We're back with more expert email advice!

It's already our third edition of this email, and we're so happy you're here.

Today's advice comes from Regina Onekpe, a friend of Email Expert Africa, who's a master digital strategist and SEO writer.

Regina will be sharing a few key insights into email marketing around the Halloween season, and how you can make the most out of your email campaigns at this spine-tingling time of the year.

This email should be just in time for you to use these expert insights to adjust your campaigns for even better results and guide you in your process around planning for seasonal email campaigns.
 

So, let's get ghoulish with Regina and find out more about creating clever ways to win using email marketing this Halloween 👻

Spook-Tacular Ways to Win with Halloween Emails 🎃

Boo! It's Halloween! 

I know that wasn’t funny, but can we just pretend you at least chuckled a little?

We’re in the mysterious season again. The season of fun, costumes, and loads of candy.

By the way, did I forget to mention that it's also a great season for emails?

Why? Well, consumers spent a shocking $10 billion+ last year on Halloween-related items, with almost 92% of active consumers celebrating the spooky season across most regions.

And, if you're a marketer who is anything like me, you'll understand that Halloween is not your average time of year.

It's the time you can summon your email campaigns to rise from a tomb of banal dispair, and take on a life of their own.
 

Let's begin today by looking at the reasons why Halloween is such a golden opportunity for marketers, and thereafter, discuss 5 quick but effective strategies to resurrect your Halloween campaigns this year.

Why Halloween Emails Work

1. Increased consumer spending

Halloween is associated with increased consumer spending on costumes, decorations, candy, and various themed products.

Email marketers can capitalise on this increased spending behaviour by promoting exclusive offers, discounts, and limited-time deals to encourage purchases and drive sales.

The frightening truth is that if you don't craft a Halloween-themed email marketing strategy, you’re losing money to your competitors who are seizing the opportunity.

2. Seasonal relevance

Halloween is a widely celebrated holiday in many parts of the world, making it a perfect opportunity for businesses to engage with their audience.

You're able to be relevant, but also a little fun and quirky in your campaigns to customers.

If you personalise things and create a great experience with readers, you'll see those click rates soar like a bat in the night. 🦇

3. A platform to end off the year

Halloween season often indicates that the end of the year is around the corner for many consumers.

It can be a great place to set the stage for buyers right before BFCM, your year-end promotions and festive season sales to close off the year.

Halloween allows you to create some hype, tease at scary-good upcoming initiatives and act as a great reason to grow your email list through your strategy.

5 Strategies to win with your Halloween emails

1. Get trick-or-treaty with Halloween promotions

Do you remember how Burger King offered a Halloween-themed service and made a killing from it?

If you missed it, in 2021 Burger King cleverly added a free meal to their app every day during the Halloween season.

The catch? It was only available to order at 3 a.m. which they deemed the “witching hour.” Check this ad out:

If you want to steal a page from their spell book, what you'll ideally look to do in your email campaigns is build anticipation around a treat or giveaway.

If you do this well, and make it relevant to the offer you're running, you can playfully engage with readers by surprising and delighting them with clever but unsuspecting ways not simply to buy your offer, but actively participate in it.
 

2. Impress readers with chilling email visuals

It's important not to go too overboard by turning your emails or landing pages into scenes from The Exorcist, however, adding campaign visuals with a bit of a creepy touch can really do the trick.

Forget your boring ghosts and ghouls. Go for animated GIFS that draw attention from readers, or find ways to use elements that you can use to create an entertaining reading experience for readers.

If you want some inspiration, here are three of my favourite examples:

• Harry's Halloween Email

• Trick or Treat by New Look
• Oh Sheet! It's Almost Halloween by Brooklinen

3. Tie In-Store Promotions to emails

Remember how it felt going trick-or-treating on Halloween? If you have a brick-and-mortar presence, you have a great opportunity that will create an experience to remember.

You can use emails to build hype and anticipation for these events, create interactive experiences through clever email automation, and even drive further sales through email riddles, games and action-driven incentives in your campaigns.

These physical events are also a great way to grow your email audience, so don't forget to create an incentive and easy way for visitors to leave their email addresses. QR codes are still a gem here 💎

4. Make readers part of the story

What's Halloween without a chilling tale, right?

A Halloween-themed story sent at the right time will have your subscribers on the edge of their seats. Mars Company is a great example here. They mastered the art of storytelling using their “Bite-Sized Halloween” campaign which drew customers into short Halloween stories themed around their products.

Why not tell a story in your emails? Make your reader a character, personalise to make it even spookier (yes, friend we're watching you😉) and create an email experience they won't forget anytime soon.

 

5. Make it the final countdown

Halloween promotions should remain exactly that: Halloween promotions.

If you run Halloween campaigns that end two weeks after Halloween ends, where's the urgency in your sale?

Halloween can be the perfect time to create limited-time offers or flash promotions. Countdown timers in your emails are a great way to create urgency and a bit of a scare to get readers to take action.

Like any good horror movie, you can build tension and anticipation, sticking true to the theme of Halloween.

We want you to be inspired and make the best of Halloween 2023.

Don't miss out on the potential of a great Halloween season email campaign.

Remember, in the world of email marketing, a spell is cast with every click!

May your emails be opened, your sales rise, and your subscribers be spellbound.
 

Regina 😊

We truly hope you enjoyed Regina's insights, and that you'll use them to create some awesome Halloween emails.

PS: Regina is best at taking on all the stressful work of copywriting, SEO, or research that comes with building an Agency so you don’t have to.

Connect with Regina on LinkedIn and reach out to her to find out more.

These emails are proudly made possible by

Africa's best email service agency and email marketing platform

Before you go! We're featuring new friends!

These editions are designed to share insights from experts, far and wide.

If you're an expert, or if you know of an expert who you would like to see featured in future editions, we'd love to hear from you!

Simply reply to this email or hit this link to tell us who you'd like to learn from, and we'll take it from there.

Before I go! Remember, I help businesses and content creators, just like you, win at email. How? Here are three ways I can help:

Get the guide! We've spent 200+ hours compiling over 250 pages covering everything you need to launch and win at email. Find out more here. 

Get email help! I help businesses improve and grow their email marketing. Book your free email platform audit here.

Get expert service! I've partnered with the best to help take your email to the next level. Find out more here.

PS: If you've been sent this email and want to sign up, hit this link to join our community or click here to join Matt's fantastic emails