Fall is here and Halloween is just around the corner. I’ve been seeing some classic, creative, and bizarre seasonal emails.
From: HelloFresh
Date: 10/17/18
Subject Line: 8 Ways to pumpkin spice up your life
Let’s start off with an email from HelloFresh. They’re grabbing our attention with the seasonal pumpkin spice craze, but giving us more than the expected latte. It’s an easy target for them to hit with their food-focused subscribers and the mouth-watering photography to get us clicking for more. This was a well-timed theme with solid content to keep subscribers clicking and reading. I was slightly confused with the subject line “8 ways to pumpkin spice up your life” followed up by a hero message of “6 Pumpkin Spice Recipes (that aren’t lattes)”in an email only containing 3 recipes. But who’s counting when there’s tasty treats in front of you, right? And I did go clicking to find those pumpkin spice pancakes they mentioned.
From: AllModern (Wayfair)
Date: 10/22/18
Subject Line: 🍁 FALL CLEARANCE just dropped
One of my favorite things to find in an email is balance. Maintain your brand, provide new content, and embrace the season. It can be a challenge, and it takes finesse to get it right. AllModern got it right. Their hero image reflects their style but doesn’t conform to the typical halloween or fall imagery. They used copy to provide a modern splash of color which is then perfectly mirrored in the meticulously selected images that follow. It fits with the season, but they didn’t sacrifice their brand or style to accomplish it. The only change I’d like to make is centering their buttons below the images and add the left aligned copy to the button. This would simply the content below the image, allow the button to be larger, and align with the button placement on their website.
From: Michaels
Date: 10/16/18
Subject Line: 🎃 Trend Tuesday: Pump it up with pumpkins!
Next up, is a Michaels email. Do they send emails too frequently that are too long? Yes, but I sleep better knowing I always have a valid coupon and won’t miss an item I didn’t know I needed. I am also a sucker for a well-done animated gif and today Michaels sent me just that. This animation doesn’t only catch a crafty readers attention, it also provides additional content and inspiration within a few seconds. Plus with the high likelihood subscribers won’t scroll and the extra effort put into gifs, they’ve rightfully placed this profitable content at the top so it can’t be missed. They’ve taken the classic pumpkin and added a creative spin to excite their subscriber. It’s simple, yet valuable.
From: Cards Against Humanity
Date: 10/16/18
Subject Line: Remember to Vote Worms
And finally the bizarre… Cards Against Humanity. Doing bizarre and weird things with their emails (and their money) is nothing unusual for this team. This season they’ve managed to roll Halloween, candy, AND politics into one simple email while still getting laughs. The subject line “Remember to Vote Worms” undoubtedly stands out in the inbox. However, opening this email won’t lead to the typical, robust design. It’s as basic as you can get. They rely on the established interest of their subscribers, timing, and copy. “Buy some Halloween candy, remind your neighbors to vote.” This email example is a good reminder to keep it simple, know your customer, maintain your brand, and work with your available resources.