Black Friday and Cyber Monday: 50+ Email Subject Lines That Convert

Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The most important weekend for your business for the entire year.

Shoppers expect big deals—and they’re ready to buy. 2023 generated a record $9.8 billion in online sales, up 7.5% from 2022.

But everything you *think* you know about your audience is different during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, partially because your subscribers are actively looking to shop and aren’t necessarily shopping for themselves.

“Buying habits and browsing habits are so different during Black Friday,” says Jaina Mistry, Director of Email and Content Marketing here at Litmus. “The big focus for your subscribers is on deals. It’s definitely not a time you want to be running any A/B tests. You want to have your marketing strategy locked in.”

We’ve been watching Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BF/CM for short) trends for years, so we know a thing or two about what will help you stand out in the inbox. Building your Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns starts with your email subject line. Today, we’re talking about why optimizing for the entire inbox experience is important, highlighting a few of our favorite email subject line strategies, and offering up oodles of subject line ideas so you can get inspired.

Table of contents:

The psychology behind great Black Friday and Cyber Monday email subject lines

Your subscribers get hundreds, if not thousands of emails during Black Friday and Cyber Monday season. According to email service provider (ESP) Omnisend, email marketers sent 183 million emails on Black Friday in 2023. The average open rate? A measly 5%. 

Your subject line is extra important if you want your subscribers to open these emails, so let’s get inside your subscriber’s head for a minute:

Pay attention to the entire inbox experience, not just subject lines

While your subject line is the main event, don’t sleep on the rest of your inbox envelope: Preview text and your from name. Each element is important with an inbox as crowded as it is during this season.

The subject line is only as effective as the rest of the inbox experience. Make sure it matches with the rest of your envelope—and consider experimenting by adding your brand name into your subject line or preview text to take advantage of the goodwill your brand has been building all year long.

“When your subscribers are scanning their inboxes for Black Friday, they’re looking at sender names first, so make sure it’s clear and recognizable,” says Mistry. “This is one time where it’s important to use your brand name and not so-and-so at your brand, or tack on other keywords just because you can.”

If you haven’t already verified your email program with BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification), go through the process before Black Friday season hits. Not only is it a helpful deliverability tool, it also gives you the benefit of adding a verified sender logo image next to your sender name and subject line in the inbox, making you stand out more.

Fear vs. fun

FOMO is a very real emotion you can (and should) harness for your email campaigns. But for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, eeeeverrrybody uses “LAST CHANCE” or “This deal ends soon!” Your subscribers know that there’s going to be another deal next week, and another leading up to the end of the holidays. Stop lying to them that you’re sold out or that you won’t be running any more deals on your bestselling items.

Instead of invoking fear of missing a deal, have a little fun with it.

“A big red X or the ‘last chance’ wording is not making me feel connected with a brand,” says Product Marketing Manager Angie Weyman. “Subscribers are smart, and they understand that brands have a great deal to offer during this time of year. It’s not necessary to scream. Let’s lean into the whimsy of the season to give subscribers a positive emotional connection.”

Lead with story, not just sales

Yes, it’s all about deals. But it doesn’t have to be the only thing you talk about in your Black Friday email promotions.

Lead with story.

Remember why someone might be interested in your eCommerce or retail brand in the first place—and why they want to buy now. Maybe it’s the deal you’re offering, or maybe they’ve been thinking about treating themselves with something new for months and waiting for it to go on sale. Maybe they’ve finally come up with the perfect gift idea for someone special. Maybe they really want to celebrate this year with something extra festive.

Put yourselves in the shoes of your subscriber and craft an email campaign that’s going to resonate with them by adding value that goes beyond the deal of the day.

We’d argue there’s a way to do both.

Top performing email subject line strategies

Crafting high performing email subject lines for your Black Friday campaigns isn’t easy. While every brand is going to have a different approach, keep these tips in mind:

Be consistent across every channel, not just email

Black Friday and Cyber Monday serve as the culmination of all of that hard brand-building work you’ve done as an email marketer this year. In fact, 60% of Cyber Weekend sales are driven by consumers who engaged with a brand’s prior marketing email, according to Klavyio’s data.

Every email you send should be part of a cohesive, multi-channel campaign that includes social media, online advertising, and your website copy. That’s why you’ll want to create a campaign brief in a collaboratively stored place so you can keep everyone on the same page on your plans:

• How many Black Friday emails you plan to send throughout the month, and when you’ll send them
• What discounts and offers you’ll make, and whether or not they will escalate or stay the same
• Your segmentation and personalization plans, such as special campaigns for subscribers who have purchased from you before
• How you will interpret your brand in your designs (colors, fonts, animations, illustrations, images) and what your overall design theme will be
• Whether or not you’ll design BF/CM-specific triggered emails, like abandoned carts

“If someone subscribes to your emails, they may also be keeping in touch with you in other ways,” says Mistry. “Tee up your audience before Black Friday using the same language and imagery so when people see that in the inbox, they are excited for what’s inside.”

Prepare your subscribers for deals

Subscribers know that deals are coming for Black Friday…and the entire month of November. (The first “Black Friday” campaigns hit our inboxes as early as November 1st last year 😱) 

Give your subscribers time to prepare by teasing your deals ahead of time.

“I love when brands take advantage of preparing their subscribers,” says Weyman. “Signing up for early access or simply teasing with a ‘one-of-a-kind offer is on the way’ messaging works well. I actually remembered during the chaos of Black Friday to check out certain offers because I was curious from previous campaigns.”

If you’re going to include Black Friday offers in your subject line, make sure you follow through with the rest of your email body and call-to-action (CTA), too. Don’t tease a deal and then leave your subscriber hanging. That means providing a direct link to your sale and using imagery that matches your deals, too. 

Forget about personalization just this one time

We are big fans of personalization here at Litmus, so don’t get us wrong when we say: Maybe, just this one time, you can forget about it. Email marketing legend Chad S. White put it best in a recent article for CMSwire:

This method helped us boost new subscriber numbers across our diverse range of newsletters.

“During the holiday season, subscribers are (mostly) shopping for others, so the zero- and first-party data you’ve been collecting all year isn’t likely to be very useful for tailoring messages.”

—Chad S. White

What this means for subject lines: Don’t worry about making them super personalized.

is great if you’ve got it. (And yes, we know we literally always say that first name isn’t really making the most of the kinds of email personalization you can do. Black Friday and Cyber Monday just hit different!) And if you don’t, it’s okay to say “just for you” instead of making it more specific.

Instead, pay attention to the gift givers in your email list, as well as new subscribers who are looking for specific deals for their friends and family. Making this intention clear in your subject line can go a long way to helping out folks looking for just the right something.

This is a high stakes time, so it’s one less thing to worry about on your (very long) email marketing checklist.

What about emojis? 🤷

Love it or hate it, emojis are a great way to stand out in an inbox.

Unless… everybody else is using the same ones.

“There’s a tendency for brands to use the same ones over and over again—I’m looking at you, red siren and red alarm clock. The brands that use emojis in creative ways are the ones that stand out to me,” says Weyman. “The biggest thing to remember is to not replace words with your emojis, as that’s bad accessibility practice.”

Focus on emojis that speak to your brand the most. If you would never use an emoji the rest of the year, then don’t do it now. (The dolphin emoji is a long standing joke here at Litmus—we never, ever use it in emails or otherwise. We won’t even type it here…IYKYK.)

Be creative!

Yes, Black Friday is high stakes. But that’s exactly why you should do something extra creative for your email marketing campaigns instead of what (ahem) everyone else is doing 👇

Whatever campaigns you run, make sure it looks and feels like it’s from your brand and no one else’s. “Front load your subject line with the most pertinent information and get right to the point, because your subscribers are scanning your inbox differently than a typical day,” says Mistry. “And this is not the time to copy and paste AI suggestions for subject lines into your campaigns. Be creative and do something different.”

Let’s take a look at some of our favorite email subject line examples from Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns in past years:

50+ of the best email subject line examples for your Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaigns

And now, what you’ve all been waiting for! Every year our team receives thousands of emails across the BF/CM season—here are a few favorites that will help you get more opens and conversions:

Email subject line examples by promotion type

As you plan out your season, map out which coupon is going out when, if you’re doing exclusive deals by segment, and whether or not you’ll offer deeper discounts at any point.

If you’re offering a certain percentage off, tell subscribers that right up front. This example from Onsen adds excitement while leading with a deal:

Source: Really Good Emails

Why it wins:

• It states exactly what kind of deal you can expect (no trickery to get the open)
• The exclamation point adds excitement—Black Friday shopping is fun, after all
• The parentheses make it cute

Here are a few more deal-forward examples:

Source: Really Good Emails

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Source: Really Good Emails

You can also offer other kinds of deals to make subscribers ready to buy, like free shipping or a free gift. You can also use language like, “one day only,” “flash sale,” or “save big” in your subject line. What matters is you are clear about the deal right in the subject line, like this one from Everlane:

Source: Really Good Emails

Why it wins:

• The deal is first in the word order of the subject line
• It calls out who the deal is for (you, vs. gifts)

Here are a few other examples of sales-driven subject lines:

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Email subject line examples by audience type

Your shoppers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday may behave differently than normal, browsing across categories they normally wouldn’t touch. That’s because many of them are on the hunt for gifts (in addition to a treat or two for themselves).

Take a break from deals and go back to the “why” behind shopper behavior this season with subject lines that focus on gift giving. This BarkBox subject line is so on-brand:

Source: Really Good Emails

Why it wins:

• It creates an in-group for their audience (dog people) 
• It’s clear that it’s about gift-giving

And a few other gift-y examples for you:

Source: Really Good Emails

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Source: Really Good Emails

Gift-giving is all about the holiday season, and that includes Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. You don’t have to steer clear of holiday messaging, but if you do go big on Santa and reindeer, make sure you’re not neglecting the other holidays that happen this season, too.

Starbucks always has pun-tastic, attention-grabbing subject lines, but the more subtle holiday theming for this one makes it a great example:

Source: Really Good Emails

Why it wins:

• It doesn’t scream Christmas, but it’s obvious what it’s about
• It plays on a nostalgic, fan-favorite Christmas song
• It evokes emotion/feeling

A few more holiday-specific email subject lines we liked:

Source: Really Good Emails

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One trend over recent years is running “anti” Black Friday campaigns. This doesn’t mean they have to make a statement against consumerism, a la REI’s #OptOutside campaign. Taking a break from the deal-centric messaging can help you generate more sales in the end. We liked this one from Article:

Source: Really Good Emails

Why it wins:

• Contrary subject line makes you have to open it
• Refreshing honesty builds trust
• Reaffirms brand’s unique perspective to ensure they’ll be remembered after Black Friday

Here are a few more subject line examples that give shoppers a break from deals:

Source: Really Good Emails

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Source: Really Good Emails

Email subject line examples by timing

“Black Friday” encompasses more than a single day, so you’ll likely have emails at various stages during the month of November and December that go with this theme.

Start by prepping your subscribers to get ready for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals they’re going to receive with “early bird” or “teaser email” Black Friday email campaigns. Not only does this create a sense of excitement, it can also help your subscribers remember which emails they’re most looking forward to when their inboxes fill up. One of our favorite pre-Black Friday subject lines did a great job of playing into this kind of curiosity:

Why it wins:

• Emojis add to the sense of whimsy and don’t replace words
• Questions make subscribers want to come back for more
• The whole thing is a play on their biggest deal

A few more examples of “early” Black Friday email subject lines:

Source: Really Good Emails

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Then, when you’re ready to launch your biggest deal of the year, make sure you’re loud and proud about it. This email example from Fossil is a short and sweet subject line that still manages to pull off a pun.

Source: Really Good Emails

Why it wins:

• It’s short and to the point
• Since Fossil is a watch brand, it’s a great way to make a pun
• It conveys a sense of urgency

Get more creative than “Black Friday sale starts now.” A few more examples of day-of Black Friday sale campaigns:

Source: Really Good Emails

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Finally, you’ll want to let your subscribers know when Black Friday ends. That’s why we loved this subject line from Gravity Blankets:

Why it wins:

• Great use of brand-specific emoji 
• Without shouting, it gets the point across quickly
• We’re always here for a good pun!

Language like, “last minute,” “last day,” and “don’t forget,” all work as well. Remember, if you’re going to go with “last chance” messaging, don’t run another deal a week later. Make sure it really is the last chance. Here are a few more ways to say “last chance” without, y’know, saying it.

Source: Really Good Emails

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Just some great Black Friday email subject line examples

Some of our favorite subject lines we found don’t fit neatly into one box. Here are a few more of our favorites:

Source: Really Good Emails

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Source: Really Good Emails

Have the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BF/CM) with Litmus

Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns can make or break your quarterly earnings. Litmus’ email design and testing tools makes sure your emails will be perfect come the big day. Check out how Litmus can help you nail your Black Friday campaigns!

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