46 Halloween Marketing Examples in eCommerce (2025)

Come October, the people in the US, young and old, look forward to the 31st. 

While Halloween originated over 2000+ years ago, in the present day, it's an opportunity for eCommerce brands to make profits. 

But, the sad truth is that eCommerce businesses have failed to capitalize on Halloween. 

There’s still hope!

This post will help you and other businesses learn through examples and strategies to make Halloween memorable financially and otherwise. Here's a preview of the topics we will be covering:

• 46 Super Creative Halloween Marketing Examples (eCommerce)
• 25 Halloween Subject Lines for High Conversions
• 3 Surefire Halloween Marketing Strategies
• Halloween Spending by the Numbers: An Overview

46 Super Creative Halloween Marketing Examples (eCommerce)

> HALLOWEEN AD IDEAS

1. BeanGoods: Retarget existing customers first

People who’ve bought from you don't need re-educating – they need benefits. Which is exactly what BeanGoods does. 

BeanGoods retargets existing customers through a ‘teaser’ Facebook ad– and offers ‘first dibs and extra treats’ so as to ensure they sign-up: 

Why it works 

• Isn't salesy: Simply leaves an image of a package with an aura of mystery – and the offer of ‘first dibs’
• Service: Acts as a personalized reminder to existing customers making them feel like ‘VIP’s

Pro Tip—Leave a hint of what the product can be on your tease landing page – so as to make sure people actually complete the signup process

Also Read: 23 Secrets to Running Successful Facebook Ads (For eCommerce Stores)

2. Temptations Tasty Human: Videos + emotions = Visual Storytelling 

Emotional marketing will never go out of style. Temptations, the cat food brand created the video below which blends horror with humor. 

Research on 1400 successful ad campaigns by brands to find what content—emotional vs rational—had better impact found that ads with emotional content performed 2x better. 

Why it works 

• Video length: The video is only 15-second long, getting full attention from the viewer

• Voiceover: Voiceovers, especially Hollywood voiceovers are great at evoking emotions

Pro Tip—Using a blend of emotional and rational messaging can perform well (26%) 

3. Nike Halloween Dunk: Let customers be your voice

Nike launched the Nike Halloween Dunk as a part of its Halloween promotion ideas in 2021. 

UGC has a high level of authenticity, sends better trust signals and has an impact on purchase decisions. 

Here’s an unboxing video by Jeff Ong reviewing the Halloween Dunk edition sneakers. 

90% of buyers find UGC authentic and believe what current customers say as opposed to ads. 

Moreover, 64% of customers search for reviews before checking out.

Why it works 

• Micro-influencer: As we speak, Jeff Ong has 12.3k subscribers on his YouTube channel. This makes him a micro-influencer with a wide reach
• Economical: UGC helps brands reduce the load of producing content. Since your customers are behind it, it also sends more organic traffic to your website

Pro Tip—Using user-generated content on your website can increase recurring traffic by 20% 

You might like: 15 EASY ways to get customer reviews and boost sales

4. Svedka Vodka: Use retargeting to your advantage

Retargeted ads are mostly considered annoying since they pop up everywhere. 

Yet, the ROI on retargeting ads is 200%. 

As shocking as it is, here is an Halloween marketing campaign that hits the ball out of the park. 

Svedka Vodka created a cookie based retargeting campaign for its Halloween Marketing campaign in 2017. 

The Goosebump styled video makes it memorable and persuasive. 

Why it works 

• High exposure: Retargeted ads are shown multiple times on different sites that a user spends time on—this will likely make them develop a preference for these ads. 
• Statutory warning: Svedka Vodka mentions the statutory warning which effectively advises people to party but drink in moderation—this also complies with the Alcohol Beverage Labeling Act (ALBA), 1988. 

Pro Tip—Using 24 FPS in your marketing videos can give better audio and video experience

5. Camp Snap Camera: Show the products in action

Remember that year in college – you were 19, celebrating Halloween in costumes, roaming free, driving around? Camp Snap Camera’s Halloween ad brings back those memories.

Why it works 

• Animation: Shows all it needs to under 10 seconds with a really catchy audio
• Nostalgia: Gives off a 2000’s grunge Halloween vibe (the product itself is pretty retro too)

Pro Tip—Try including captions over your Halloween videos – like “POV: You’re at a slasher prom night” – subtly feature your products so people want to comment on your ad

6. Tops Friendly Markets: Remind to stock up with ‘scary-good’ deals

Grocery is a daily thing – Tops Friendly Markets takes account of that – and shows platters for Halloween with different recipes from fruits and items – while highlighting ‘Monster Savings’ as a nudge to take inspiration and buy.

Why it works

• Relevancy: Makes viewers think of what they have to/can prepare for Halloween 
• Inspires: The recipes make outrageous claims and leave enough to mystery – so shoppers click onto the landing page (a recipe page featuring deals)

Pro Tip—If you’re a grocery store, feature items up for sale or (daily deals) like food colors, glitter, candy, etc., on your daily/bi-weekly newsletters from a few weeks before Halloween

> HALLOWEEN CONTENT MARKETING IDEAS

7. The Home Depot: Curate content for inspiration and dominating SERP(s)

Online searches are where Halloween plans happen for a huge majority of US shoppers (with Instagram and Pinterest in second place) – be it recipes, costume ideas, or lighting ideas (Statista). 

The Home Depot takes up the cue and makes sure to cater to customers, even if it’s not Halloween yet.

Why it works 

• Quality traffic: People who come onto Home Depot’s piece are in-fact looking for ideas about building ‘horror’ or ‘haunted’ houses 
• Images over words: The blog itself features products as well as images that show the idea and the idea in implementation

Pro Tip—Write like a fan who knows their stuff – if needed, create something like a ‘lookbook’ or a ‘guide to trick n treating your home’

8. Delish: Create How-to guides

Creating ‘How to’ content addresses customer problems and converts both new & existing customers. 

Delish creates a recipe for baking the Dead Velvet cake (the name has a nice ring to it, isn’t it?). 

The key advantage of how-to content is the repurpose flexibility it offers. You can write a post and turn it into a video, infographic, or a series of images. 

Why it works 

• Search intent: Customers looking to bake treats for Halloween will be looking for something eerie yet tasty—so addressing ‘informational’ search intent becomes crucial

• Shareability: Content like this can easily be shared. This can get you without having to distribute across multiple channels – and, help create a dedicated Halloween email list

Pro Tip—Consider adding in a custom exit intent pop-up (or an inline banner) to your high-performing content pieces – this will let you create hyper personalized offers by the piece, a viewer lands on

> HALLOWEEN CRO IDEAS

9. Kylie Cosmetics: Give your site the spooky Halloween look 

Adding a Halloween theme to your eCommerce website can help you convey the season’s sentiments. 

Kylie Cosmetics dresses up its site in a Halloween theme reinforcing the offers it has rolled out for the same. 

They follow the 60:30:10 rule, where 60% is the dominant color, 30% is the secondary color and 10% is the accent(used to differentiate the dominant and the secondary colors). 

Why it works  

• Two-column layout: Kylie uses a two-column layout to give equal weightage to the text and image helping users process information easily

• Free shipping: Free shipping for both domestic and international orders is a huge incentive—93% of online customers feel encouraged to buy products if free shipping is available. 

Pro Tip—Offering an email opt-in in exchange for a discount can help increase conversions 

10. Target: Advocate inclusivity 

Target promotes inclusivity by introducing wheelchair-adaptive Halloween costumes—if you run an apparel, furniture or tech brand, this could become one of your Halloween promotion ideas too.

This is a laudable effort by Target for ensuring that no specially-abled child is deprived of fun.

As per the US Census Bureau, 4.3% of children have a disability in the United States as of 2019. 

They also have these special costumes for toddlers, which makes Target a humane brand. 

Why it works 

• Cause marketing: With this initiative, Target is consolidating its positive brand perception—in fact, 86% of customers are highly likely to buy from brands that are driven by purpose

• Convenient returns: The 365-day return policy offers ample time to make the returns—92% of customers will make a second purchase if making the returns are easy

Pro Tip—Including customer reviews can send greater trust signals and credibility 

Know more: Inclusive Marketing: 22 eCommerce brands that do it right

11. Chewy: Offer BOGO deals 

‘Buy one get one’ deals are a customer favorite among 66% of customers – while helping move slow-moving inventory without diving into profits. 

Chewy offers a BOGO offer with 50% off on Glow in the Dark squeaky balls which comes in a pack of 4.

Why it works 

• The BOGO offer: Shows four balls of different colors and designs, which appeals to the emotional and value driven customer
• Free shipping nudge: Helps create a smart bundle – it’s price plus value that drives customers to buy – here it’s the option to get a deal as well the shipping

Pro Tip—Always leave persuasive elements like social proof like reviews and Q&A in your first fold – it really helps avoid the scare of buying  a non-vetted product – note how Chewy features reviews + 'QnA' along with an option to compare similar items

12. Oriental Trading Company: Categorize landing pages intelligently 

Halloween products come in a wide range – Oriental Trading Company intelligently curated a landing page solely for its Halloween costumes category by age, species, gender, and theme.

Why it works 

• Charm pricing: Which is essentially showing rounded down prices – like “$6.27” or “$99”
• Neat categories: For nearly every type of Halloween shopper – notice the category names and the filters

Pro Tip—Avoid displaying every category and subcategory in one page – instead simply direct users to your search bar (and remember to track searches) – write something like “can’t find a costume matching your spook – try our search bar”

13. Hot Topic: Ease discoverability with your navigation

When it comes to Halloween, – you change signs, hang jack o lanterns – so people know “What’s spooky!”

Getting your site ready for Halloween is like decorating your store – your navigation menu which acts as the signage in a store – needs to pull eyes – which is exactly what Hot Topic does.

Why it works 

• Color coded: In orange along with an Instagram story like image showing some Halloween decor in action along with a CTA calling on to shop decorations
• Features ‘popularity’:  Which helps create an aura of social proof – and makes sure that the newest products get the highlight they need

Pro Tip—Take your navigation's color coding to another level – insert a ‘🎃’ emoji within an inverted color tab (orange background and white text) 

14. Devil Walking: Inspire them for costume fits with your product pages

Halloween costumes are the best thing about Halloween – but if you're selling one, take inspiration from Devil Walking’s product page:

Why it works 

• Social proof: The UGC showing real customers wearing the costume along with their review 
• Expertise: Shoes sizes with avid descriptions and iconography – note the ‘Tested for fit on multiple bodies’

Pro Tip—Always highlight easy returns, especially if you’re selling essential ‘scare’ tech, where things can go wrong – like getting the wrong size – easy returns policy inspires confidence in your customer—67% of customers check the return policy before deciding to buy from an eCommerce brand

Do check out: Food And Beverage eCommerce — 41 Inspiring Email Marketing Examples

15. At Home: Use microcopy to ease scanning

“Is this skeleton lit – does it need power” – are just one of the questions At Home, the hardware store answers across its Halloween category and product pages – with vivid microcopy in badges and downright clear product descriptions:

Why it works 

• Helps visualization: Note the clever microcopy like ‘Freakishly large’ and iconography showing product features like the size, mode of operation, and whether it lights up or not
• Relatable language: Instead of saying 5.34 feet – they say ‘Almost 6 feet’ – also note how the copy in the product description, paints a picture

Pro Tip—Transparent backgrounds aren't that cool for displaying some Halloween items (like decor, recipes) – what you can do instead is show it in a real setting to help users understand dimensions. 

Also Read: 19 Creative Ways to Display eCommerce Products (w/ Brilliant Examples)

16. Petco: Show intelligent search results

Your search bar is your own discovery engine – all year round. Petco prepares its search bar to suggest costumes, themed toys, and searches for Halloween. 

Why it works 

• Popular searches: Shows the top searches people make with the word ‘Halloween’ on Petco
• Recommendation engine: Shows products across a variety of categories and products – note the bed, hat, collar and small kennel

Pro Tip—Consider showing the phrase ‘🔥 Popular’ in your microcopy to enable cross-sells on certain product with an air of social proof

17. Walmart: Get the gift cards going

Over the last few years, the section of people actively wanting to celebrate Halloween has gone up to almost 70% in the US. 

What this means is that more people also find the occasion suitable for gifting—especially Millennials and GenZ as per research. 

This makes it strategic for eCommerce brands to introduce digital gift cards—like Walmart does:

Why it works  

• Visually distinct: It makes sense to give your Halloween gift cards a different look and feel to drive targeted purchases
• Multiple amount options: While many brands stop at about three gifting amount options, Walmart opens it up to a wider audience with seven options

Pro Tip—Highlight the Halloween gift card in your primary navigation to drive traffic to the dedicated page

> HALLOWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA IDEAS

18. Jeffree Star Cosmetics: Promote Halloween-themed products

Halloween is a great time to bring those products to the front that you can seamlessly tie to the festival. 

For example, if you sell energy bars based on different pumpkin pie recipes, highlight them visually on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Jeffree Star Cosmetics, for example, highlights products that can complete the Halloween look on their Instagram feed—examples being the Jawbreaker Palette and the Cremated Artistry Palette. 

Why it works

• Effective cover shot: This reveals the final outcome of watching the full reel—making more viewers interested in continuing to watch it
• Varied visuals within a single scroll: Variety can get your social shoppers pick and choose faster

Pro Tip—On Instagram, leverage the “link in bio” to put tutorial extensions and promote related products

19. Lush: Launch your Halloween collection on live

Lush may have signed itself out of Meta – but, it hasn’t forgotten its customers.

Live Streaming is an extremely underrated eCommerce tool when it comes to product launches – which is why Lush launches its Halloween range on YouTube livestream. 

Why it works 

• Uncomplicated: A simple YouTube livestream for an active community, moderated by employees 
• Is REAL: Features hosts who represent LUSH for who they are – with active shoppers and fans tuning in the live chat

Pro Tip—Consider embedding the live on your homepage once it goes live – and make sure you’re announcing the event on your notification bar and email, 3 days before it actually happens

20. Create an auction 

A far better alternative to a Halloween giveaway, Yeti and Liquid Death partner up to create such a spooky item that it automatically warrants an auction – here's the Liquid Death x Yeti casket aka cooler:

Why it works 

• Cult status: Puts the weight of both Liquid Death and Yeti in one product that will never be created again
• Omnichannel approach: The entire auction was promoted carefully across all social media platforms and emails to make sure the demand exists

Pro Tip—Want to adopt a similar strategy – but can’t figure how to scale? Do a collab first. Then, open up an archive sale. Feature bundles made of products from you and your partner brand – the only criteria is that these products that were once really good sellers – but they had been taken off the shelves permanently (because they were replaced by newer products)

21. Jones Soda Co: Use AR to create a scare contest

Halloween is for the kid in all of us – the wonder-driven, ever curious kid who just feels the magic. Jones Soda Co. doesn’t just give its labels an orange makeover – but also adds an element of video to it through augmented reality.

Why it works

• Surprise: The concept of a reel on a soda bottle can be a unexpected element – often novel at times
• Easy to implement: All it takes a minor modification of labels – to create a scannable QR code

Pro Tip—Try creating a virtual try on for costumes as well on your product page

22. Fun Costumes: Create comparison videos on your socials

Instagram is THE place for costume inspiration for trick’n treaters of all ages – which is why Fun Costumes actively posts hilarious reels, featuring employees in costumes – along with really insightful comments.

Why it works 

• Replies: Showcasing the brand’s voice – and responsiveness
• Detail: Showing actual competitor products up alongside ‘made by us’ costumes

Pro Tip—Explore other Facebook Ad creative angles in your organic socials – like packing our orders – explaining the sizes – and above all showing hilarious fits (oh, and, always tag products to your posts)

23. Fancy Sprinkles/Vjintage: Collab with influencers

Cosplayers, fashion influencers, and chefs have one thing in common: a love for Halloween. Which is why both Fancy Sprinkles collabs with @beautyanddasweetz, a chef influencer to create a coffin snack – and Vjintage collabs with @pintvogue, a fashion content creator to create a Halloween look-book:

Why the examples work 

• Reach: Partnering with creators actually makes sure your post gets the maximum possible exposure
• Actually awesome: Your post doesn’t look forced – even still photos can get the job done

Pro Tip—Consider creating a ‘Halloween challenge’ – where you ask users to create stuff with your products (and tag you on socials)

Also Read: Influencer Marketing 101: Step-by-Step Strategy For eCommerce Store Owners

> HALLOWEEN EMAIL MARKETING IDEAS

24. Fadcloset: Drive early sales with pre-orders 

Pre-order sales can help in forecasting demand and inventory allocation for your Halloween promotion ideas to work.

Fadcloset runs a pre-order campaign for its limited stock products. 

Why it works 

• ‍Exclusivity: Pre-order campaigns bring forth a sense of exclusivity—a phenomenon where a brand creates a selective way of catering to a segment of shoppers

• Whitespace: Using whitespace in your content helps in readability and comprehension, guiding the reader from one element to another

Pro Tip—Mention the stock quantity to drive real urgency in pre-order emails

25. Build a Bear: Build excitement, send early Halloween emails 

There’s no other marketing channel that converts well like email marketing. For every dollar spent, you get an ROI of $42.

Build a Bear knows this and this first email from their Halloween campaign is a testament. 

Why it works 

• Copy: The copy is compelling and drives users to take action
• Challenge: Makes most of the products as rare or one-off, indicating a ‘collectible’ status

Pro Tip—Use the first email to introduce your Halloween range – and leave tracking links on each CTA – this will help you build segments and essentially maximize conversions out of each segment

Check out: Increasing sales through email marketing: The no-nonsense guide

26. Harry’s: Encourage new product trials

Harry’s encourages its users to try a new product by sending an educational email about its new trimmer. 

This is a work of creative genius since it focuses on providing value first instead of making a typical sales pitch. 

Educating the reader can guarantee more conversions, replacing doubt with informed purchase decisions. 

‍Why it works 

• Benefits over features: Harry’s talks about how they can solve specific pain points—this makes it convincing for shoppers while reducing perceived risk

• Single CTA: Too many CTAs cause friction which affects the user’s decision-making ability—single CTA in emails can increase clicks by 317% and sales by 1617%. 

Pro Tip—Including names in the email subject lines is the greatest personalization strategy

You should also check out: 10 Questions to Ask When Hiring An eCommerce Email Marketing Agency

27. RXBAR: Drive urgency by doing limited editions

Limited edition products drive urgency, FOMO, and scarcity. 

And RXBAR uses them to great advantage. 

They sent the following “while supplies last” email on the Pumpkin Spice seasonal variety pack.

It features stunning visuals. Human beings like images and 65% of people are visual learners. 

The copy also hooks the user’s attention quite remarkably. 

Why it works 

• Offering alternatives: RXBAR offers a seasonal variety pack that helps confused customers make a choice
• Diverse content: The email includes a workout video with a pumpkin and a post on how to make an RXBAR costume 

Pro Tip—Including customer support information in your emails can help in answering customer objections resulting in more conversions 

You must read: Hiring a CRO agency: 12 *Key* Considerations (and Expert Advice)

28. Fragrant Jewels: Use scratch-off emails as nudges

Scratch-off emails can mark a 60% increase in your CTR. Fragrant Jewels uses scratch off emails to improve visibility within the inbox.

Why it works‍‍

• ‍Interactive content: Interactive content has a higher user engagement rate compared to static content—helping in retargeting and remarketing strategies for conversions

• CTA: Using modifier words like Now creates a sense of implied urgency nudging users to take action right away

Pro Tip—Include a product recommendation quiz in your email to drive conversions 

29. Cakeworthy: Send back-in-stock emails 

Back-in-stock emails have an open rate of 65.32%, the highest among email types. Cakeworthy includes back-in-stock emails in its Halloween email strategy, which can increase sales by 15%.  

Why it works‍‍

• ‍Bandwagon Effect: Best sellers evoke the Bandwagon Effect—the tendency to adopt certain behavior, attitude, or style because others are doing it

• ‍Re-engagement: Back-in-stock emails bring users who showed interest when the product was sold out, into the eCommerce funnel

Pro Tip—Use a limited stock banner to communicate urgency

30. Sur La Table: Increase seasonal sales with flash sales

Running flash sales increases your transaction rates by 35%. Sur La Table runs a 48 hour flash sale with 30% sale, a strategy known to mark a 14% increase in open rates. 

Why it works 

• ‍Free Shipping: 48% of customers buy more when they know they’ll get free shipping

• Monochrome color: Using a monochrome color such as black and white helps in communicating the message without creating cognitive strain

Pro Tip — Follow the 70/30 rule(Text to image ratio) while creating your flash sale campaign

You should also read: 33 Ways To Grow F&B eCommerce Sales (+ Real-World Examples)

31. Cexxy: Drive AOV with tiered discounts 

A tiered discount is a price reduction tactic where customers are offered discounts when they meet the defined threshold. 

It triggers a subconscious urge to spend more thanks to Hyperbolic Discounting—the inclination to choose instant rewards, no matter how small, over long-term rewards. 

Why it works 

• ‍Framing principle: As per the rule of 100, a dollar-off discount works well for products priced over $100—because customers want to see tangible value before buying

• Promo code: Promo codes encourage first-time buyers to buy, by increasing oxytocin levels by 38% 

Pro Tip—Gift cards are just as great an incentive as discounts 

32. Tula: Use spin-to-win to compel users 

Spinwheel emails lead to higher engagement, increased conversion rates, and brand awareness. Tula uses spin-to-win in its Halloween sale email. 

Why it works 

• ‍Visual cues: Using the same color for crucial elements draws the attention of the users towards them consistently
• Gamification: Piques the sense of curiosity to ensure a subscriber actually clicks through

Pro Tip—Offer a disclaimer specifying the products not included in the sale 

33. Prospective Flow: Leverage the power of giveaways 

Giveaways are an easy way to drive traffic for your Halloween marketing campaign. With a 34% conversion rate, Prospective Flow shows the right way to do a giveaway. 

Why it works 

• ‍Image: Product images with white background keep the focus on the product without distracting viewers

• ‍Transparency: Mention the number of users who will receive the giveaways—it can successfully create scarcity while relaying information

Pro Tip—Include a disclaimer that no fee or purchase is required to participate in giveaways

34. Fred: Get creative with your copy  

Fred adds a spooky element to this Halloween email. The copy and the product itself gets the Halloween theme right with words like ‘afterlife, hauntingly, afterlife, and grim steeper’.

Why it works

• ‍Font: Features a combination of Google fonts with red, dark green, white and gray to create a spooky vibe‍

• CTA: Using uppercase letters for your CTA attracts the user’s attention nudging them to take action 

Pro Tip—Ensure background copy on blogs and affiliate pages shine as much as what you write on your website and in emails

35. Cookware Brands:  Add an easy-to-spot countdown timer

Using a countdown timer in your Halloween sales email can boost sales by 400%. Cookware Brands places it at the top to drive urgency in real time. 

Why it works 

• ‍Price anchoring: Price anchoring offers customers a reference point to evaluate the offer, making it more tangible

• ‍Product badge: Product badges are virtual stickers that bring attention to special information such as discounts, best sellers, limited-time offers, etc.

Pro Tip—Combine countdown timer with easy returns for better conversions

36. Ghostbed: Roll out limited-time offers

Limited-time offers increase the perceived value of the product increasing sales. Ghostbed offers a limited-time offer as one of its Halloween promotion ideas.

Why it works

• ‍High consideration products: High-consideration products involve time and money—limited-time offers can reduce the financial burden of buying them

• ‍Directional cues: Directional cues like arrows and pointers direct the attention of the users to areas of importance like CTAs and images

Pro Tip—Use Epizeuxis(repetition of words in quick succession) for memorability—an example would be saying “only today, only today, only today” in a Halloween flash sale email

37. Miracle: Make free gifts count

Offering free gifts as part of your Halloween promotions elicits Zero risk Bias. It is the tendency to prefer options that eliminate the risk in parts even when others remove the risk completely. 

Miracle offers free towels for every purchase for its Halloween campaign. 

Why it works  

• ‍Whitespace: Using whitespace helps in visual hierarchy helping readers scan the information and identify the focal points. ‍

• Authority: Offering DIY ideas for inspiration in your emails demonstrates authority 

Pro Tip—Include video customer testimonials in your free promotions to drive credibility 

38. Basepaws: Ask for photos of their costumes

The real fun of Halloween is in the costumes – for people and pets alike. Basepaws reminds and asks for photos of subscribers' pets in costume – in exchange for a chance to be featured on Basepaws’s Instagram profile. 

Why it works 

• The images: Shows dogs and cats in costumes along with various jack o lanterns
• Option to reply: Making it a direct channel to get in touch with the brand 

Pro Tip—Use your email’s footer wisely—note how Basepaws showcases iconography to show social proof, ratings and brand benefits

39. Buoy: Remind to jump on referrals

Including a referral link in your Halloween Marketing campaign email can increase your conversion rate by 3.74% – Buoy creates a ‘Treat and Treat’ – where a customer can get a treat for themselves from Buoy and have another friend get the same treat with $15 OFF for each.

Why it works 

• Puts $$: Instead of offering a trick, a direct ‘$15’ is on offer
• Visuals: Buoy color codes the entire email – and shows products in sync with the orange, black and purple

Pro Tip—Use wordplay to establish your Halloween referral campaigns – write something like ‘No tricks here – just treats’

40. For Days: Start a recycle (and donate) campaign

Halloween isn’t just about warding off evil spirits or ghosts but also about celebrating together and bringing happiness. 

Empathetic and humane brands have positive perceptions by customers. Purpose-driven companies attract more customers with 86% highly likely to buy from companies driven by values. For Days does this by showing how landfills are scary – and how shoppers can recycle their old costumes and other stuff – and get rewarded for it.

Why it works 

• Visuals: Names the bag in an uber cool manner
• Loyalty: Creates an excellent way to build repeat orders

Pro Tip—Don’t have a cause yet? Do this instead on Halloween→ Offer free refund of a percentage of order value in exchange for certain actions – and consider waiving off shipping for a while (it will make shoppers buy more – reduce risk) – in a study, two retailers were asked to offer free shipping for 4 years, the average purchase by customer shot up to $620 and the other by $2,500

41. Gardyn: Show some statistics

Like For Days, Gardyn also shows how scary, non sustainable practices are – and since they are an hardware eCommerce brand, they show the horrific statistics of food waste – and shows how Gardyn makes sure everything they sell works towards reducing that waste.

Why it works 

• Educates: Instead of directly selling, Gardyn first establishes why Gardyn’s needed – and then shows the true USP 
• UGC: Shows Gardyn’s products in a familial setting with Halloween decor around it (sending the message that Gardyn=home)

Pro Tip—If you’re a grocery brand, consider creating a donation campaign for Halloween where a part of the proceeds goes to charity. For example, for every purchase worth $85, $40 shall be donated to Feeding America

42. Mamabear Organics: Announce upcoming events

This Halloween marketing example from Mamabear Organics is not only useful – but also insightful – as it shows events to come as well as Halloween-themed products to stock up on.

Why it works 

• Specifics: Shows timings of the events, along with locations and teases the launch of a new product ‘Hocus Pocus Bath Bomb Set’
• Clean design: Subtly indicates it’s kid-friendly with warm tones and visual hints from cartoon stickers – and ample white space

Pro Tip—Offer direct options to RSVP for events – but make the signup creative – like ‘I’ll be boring’ and ‘I’ll come in a costume’, and ‘I just wanna miss out’

43. Nuts.com: Request that they don’t ‘GHOST’ you

You shouldn’t miss the opportunity to miss out on a ghost pun – which is exactly what Nuts.com does with their Halloween browse abandonment subject line “Don’t Ghost Us 👻.”

Why it works 

• Subject line: The subject line itself pulls in opens – the element of ‘ghost’ fits perfectly into the Halloween theme
• Very cartoony – very clear: In a true Tim Burton Christmas horror movie fashion, the nuts have faces on them, asking subscribers to finish what they started

Pro Tip—Apply this tactic to your live chat as well – change your live chat’s mascots to send pin infused messages – for example you can show a Scooby Doo mascot

44. Wisp: Address the real scare

We’ve already shared how brands are tying causes to Halloween – and in this fashion here’s a Halloween marketing example from the healthcare brand, Wisp. This Halloween, they address the real scare – sexual health.

Why it works 

• The video: Is humorous, but still manages to get the message across while fitting the theme of Halloween – the costumes are dead hilarious(we know what we did here)
• Social proof: Shows actual customers, doctors, and an employee tuning into Wisp’s cause

Pro Tip—Create characters out of your pain points and set up a storyline to promote across your reels and emails – note how Wisp does this

45. PAX: Curate a scare-flicks list

Isn’t it awesome when brands share mutual beliefs? PAX, the Personal Airline, a CBD brand gives their customers a guide to Halloween. 

Why it works 

• Authenticity: Is a brand for stoners by stoners – the movie list shows PAX knows being stoned – and ultimately, sharing beliefs has always been a proven strategy to increase sales by 74% in certain retail categories – with consumers likely to spend 2x more after looking at social responsibility ads than normal ads

Pro Tip—Try creating movie themed videos for your socials – like ‘How to recreate {slasher movie} and scare the livin' lights out of your neighbors’

46. Function of Beauty: Use SMS

80% of people open their SMS within 5 minutes of receiving them – which is why Function of Beauty goes direct and launches a ‘scary good’ back in stock offer with a Halloween twist.

Why it works 

• Is direct: Treats it like an ad – instead of giving users time – FoB sets a time limit – note the “TODAY ONLY”
• Formatting: The image pulls the eyes – and the most important words like “Back, Black, Free”

Pro Tip—Create a spooky message with a trigger for avoiding losses like “Action Required: An entity has logged into your account and made {wishlist product} $XX instead of $XX. Since we don’t like messing with souls, we are holding back till Halloween ends. TAKE ACTION NOW”

25 Halloween Subject Lines for High Conversions

1. The trick to surviving Halloween 😈

2. 🎃Happy Halloween! 🎃No Tricks Just Treats!

3. 25% OFF until MIDNIGHT 👻🎃💀 

4. Last chance for fang-tastic savings 🧛

5. 🍬🎃Only a couple more hours left to save on our Halloween $2 treats!

6. Our Halloween Mystery Sale is ON 🎃

7. Halloween markdowns are going quick

8. Up to 80% Off!! Halloween Event Continues 🎃. Day 3

9. Did Somebody Say Treats? 🎃🐩🧡

10. Super Halloween Sale! 🎃 40% Sitewide Off with Gift

11. 🎃Halloween Monster Sale🎃 , Ghoulish Treats Inside👻 

12. LAST CHANCE: Halloween styles for $10.50

13. $20 off - in time for Halloween! 🤯🥃🎃

14. Tips for a spooky holiday this Halloween 👻🎃

15. The Countdown To Halloween Starts Now❗❗

16. What's your costume?🎃👻

17. Scary Good Savings 👻 20% Off Fun Size Fruit Bars

18. NEW: Halloween Inspo + Back In Stock 👻

19. BOO! 👻 We've got free shipping!

20. You’ll freak for this one-day deal!

21. Look inside for the SPOOKIEST SURPRISE!

22. Don’t spook out! Just saying Hallo-ween with 15% OFF

23. BOO! A mystery deal awaits you…

24. The FINAL HAUNT SALE ends in 3 hours!

25. The BEST HALLOWEEN TREATS end TODAY!

3 Surefire Halloween Marketing Strategies

1. Revamp your SERP

Well, you certainly know SEO but the change starts with your SERP targeting. The higher you rank in a particular SERP, the higher will be your visibility. This will reduce your Google ads costs and help you rank organically. 

Moreover, SERP is the first customer touch point in the awareness stage of the customer journey map. In case you’re unaware, 67.60% of clicks go to the first five results on the first page of a Google search. 

Here’s an example we created so you can understand it better. 

Here are a few tips to help you rank your SERP better: 

a) Optimize your site for actual user queries

By optimizing your site for the words your customers use aka long tail keywords you can become highly relevant.

One way is to dig your Google Search Console data and find the keywords. 

This is important because customers can quickly find what they want which makes your site more memorable. 

b) Keep your images real 

Ditch the stock images and use real images of your products. Why is this important?

Original images indicate authenticity and send high trust signals to Google. As a matter of fact, 75% of customers insist on looking at pictures first before buying. It improves conversion. 

Remember, using large images on your website has proven to increase conversation rates. It’s a fact that a 28% increase in image size can mark a 63% uptick in conversions. 

c) Create content for customers, not for search engines 

With all the focus on creating content, your customers should find your content valuable. 

When you create content that addresses the pain points, you don’t have to spend on PPC campaigns and increase conversions organically. 88% of marketers have successfully created brand awareness, trust, and credibility through content marketing. 

More importantly, content marketing can boost engagement and generate leads with 72% of marketers confirming the same. 

In a nutshell, content that’s original and not talked about before is liked by customers. Providing a different perspective and demonstrating your authority can get your foot in the door.

Know if you're committing these mistakes: 14 eCommerce content marketing mistakes (+ their fixes)

2. Start the 21 days to Halloween campaign 

Brands often ask: "When should I start marketing for Halloween?"

According to Statista, 39.5% of customers start shopping during the first two weeks of October while 36% of customers begin their shopping in early September. 

So, we recommend you start the 21 days to Halloween campaign. You guessed it right since it takes 21 days to form a habit, your customers will become conditioned to buy from you. 

Here’s a 3-step guide to help you get started — 

a) Introduce Halloween edition products 

Introducing special edition products has always evoked curiosity from shoppers. 

Gen Z and Millennials have a high preference for special edition products. In a study, it was found that 46% of Gen Z and 45% of Millennials bought special/limited editions. 

Build-A-Booty launched its Halloween edition resistance band bundle. 

This bundle has 3 types of resistance bands serving different purposes. This is the value proposition it is offering and not just its aesthetics. 

b) Offer value-based content 

When Halloween is a few days away, you shouldn’t be pushy and start selling outright. 

Instead, use your product to create an angle and offer valuable content. 

Terra Origin created a Halloween Pumpkin Spice Shake recipe which is a gentle nudge without being pushy. 

It works for two reasons — Fitness buffs looking to try out new healthy drinks can have fun instead of drinking alcohol. 

People trying to get in shape may end up buying Terra Origin Organic Plant Protein in vanilla. 

And the vegan fitness freaks will have a greater reason to rejoice. 

c) Get started with your email marketing campaign

Email marketing is one of the most deliverable channels with an ROI of 4100%.

You can send early offer emails, pre-order emails, or flash sale emails to drive awareness and traffic to your site. 

Here is an email from Ferguson Showrooms using a pun to drive conversions – the humor combined with FOMO makes it a creative yet persuasive email.

3. Give a haunting surprise with push notifications

Push notifications are often an underutilized channel when it comes to driving conversions. With an ROI of 3500%, push notifications can be a powerful addition to your Halloween marketing campaign. 

Here’s an example of a Halloween push notification by Soulcycle. 

The rhyming lines make it short and memorable. The use of emojis can significantly increase open rates by 20%. 

Push notifications can give this superpower. You can reach your target audience without invading their privacy – because you have the consent.

Push messages can also help build personalized relationships – 70% of customers find push notifications useful and 53% are willing to provide location details with no reservations. 

However, if you want success out of your push notifications – you must get your timing and frequency right. 

Don’t send so few that they forget you exist – and not so many that they disable your app or worse. Take note, the highest push notification click through rate by day of the week is 8.4% on Tuesdays followed by 8.1% on Sundays.

Remember, push notifications are to be used sparingly. Too many notifications can lead to app disablement or worse. 

You might like: 18 Push Notification Templates for eCommerce (& great Examples)

Halloween Spending by the Numbers: An Overview

Halloween by and far is still the most celebrated holiday in the United States. One look at the participation levels from 2015-22 indicates that US customers are enthusiastic as ever, albeit with a small dip in percentage due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

With 2021 saw things return to normalcy, 65% of the US customers planned to celebrate Halloween, in contrast to 58% in 2020. 

With the Covid situation improving in the US, the number is expected to reach 70%. 

Next up, is the anticipated average consumer expenditure on Halloween-related items in 2021. 

US customers were expected to spend an average of $34 on costumes, and $32 on decorations. While the average expenditure on candy was $30, greetings cards came last at $6.64. 

With the US economy recovering after Covid, one can expect to see an increase by a small yet significant margin. That’s a positive sign. 

When it comes to spending by age group, the 35-44 age group planned to spend the highest at $149.34 with 25-34 coming in second at $130.34 while the 65 and older group were the lowest at $57.07. 

The promising thing is that between 2021 and 2022 there was $.5 billion in Halloween spending.

In conclusion, millennials and Gen X are the highest spenders, which mean selling your products to them can help you strike gold.

Halloween Marketing 101

1. What is the best form of marketing for Halloween?

The best form of marketing for Halloween is the one that gets you the most sales, festive season or not. This means you have to start at the right time – excite existing customers – bring in new customers. 

How? Blend social media marketing with email, paid, and content marketing efforts for your eCommerce Halloween marketing – here’s what we mean:

| Pre-Launch | 15th August to 13th September

👉 Step 1: Look at your analytics: Find which channel has the highest traffic as well ROI – is it email, paid search, or organic

👉 Step 2: Publish video and blog content: Feature Halloween product based ideas – like Halloween recipes, home decor, costume ideas

| Launch | 14th/15thSeptember to 1st October

👉 Step 3: Tease your collection: On paid search along with an announcement of early access on your emails

👉 Step 4: Launch your Halloween collection: Ideally at least 40 days before Halloween – use a livestream

| Post-Launch | 

👉 Step 5: Plan your promotions: Offer early bird discounts – and flash sales for stock clearance

👉 Step 6: Keep the excitement up: Use your organic social media channels to show your Halloween prep – or – hold IRL/online events 

👉 Step 7: Cross promote: Use your highest ROI channels like browse/cart abandonment on emails and retargeting via paid

2. What should I post on Social Media for Halloween? 

Anything from contests, quizzes, and DIY that enable user-generated content will do well on social media. 

Here’s a Halloween Pumpkin Smash Challenge by Gymshark for its Halloween Marketing campaign in 2019. 

The contest required people to smash pumpkins and tag their friends. It teamed up with Steve Kris, an Instagram influencer with a million followers. 

This is influencer marketing done right. The post has around 715k views, as we speak.

The objective of social media marketing is to generate buzz, social media mentions, brand awareness, and traffic to your eCommerce brand. 

So, unless you’re confident about pulling it off, keeping it simple works best. 

3. How can I increase sales on Halloween?

Halloween is a major holiday in the US with people rushing to buy things and discounts aren’t the only strategy that can help you increase your sales on Halloween. 

Here’re three strategies to help you increase your Halloween sales — 

a) Offer Halloween mystery bundles 

Smart pricing bundles are a proven way to increase sales while offering discounts and without having to forgo your margins. 

It creates a sense of increased perceived value at a much lesser price. 

MyProtein offers a Halloween Mystery bundle consisting of two protein packs of 500g. 

This is creative marketing since MyProtein’s customer base includes a sizable chunk of millennials and the Gen Z population. As a matter of fact, 40% of young customers have bought limited edition products from a brand. 

b) Include stock alert 

Including stock alerts such as ‘Only 2 left’ triggers a sense of urgency to take action. Especially, when the customer has no objections about the product, this is guaranteed in improving conversions. 

In fact, a study revealed that 78% of buyers were influenced by low-stock alerts to buy. 

Adding an option to notify customers in case of out-of-stock situations can also improve sales. 

c) Provide Buy Now Pay Later options 

Buy Now Pay Later options provide customers an alternative to pay the price in equated installments. This can help increase your customer base since BNPL is becoming widely adopted in the US with 50.6% of users in 2021 alone. The number is expected to increase to 79% in 2022. 

MyProtein offers 4 different interest-free payment options on its product page. 

While Clearpay and Zip offer 4 installments, Laybuy and Humm offer 6 and 5 respectively. 

With multiple options, customers can simply not leave citing the non-availability of a particular BNPL service. It also reduces choice paralysis since the number of installments and the amount is different for each of the services. 

Get your UX in place for Halloween

98% of visitors who visit an eCommerce site—drop off without buying anything.

And during the holiday season this can grow because shoppers are spoilt for choice.

Why: user experience issues that cause friction for visitors.

And this is the problem Convertcart solves.

We've helped 500+ eCommerce stores (in the US) improve user experience—and 2X their conversions.

How we can help you:

Our conversion experts can audit your site—identify UX issues, and suggest changes to improve conversions.