Spooktacular Halloween Email Subject Line Ideas for Successful Marketing Campaign

Why do email subject lines matter to your Halloween email campaign?

Halloween is one of the most celebrated festivals on the globe, with shoppers going bonkers for spooky goods. It is a family-friendly holiday without the expectations of big online shopping sprees like Thanksgiving or Christmas. But even though it doesn’t have the same spending rates, sales do leap! In 2021, Americans spent around $10.14 billion on this holiday, a record high. And it’s expected to break new records this year. So make sure you don’t sleep on this great opportunity.

Today, customers receive tons of emails each day, and the volume increases on special days like Halloween. Make the most of this chance to be creative with your email subject lines to make yourself stand out from the competition (and the inbox) and boost client engagement. Actually, according to study, 33 to 47% of recipients open messages in their inbox based just on subject lines for emails. That is why you can’t afford ignoring holiday email campaigns. Your email subject line is the first and most important step if you want to increase your email open rates and make more sales this Halloween. These holiday-themed emails will provide you with the ideal opportunity to engage with your audience and offer them exclusive deals. Let’s see how!

How to craft Halloween themed email subject lines like a pro

To see your special offers, your audience has to open your emails first. To write subject lines that grab your audience’s attention, keep a few things in mind. 

Avoid using overused buzzwords

Avoid using overused buzzwords in your subject lines, such as “No tricks, just treats.“ Simply put, everyone does it, and it’s too obvious. Keep it clean and simple. Your goal is to reach as many people as possible, so keep your subject line accurate and straightforward. Halloween is a fun holiday, but most of your customers will probably get a few holiday emails with the same overused “trick or treat” buzzwords.

From: Google

Subject: Are you ready for Halloween?

Use the power of puns and wordplays

Overused buzzwords can be annoying, but Halloween is still a great time of year to have fun with your subject lines. Just make sure they are smart, funny and Halloween-themed. 

Change the subject line “20% off — until midnight” to something like “Scary savings: 20% off — until midnight, before the werewolves strike…” Use clever wordplay or humorous subject lines to attract the attention of your recipients’ and stand out in their inboxes.

From: Disney+ 

Subject: See what’s screaming — er, streaming!

Also, here’s more pun words inspiration:

Spark interest and curiosity

Add intrigue and mystery to your email campaign. Brands can be mysterious because Halloween is all about the spooky, creepy, and exploring the unknown. It is a guaranteed way to get someone’s attention. Admit it, you are dying to open the email and see what’s inside when you see the “OPEN IF YOU DARE” inscription. Use this technique in your marketing strategy for the Halloween season to spark your clients’ excitement and boost the open rate.

From: Allset 

Subject: 🎃 Scary big deal (use at your own risk)

More email subject lines that spark curiosity:

Be short and to the point

If your subject line is too long, it could be cut off, and it may lead to your customers not opening your email. A study showed that 41 characters (7 words) is perfect for email subject line length (on both desktop and mobile versions). 

Be on point with what your customers are actually looking for. Any email campaign’s success depends on your ability as a marketer to meet your clients where they are right now. This is about knowing and satisfying their:

• Needs: what do they really need right now?
• Values: what you can offer that your customers actually care about?
• Desires: what would help them? 

So try to send them relevant offers and you will see how your sales from that email campaign grow. Check out this example:

From: Tattly

Subject: 31% Off Tattly Sheets! Our Treat to You!

Sometimes just adding a little creativity to the subject lines is enough. Generally congratulate your customers on the upcoming holiday or make them feel spooky. Here we have some short but still Halloween themed email subject line ideas:

Offer incentives

Give customers strong reasons to open emails. People receive hundreds of emails every day, so you need to provide attractive offers and good reasons to motivate them to open your emails. Offer your customers something that they cannot resist. Use the incentive of discounts, deals and giveaways to get them interested in what your company can offer.

From: Liquid Death 

Subject: Free Halloween Costume With Every Case!

Many companies that launch Halloween campaigns, mention  deals in the subject line of their email. Here we’ve got a few ideas of subject lines offering incentives:

Make a use of emojis

Emojis have become a new way to communicate. Digital marketers typically use emojis in subject lines to make their emails stand out in recipients’ inboxes. They also help you express your feelings and intentions. You can use them to tell your story in a more expressive way, and get closer to your audience. And, of course, adding them to your Halloween subject line could add personality and color. 

The Jack-o’-lantern (🎃) and ghost (👻) are the most widely used emojis for Halloween. The spider (🕷) and cobweb (🕸) emojis are also common options. Check out this graph from the study by Return Path about the effects of different emoticons on email engagement:

Here’s one of my favorite emojis used in a Halloween subject line:

From: My Food and Family 

Subject: Spooktacular dinners for the week 🧛

Using even a single emoji to your subject line can help to draw the eye, create a sense of friendliness, and help to grow open rates. But beware of overusing it. 

Here are some more examples of excellent Halloween subject lines:

Do not forget the preview text

The preview text is a short copy that displays near the subject line in many email clients, such as Gmail and Outlook. 

Although marketers pay less attention to the preview text section compared to the subject lines, it is still important. Consider it a brief summary of the content of your email that you may use in combination with the subject line to encourage recipients to open it.

Let’s take a look at some examples of correctly using the preview text in emails:

Always personalize

Always try to personalize the subject line of your email if you know something about your customers, like their name or where they are located. You may use that knowledge to improve your subject line and draw readers in. This will help your email stand out from the rest and make it easier for the recipient to read through their inbox.

Here’s a good example of a personalization:

From: Rover

Subject: 👻 Halloween toys your dog will love 🎃

Use last chance email trick

Sense of urgency is a powerful weapon to push your clients to act, that is why last chance emails are great to make more sales. You can create it with specific words like “Last Chance” or “Limited time only” in your email marketing campaign like Wool & Oak did in their subject line:  

From: Wool & Oak 

Subject: Last Day for $200 + Free Treats!

Be aware that a “last chance” or “last reminder” style email that pushes your consumers to act before it’s too late is a smart concept for the final email in your campaign. Here are more subject lines with a style of last-minute Halloween email:

Conclusion

Every email marketing campaign needs to start with the subject line. It is the first impression you make with your customers and should be written to elicit their curiosity and interest in the content of your message. Having said that, it’s also the most variable part of your campaign and often takes a lot of time to get right. So here are the main tips that we suggest you to follow: 

• Offer incentives to your customers to get them to open an email.
• Use emojis to get fun and spooky as there is no better time than Halloween to do this.
• Personalize your subject lines, if you want your customers to feel special and follow your CTAs.
• Add “Last chance” and “Limited time” calls to your subject line to create a sense of urgency.
• Use puns and wordplays, humorous subject lines always get the attention.

We hope that our advice, suggestions, and brand examples have provided you with good motivation to surprise your clients this Halloween. Good luck! 

All email examples are credited to Really Good Emails.