How to Send a Killer Halloween Campaign

The scent of pumpkin spice in the air which means October is in full swing and Halloween is right around the corner.

Although we don’t traditionally think of Halloween as part of the kickoff to the holiday season, when it comes to consumer spending, it’s no joke. Spending on Halloween-related items is expected to reach an all-time high of $10.14 billion this year.

Crushed because you don’t sell wigs or face paint? You don’t need to sell costumes to get in the spirit. Nothing scares us more than missing out on some great marketing opportunities.

Here are a few ideas to get those creative cauldrons flowing.

If there’s anything in your line that can give your customer all the fall feels, consider sending a campaign more focused on the season itself, rather than Halloween specifically.

Whether it’s a push for cozy sweaters or socks, a pumpkin-scented item, or even a roundup of black and orange products to push the notion of Halloween, try and give your products a creative Halloween spin.

We know consumer spending is high during this time so take advantage of customers pulling out their wallets by having a sale.

This can be a great opportunity to try out one of our new features like our Campaign Flow builder.

Here’s how it might look.

Message 1:

Our Halloween Sale is here. We’re making like Michael Myers and slashing prices left and right. SHOP NOW:

Message 2: (send 24 hours later)

Our Halloween Sale is still going. We don’t want you to miss this because trust us, it’ll haunt you. SHOP NOW:

Message 3: (send 12 hours later)

Last Chance! Our Halloween Sale ends tonight at midnight, just in time for our seance. SHOP NOW:

Our Campaign Flows make it easy to send a multi-step message over a period of time. Here are some step-by-step instructions on how to set it up.

Here are a few other Halloween campaigns that came through from our Postscript merchants.

Consider offering a Halloween freebie, like your founder’s favorite candy with every order or another festive, themed surprise.

Funk It Wellness sells seed cycling products (which have nothing to do with the holiday itself) but still managed to stir up a scary-good offer.

Clothing brand Rebellia taps into our inner trick-or-treater with a mystery bag offer.

Customers can feel true rage when a holiday is being promoted too early. But the reality is that Halloween marks less than two months until Christmas.

As store owners grapple with shipping delays and inventory issues, it’s not a bad idea to scare your customers into thinking about their holiday shopping list.

Consider sending a campaign the day after Halloween:

Know what’s scarier than Halloween? Christmas is only XX days away. Shop now for the holidays (if you dare).

We’re putting our costumes away and pulling our ornaments out. It’s only XX days until Christmas and our Holiday Shop is officially open!

The best way to fight those Halloween-is-over blues? Pull out the Christmas tree! Shop our holiday favorites to tuck under the tree.

Have fun with this! And if customers respond with fury that a Christmas message feels too soon, use it as an opportunity to engage in some conversations about Thanksgiving instead.

Starting to converse with your customers well before the holiday season is crucial. Not only is conversational commerce extremely powerful stuff, but it also helps carriers see that you’re a credible brand and could help with deliverability during peak send times (i.e. Black Friday/Cyber Monday.)

Not sure what to say during Halloween? Here are a few ideas on how to engage.

Send out a text campaign asking a Halloween-centric question like, What’s your favorite scary movie? Set up a response so that every answer receives this message: Us too! Here’s 10% off since we’re kindred scary movie spirits.

Or ask customers to text a photo of their Halloween costume. We want to see your Halloween costume! Reply with a photo and we’ll send our favorite entries a $25 gift card for being so ghoul.

When all else fails, land a great joke.

We hope these tactics will arm you with some frighteningly good sends. And be sure to submit your best ones to Fantastic Texts.