Make your Halloween newsletter a treat with these fang-tastic tricks 🎃

But it’s a big business opportunity too. Halloween spending is projected to hit $13.5 billion in the U.S. in 2026. As far as sales potential goes, Halloween hits the jackpot. 

There are heaps of ways you can add a touch of Halloween spirit to your emails to boost orders and delight your subscribers, and this article is packed full of them. 

Read on… if you dare!

No tricks here, just treats. These spook-tacular tips will help you conjure up Halloween emails your subscribers can't help but open.

The spookiest time of the year is the perfect time to get creative and come up with a fun Halloween email subject line. 

Think beyond a simple “trick or treat”. It’s quite possibly the punniest time of the year, so don’t be afraid to be a little candy-corny—that’s what Halloween is all about!

We asked the MailerLite AI subject line generator for some haunting subject line ideas and this is what we got back:

All you need to do is include your personal campaign goals in the prompt, tweak until perfection and voila! You'll have a clever Halloween subject line generated in seconds.

For some more fun and inspiration, we’ve created a list of industry-specific subject lines you could use to get the Halloween party started:

Once you’ve zeroed in on your subject lines don’t forget to check how they stack up against best practices with our free email subject line tester. 

Your “from” name is usually your own name or your company’s name: it tells your subscribers who an email is from.

Believe it or not, your “from” name can have a big influence on your open rates and you can easily update it to make it Halloween-themed in the Campaign details section of your email. Just remember not to change it too much; you still want your subscribers to recognize that the email is from you. 

One idea to spook-up your “from” name is by adding a Halloween-themed word that starts with the same letter as your name. For example, “Eerie” Erin, “Arcane” Amy, “Dreadful” Duncan. 

Just don’t make the name too long or it’ll get cut off in your subscribers’ inboxes. Thankfully, MailerLite gives you a preview of your “from” and subject line before you send out your campaigns. 

We recommend always showing your personality and being human in your emails. Holidays, Halloween especially, offer the perfect opportunity to let loose and use your wit and humor to bring life to your emails.

• Use wordplay alternatives: Get creative with adjectives like "eerie-sistable" and "fang-tastic". These clever twists make your copy memorable with Halloween fun.

• Leverage pop culture references: Weave in famous quotes and references from horror movies, books, and TV shows. For example, a travel brand could say, "This Halloween, we're taking a trip to Transylvania. Would you dare?"

• Embrace puns: Give your subscribers "pumpkin to talk about"! Puns like "Eat, drink, and be scary" or "Witchful thinking" are easy to use and can be highly effective at catching attention. The possibilities are endless!

• Tell a spooky story: Frame your product or service as a solution to a "scary story." For example, a tech company could write a subject line like, "SCARY STORY: Your data is unprotected 😱" and then offer their security software as the solution.

• Create a sense of urgency: Use Halloween-themed language to create a sense of urgency without being too pushy. Phrases like "Don't be haunted by FOMO" or "Our deals are about to vanish... poof!" are playful ways to encourage a quick response.

Do you always use the same sign-off for your emails? Now’s the time to switch it up! It’s the one night a year that you get to be someone else, so have fun with your Halloween newsletters too!

Here are some quick ideas for your Halloween email sign-off:

• Stay spooky

• Happy Halloween!

• Have a haunting Halloween!

• Wretched/repulsive/revolting regards

• Keep it gory

• Keep it scary

• Beastly wishes

• Creep it real

Your product or service doesn’t need to be scary, gruesome, or Halloween-related to get in on the fun. 

In fact, subscribers with a soft spot for spookiness will appreciate offers and content curated for the holiday, even if they aren’t directly related to Halloween. 

Here are some ideas for Halloween-themed offers you can use, without needing to start selling face paint or candy. 

• Back-from-the-dead sale. Bring back discontinued or sold-out products for a limited "resurrection." It's a natural fit for stores with a back catalog of fan favorites, and it gives you a reason to email people who've been asking for restocks

• Graveyard clearance. Bury last season's stock with an "everything must go" section, complete with RIP product descriptions. Good for clearing out your summer inventory

• Witching hour flash sale. A deal that's only live for a short window, like 10 PM to midnight on Halloween night. The time limit creates urgency, and the theme gives it a reason to exist

• Curated spooky edits. Group existing products into themed collections without changing what you sell. A home goods store could do a "horror movie night in" bundle (blanket, candles, snack bowls), a fashion brand could do an all-black edit, and a beauty store could build a "villain era" collection of dark lipsticks and bold looks

• Treat with every order. Add a small freebie or sample to all orders placed during Halloween week. This is easy to do, and customers will appreciate the themed freebie

• Spooky product renames. Temporarily give bestsellers punny Halloween names for the week, like a "Boo-tiful" moisturizer or a "Fang-tastic" water bottle. This works well for brands with a playful voice

You can showcase these offers using MailerLite's Product block, which automatically pulls product images, descriptions, and links directly from your e-commerce store, making it quick and easy to set up your spooky shop.

Good email design follows a set of rules that help to showcase what your brand is about, deliver your message effectively, and drive conversions. Halloween is a great time to dress up your design with striking visuals that are lighthearted and engaging. 

Although it’s still important to follow the basic guidelines of email design, Halloween email campaigns allow you to be more creative, so think outside the box when it comes to color, font and images. Show subscribers your spooky (and fun!) side.

Halloween email colors

Try switching out your colors for a more Halloween-friendly color scheme such as black, orange, purple, green, and red. 

Darker colors with bright accents are the way to go—if your logo is black, play on that or invert it to make it stand out against a dark background. You can even edit your logo to be themed (think dripping with blood or slime!) or just change the color to fit the design. 

Create Halloween email images

Use Halloween-themed images and graphics to tie everything together and set the mood. Try to have fun with your images, but don’t get too spooky. 

Keep all imagery lighthearted and fun in the spirit of Halloween; don’t include anything too dark or gory! Although some subscribers might be horror fans, it doesn’t mean they want to see the famous foot scene from Saw in their inbox! 

You can also show a bit of your personality by using emojis in the copy and subject: 🧙‍♀️ 🧛‍♀️ 👻 💀 🎃 🧟‍♀️ 🔮

If you’re looking for stock imagery, Unsplash has a beautiful collection of free Halloween stock photos. You can also use Canva to create graphics and then import them to your file manager in a click with our Canva email marketing integration.

Here are some ideas that you can use for your Halloween images:  

• Pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns

• Slime

• Ghosts

• Witches

• Broomsticks

• Candles

• Monsters

• Fangs

• Eyes

• Spooky houses

• Cauldrons

• Potion bottles and books

• Bats

• Spiders/spider webs

• Black cats

• Skeletons/skulls

• Graveyards

The Storyworth Podcast, who also happen to be MailerLite users, add a hint of haunt into their newsletter with a black and white image of a spooky old gate. Simple yet effective!

Don’t forget to keep all your Halloween graphics and images neat and tidy so you can easily find them again next year. In MailerLite, you can create a Halloween-specific folder in your File manager so you don’t have to go hunting through all your images every time you do a new Halloween campaign.

Halloween email GIFs

Uploading GIFs to your MailerLite email is quick and easy thanks to our Klipy integration. Just add any block with an image to your email, click Replace image to open up the file manager, click Klipy in the left-side menu, search for Halloween to see the selection, and then hit Insert to add your chosen GIF to the email. 

Your call to action (CTA) is ultimately what will get people to click from your email to your offer. You can have fun with the text and theme, while still following CTA best practices to ensure you get the best results.

Here are some tips to follow:

• Make sure your CTA is eye-catching and clear in a contrasting color that fits your Halloween email design

• Be creative and use Halloween-related phrases and words but make the message clear

• If your email contains multiple links, make sure your main CTA is the one that stands out most

• Start with an action verb like "Grab," "Claim," or "Unlock" so people know exactly what happens when they click

• Pair spooky wording with a clear benefit, like "Claim your treat (20% off)" instead of just "Get your treat"

• Place your main CTA near the top of the email so readers don't have to scroll to find it, and repeat it further down in longer emails

If you have a large list, you could even try A/B testing a couple of different CTAs to see which version of your email gets the most clicks. 

Now you’ve learned all the best practices to create scary fun Halloween emails, it’s time to plan your campaign!

1. Decide on the topics and goals for your campaigns

Think about the types of content you can share with subscribers—do you have a creative idea that will drive them through to your blog? Or perhaps you can create a creepy discount code or Halloween sale on a selection of your items. Maybe it’s the ideal time to promote a new product or service. Use the ideas in the section above on creating a Halloween offer.

2. Add your Halloween emails to your newsletter calendar

Create a buzz that’ll rattle bones by scheduling your emails in advance. Send a series of emails leading up to your Halloween offer to build excitement and create urgency as the sale comes to a close.

Your Halloween series could be made up of these four emails:

1. Teaser email: Let subscribers know that something wicked this way comes, tease your offer and pique their interest

2. Launch email: Send an email when the sale opens so people know they can start to buy. Include the sale finish date to increase urgency

3. Reminder email: Let subscribers know that the sale is ending soon. Include a countdown timer and highlight your top products

4. Last chance email: Tell subscribers that this is the last day they can participate in your offer before it closes

Utilize segmentation to send more relevant content. For example, you could send offers related to categories people have already bought from, or send exclusive offers to your highest value customers.

3. Create your Halloween email design

Don’t skip out on design! A few emojis here and there aren’t going to cut it. 

Using the design best practices above, along with a professional email marketing tool like MailerLite, you’ll be able to create stunningly scary emails in no time at all. You can use one of the ready-made email templates for a professional email design that can be easily customized to be spook-tacular!

Use our AI Email Generator to kickstart your creative process. Just give it a spooky prompt, and it can generate text and even suggest images to build a chillingly good email draft in minutes.

For even greater personalization, use MailerLite's Model Context Protocol (MCP) server to craft an entire Halloween email draft or suggest high-performing subject lines based on your past campaign data.

Want to learn more? Check out our ultimate guide to email design:

4. Build a dedicated Halloween landing page

Do you have a Halloween deal or sale that’s simply to die for? Use it as an opportunity to collect more subscribers by creating a dedicated Halloween landing page where people can sign up to participate in the limited-time offer.

Take advantage of our AI Landing Page Builder to create a custom, on-brand page outline in seconds. This saves you time and ensures your page looks professional and is optimized for conversions.

Check out the article below to learn more about building a landing page that converts:

5. Send your Halloween newsletter at the right time

Depending on where your subscribers are located, Halloween for them could be the day before or after Halloween for you. Consider delivering your campaign based on timezones so that your campaign arrives at the same time of day for everyone depending on their geographic location. Or, use our Smart sending feature to automatically send emails to each subscriber when they're most likely to engage.

Wanna know the best time to send an email? Check out the article below:

Halloween email campaigns really aren’t scary at all; they’re a super fun way to show your personality, connect with your audience, and increase conversions.

Get the right balance of creepy content, devilish design, and haunting humor, and your subscribers won’t be able to break the spell!

Try out a Halloween email marketing campaign this year and let us know how it goes in the comments!