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Email Marketing Tips to Boost Halloween Campaign Conversions

Written by Philip Storey | Sep 17, 2020 3:12:00 PM

Are you after some tricks and treats for your email marketing campaigns this Halloween? It's a time to be creative with your emails and deliver some stand-out subject lines to creep into subscribers' inboxes. We've outlined 4 top email marketing tactics and tips to help you boost your conversion rate during this spell-bounding seasonal event.

1. Be creative with devilish design

Halloween is a busy time of year for retailers and consumers spent over £300 million during the scary season, in the UK alone. The British public's interest in Halloween festivities is growing fast, so don’t be afraid to spice up your email marketing campaigns with some bold seasonal themes and relevant iconography.

Here's a great example of and effective and visually appealing Halloween email design from Jack Threads:

This email is fun, hip, vibrant and has good taglines "CLOTHE YOUR BONES" and relevant typography – including a blood-splattered customised logo! Importantly, it contains a big and bold discount to really get customers interested. 

2. Compose scarily good subject lines

Inboxes will be busy during the Halloween period, so make sure your campaign stands out from the competition. Add clever wordplay, insert seasonal emojis into your subject lines and entice subscribers with an element of mystery to increase your open rates. But also promise real value and incentives in your pre-header text.

Get some great subject line inspiration, including emoji use, with our 5 Spooktactular Subject Line Tips to BOOst Your Halloween Email Marketing Campaigns.

In the meantime, here are some top Halloween subject examples from top brands:

  • Halloween is Here – One Stop Halloween Shop - Very
  • Trick or treat, spooky or sweet? – Etsy
  • No tricks, just tasty treats – graze
  • 15% Off All Ghoulish Goodies – Cadbury
  • Scary Savings! 40% cinema tickets + more – Tastecard

Remember: Don't forget to utilise your pre-header text to add the promise of great content and value to the initial enticement of your subject lines!

For more fangtastic subject lines, check out Campaign Monitor's 100 Scary Good Halloween Email Subject Lines.

3. Offer deadly discounts for customers

Give your customers a fright with some big discounts and relevant offers that will really encourage subscribers to engage with your Halloween emails. Think outside the (in)box and offer real value rather than just gimmicks. For example, you could use “31% off” sitewide, as not only does the number tie in with the date of fright night, but it's a big enough discount to perk the interest of your subscribers.

Check out this email example from American Eagle Outfitters, which has done just this!

The cobweb creative nicely frames the relevant offer and the copywriting, “SPIN YOUR OWN WEB OF #AEOSTYLE”, adds a seasonal hook. There's also a touch of FOMO with the "ONLY ON HALLOWEEN 10.31..." limited time offer.

4. Use the right tools for the job

There are plenty of great email tools out there to help you conjure up great creative ideas and deliver effective relevancy and CRO tactics. Tools like Phrasee, Live Clicker and Fresh Relevance are awesome options to ramp up the impact of your seasonal marketing campaigns.

  • Realtime Email by Live Clicker optimises your campaigns by leveraging data and adding live content into your emails, according to the time your recipients open their emails.
  • Fresh Relevance enables retailers to add effective personalisation and dynamic content (countdown clocks, geotargeting, etc) to increase conversions.
  • Phrasee helps you become subject line superhero, as it uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to learn from customer insights and compose subject lines and marketing copy that converts with your audience. 

Learn more about these innovative email tools in our guide to 10 Awesome Tools to Revolutionise Your Email Marketing

Wrap Up

We hope you’ve found these fiendishly good email tactics for Halloween campaign useful. If you’re hungry for more, check out some of our other Halloween campaign blogs to help inspire your marketing this year: