7 Teaser email examples and tips for generating buzz

What is a teaser email?

A teaser email is an email that hints at a launch coming soon. It could be a new product, an upcoming exclusive sale, or any major announcement. In any case, a teaser email is all about building hype. It tells your customers, “Hey, something exciting is on the way, so keep your eyes on us!”

Teaser emails usually have minimal content, but as simple as they are, they can really energize your campaigns. Teaser emails can boost your marketing campaigns by:

• Building brand awareness by intriguing a new (and existing) audience with sneak peeks.
• Encouraging brand engagement by using curiosity 
• Priming customers to take action so they’re ready to buy when the announcement email arrives

What makes a great teaser email campaign?

Teaser emails aim to generate excitement around something new and significant. When done well, these emails build intrigue and make subscribers feel like they're in on a secret. A great teaser email follows the following guidelines: 

Intentions & calls to action are clear 

Teaser emails are tricky because they usually tease something customers can’t act on yet. An email without an action may leave your readers wondering what happens next. 

Consider your goal—is it to increase sales of your future product? Increase attendance at the event of the year? Regardless, you want to keep your readers engaged with your brand. Consider the following: 

• Encourage customers to follow you on social media if they don’t already by telling them that you’ll post clues and updates on your social pages
• Invite customers to sign up for text notifications so they’ll be notified first when the announcement arrives
• Offering a calendar invitation that customers can add to their calendars for a specific day and time, like the time that your sale will begin or the time when they’ll be able to sign up for your event

By clearly indicating the next step for users, even in the “teaser” phase of your campaign, you can gauge interest in your launch and make adjustments to improve its success.  

Tells a story 

A teaser email is a powerful tool for telling a story and engaging your audience in a way that builds anticipation and excitement. By gradually revealing elements of a larger narrative or upcoming event, you can create a sense of intrigue and keep subscribers eagerly awaiting the next installment.

This is the time to start thinking about how your teaser email (or emails) plays a role within the more extensive campaign. Is it one of many emails or one of three? 

Creates curiosity

Use your email design to get creative and peak interest! Set a countdown timer, for example, or partially reveal a product peeking out from behind a curtain.

Share clues or give your audience hints about the benefits of this launch for them. For instance, if you’re introducing a new feature of your project management software, you could say, “Say goodbye to disorganized timelines” or “No more missed deadlines! Find out how on August 3rd.” 

The goal is to create more questions than answers. Give them just enough information to make them curious without giving it away so they’ll be eagerly watching your emails in the coming days.

Teaser email examples to get inspired by  

#1: Ray-Ban + Meta

Ray-Ban and Meta are announcing the latest fruit of their partnership: a pair of smart glasses that merges Meta’s technology with Ray-Ban’s eyeglass design. This teaser email announces the product and highlights its impressive features and stylish design, even though it’s not yet released.

Subject Line: New Ray-Ban Meta Skyler | Preorder now

What makes this great:

• The option to pre-order allows the brands to capitalize on the initial excitement of the collaboration.
• The product cards advertising similar models invite customers to shop the existing inventory as a way to capture add-on sales.
• Minimal text with just enough information to entice readers to learn about the launch and take action

#2: Bose

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.

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

What makes this great:

• The coy and secretive tone of "get ready for some of our most innovative products yet," creates intrigue and curiosity to get customers interested in what the announcement will be.
• Short and concisely they share that this evolution is part of their story, "we're about to unveil the latest chapter in our storied history of innovation."

#3. REI

REI teaster promotes their upcoming sale and offers readers with exclusive access to 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 first-glance.
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Subject line: Coming soon: Gear up get out sale

What makes this great:

• Offering a preview into the catalog allows customers to determine right away if they will be making a purchase during the sale.
• REI uses graphic elements to illustrate the deal in form of a "coupon."
• REI adds additional discounts and promotional offers in the email which entices the customer to shop or engage with the brand outside of the limited time offer.

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#4: Recess

Recess uses this teaser email to lay the foundation for a strong Amazon Prime Day sale.

Subject Line: Amazon Prime Day is Coming

‍What makes this great:

• It invites customers to add the product to their carts now so they don’t forget it when Prime Day rolls around.
• The fun and silly messaging fits Recess’s brand and makes the teaser memorable.
• The visuals are unique and trendy, playing on the name of Prime Day in a fun and engaging way.

#5: Apple

Apple’s marketing is known for being minimalistic yet dramatic and this teaser email is perfectly on brand.

Subject: Pre-order iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15

What makes this great:

• The feature lists give customers numerous reasons to anticipate the release of the new products.
• The preorder call to action allows customers to put in their order right away so they can capitalize on the newness and excitement of the announcement.
• The email includes other information that will be helpful to customers who are considering buying the new phones, such as comparing the phones to choose the best personal fit and finding ways to save money on the phones. This removes common barriers that could make customers hesitate on buying the phones.

#6: Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton gets right to the point with this email teasing the upcoming release of their new collection.

Subject: Coming Soon — Fall-Winter 2024 Workwear: Louis Vuitton x Timberland

The email itself uses minimal content, just enough to give customers a sense of what is coming. The “see more” button brings customers to an equally eye-catching yet vague landing page that uses stark contrast and scrolling imagery to pique their interest in the new collection:

‍What makes this great:

• The imagery is eye-catching and merges two concepts you wouldn’t normally see together: outdoor workwear and the posh and upscale Louis Vuitton brand.
• With minimal details, the email dangles just enough information to make customers curious.
• Louis Vuitton creates a cohesive experience throughout multiple touchpoints and uses landing pages to enhance their teaser campaign.

#7: Sonos

Sonos email teasing the coming release of their first pair of headphones. They use a slang phrase, “hits different,” that appeals to young audiences, the consumers who use headphones the most.

Subject: Preorder our first-ever headphones

Why it works:

• The subject line is clear and concise while also highlighting why this product launch is exciting "first-ever headphones."
• The email builds customers’ excitement by noting a few features and benefits of the new product.
• The email’s design is directly on-brand for Sonos, featuring clean and whitespace-heavy aesthetics.

Before you hit send on your teaster email...

Look over your subject line -- is it exciting? Would you click on it? Building anticipation with a teaser email starts with your subject line. Appeal to your customer's sense of curiosity with a subject line that gives them just enough information to reel them in. Depending on what your big announcement will be, example subject lines could be:

• We’re letting you in on a secret…
• The countdown has begun!
• Something exciting is coming!
• Get ready to mark your calendar for the event of the season
• We have big news!

As with any email subject line, you want to keep it short and punchy.