush?
It is not always necessary to manufacture candies or sweets for this special spooky party to offer your audience. You could offer something new and break some old thinking and traditions. Who knows, some people are just waiting for new ideas to bring to the table.
Here’s a perfect example from the popular mattress brand Purple.
Instead of saying Trick-or-Treat, they said Trick-or-Squishy on their subject line. A squishy is a type of soft toy that slowly returns to its original shape after being squeezed. The banner showed an image of a pumpkin full of squishies, followed by huge texts convincing the audience to give squishies and not candies this time. You could also try this for your own brand, especially if you have lots of treats to offer (aside from candies) which could be toys, accessories, or any cute stuff.
Trick-or-Squishy this Halloween
Sent by Purple
Create an engaging instant win promo
Promotion examples with scratch & win can help you increase engagement and sales. It is also a great way to promote your products. Most importantly, they help captivate your audience.
Catching your audience's attention is the first challenge during a big marketing season like Halloween. If you are using email marketing, your email copy should be captivating enough to make the customers stop by.
Here are not just one but three examples from Schoolyard Snacks, a food brand that sells nutritional and keto-friendly snacks. Whatever your industry, scratch cards are a great way of drawing people into your sales funnel.
On the 3 emails, sent 4 to 5 days interval, you would notice a simple and short message composed of one block only. In the subject line, they made use of emojis perfect for the season so people would know right away that the message is related to Halloween. It’s also a nice way to spook up your Halloween email subject lines. The phrase “You qualify” could also be effective as it would make you feel involved and would lead you to open the email. Plus, the images are animated so it created a playful vibe while reading the email body. Who wouldn’t want to scratch? Anyway, it was just a click away from revealing a surprise.
👻👻👻👻
Sent by Schoolyard Snacks
😱 You qualify !
Sent by Schoolyard Snacks
😱 HALLOWEEN SPECIAL - You qualify !
Sent by Schoolyard Snacks
How about the after-party?
There are a lot of different ways to celebrate Halloween. Most traditions are not complete without the costume party where heavy makeup and prosthetics are involved - making your skin the subject of scary, crazy ideas for the sake of fun and competition.
If you are in the personal care (most especially skincare) industry, you could offer your products in advance so customers could stock up in preparation for the post-party makeup removal and cleansing of their faces and body. Just like what the two brands below did on their email campaign at least a week before the actual parties. Take them for inspiration to help your customers create a well-planned costume party from start to finish.
Scaryyyy skincare inside 👻
Sent by Crabtree & Evelyn
Don't forget to prep for this...
Sent by busy co
Try hosting a contest
Speaking of costume parties, some brands (especially those that belong to the Fashion and Lifestyle industries) do host a contest where they could showcase their products and launch new designs and prints too just in time for Halloween. It promotes audience participation and promotes your products needed for the contest.
Here are two email examples from Corro, a brand that sells horse supplies. In the first email sent more than a week before Halloween, they announced their 2nd annual Halloween costume contest. It was just a simple and short email composed of the details of the contest including the inclusive dates and awards to be given, then a CTA to enter the contest.
👻 🎃 The 2nd Annual Corro Halloween Costume Contest is Here 👻 🎃
Sent by Corro
This second email is an interesting way to help the audience participate in the contest. It also serves as a follow-up email to make sure your audience won’t miss out on this promo. Those who have not yet found a perfect costume that could wow the judges will have more inspiration this time. And for those still hesitant to try entering the contest, this email would convince them in a way.
Open For Halloween Costume Inspiration 👀
Sent by Corro
As you would notice, most of the brands featured above do not sell horror-related stuff, costumes, candies and sweets. It seems like Halloween is not a natural fit. But regardless of the type of industry you belong to, there are still plenty of creative ways to integrate Halloween into your marketing tactics. You would find more and almost unlimited examples when you check out the latest eCommerce benchmarking platform Panoramata. You can track your competitor’s every marketing move for any holiday really (not just Halloween).
