With parades, costumes and lots of good times, Mardi Gras is one of our favorite holidays. It also comes at an excellent time for email marketers: Christmas and New Year’s are over but the calendar still has a ways to go before any popular spring holidays. Capitalize on this well-placed celebration by sending a Mardi Gras email invitation to your subscribers inviting them to a festive event.
Mardi Gras email invitation templates
Mardi Gras is a vibrant holiday involving lots of dramatic color, which makes designing a Mardi Gras email a whole lot of fun! This year, our team at BEE designed a sleek and modern Mardi Gras email template that’s a sophisticated way to invite people to your event.
We’ve got a couple of other fun Mardi Gras templates available, too. Check out our Carnival Parade template, also designed by the BEE team; it’s free with a two-week trial of BEE Pro and can help you promote any Mardi Gras event. This Mardi Gras email template works for brands in any industry but is especially ideal for travel and leisure brands.
You’ll also love our third Mardi Gras email template. Designed by Gaia Zuccaro, this template is completely free and is perfect for event promotion.
Mardi Gras is also an excellent time for team-building activities — so you can increase your brand awareness and strengthen internal morale all at the same time.
Email invitation best practices
Even if you aren’t planning a Mardi Gras event, there are a few key best practices for email invitations that you can follow at any time of year:
#1: Show off your products
Just because you’re sending an invitation email doesn’t mean you have to omit a product section. Never miss an opportunity to show your products off, even in different types of emails. This Anna Sheffield email invitation previews the jewelry readers will find at a pop-up shop and includes product category links for anyone who wants to shop further online.Subject line: You’re invited: Anna Sheffield pop-up at M. Flynn
#2: Add a countdown timer
Our brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than images — and emails that carry a sense of urgency have transaction rates that are twice as high compared to normal marketing emails. So adding a countdown timer in your email (to either your event or the registration deadline) is a great way to encourage readers to register now. In this case, UrbanStems used a countdown timer ticking down the minutes until Valentine’s Day.Subject line: Countdown is on
#3: Simplify
Make it as easy as possible for readers to accept your invitation. People are much more likely to opt-in if the process of doing so is quick and painless. Don’t make them visit multiple pages and fill out endless forms; instead, create a way to RSVP with one click. This Mealpal email uses a simple, single-image design to make it easy to do the most important thing: Join Mealpal now. An uncluttered design and simple registration process will help your conversion rate go up.Subject line: Your invite expires midnight tonight
#4: Mardi Gras email subject lines
You can't get conversions unless your reader opens your email — so subject lines may be the most important text that you write for any invitation.These four subject lines have a few key things in common: They’re clear about what’s inside the email without giving too much away, and they’re clever and fun — putting the reader in the mood to celebrate. (Who doesn’t want a delicious Mardi Gras breakfast — especially when it's King Cake French Toast?)
#5: Go traditional
Draw inspiration from traditional paper invitations and make the design of your email look similar. This pretty pastel invite from Lovely Brides includes all the important when, where and why details — just like the birthday party invitations you may have received as a kid. It’s easy to imagine this email as a tangible flyer that’s being handed out and that’s why we like this digital design so much.Subject line: You’re invited!
#6: Be exclusive
When you make your event feel exclusive, word-of-mouth marketing will increase. Brooklinen made their President’s Day sale event sound exclusive from the very beginning by using the subject line “shh...it’s invite only.”Subject line: shh...it’s invite only
Wrap-up: Mardi Gras email themes and invitations
Both you and your email list can celebrate Mardi Gras in style this year. Use our three Mardi Gras email templates to kickstart your email design efforts or check out our full library of easily customizable drag-and-drop templates. Laissez les bons temps rouler — let the good times roll!
