Halloween, one of the last occasions before we go into full Holiday mode. Whilst you may be busy planning for BFCM, it’s important not to overlook this spooktacular sale opportunity.
It is predicted that Halloween sales in the US will hit a new record, exceeding $10 billion in 2021. What a treat. Read on to learn some of our favorite Halloween email tips and tricks to bewitch your customers.
Gamification
Halloween is a great opportunity to send out some really fun and engaging emails. It’s the perfect time to utilize gamification and up your engagement.
Clinique used gamification last Halloween, offering a free gift with purchase – once you complete their game of course. A game is always a fun challenge many will try out even if they don’t have any intent on purchasing, but once they ‘win’ a freebie or a discount code, they might just convert.
Remember to always have a fallback version, and to test in a few different email clients when using gamification or more complex designs than usual.
Dress up
Embrace the Halloween spirit and dress your emails up. The classic Halloween color palette of orange and black isn’t going anywhere, depending on your brand’s usual style you can go all out, or simply add some tasteful nods to the occasion.
We like this simple but effective postcard email from Dunkin’ Donuts, using their iconic coffee as a background that conjures up images of a bubbling cauldron is a perfect balance of brand and seasonal design. The Halloween-themed discount code is a nice touch too.
Have a Halloween party
Sales emails can get old and predictable fast – make your emails stand out in the inbox by doing something fresh.
We love this from Fenty Beauty, repackaging a sale as a Halloween party is super fun and they also keep their brand edge by making it un-invite only.
Fenty have also highlighted one of their iconic products which suits both Halloween and the rest of the year, the ‘get spooky’ CTA is a nice subtle nod to the theme whilst retaining brand TOV too.
Build engagement
Email doesn’t have to be a one-way thing. This email from Greetabl is super fun, it asks contacts to reply to the email with their favorite Halloween joke, to be sent a discount, and be in with a chance to win a free gift.
This is a great way of using email as a two-way engagement with your customers. Greetabl also encouraged people to include their Instagram handles and to look out for submissions on the platform, which is a natural and effective example of cross-channel pollination. Creating exclusivity around the discount will also make your email contacts feel they are getting value for being subscribed.
Don’t forget the basics
Make your copy bewitching, Halloween comes with tons of ready-made puns, so take the opportunity to be a bit cheesy and have some fun with it. Also remember to consider deliverability during this busy period and make sure you’ve got your strategy sorted.
Just like any other send, utilize personalization and segmentation – if you’ve sent Halloween campaigns in the past you can see who engaged with them and target them specifically.
We like this example from McKenzie Childs who use playful Halloween copy and a personalized product recommendation section to strike the balance between fun and effective.
Halloween is a big occasion and with sales going up each year, it’s here to stay. It’s important to have a plan in place and make the most of it. A base of proven strategy, a splash of fun design, a sprinkle of brand personality and a dash of sparkling copy makes for a bubbling cauldron of engaged customers – all that’s left is to hit send.
Once you’ve got your Halloween content sorted, it’s time to start prepping for Christmas, luckily we’ve also written blog post all about testing Christmas creative.
