35 email subject lines for Black Friday and Cyber Monday + killer copywriting ideas

You’re ready to get cracking on a slew of Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) email newsletters, but you’re having trouble awakening the creative juices.   

What’s a good email subject line to grab attention for your Shopify store? What’s the right text for the message of the body? 

We have advice and ideas for you to steal.

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The data behind BFCM email subject lines

Before we get to the content ideas, we want to emphasize some points around email subject lines:

1. The subject line is crucial to an email’s success. A weak subject line could prevent some subscribers from opening the email and seeing the great content inside. Ensure you're following best practices for email subject lines.
2. Even if you write the most incredible subject lines, holiday emails typically generate lower open rates than regular promos. One study found it’s a 16.8% decline. Yet there is a silver lining: holiday emails convert at higher rates. The same report cites Black Friday emails convert at a 33% higher rate than non-holiday newsletters.  

How can you entice opens? There is no magic formula, according to our analysis of Seguno customer 2023 BFCM emails. However, a few observations emerged from surveying open rate, click rate, conversion rate, and revenue: 

• Subject lines containing “BFCM” (of which there were very few) had higher open rates and average order values (AOVs) than those containing “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday” 
• Three words or less had higher open rates than those with four or more words
• “Discount” outperformed those containing “%” or “$” 
• The jury is out on emojis; the open rate was slightly lower for those containing four or more versus those with one to three or none

Whether you use these insights or not, resist the temptation to slap together a subject line. Think about what would motivate subscribers to open your email and ensure the copy and images correlate. 
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Making the most of BFCM and the holiday season depends on a good plan. Start by mapping out your email calendar.
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BFCM subject line and copy ideas

The first step is identifying whether your email content leans toward promotional or emotional.  

When you choose the type of email newsletter first, it’s much easier to piece together the subject line and copy.

Aside from subject line examples and body copy, we’re tossing in call-to-action ideas — the button (CTA) that leads subscribers to the next step. 

We chunked all suggestions by email send time. 

The message copy is short and sweet. Customize as you desire. Keep it brief or feel free to expand slightly. 
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Ideas for promotional newsletters

Promotional newsletters are all about an incentive/discount — what many shoppers expect from a BFCM email.   

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Subject lines 

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Early-access BFCM (before Black Friday):

Early Access to Black Friday Sales

Today only: ___ for Early Black Friday

Get a Sneak Peek at Black Friday 👀

Our Black Friday Sale Starts NOW

VIPs Only: Early Black Friday Deals

Get the Black Friday deals before anyone else!

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‍Days of BFCM (Black Friday - Cyber Monday):

Black Friday Starts Now

Cyber Monday Starts Now

Black Friday Deals Just Released

Free Shipping This Weekend!

Get ___ this weekend only

Black Friday Deals Inside

Cyber Monday Deals Inside

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‍Extended or last chance (after Cyber Monday):

Sale ends at ___ EST 

Last chance, ends tonight. __% off

Don’t miss out! Last chance for ___

Only 3 hours left to get ___

___% Off Extended for Cyber Week!

Cyber Monday Sale Extended

Missed our Black Friday Sale? Here's ___% off!
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Do you want more people to see your subject line? Grow your subscriber list with email popups for BFCM.

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Text copy 

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‍Early-access BFCM (before Black Friday):

Early Black Friday Deals Start Now!

It’s our early Black Friday Event

Why Wait ‘Till Friday? Get Great Deals Now

Psst! We’re only letting our VIP fans shop our Black Friday Deals early. Thanks for being a VIP.

For a limited time, you can get __(discount)___ on all _(product/category)__

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‍Days of BFCM (Black Friday - Cyber Monday):‍

We’re only letting our VIPs know about this …

___ now on sale, today only. Ends at 9pm EST

Our Black Friday Sale Starts ____ 

Get __% off starting NOW

Black Friday - Limited-time deals are waiting for you

Black Friday Deals That Delight

It’s finally here. We don’t do this often. Even we’re excited about this sale. 

For a limited time, get _(promotion)__ off _(product)__

Cozy on up to these Black Friday deals

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‍Extended or last chance (after Cyber Monday):

Black Friday Sale Extended!

Last chance to get __% off. 

Sale Ends Tonight

While supplies last (and we’re running out)

We extended the sale one more day, but we’re closing it down at 9pm ET tonight. 

Don’t miss out on these deals, it only happens once a year.
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CTAs

Shop Now

Claim My Offer

Shop Gifts

Shop Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deals

Shop Now and Save! 

Start Shopping

See My Deals

Apply Discount

Shop the Sale

See the Deals

Get __% off Now!
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Get a better feel for promotional and emotional email marketing for BFCM, with tips and examples.

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Ideas for emotional newsletters

Emotional newsletters focus on the company, a product, a problem the product solves, etc. They’re ideal for merchants that sell luxe products, make their items by hand, or have low margins. 

You’ll notice that some text includes an incentive, which is secondary to the prime message.
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Subject lines 
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Early-access BFCM (before Black Friday):

First Look: Our NEW ___

Shop Our New Holiday Line

❄️ Preview the Winter Collection ❄️

Limited Time: Free Gift with Purchase

Shop Local! Shop Smart! Extra ___ Off!

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‍Days of BFCM (Black Friday - Cyber Monday):

Black Friday: Shop Local and Get ___% Off

We’re Thankful for You

Cyber Monday Exclusives

Your Ultimate Gift Guide

New: Perfect Holiday Gifts

Check Out Our New ___

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‍Extended or last chance (after Cyber Monday):‍

Have you seen our new holiday styles?

We’ve only got a few of these left …

Last Chance to Get ___ 

Don’t Miss Out On ___
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Text copy

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‍Early-access BFCM (before Black Friday):

Start the season off right. Take a look at our new styles and collections.

Sneak peek: we’ve got new items that just landed on the site. You get to see them first. 

Free Gift with Purchase

As a special thank you for being a fan, this holiday season we’re giving away something special with each purchase

Shop early and save, _____ for a limited time. 

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‍Days of BFCM (Black Friday - Cyber Monday):

We’ve got new __ that just launched. Take a look.

Thanks for being a fan, enjoy ____ today!

We know you have a choice when you shop. We appreciate that you shop locally, and remember the small businesses. 

Take an additional ___ as our way of saying thanks. 

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‍Extended or last chance (after Cyber Monday):

Black Friday sales are winding down. So if you missed ours in the hustle and bustle, take a look now. 

Final call. We’re shutting the sale down later today, but wanted to make sure you had a chance to shop. 

Our newest arrivals have just launched. We’ve got ___ and ___ just in time for the holidays. 

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CTAs

Learn More

See More

See the Styles

Indulge Me

Let's Go!

Find My Style

See What's New

Find Out More

Show Me More

Treat Myself

Get First Dibs

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Speed up your Black Friday and Cyber Monday emails with Seguno’s pre-built templates

We hope the above suggestions will help you create your BFCM email subject lines, body copy, and CTAs smoothly. Use any idea as is or thicken it up to give your audience more. 

Seguno has professionally designed newsletter and campaign templates to get you started. They’re free for all paying customers. Browse our Template store to find Black Friday email templates, Cyber Monday email templates, and themed campaign packs.  

Install the template of your choice, customize as you’d like, and you’re ready to roll.