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We analyzed 1,500+ emails from 30 popular Beauty & Cosmetics brands over 3 months. This playbook highlights key trends in send times, frequency, subject lines, and CTAs to help you optimize your email campaigns.
This report is based on data collected from publicly available email campaigns sent by beauty and cosmetics brands between January and March 2025 to a random subscriber. While we strive for accuracy in our analysis, individual results may vary based on specific audience demographics, market conditions, and other factors. The strategies outlined in this report should be tested and adapted to your unique business needs. TargetBay is not affiliated with any of the brands mentioned in this report unless explicitly stated. All trademarks and brand names are the property of their respective owners.
Our comprehensive analysis covers 30 leading brands in the Beauty & Cosmetics industry, ranging from luxury cosmetics to affordable skincare products. We’ve tracked their email marketing strategies to identify trends and best practices. Here are the brands we analyzed.
Brands like Bareminerals send emails frequently (19+/week) yet maintain 100% inbox rate.
Meanwhile, Avon has a moderate send volume but a 0% inbox rate.
✅ This suggests there is more to email deliverability than just email frequency.
Authentic Subject Lines + Previews: Personalization and relevance increase engagement, which boosts inbox placement.
List Hygiene: Remove inactive or bounced emails regularly to keep your sender score clean.
Average inbox rate
Average Spam Rate
Total Emails Analyzed
The use of urgency-driven language like “Last” (146 times), “Ends” (110), “Final” (37), and “Limited” (54) in beauty email marketing indicates that many brands are actively nudging shoppers toward quicker decisions.
However, other triggers like “Hurry” (24) and “Flash” (21) are used sparingly. “End of Season” wasn’t mentioned at all, despite being a classic cue in the fashion-adjacent beauty space.
Missed Opportunity: Brands are applying urgency selectively, but missing out on key seasonal triggers that could enhance timeliness and relevance.
The email marketing for beauty brands appears highly discount-driven, with “%” (454 mentions) and “Off” (508) leading the charge. “Save” also appears frequently (115 times), emphasizing monetary incentives.
While “Bundle” offers were highlighted 35 times, other formats like “BOGO” (17), “Flat” (2), and “Price Drop” (5) were underutilized.
Unique Strategy in Play: Surprisingly, “Reward” was used 191 times, signaling a stronger-than-average focus on loyalty compared to other industries.
Despite being an ideal fit for seasonal marketing, beauty and skincare email marketing used “Valentine” only 59 times (out of 1500+ emails) across Q1, and “Spring” just 57 times. “Winter” had a slight edge with 64 mentions, but other seasonal events like New Year (7) were barely touched.
Missed Opportunity: Seasonal marketing is underutilized, even for occasions like Valentine’s Day, which should be a major driver in this category.
While “Exclusive” appeared 45 times, indicating some intent to create VIP-like messaging, terms like “VIP” (7), “Pre-Order” (0), and “Buy Now Pay Later” (1) were rare or nonexistent.
Missed Opportunity: This shows beauty brands are missing out on strategies that create perceived exclusivity or payment convenience, both of which appeal to modern shoppers seeking personalized, flexible experiences.
Verdict: There’s significant opportunity to build stronger loyalty and early-access campaigns while offering more flexible payment options.
Given the visual and newness-driven nature of beauty products, product-forward messaging should be central. But mentions like “New Arrival” (39), “Best Seller” (23), and “Trending” (12) were surprisingly infrequent. This indicates brands may be relying more on pricing than on product storytelling or trend positioning.
Missed Opportunity: Discovery-focused messaging is underleveraged—brands are missing chances to highlight what’s new, hot, or in-demand.
Unlike some other categories, “Shipping” and “Free Shipping” appeared 175 times, showing that beauty brands are emphasizing convenience and reduced friction in the buying experience. This likely reflects the industry’s competitive edge around low cart values and fast delivery expectations.
Strategy in Play: Shipping perks are well-leveraged, and brands appear attuned to consumer demand for convenience and clarity in fulfillment.
Download Subject Line Inspirations from All Brands
The top words used in email preview texts reveal a clear strategy across brands:
🛍️ “free,” “shop,” “now” → reinforce urgency and purchase intent
✨ “your” → continues the personalization tactic from subject lines
💡 These words work to complement subject lines and entice opens by adding context, urgency, or value
Beauty brands overwhelmingly focus on Promotional emails—over 60% of all sends—using discounts and offers to drive sales. Educational content (e.g., skincare tips, routines) is used sparingly to build trust and showcase product expertise.
Relationship-building and transactional emails make up a very small portion, showing that most brands prioritize direct conversions over lifecycle nurturing.
Note: Other email types include product launches, Holiday and seasonal emails, and thematic email types.
Promotional
Relationship Building
Educational
Other
Most CTAs are clear, concise, and urgency-oriented, signaling a heavy tilt toward transactional and promotional campaigns. There’s little experimentation with content-focused or relationship-building CTAs, showing that clicks are prioritized over storytelling.
💥 “Shop Now” dominates: used in over 64% of emails, proving that brands are highly conversion-focused.
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After analyzing 1500 emails from 30 top brands from the Beauty and Cosmetics Industry, here are the common patterns we found.
Based on our analysis of the beauty industry’s email marketing, we’ve identified several key strategies aimed at results across brands of all sizes.
Turning these insights into actionable strategies requires a systematic approach. Here’s how to implement these findings in your beauty brand’s email marketing program:
Begin by analyzing your current email metrics against the benchmarks in this report. Identify gaps in your strategy and prioritize areas for improvement based on potential impact.
Create a structured testing plan to experiment with different send times, subject line formulas, and CTA strategies. Document results and iterate based on performance data.
Implement more granular audience segmentation based on purchase behavior, engagement level, and product preferences to deliver more relevant content to each subscriber.
With over 60% of beauty emails opened on mobile devices, ensure your templates are fully responsive and CTAs are easily tappable on smaller screens.
Complete repository of email templates.
The beauty and cosmetics industry continues to lead innovation in email marketing, with brands constantly refining their strategies to stand out in crowded inboxes. Our analysis reveals that success comes not from following a single formula, but from thoughtfully combining best practices with your unique brand voice and customer needs.
As we look ahead to future quarters, we anticipate continued growth in personalization, interactive email elements, and AI-driven content optimization. Brands that can balance promotional messaging with authentic relationship building will continue to see the strongest results from their email marketing efforts.
We hope this report provides valuable insights to enhance your beauty brand’s email marketing strategy. For more detailed analysis or personalized recommendations, our team at TargetBay is ready to help you implement these findings and achieve your marketing goals.
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