100+ Original Thanksgiving Email Subject Lines to Inspire Your Campaigns

Thanksgiving is a national tradition, and while not the major shopping holiday it once was, still has its place. As Black Friday morphed into a weekend-long shopping occasion bookended by Cyber Monday, some of the shopping excitement naturally bleeds over into Thanksgiving.

It’s tough to resist the hot deals dropping just when people are digging into their hotter side dishes.

Campaign Monitor, in its own study, found that 95 million emails go out on Turkey Day versus 106 million for Cyber Monday.

Whether you want to try your hand at a sale or simply wish your customers a warm and festive day, you must have a well-crafted email subject line. Inboxes will surely be crowded in the leadup to Turkey Day, then even more so on the occasion itself, so you need an ace in the hole.

That’s why I’m here to help. I’ll equip you, humble small business owner, with the strategies and information you need to create your own effective Thanksgiving email subject lines.

Ready? I figured, so let’s get going!

The Essence of Thanksgiving in Email Marketing

Thanksgiving is a valuable occasion on the retail calendar for several reasons.

For one, it’s the leadup to the holiday season. Those who say you can’t start getting into the Christmas spirit until Thanksgiving will now have no reason not to usher in the season.

Thanksgiving is also the precursor to Black Friday, followed by Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, which is another major marketing opportunity to add to your small business calendar.

As a sales opportunity, Thanksgiving is one of many throughout the holiday season, but it’s the first one, so it’s significant for that alone. Besides building better sales, you can also use Thanksgiving email marketing to strengthen your customer relationships by wishing them a festive day.

Components of an Effective Thanksgiving Email Subject Line

Building Thanksgiving email subject lines that connect with your audience and achieve high open rates requires understanding and mastering these components.

Emotional appeal

Thanksgiving is a holiday jam-packed with emotion. It’s a chance for families to come together and reconnect, and as mentioned, it’s also the ushering in of the beginning of the holiday season. From the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to the smell of a hot turkey wafting from the oven or freshly made pumpkin pie, there are so many emotions to choose from.

You should utilize that when writing your subject lines. Perhaps you play up the nostalgia of Thanksgiving, hitting people right in their emotions. Maybe you write an ode to the warmth of togetherness or the importance of family.

FOMO is a standard emotion to tap into when writing email subject lines, as businesses of all sizes usually get results by triggering the fear of missing out.

It fits well into your repertoire, especially if you launch an early Black Friday sale.

Sincerity

Since Thanksgiving is a time of family, warmth, and togetherness, it’s not an occasion for false feelings. That’s not to say you should ever be misleading in your subject lines, as that’s a great way to get reported for spam and lose subscribers and credibility.

Your sincerity must come across loud and clear in your subject lines, so watch the verbiage you use and the sentiments you convey. Don’t say something you don’t mean.

Brevity

You’re curtailed to 60 characters when writing email subject lines. Well, I say that, but it’s not like when you write a social media bio, and you can’t type more than X number of characters. You can write a subject line as long as you want it to be, but it will cut off beyond 60 characters.

A message shut down mid-word can be confusing to your audience. You have to consider how many emails the average consumer will get on a big holiday like Thanksgiving. All your competitors will fill your target market’s inboxes, as will other companies offering warm wishes and offering sales.

If your email cuts off awkwardly, consumers will not bother opening it. You need flawless subject lines to win over your audience on this tough day, so avoid careless mistakes like this.

On that note, know what contributes to your character count. For example, spaces, punctuation (of any kind), emojis, numbers, and symbols all take one character slot each.

Clarity

Writing a concise message in 60 characters might not come naturally to you, and that’s okay! Try writing what you want to say, then refine it, erasing or condensing unnecessary words. Eventually, as you do it more often, you’ll develop skills for crafting the best subject lines ever.

Clarity is a must. To ensure you have it, ask a third party to read your subject line. Then, ask them what they think it’s about.

If they don’t say what you meant the subject line to be about, then you need to rewrite it. It’s not clear enough.

Urgency

If you choose to launch a Thanksgiving sale or use this Thursday holiday to announce your upcoming Black Friday sale, do it with a sense of urgency. You might have sales all weekend long, but your Black Friday sale is one, and your Cyber Monday sale is another.

You want your audience to act when they receive the email, and that begins with the subject line. Use words that convey a sense of urgency, especially time-sensitive terms like “last chance to…”, “ends tonight, “won’t last much longer,” and “until today!”

Personalization

One of the most important elements of Thanksgiving email subject lines is personalization. This is an excellent opportunity to incorporate a customer’s name into the subject line, but personalization in email doesn’t stop with the name.

Offering tailored product and service recommendations based on their shopping and browsing behavior will also come in handy. After all, during this time of year, most people are beginning their holiday shopping, so even if the customer doesn’t want something for themselves, they might decide to pick it up for someone else.

Attention-grabbing elements

With competition exceedingly steep, your emails need that special something to stand out. Personalization will help, as will other elements designed to win attention, such as announcements of steep discounts, punctuation, capitalization, emojis, and power words.

You must use the elements responsibly. There’s no need for three or four exclamation points in a subject line. It’s overkill.

What about power words? A few of them are good, but again, if you overdo it, they lose their efficiency.

Here are some power words to consider adding:

• Sale
• Inspiring
• Now
• Quick
• Magic
• Exciting
• Excellent
• Cheap
• Announcing
• Gigantic
• Remarkable
• Bargain
• Bonus
• Free
• Exclusive

As for emojis, here are some that are good to use around Thanksgiving:

• Turkey – 🦃
• Poultry leg – 🍗
• Pie – 🥧
• Shopping bags – 🛍️
• Party popper – 🎉
• Santa Claus – 🎅
• Present – 🎁
• Money bag – 💰
• Autumn leaves – 🍂
• Dinner plate with fork and knife – 🍽️
• Fork and knife – 🍴
• Spoon – 🥄

Read also: Thanksgiving Email Marketing Templates to Feast On

100+ Original Thanksgiving Email Subject Lines to Inspire Your Campaigns

Building your best Thanksgiving email subject lines is simple when you have plenty of ideas to guide you. The following subject lines are generated by the team at EngageBay and are readily available for you to tweak or use as is.

1. A Thanksgiving Feast of Deals: Save Big Now!
2. Savor the Savings This Thanksgiving Weekend!
3. Our Thanksgiving Gift to You 🎁 Exclusive Savings
4. Thankful for You: Enjoy Our Special Thanksgiving Discount
5. 🎉 Celebrate Thanksgiving with Us and Save
6. Thanksgiving Treats: Special Offers Inside!
7. Get a Jumpstart on Black Friday with Early Thanksgiving Access!
8. Count Your Blessings with Our Special Offers
9. Feast Your Eyes on Our Thanksgiving Specials 🦃
10. 🍂 Give Thanks for Exclusive Deals This Thanksgiving
11. Turkey Day Treats You Won’t Want to Miss 🦃
12. Save on Your Holiday Favorites This Thanksgiving
13. Give Thanks and Save Big
14. Happy Thanksgiving to You from [company name]
15. Gobble Up the Savings: Thanksgiving Deals Await You!
16. This Year, We’re Thankful for YOU!
17. Dive into These Exclusive Thanksgiving Discounts 🦃
18. It’s a Thanksgiving Savings Extravaganza!
19. Unlock These Hot Thanksgiving Deals Before They’re Gone
20. Ready for Seconds? 🍗🥧 Great Thanksgiving Deals
21. Here’s Something to Be Thankful For!
22. The Best Part of Your Thanksgiving Just Arrived
23. Ready to Get Started Shopping? 🛍️Thanksgiving Deals
24. The Pie Is Finished, So Let’s Get Shopping! 🥧
25. Gobble Gobble! Our Thanksgiving Sale Is On!
26. Stay Home This Black Friday – Our Online Turkey Day Deals
27. We Saved a Place for You at the Thanksgiving Table
28. Your Can’t-Miss Thanksgiving Treat
29. Don’t Miss 40% Off Starting Thanksgiving!
30. We’ve Heated Up Leftover Deals 🍗🥧
31. The Final Hours of Our Thanksgiving Sale
32. We Can’t Keep These Thanksgiving Deals Up Forever
33. We Like to Give – Buy One, Get One Free
34. Wake Up Out of Your Food Coma and Start Shopping! 🛍️
35. We Appreciate Everything You Do
36. Deals You’ll Gobble Right Up This Thanksgiving
37. Our Thank-You to You: Exclusive Deals Inside
38. The Whipped Cream on Top – Our Great Savings!
39. Our Thanksgiving Sale Begins Now
40. 24-Hour Thanksgiving Sale Is On!
41. As Sweet as Pumpkin Pie 🥧 Our Turkey Deals
42. Celebrate Thanksgiving with [company name]
43. The Real Feast Today Is for Your Wallet 💰
44. A Toast to You on Thanksgiving
45. Gobble ‘Til You Wobble This Thanksgiving – Hot Deals All Day
46. You’ll Do the Turkey Strut for These Deals 🦃
47. Our Thanksgiving Deal Countdown Begins
48. Good Gravy! Thanksgiving Savings You’ll Adore
49. Wait to Snooze Until After You Shop
50. No Time for a Turkey Coma! Shop Our Deals Now
51. Work Off That Food. Our Stores Are Open!
52. It’s Almost Time for Thanksgiving Deals!
53. Your Final Reminder for Our Thanksgiving Sale
54. Get Ready for Black Friday Today!
55. Launching Our Black Friday Line Early
56. Stuff Your Bags with Savings 🛍️
57. These Are the Final Hours of Our Thanksgiving Sale!
58. Fill Up Your Plate with Savings 🍽️
59. Take a Bite Out of This Deal 🍴
60. Feast on Our Hottest Thanksgiving Discounts
61. Choo Choo! Hop on the Gravy Train of Deals!
62. Our Thanksgiving Deals Go Live in Two Days!
63. Are You Getting Hungry for Thanksgiving Deals?
64. The Hottest Fall Savings of the Season on Turkey Day 🦃
65. Thanks for Being So Wonderful.
66. Fuel up for a Big Day of Thanksgiving Shopping
67. We’re Clearing the Table – The End of Our Thanksgiving Sale
68. Don’t Forget to Grab Your Thanksgiving Savings!
69. You Won’t Mind Being Late to Dinner for This One
70. The Best Thanksgiving Steals Even Santa Wants 🎅
71. The Holiday Season Begins! Start Shopping Now
72. Finish Your Holiday Shopping, Then Kick Back All Weekend
73. We Left Some Turkey for You – Thanksgiving Sale Extended!
74. You’re at the Head of the Table 🍽️ Save 20 Percent All Weekend
75. Thanksgiving Deals Worth Waiting For
76. This Thanksgiving, We’re Giving Back
77. Doing More of What Matters on Thanksgiving
78. Got Some Time to Help Us Out This Thanksgiving?
79. Thanksgiving Made Easy!
80. Tick-Tock: We Can’t Keep the Turkey Warm Forever 🦃
81. VIPs Save an Extra 30% This Thanksgiving Weekend
82. We’re So Thankful for You
83. Showing Our Gratitude with a Thanksgiving Sale
84. Gear Up for the Holidays! Our Thanksgiving Deals
85. Turkey with a Side of Savings
86. Don’t Miss Our Thanksgiving Flash Sale!
87. Shop Stores Tonight and Save 40%
88. Urgent: Thanksgiving Deals Going Fast!
89. Going, Going, Gone! Don’t Miss the Last Deals!
90. Skip the Football and Shop Our Thanksgiving Sale
91. A Cornucopia Full of Delights
92. All Treats – Shop Thanksgiving Savings
93. Cranberry Crush: Thanksgiving Discounts to Savor!
94. A Gravy Train of Savings – Thanksgiving Deals Rolling In
95. Turkey Trot to Savings: Thanksgiving Deals Are Here!
96. Thanksgiving Harvest: Rake in the Sales Today
97. Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice: Thanksgiving Deals Await!
98. Stuff Your Cart with Savings: Thanksgiving Discounts Inside
99. Baste in Bargains with Our Thanksgiving Sale
100. Thanksgiving Deals Cooked to Perfection
101. Give Thanks, Get Deals: Thanksgiving Savings Just for You
102. Cobblestone & Savings: Thanksgiving Deals Are Here
103. Thanksgiving Table of Treats: Enjoy Exclusive Discounts
104. Gobble Gobble, Save Save This Thanksgiving
105. Harvest Your Savings: Thanksgiving Deals to Go
106. Thanksgiving Spread of Savings: Feast Your Eyes!

Read also: Thanksgiving Landing Pages — Design, Tips, and Free Templates

Tips for Maximizing Your Thanksgiving Email Impact

Take your Thanksgiving email subject lines further with these exceptional suggestions.

Tailor your subject lines for promotional and business goals

As I said, the subject lines above are yours to do with what you wish. You should finetune them to reflect your brand’s values and your business goals. Be as promotional as you want according to your campaign goals.

Follow frequency and timing best practices

Your Thanksgiving emails must be well-timed, arriving in a user’s inbox to inspire them to shop. Launch your campaign the Tuesday or Wednesday before Turkey Day. Send several emails throughout the day, first announcing that your sale is live, then a reminder or two (especially a last-chance reminder).

Automation software will help you send timely messages without leaving the dinner table, so you’re free to snooze off that turkey coma.

Use split testing

You absolutely must A/B test your Thanksgiving emails before your campaign goes live, or you could fall short of your goals, including open and click-through rates.

Split testing should occur at least several weeks before your Thanksgiving campaign goes live, so begin late in October or early in November to get it done. That will give you ample time to tweak your subject lines and other email content to convert more.

Get creative

There are plenty of ways to tie your brand’s message to Thanksgiving themes for your email campaign. For example, you could host a Thanksgiving giveaway, do an exclusive midweek preview of your deals, or add interactive elements like digital scratch-offs for customers to see how much they’ve saved.

Key Takeaways for Small Business Owners

• Thanksgiving email subject lines must resonate with your audience. Keep them personalized, brief, targeted, and engaging.
• Emotional appeal is a great way to drive open rates and elevate engagement.
• Don’t discount the importance of Thanksgiving emails. They can sometimes set the tone of the entire holiday shopping season and influence business into the fourth quarter.

Conclusion

Writing winning Thanksgiving email subject lines can maximize your marketing success and deliver more ROI for your efforts, even as a small business.

Experimenting with various approaches until you find what works best for your audience regarding email frequency, tone, and send dates will help you learn what works for your target market and capitalize on it.

You’re now ready to begin planning your Turkey Day campaign to kick off a profitable holiday season and fourth quarter.

FAQ

Is the Monday before Thanksgiving too early to send out a Thanksgiving email to my customers?

A little bit, yes. Consider how busy you are, then think how much busier your customers are as they gear up for the short workweek and all the arrangements and cooking preparations Thanksgiving requires. Wait until at least Tuesday, ideally Wednesday, to launch your email campaign.

Can I use emojis in my Thanksgiving email subject lines?

Yes, you can, and you should! After all, what better time of year to use the turkey, chicken drumstick, plate with fork and knife, and pie emojis than around Thanksgiving? However, limit emoji use to no more than three per subject line.

What are some common mistakes to avoid in Thanksgiving email marketing?

Avoid these pitfalls when writing Thanksgiving email subject lines:

• Exceeding the character limit
• Being overly vague
• Using too much punctuation
• Overusing emojis
• WRITING IN ALL CAPS 😉
• Grammar and spelling errors
• Making false or misleading claims
• Using spam words

How do I create a sense of urgency in Thanksgiving email subject lines without being too pushy?

It’s all about the language. ‘Power words’ drive action, but don’t make a customer feel like you’re twisting their arm. You can also play with emotions. Making your customers feel something will naturally inspire them to open your email and shop.

How can I track the effectiveness of my Thanksgiving email subject lines?

By reviewing your email marketing campaign metrics. Open and click-through rates are two obvious indicators of subject line success. Your subject lines are doing their job if you have more conversions, email subscribers, and sales.