Cold Email: How 6 Brands Build Hype in Their Teaser Email Campaigns

We stand by a lot of email design best practices, and one of them is to make sure an email never feels like a waste of time. That’s why you’ll hear us say this a lot: Emails should be clear, simple and direct, always keeping the reader in mind. And when it comes to teaser email campaigns, this principle is more important than ever!

Teaser emails (see the Nike example below) are where marketers give readers a short, sometimes mysterious preview about an upcoming promotion or event.

Subject line: Coming 10.13 — member exclusive sale

teaser email campaign example

Teaser emails are a great way to build intrigue and prep readers for the email(s) to follow. Today, we’ll look at how six different brands designed teaser email campaigns for maximum impact. Let’s get into the examples!

Teaser emails are a great way to build intrigue and prep readers for the email(s) to follow.
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Best practices for teaser emails

The purpose of teaser emails is to tip readers off that something new and big is coming. When done well, these emails build intrigue and make subscribers feel like they’re in on a secret.

When building a teaser email, here’s what you should keep in mind.

Set a goal. What action do you want readers to take when they open your teaser email? Often, teaser emails ask readers to stay tuned, mark their calendars or preview a product that isn’t yet available to purchase. If your message falls into the “stay tuned” category, your email might not have a call to action. In that case, you should think seriously about the email’s purpose and value. You might want to set up an A/B test where some recipients receive a teaser email before an announcement, while others receive the announcement without the teaser. Then, you can test if the non-CTA teaser email increased conversion rates. It’s important to be intentional about this because you don’t want to lose readers’ faith that you’ll deliver timely, relevant content (that doesn’t clog up their inbox).
Align the call to action with your goal. Want readers to mark their calendars? Then give them an easy, actionable way to do that, like with an add-to-calendar CTA. If you want them to check out a new product before it launches, consider allowing readers to pre-order or join a waitlist.
Have a vision for the whole campaign. In the spirit of not over-inundating readers with emails, consider how your teaser email plays a role within the larger campaign. Is it one of many emails, or one of three? A basic flow might be: teaser email, announcement email, follow-up email. A word of advice, though — don’t send more than one teaser email. One heads-up is enough!
Establish suspense in the subject line. It’s essential to get your reader curious from the very start. Otherwise, they might not even open the message.
Get readers curious! The idea, after all, is to create a little intrigue. Use your design expertise to get creative! Set a countdown timer, partially reveal a product or make a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t GIF.

Let’s look at how six brands did it.

Teaser email campaigns from our inbox

#1. Wrap Life

Subject line: The best sale of the year is coming

teaser email campaign

In honor of National Head Wrap Day, Wrap Life launched a major sale — and its email subscribers got the first scoop in this simple yet effective plain text message. Readers could tap the CTA to sign up and be notified when the sale went live.

#2. Carter’s

Subject line: Psst… something big is coming

teaser email

From this teaser email, the reader can’t be 100% sure what’s coming — only that it’s definitely going to be good. Sent in mid-November, the email is appropriately decked out for the season and gets readers excited to hurry up and wait.

#3. REI

Subject line: Coming soon: Gear up get out sale

teaser email campaign

REI sent out a teaser email with an irresistible offer — be the first to preview the company’s sale catalog! Sending an email like this can help build customer excitement and make them feel like they’re getting a sneak peek or exclusive deal. After all, there’s major appeal in knowing you’re the first to get to see or do something.

#4. The Lip Bar

Subject line: Something BIG is coming…

teaser email campaign

In this teaser email, The Lip Bar drops a subtle hint for a new product that’s coming up. A clever product photo shows one makeup product blacked out with a big question mark — a major hint for what’s to come. Then the email utilizes cross-promotion, telling readers they can learn more exclusive info by following the company on Instagram.

#5. Gilt

Subject line: Cosabella is returning. Get ready.

teaser email from brand

Gilt does a great job of creating curiosity in the subject line. Once the email is opened, it’s clear that something big is on the horizon. The company even includes a specific date and time so customers can be sure they won’t miss out.

#6. Bose

Subject line: Get ready: We’re working on something big

teaser email for product launch

This teaser email from Bose advertises new products coming soon. With just a simple, on-brand black-and-white color scheme and a few lines of copy, the message makes you feel like something epic is coming soon. We’re on board!

Wrap-up: Build your own teaser email campaign

If you’re not already using BEE, sign up for a free trial of BEE Pro and get access to hundreds of templates and design features to create your own mysterious teaser email campaigns!