Fall Email Newsletter Ideas for Your Campaigns

8 great fall email newsletter ideas for your campaigns

September is one of the slowest months for business. Labor Day may bring lots of sales, but after that, most businesses experience a general slowdown. Sales usually start to pick up with the fall holidays coming, later in the season. 

That said, general marketing principles apply no matter the time. Remember: the reader is king. Keep it in mind while building your marketing strategy and crafting each individual email. Take care of your customers, address their needs, walk a mile in their shoes to understand what exactly they require right now. Being genuinely helpful and attentive is the best way to build relationships with your clients and increase sales. 

Apart from that, make your autumn marketing campaign warm and cheerful and use these fall email ideas to make the season work for you. 

1. Labor Day

This unofficial end of summer is one of the best days of the year to organize your daylong sales event. There usually is a long weekend around Labor Day when people try to grab summer items for the best prices. Give special discounts on those summer-season products and boost your fall sales.

Remember that people are still enjoying the summer and spread the word about your Labor Day sale beforehand, in the middle of August.

However, your products don’t necessarily need to be “summer items”. Labor Day sales are not only about swimming suits and sunshades. You can announce discounts on the products you promoted the most during summer or any other items.

2. Back-to-school

If you are in children’s apparel, your day has come. Shoes, clothes, school bags, pens, and school supplies are about to be sold out. Don’t waste the moment, show off your products, and offer the best service possible. The whole year’s marketing strategy should lead to this moment.

Parents are busy people. Value their time and help them get their kids ready for the season with helpful email newsletters — they’ll appreciate it. Make a checklist of things parents need to buy for school, from waterproof shoes and sports uniforms to pens and lunch boxes. And enjoy your email sales rise!

There are other businesses that can benefit from September 1st just as much. Imagine you are a busy mom and really need to chill after getting your kid ready for school. Offer your audience bath cosmetics, books, warm pajamas, and foot massages and link your products to the overall idea of relaxation. Use your imagination to make this fall moment work for you and get creative in your email marketing newsletters. 

3. Start of sports season

The National Football League regular season starts after Labor Day. No matter what you’re selling, just let your customers know you are on the same page and ready for the sports craze. Add the games schedule to your email to make your clients feel you are their fellow even if you sell lawnmowers and have nothing to do with sports.

4. Columbus Day

Columbus Day is right in the middle between Labor Day and Black Friday. Make it a full-dress rehearsal before the biggest sale of the year: test your email marketing newsletters with fall-themed template designs and targeted selections of products. In 2024, Columbus Day falls on Monday, October 14, so make your sale last for the full three-day weekend.

5. Halloween

According to a recent study by NRF, Americans were expected to spend a record $12.2 billion in total for Halloween 2023. This is a holiday email marketers definitely should not ignore in your fall marketing campaign.

Halloween is all about the decoration. So make your Halloween promotional emails look devilishly good with a themed design. The event gives you a wide range of visuals, so don’t limit yourself to zombies and ghosts. Give your subscribers some fresh air with more new characters and ideas for costumes! Suggest some new activities and games for parties and try to link your products to them. Keep your email newsletters fun and season-appropriate!

6. Veterans Day

Some things can not be sold or bought. It would be nice to let your customers know you simply care. 

Make your Veterans Day email campaign totally non-commercial. Even better, offer free gifts to veterans and their families. Find out if you have veterans among your clients, interview them, and put the quotes into your emails to honor them. Start your email with greetings and congratulations from your CEO. Make it as respectful as possible.

7. Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving email newsletters are a great opportunity to build relationships with your customers this fall season. You should thank your clients — they are the driving force behind your sales and they keep your business alive! This is a good opportunity to send some fall emails to those who already bought your products, thank them, and wish well to their families. 

Thanksgiving email campaigns can be quite simple, warm, and heartfelt. Stay true and don’t sugarcoat things, use this opportunity to strengthen your connection with clients. You can also mention the upcoming Black Friday in your Thanksgiving newsletter.

8. Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are perfect for shopping and email marketing newsletters, but can be really loud. Some businesses use this time to make their clients fear they are missing out with the likes of “Buy right now”, “Don’t miss your chance”, “Use your only opportunity”, and other messages. Your strategy can be different and a bit more calm and quiet in contrast to the competition.

People do shop a lot during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, discounts and special offers on these days are great. Just choose a nice and creative way to promote those in your fall email newsletters. Read further to find some great examples of Black Friday and Cyber Monday email campaigns.

Plenty of ideas for your fall emails, right? Do you want some more? Check all the holidays through the year, month by month, in our article on holiday email marketing and a calendar of peculiar events and occasions.

Other interesting topics for fall emails

Fall is a three-month-long season, and holidays can be few and far between. That’s why we have some more ideas you can use in your campaigns.

Cold weather

At the beginning of the season, your customers are probably adapting to colder fall days that are often called “sweater weather”. Center your September campaigns around this topic and suggest relevant products like warmer clothes, teaware, or replenishing skincare.

Outdoor vacations

Early fall (depending on the region, of course!) is also a good time for exploring the outdoors. Create a newsletter centered around camping or hiking and promote comfy gear.

New collection

Fall not only marks the transition between warm and cold seasons, but it’s also close to major winter holidays. That’s why you can present two new collections: one at the beginning of September and another, holiday one closer to the end of November. Use distinct visuals and styles to make both editions feel special and inspiring. 

Here is an example of an early fall collection with outdoorsy green and warm photographs:

Best fall email examples

By now you already know what to write about in your emails, so let’s dive deeper into examples you can draw inspiration from. 

Kraft Heinz: Keep it appetizing

What if you are a food company and you don’t want your Halloween emails to smell like a zombie? Stay spooky and thoughtful! Kraft Heinz Food Company provides its subscribers with a list of fun dishes for a Halloween week.

The email is in a minimalistic sketchy style — no spiderweb or gravestones. That’s a great example of how you can make a fun Halloween email campaign and keep your products looking delicious.

It is also a good example of taking care of your customers and promoting your product. Needless to say, every recipe includes Kraft Heinz products. How can it get any better than that?

Salomon: So simple. And so damn comfortable

Quibbles are great for the headers, and the word “fall” gives you many opportunities to make a witty wordplay.

Salomon simply shows the brand’s subscribers new gear for fall with large high-quality images of people feeling absolutely comfortable and confident in the mountains. Close-ups show us some important details and create a strong sense of reliability. What else can you say?

The design is simple and matches the fall mood. Orange is classic for autumn and gray blue just looks great with it. The email contains a minimum amount of text — just a short intro and lots of links to the new collection.

Use the traditional fall colors for your newsletter. All shades of orange, brown, dark blue, dark green, burgundy, and gray will match the audience’s fall mood. Make your fall email look warm and cozy and celebrate the season!

Peloton: Practice and enjoy

Peloton understands that autumn is a challenge for those who want to keep in shape. You move less, eat more, and stay inside a lot. That’s why the brand offers the subscribers ways to keep practicing as it becomes colder.

The email contains three simple ways to boost your practice. The first one is just killer: the company suggests you bring the bike home for 30 days and see what happens to your workouts. You get a full refund if you don’t like it.

Peloton provides lovely pictures of their bikes in use to let you imagine how nice your indoor workouts may become. It’s practical and cozy even when it’s chilly outside. You got your yoga mat and dumbbells around, you can chat with your friends right on the bike monitor, check your speed and the calories you burn, and get motivated by some nice guy in a Peloton shirt. Who even needs normal cycling anymore?

No one likes to read anymore. Visualize everything you can. One photo can be more informative than a long list of the advantages.

Booking.com: Buy some freedom and happiness. Now

Booking.com puts a huge picture of a surfer having fun with his friends in the ocean during sunset on the top of a Black Friday newsletter. Even if you have nothing to do with surfing you get the value: freedom, youth, unlimited possibilities, and easiness. That is exactly what spontaneous unplanned journeys make you feel like.

Then goes a short description of the special offer and the list of locations available. This is a good example of how you can briefly manifest the value of your product and get down to business.

The subject line says: “Happy Black Friday! Time to save big”. Keep in mind that your newsletter should begin with a brief copy that motivates people to open the email. Make sure the subject line is short and attracts attention. Writing a catchy subject line is a big part of success. 

Astro West: Thank you for owning a piece of the stars

Astro West sells fine mineral specimens and mesmerizing meteorites. These are the gifts for the true romantics. Here’s a simple and fascinating newsletter they crafted for Thanksgiving Day:

Huge pictures of the products, simple words of sincere gratitude to the clients, and a mention of the upcoming Black Friday — this is a perfect template for a Thanksgiving email. 

Use your Thanksgiving newsletter to thank your clients and give them a good discount. You can also underline that your product is a perfect gift for their loved ones. Don’t forget to explain why, if it is not a piece of the stars.

Huckberry: Enjoy the silence

Cyber Monday is full of discounts and special offers. How do you stand out? Easy-peasy — stay quiet! Not literally, but keep in mind that the idea of simplicity and silence is extremely valued right now.

Huckberry used the concept of complete silence in cyberspace and made their products float in the air. The subject line is “ZEROGRAVITY”. The fact that it doesn’t contain the words “Cyber Monday”, “Discount” and “Buy now” is absolutely beautiful.

Conclusion

To sum up, autumn gives you many occasions to remind your clients about you. Don’t miss them and try to follow your customers’ needs. The best way to understand them is to put yourself in their place, do research, and realize what would make their life easier and happier right now.

Keep in mind that fall is a great opportunity to practice your email marketing skills before winter, the most profitable season of all. Building a strong connection with your subscribers now can bring you much success when the sales reach their maximum on Christmas. 

Use the examples from this article for inspiration and have fun!

This article was originally published in September 2023 and was updated in August 2024 to make it more relevant and comprehensive.