According to the National Retail Federation, more than 157 million American adults will celebrate Halloween this year, and each will spend an average of $74 on costumes, candy, decorations and more. Treat your subscribers right to maximize your share of this $6.9 billion holiday.

To help you get started, we took a look at some of our retail clients’ top performing Halloween emails from 2014 to see what worked best:

Entice the Reader

Everyone loves a good mystery. The emails “Happy Hallow-Lean! Time For a MYSTERY Coupon. What Will Your Savings Be?” and “October Mystery Coupon: Unravel the Mystery! Save up to 30%!” converted at rates of 45% and 36.4%, respectively.

Make an Offer

Don’t be scared to keep it simple. Often a straightforward discount is all that is needed to get subscribers to take action. The sales offered in the emails “20% OFF All Halloween Cookies” and “10% Halloween Discount” prompted subscribers to convert at a 53.6% and 28.9% conversion rate, respectively.

Get into the Spirit with Words

Just like the most creative costumes get the most attention at the party, unusual words get attention in the inbox.  Last year the email “It’s Rocktoberfest with real rocks!” had an impressive 41.8% open rate, and even the slightly less unique, but fun “Spooktacular Savings This Week Only!” had a 19.9% open rate.

Offer up Ideas

Trying to come up with a to-die-for costume or party theme can be scary for many, so ideas are always welcome. For example, the email, “Can’t Miss Halloween Costume Ideas + 20% OFF” was opened by 29.9% of the subscribers who received it.

Help Subscribers Out of a Bind

For busy subscribers, it seems that Halloween just sneaks up on them, and BOO!, there’s little time left to plan. That’s why an email like “FREE Delivery Before Halloween Or Reduced Express Shipping + Extra 15% Off Costumes!” got opened by more than half (50.8%) of subscribers.

Do you have any tricks for effective Halloween emails? Please share them!  

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