Cyber Monday is a high-stakes game with huge rewards—but only if you’re prepared to play. This massive online shopping day can bring in a flood of traffic, eager shoppers, and record-breaking sales. It can also bring challenges like website crashes, intense price competition, and the logistical hurdles of meeting skyrocketing demand.
To make the most of Cyber Monday, your preparation needs to be airtight—from inventory management and customer service to, most importantly, your email content and marketing strategy. Well-crafted promotional emails can set the stage, building excitement and creating urgency that drives customers to take action when the big day arrives.
So, what should go into your Cyber Monday emails to maximize impact? What design choices will grab attention, and which tactics should you avoid? In this guide, we’ll break down some of the best Cyber Monday email examples from top brands, showing you exactly how to turn inboxes into a powerful sales channel this holiday season.
Is Cyber Monday worth it?
Cyber Week is one of the biggest shopping holidays of the year, encompassing Thanksgiving sales, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. In 2026, Black Friday falls on November 27 and Cyber Monday on November 30.
Cyber Monday and Black Friday are the big players in terms of revenue. In 2025, Black Friday generated $11.8 billion in online sales, whereas Cyber Monday resulted in $14.25 billion—the biggest online shopping day ever.
Here are other important facts about Cyber Week 2025, and what to expect in 2026 (pulled from ):
- During Cyber Week 2025 (Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday), US online sales reached $44.2 billion, up 7.7% from 2024.
- The deepest Cyber Monday discounts were on electronics (up to 31% off), toys (28%), and apparel (25%).
- Holiday shoppers increasingly use Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) tools like Klarna. BNPL drove a record $1.03 billion in online spending on Cyber Monday 2025.
- Mobile is now the main way people shop: 57.5% of Cyber Monday 2025 online sales came from smartphones.
- For 2026, Adobe forecasts $15.1 billion in Cyber Monday online sales (up 6.2%) and $47.5 billion across Cyber Week.
If you have an ecommerce store and email list, it's never too early to start preparing for your Cyber Week sales. Capitalize on this huge ecommerce holiday season by bringing shoppers to your online store with an email marketing campaign.
10 Cyber Monday email examples—and why they work
Here are ten great Cyber Monday email examples from real retailers' past Cyber Monday campaigns. No stealing allowed, but we hope you get inspired for your Cyber Monday marketing campaign!
1. Holiday fun and eye-catching GIFs (Riffraff)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- GIFs with a purpose: This email from Riffraff uses a GIF of rotating outfit ideas to show off the products you'll find if you click through to shop.
- Mobile-friendly: The stacked vertical design is easy to scroll through on any device, making it mobile-friendly.
- Holiday humor: The promo codes have subtle holiday references (“Santa! I know him!”)—way more fun than codes like 30OFF or SALE.
2. Time-bound and urgent (Wildist.co)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- It's straightforward: This email from Wildist strips away unnecessary copy and gets right to the point. They're having a 48-hour sale and it starts right now.
- Creates urgency: The repetition of words like "now", "only for 2 day", and "here today, gone tomorrow" reminds the recipient throughout the email that this sale is temporary and
- Hear from past students: Need extra encouraging to click the checkout button? Wildist also features testimonials from actual customers who've taken a course before.
3. Big promises and extended sales (Michaels)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- Big promises: This email uses a GIF to make big promises about their deals both in-store and online.
- Extended sales: Michaels advertises an extended sale to capitalize on the Cyber Week trend.
4. Scarcity and limited-time only (Yellowbird)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- Bright, vibrant colors: To help stand out from the other emails, Yellowbird takes on a bold color palette and a pixelated GIF with animated chilis and their signature bird logo.
- Creating scarcity: The promise of a limited-time offer is highlighted at the top of the email and the message is clear—miss this sale, and don't expect to see it again.
- Product showcase: Yellowbird is a food brand with specialty hot sauces, and they showcase their colorful bottles with their signature flavors right beneath their Cyber Monday offering.
5. Brand personality and mobile optimization (Dollar Shave Club)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- Brand personality: Dollar Shave Club's brand is lighthearted and funny—just like this email.
- Mobile-optimized design: A mobile-optimized email template ensures every email looks great on every device, no resizing needed.
- Surprising stat: Did you know clicking burns one whole calorie?!
6. Nostalgia and free gifts (Musicbed)
Remember what a mixtape is?
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- Old school tech theme: Musicbed offers music licensing for creatives and threw it back to the 80's and 90's with their free limited edition mixtape cassette and their Microsoft Paint-inspired email layout.
- Casual humor: In addition to offering a gift with purchase, Musicbed takes on a casual tone of voice when highlighting how much money customers could be saving thanks to their 15% off sale.
- Free, free, free: A tried-and-true promo, customers love a free gift with their purchase and Musicbed made sure to put this giveaway front and center in their email campaign.
7. Gift-giving and transparency (Everlane)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- Holiday shopping theme: Black Friday and Cyber Monday officially kick off the holiday shopping season, and Everlane fully leans into this by reiterating their holiday promise and highlighting best selling gift ideas for your loved ones.
- Transparent pricing: Everlane acknowledges their lack of a Cyber Monday-specific sale because their prices are already lower than most retailers, sticking to their commitment of high quality clothing at transparent pricing.
8. Hacker humor (The Hill-Side)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- Hacker-themed humor: This hacker terminal-themed email from The Hill-Side has fun with the holiday's cyber theme.
- Mobile-friendly: Simple, mostly text-based designs look great on pretty much every device.
9. Simplicity and wordplay (LOFT)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- Wordplay: The wordplay in this email from LOFT celebrates that you don't have to leave the comfort of your home for great deals on Cyber Monday.
- Simple, not boring:The clear design and CTA will look great on any device—but they're not so plain or dull that you'll ignore them.
10. Countdown timer (Dr. Martens)
Why this Cyber Monday email works:
- Extra urgency: Doc Martens uses a countdown timer to boost urgency levels. This visual cue tells customers they better act fast to get in on the deal. In one experiment reported by CXL, adding a countdown timer next to a website’s limited-time offer led to a 147% increase in conversions. ActiveCampaign’s email designer includes a Timer block, so you can add a live countdown to your Cyber Monday emails without extra tools.
How to write a killer Cyber Monday subject line
Without a great subject line, no one will open your email. If no one opens your email, they won't see your amazing Cyber Monday campaign.
Did you know that there areover 188 words that are considered spammy and should be avoided when writing subject lines? However, what you add to your subject line is just as important.
Here are some subject line best practices for Cyber Monday and beyond.
Make them so curious they have to click
What makes someone open an email?
- They're expecting to hear from you.
- They already know they enjoy and trust emails from you.
- Your subject line promises them something they want—like an awesome Cyber Monday sale!
- Your subject line makes them so curious they have to click.
Behavioral economist George Loewenstein uncovered five ways to make people curious:
- Ask a curiosity-inducing question: “Are you ready for this?”
- Tell a story:“Open up, and you will find…”
- Go against their expectations:“CYBER MONDAY SUCKS” (Yes, that's a real subject line. Yes, I opened the email.)
- Imply that you have information they don't:“Mystery Sale! How Much Will You Save?”
- Imply that they used to know something they've since forgotten:“You forgot to unwrap a present” or “Did You Get All Your Gifts?” (This works exceptionally well for combining abandoned cart email techniques with Cyber Monday discounts.)
Let's look at an example. If you're running a Cyber Monday sale, maybe you start with an email subject line of “Cyber Monday sale!”
Not a bad start, but what if you added a few of the curiosity levers?
- First, add a question: “Are you ready for Cyber Monday?”
- Next, start a story: “Are you ready for Cyber Monday? This family is…”
- Finally, be unexpected: “They prepped 3 months for Cyber Monday. Are you ready?”
Which is most engaging? “Cyber Monday sale!” or “They prepped 3 months for Cyber Monday. Are you ready?”
By adding one curiosity lever at a time, you can gradually amp up your subject lines—and make sure people open your emails.
(Warning: Curiosity levers are powerful, but only use 2-3 at a time. Any more than that, and you wind up with clickbait).
Get expressive with emojis
Emojis are a big trend in ecommerce subject lines, especially around Cyber Monday. Emojis can help your email stand out in an overcrowded inbox and get a higher click-through rate, but the results are mixed. In a Search Engine Journal test of 3.9 million emails, subject lines with emojis earned more clicks but slightly lower open rates, plus more unsubscribes. When emojis were used, placing them at the end of the subject line tended to work best. A/B test them with your own audience before the big day.
(That said, you know your brand best. If emojis don't fit your brand identity, don't use them.)
Here are some Cyber Monday subject line examples that use emojis:
- ⏳ 5 HOUR FLASH SALE: 25% OFF YOUR ORDER
- 30% off sitewide 💻 Cyber Monday Sale!
- 🛒 30% Off Everything + Free Shipping
- 🚨 CYBER MONDAY STARTS NOW | $50 Off $150 →
- ⏰ Just hours left for big Cyber Monday coupons and massive doorbusters!!
- 🔥 Cyber Monday Biggest Sale is LIVE!🔥
- 😎Better Than Their Deals☝️
- ✨ NEW DEAL ADDED: Extra 20% off thru midnight
- 🎁 50% Off Inside 🎁
Put percent-off discounts in your subject line
Let's get back to the idea that your subject line promises subscribers something they want. Don't be afraid to share your Cyber Monday deals in the subject line. Your contacts will still have to (and want to!) click through to find a discount code or learn more.
Neville Medhora, an entrepreneur and copywriter who's helped businesses like AppSumo,recommends using numbers in email subject lines to communicate the offer's value more clearly. Email subject lines that include numbers have higher than average open and reply rates.
Holiday deals are one of the top reasons people buy, with 64% of shoppers naming holiday sales and discounts as a top purchase motivator. So announcing your offer in the subject line is a great hook.
(P.S. ActiveCampaign has a subject line generatorto help you write effective subject lines all year.)
Make the most out of your Cyber Monday email marketing campaigns
Cyber Monday is your chance to connect with ready-to-buy customers—but a strong, well-timed email strategy is key to standing out in a crowded inbox.
Shoppers are ready: Adobe expects Cyber Week 2026 to drive $47.5 billion in US online sales. Email is how you make sure some of that lands in your store, especially when you pair your Cyber Monday sends with abandoned cart reminders.
To make the most of your Cyber Monday emails, keep these tips in mind:
- Stay consistent: Keep up the momentum throughout Cyber Week by engaging your customers on Small Business Saturday and building excitement leading up to the day of your sale. Your Cyber Monday emails should build on your Black Friday emails, not repeat them.
- Get personal: Personalize your offers to reward loyal customers using segmentation and site tracking. With ActiveCampaign’s tools, you can target customers based on their purchase history or browsing activity for more relevant, high-converting emails.
- Be mobile-friendly: Cyber Monday shoppers are on their smartphones— on this day happen via mobile. Make sure your emails are optimized for mobile to capture these buyers.
- Send in waves: Don't blast your whole list at once. Send to your most engaged contacts first, release the rest in automated batches, resend to people who didn't open, and save SMS follow-ups for contacts who engaged.
Ready to elevate your Cyber Monday email campaign? Try ActiveCampaign’s suite of automation tools to plan, personalize, and perfect your emails—starting with a 14-day free trial. You can also jumpstart your holiday email strategy with our ready-to-use email templates, designed to make crafting high-converting messages easier than ever.
Make this holiday season your most successful yet!
