14 Cyber Monday email examples and tips for maximum sales

This article will help by introducing 14 of our favorite Cyber Monday email ideas that you can use to boost sales on the big day. We’ll also dive into best practices, Cyber Monday email timing schedules, and marketing ideas you can use to make this your best year yet.

There’s no universal method for creating an effective Cyber Monday email campaign. But these Cyber Monday email examples highlight some of your best options. For each example, we’ve included a screenshot and an explanation of the key lesson you can apply to your own emails.

1. Include a clear offer: Herschel Supply Co.

The most important part of any Cyber Monday email is the deal itself. So make sure readers can discover the main details as soon as they hit open. 

This Cyber Monday email example from Herschel Supply Co. is a masterclass in clarity. 

Why it works: 

• The clean, high-contrast design minimizes distractions, making the offer instantly obvious 

• The use of a single, prominent CTA button and clear discount codes reduces friction and tells the reader exactly what to do next

How to implement:

• Use MailerLite’s drag-and-drop editor to create a clean layout with plenty of white space (or start with a template)

• Use a single, large button for CTA with a contrasting color to draw the eye. Make the button text action-oriented (e.g., "Shop the Sale")

2. Create a VIP offer: Periodic Audio

There are so many Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales that it’s hard to make customers feel special at this time of year. Get around this by creating a sale just for VIPs. 

In a sea of generic sales, Periodic Audio made its VIP customers feel special by giving them a massive discount of 50% AND early access.

Why it works: 

• This “generous” strategy builds brand loyalty and customer retention. It makes loyal customers feel valued and rewards them for their business, which encourages them to return

How to implement:

• If you know who your most loyal customers are, send unique offers to this VIP segment

• If you don’t know your loyal customers, segment your email list to find out today

3. Use a limited-time offer: Ryanair

Many Cyber Monday sales run for a week, but Ryanair's email shows the power of a short, high-impact offer. By limiting the sale to a single day, the brand drives immediate conversions.

Why it works: 

• A 24-hour sale leverages extreme urgency to create a compelling reason to buy now. It's a classic "act or miss out" strategy that prevents customers from procrastinating and encourages impulse buys

How to implement:

• Create a single-day sale

• Pair it with clear messaging that emphasizes the limited window, like "24-Hour Flash Sale" or "Ends Tonight at Midnight”

4. Use a countdown timer: MailerLite

Countdown timers create a sense of urgency—recipients know they must act soon to take advantage of the deal. We even used one in our Cyber Monday promotion email.

Why it works: 

• By visually representing time running out, the countdown timer creates a fear of missing out

• The prominent call to action directly above the timer makes it easy for subscribers to convert right away

How to implement: 

• Simply drag MailerLite’s pre-built countdown timer block into your email and set the end date and time for your sale

• Pair the timer with urgent and specific copy. Our email mentioned that there is just 1 day left of the sale. Use phrases like "Last Chance," "Sale Ends Today," or "Don't Miss Out" to reinforce the message

Tip: Check out this article to learn how to use an email countdown timer in your campaign.

5. Personalize the message: Soccer.com

Soccer.com stands out by adding personalization to its Cyber Monday email. By including the subscriber's name and relevant offers, the brand makes the message feel more targeted and less like a generic mass email.

Why it works: 

• Personalization makes the email feel like a direct communication, cutting through the noise

• Dynamic content allows the brand to feature products related to the recipient's past purchases or interests, increasing the likelihood of a conversion

How to implement: 

• Use MailerLite's custom fields to insert the subscriber's name or other data into your copy and subject lines

• To send content based on user interests, use dynamic content blocks to show different products or offers to different segments of your audience

6. Connect email with your social media accounts: Quiz

Quiz extends the reach of its Cyber Monday email campaign by connecting its newsletter with its social media accounts. 

Why it works: 

• This strategy leverages the brand's engaged email list to grow its social media audience 

• It uses a value exchange—behind-the-scenes content on Snapchat—to incentivize the follow, building a deeper relationship with the customer beyond a single purchase

How to implement: 

• Add social media icons or embed social media posts to your email

• Clearly state the benefit of following you, such as early-bird access to sales or exclusive content, to encourage clicks and follows

Tip: Read our ultimate guide on how email marketing and social media work together to leverage social media to your advantage.

7. Send an anti-sale email: Everlane

Everlane took a different approach to most brands by sending an "anti-Black Friday" email. The brand stands out by opening with the line, "This is not a sale," immediately challenging the reader's expectations.

Why it works: 

• In an inbox filled with discount offers, this email uses a pattern interrupt to grab attention 

• It positions the brand's commitment to transparent, year-round pricing as a value proposition that is more authentic than a one-day discount

How to implement: 

• If your brand doesn't rely on steep discounts, create an email that promotes your online store by highlighting your core values, like sustainability or ethical production

8. Use cart abandonment emails: Perigold

Customers often forget about their order or leave your shop to browse other deals. When this happens, abandoned cart emails get them back to your store.  

Perigold's email ticks all the boxes of an effective message by displaying the product left behind and providing a clear path back to the checkout.

Why it works: 

• This is an effective automation workflow because it's sent to a high-intent audience, i.e., people who were moments away from buying

• The simple design and single link reduce distractions and make the action of completing the purchase easy

How to implement: 

• Connect MailerLite with your e-commerce platform to set up an automated abandoned cart email to be triggered automatically when a customer leaves items behind

Tip: Read this article to learn more on how to create an abandoned cart email. 

9. Send a last-chance email: Zenni Optical

Zenni Optical reminds subscribers about its Cyber Monday offer by sending a last-chance email before the sale ends.

Why it works: 

• This email leverages urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out). It provides all the necessary information—that the sale is ending soon and what products are available—to push interested buyers to convert immediately

How to implement: 

• With MailerLite, you can schedule a campaign to go out a few hours before your sale ends

• Include a clear headline, a countdown timer, and a strong CTA to drive final conversions

Tip: Read our article to understand how to create and schedule email campaigns.

10. Capture attention through animation: Loft

This creative Cyber Monday email example uses animation to immediately capture the reader’s attention.

Why it works: 

• The animated loading bar GIF is effective because it introduces motion into an otherwise static inbox, drawing the eye and encouraging the user to keep reading 

• The bright pink highlights contrast with the black-and-white design, making the offer and CTA button highly visible and clickable

How to implement: 

• Design or download a simple GIF animation, like a loading bar, a spinning icon, or a blinking arrow, to highlight a key element of your email

• To add a GIF to your email, simply drag an Image block into the MailerLite drag-and-drop editor, then upload your GIF file from your computer and insert it. It will play automatically when the email is opened

11. Team up with other businesses: Teachable

Teachable teamed up with a well-known influencer, Pat Flynn, to offer his course as a bonus with its Cyber Monday deal.

Why it works: 

• By including a valuable, high-ticket bonus for new customers, Teachable makes its own product more appealing and helps customers feel like they're getting a valuable deal

• It’s only available for the first 200 buyers, which gives the offer a sense of urgency

How to implement: 

• Find a brand or influencer with a similar audience and partner with them to create a combined offer that’s appealing to potential buyers

12. Promote your SaaS or digital product offer: Later

Cyber Monday and Black Friday aren’t only for physical products. Software businesses and digital product sellers can also get involved. 

Social media tool Later created a special Cyber Monday offer and promoted it via email.

Why it works: 

• This email copy focuses on the value of the tool, not just the offer. The free trial offer and clear CTAs encourage conversions from customers who want to try the product and stay with it long-term

How to implement: 

• Create a Cyber Monday deal email that promotes your digital product offer

• Focus your copy on the benefits of the tool and use bold, clear CTA buttons to guide readers to the trial or purchase page

Tip: Did you know that now you can create and sell your digital products on the MailerLite platform? Check out our article to learn more.

13. Promote affiliate offers: GQ

You don’t need a product to sell to get in on the Cyber Monday action. GQ recommends other brands’ products in its newsletter and earns a commission when someone buys after clicking through one of its links.

Why it works: 

• This strategy monetizes an existing audience without requiring you to have your own products

• In the email, the product boxes show an image of each item, the price, a description, and a clear link to the relevant store

• The email copy is fun and entices readers to buy

How to implement: 

• Choose affiliate products carefully so they appeal to your audience

• Create a clean email design with product blocks that include an image, a brief description, and a clear affiliate link

14. Offer a lead magnet to generate new customers: Fridja

Cyber Monday email marketing isn’t just about sending emails. It’s also a great opportunity to bring new people onto your list. Create an offer that potential shoppers can’t resist and give it away in exchange for an email address.

E-commerce store Fridja used a pop-up to offer anyone who joined the mailing list an additional 10% off the sale price of its small home appliances.

Why it works: 

• The offer has clear value: An extra 10% off any purchase

• It can encourage people who weren’t quite ready to buy to hit purchase

• By collecting email addresses, Fridja can promote future offers to subscribers

How to implement: 

• Choose an offer: Discounts, freebies, and early sale access can all work

• Use forms and pop-ups to promote the lead magnet on your website

• Set up an automated email to deliver the promised offer

👀 Looking for an engaging way to learn about the best email marketing strategies for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Our video producer Ace has got you covered. Check it out below:

Start sending your Cyber Monday emails in the days before the sale with a pre-sale teaser. Then send an announcement email on the morning the sale opens, and continue sending reminders until it ends. 

The best time of day to send emails, according to our data, is either 8 to 11 AM or 8 to 9 PM. You can send presale teasers and reminders in any of these time slots. But send your sale announcement in the early slot so subscribers receive it as the day begins. 

Also consider using our send-by-timezone feature so every subscriber gets the message at the same time of day, no matter where they are based.

A good campaign involves multiple emails that build anticipation the week before Cyber Monday and continue until the sale ends. Many businesses combine Cyber Monday with Black Friday. In this case, your email sequence will include Black Friday promotions too.  

Here’s a typical series of emails you can use:

• Email 1: Send in the days before your sale to build anticipation

• Email 2: Send as soon as your sale opens so people can buy right away

• Email 3: Send a reminder to give people who missed the first email a chance to buy. You may want to send multiple reminders or add sale reminders to other campaigns sent during this period

• Email 4: Send an update email if relevant. This could include information such as further discounts, new products being added to your sale, or new offers 

• Email 5: Send a message targeted at customers who showed interest in your product but didn’t buy. For example, send an extra discount to people who click on the link to your product 

• Email 6: Send a last-chance email letting people know they don’t have long left to take advantage of your offer. Build urgency with a countdown timer or limited stock warnings    

You don’t need to use all the above emails when creating your Cyber Monday email sequence. Just choose the ones that make the most sense for your business or product and adapt the ideas to your needs.

You can also create workflows to automate the sending of specific emails. Here are some Cyber Monday-related email automation examples:

• Send abandoned cart emails to people who add items to their carts but don’t complete the purchase. These are some of the highest-converting types of emails as they go to people who have a proven interest in your product 

• Send follow-up emails promoting your product to people who have clicked on links in your campaigns but not made a purchase

• When new customers sign up during your sale, automatically send them a welcome email sequence, as it could help turn a one-time holiday shopper into a loyal customer

These are just some ideas—you can automate emails based on a ton of different triggers. Read this article to find out more about 13 automation triggers you can use.

Focusing on your subject line is a great way to increase the open rates of your Cyber Monday emails. There are many strategies you can use to make your emails stand out in the inbox. 

• Use the phrase Cyber Monday 

• Add a discount percentage

• Use words like biggest sale, save, discount, off, coupon, now and deal

• Create a sense of urgency (“Cyber Monday sale starts NOW”, “Cyber Monday ends in 4 hours” or “Last Chance to Save”)

• Use personalization fields to add the recipient’s name to the subject line

• Create a sense of exclusivity

• Focus on the benefit 

• Use a curiosity hook (“What's in your Cyber Monday mystery box?”)

• Mention a specific product or category instead of a generic sale ("Our best-selling coffee machine is 30% off.")

You can also play around with emojis in your email subject lines. This is a great way to make your brand feel fun and friendly.

If you’re unsure about the types of content that lead to more opens, use MailerLite’s A/B testing tool to discover the highest-performing Cyber Monday email subject lines. 

You choose 2 subject lines for your campaign and MailerLite sends each one to a percentage of your audience. The tool then checks to see which version gets the most opens and sends the winning variant to the remainder of your email list.

Alternatively, you can choose one of our subject line suggestions. These are generated automatically based on your email content and subject line best practices. Just pick one you like and add it to your email. Our data shows email campaigns that use this tool get 14% more opens.  

Get a head start on your Cyber Monday emails with a customizable template. We have templates built especially for Cyber Monday and Black Friday, as well as plenty of others that you could easily edit to be relevant. 

Use any of these templates with your MailerLite Comfort or Power plan, or by signing up for a free 2-week trial of MailerLite, creating a campaign, and then choosing the template you want to use. You can then customize them by adding new content relevant to your offer and changing the fonts and colors so they match your brand.

Now you’ve seen some great Cyber Monday emails, it’s time to start crafting your own messages. Just be sure to keep these best practices in mind before you start. 

Take steps to avoid the spam folder 

Even the best-planned emails are ineffective if they land in the spam folder. The good news is that there are things you can do to stop this from happening. 

• Clean your list so it only contains real email addresses

• Segment subscribers and send targeted emails to increase engagement

• Optimize your content for inbox placement

• Re-engage or remove inactive subscribers from your list 

Learn exactly how to do this in our article on email list deliverability best practices.

Make your newsletter mobile-friendly

Adobe estimates that more than half of holiday sales will come from mobile in November 2026. If people can’t read your newsletter, it will kill your conversions. Make sure you send mobile-friendly newsletters so your email looks good on all devices. 

All emails designed with MailerLite’s drag-and-drop editor are responsive and display well on any screen size.

Include a clear CTA and write impactful copy

When writing your Cyber Monday email, make sure your email copy drives readers to buy. 

You don’t have to be an expert copywriter to write effective emails. Just include the following points in your copy where relevant:

• What the offer is

• How the product benefits the reader

• Why they should buy now (limited stock, limited-time offer, first 100 people get the offer, etc.)

• How they can take advantage of the offer 

Once you’ve made your offer clear, finish off with an email call-to-action that encourages clicks and sends people to the exact page on your website where they can buy your product. 

Maximize sales with recommended products

Don’t just mention your sale in your email. Also include recommended products so people know exactly what to buy.

MailerLite customers with a connected e-commerce store can easily add products to their emails with product blocks that automatically bring in product details such as price, images and descriptions. 

Plus, you can use dynamic content settings to include different products depending on someone’s interests or past purchases.

Target messages with personalization and segmentation

Personalization and segmentation can help you send messages that are targeted at each subscriber. 

Personalization lets you add information from a custom field in a subscriber’s profile to your email text. Typically, this will be the person’s name, but it can be any information you collect, such as their company, interests, or industry. The text changes depending on the person who receives the email. 

Segmentation lets you group customers automatically based on any number of factors such as campaign engagement, custom field data, purchases, their location, or how they joined your list. You can even create segments based on multiple conditions. 

Once set up, you can then send different emails to each group that are designed to appeal to the people on the list. 

Cyber Monday is an important online shopping day for retailers, and holiday email marketing is an excellent way to promote your brand. Use the examples and tips in this article to spice up your campaigns and give them the best chance of success.

For more holiday-themed shopping email examples, check out our article on the best Black Friday emails here. We also have a library of Cyber Monday and other holiday email templates you can use to create your campaigns.