Personalization is key: Tailor your email content to individual preferences for higher engagement and conversion rates.
Measure success with KPIs: Define clear KPIs to track performance and refine your email marketing strategy.
Take advantage of A/B testing: Regularly test different elements of your emails to optimize open rates and overall effectiveness.
Choose the right platform: To optimize your campaigns, select an email marketing tool that integrates well with your existing systems.
Although the first email was sent in 1971, discounting email marketing as antiquated would be a mistake. Today, the medium has become one of the most cost-effective ways to reach a broad audience, especially when compared with paid advertising and social media.
In this article, we’ll share all we know about crafting email marketing strategies that cut through the noise and get you noticed. You'll also get all the deets on how to send marketing emails that get opened. Without further ado, let’s get to it!
What Is Email Marketing
Email marketing is when businesses use email as a channel to promote products and services and foster relationships with their ideal customer profile (ICP). What makes email such a great marketing channel is its affordability, the ease of monitoring, and the insights businesses get from measuring campaign performance.
Email marketing can take many forms, from newsletters designed to keep recipients in the loop and build brand identity or as part of a series aimed at inciting a specific action, like scheduling a demo or registering for a webinar.
Its versatility and impressive ROI make email marketing a potent outreach tool.
When to Use Email Marketing
Email marketing can be helpful in many scenarios, including:
- Cultivating customer relationships: Foster connections through personalized engagement.
- Boosting brand awareness: Create content that allows you to live rent-free in the minds of potential customers so when they’re ready to buy, you’re already on their radar.
- Sharing content: Share relevant blog posts or valuable resources with your audience according to their needs and interests.
- Generating leads: Encourage subscribers to share their personal information in exchange for valuable assets so you can send them more targeted content likely to pique their interest.
- Promoting your products: Email marketing is a great way to highlight your products and boost your ecommerce business.
- Nurturing leads: Send helpful content to your customers’ inboxes to support their goals and help them succeed.
Benefits of Email Marketing
With its proven track record of driving conversions and revenue, email simply can't be ignored, as evidenced by the following email marketing statistics.
According to HubSpot's State of Marketing 2024 Report:
- For every $1 invested in email marketing, businesses earn $36 in return.
- 14% of survey respondents reported that email marketing delivered the highest ROI of all digital marketing tactics.
This ROI can manifest in different ways, including:
- Increased sales: Automated emails, such as an abandoned cart, re-engagement, or post-purchase messages, generate up to 30 times more revenue per recipient than standard campaigns (Klaviyo’s 2024 Benchmark Report). Few channels can match the ROI of tactical email campaigns designed to nurture prospects by showcasing product benefits, social proof, promotions, pricing, coupons, bundles, and making the sale.
- Improved customer loyalty: Personalized email marketing can promote customer loyalty. According to Salesforce, 65% of consumers say they will likely remain loyal to a brand that offers a more personalized experience.
- Increased brand awareness: Email marketing is an excellent avenue for building brand identity. In fact, in CampaignMonitor’s recent study of 1,000 small business owners, email marketing was ranked the second most effective channel for building brand awareness.
6 Types of Marketing Emails To Inspire Your Next Email Marketing Campaign
Whether you're looking to drive sales, nurture customer relationships, or educate your audience, there’s an email for that. Below are six evergreen marketing emails — with examples — to inspire your next campaign.
1. Promotional Emails
Promotional emails are designed encourage the recipient to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, downloading an ebook, or signing up for a webinar. Emails that fall under the ‘promotional’ umbrella include discount offers, seasonal sales, new product launches, and exclusive deals.
Promotional emails create urgency, making them an excellent tool for sales-driven campaigns.
Pro tips:
- Personalize content: Use customer data like past purchases or browsing history to tailor your offers.
- Create urgency: Include time-sensitive offers or limited stock alerts to encourage the recipient to take action quickly.
- Clear call-to-action (CTA): Use a strong, easy-to-spot CTA button that directs users to the next step.
Amazon’s Prime Day email campaign is a great example of promotional emails done right. They create anticipation by offering exclusive early access and personalized discounts, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
2. Transactional Emails
Transactional emails are triggered by a user’s interaction with a service or product. These emails consist of order confirmations, shipping updates, password resets, and subscription renewals.
Transactional emails typically offer high open rates, making them valuable touchpoints to enhance the customer experience and even upsell related products.
Pro tips:
- Include branding elements: Reinforce your brand even in functional emails with consistent logos, colors, and tone.
- Provide additional value: Suggest complementary products or services based on the user's purchase.
- Ensure clarity and accuracy: Ensure the key details, such as order numbers and delivery dates, are easy to find.
Online retail platform Huckberry excels at transactional emails with detailed order confirmations that provide clear shipping information while suggesting trending items customers might like, increasing upsell opportunities.
3. Informational Emails
Informational emails are designed to provide relevant, educational, or entertaining content. Think newsletters, blog updates, product guides, and industry insights, among others.
These emails help position your brand as an industry authority, build trust, and nurture long-term customer relationships, especially for brands aiming to deliver ongoing value without an immediate sales push.
Pro tips:
- Focus on value: Content should be relevant and useful, addressing customer needs or interests.
- Segment your audience: Tailor content to different audience segments based on their preferences or behaviors.
- Maintain a regular schedule: Keep your audience engaged by sending these emails consistently, like weekly or monthly newsletters.
The Morning Brew newsletter is a stellar example. It provides bite-sized insights into business and tech, delivered in a friendly format that keeps subscribers looking forward to it landing in their inbox.
4. Retention Emails
Retention emails are designed to keep your current customers engaged with your brand. Examples include re-engagement emails, loyalty program updates, and special anniversary offers.
These emails help reduce churn, encourage repeat business, and foster loyalty by keeping your brand top of mind with your audience.
Pro tips:
- Personalize your messages: Mention customer milestones or offer special rewards based on their browsing history.
- Use data-driven insights: Target inactive users with relevant offers to re-engage them.
- Take advantage of social proof: Include testimonials or success stories to remind customers why they chose your brand in the first place.
Sephora's Beauty Insider loyalty program is a great example of retention emails done right. Their emails offer exclusive discounts and rewards based on customer spending habits, inspiring engagement and future purchases.
How To Get Started With Your Email Marketing Campaign
Launching a successful email marketing campaign doesn’t happen by accident–it requires a strategic approach, with careful consideration of each step and how they work together to achieve your desired results. Here are some pointers to get you started.
1. Align with Leadership on Your Goals
Before launching any campaign, you need to make sure you’re aligned with leadership. What will this campaign set out to do, and how will you get there? Define clear goals and map out how they align with the overall business objectives to make sure you’re on the same page.
Pro tips for driving leadership alignment:
- Be specific: Define SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals to maintain focus.
- Communicate effectively: Make sure key stakeholders understand how email marketing fits into the broader strategy.
- Revisit goals regularly: Periodically review your goals to adjust for changes in market conditions or business priorities.
Aligning with leadership ensures that your campaign is strategic and supported at all levels.
2. Define Your Target Audience
Targeting the right audience is key to making sure your emails connect with readers and spark real engagement.
Segment your audience based on demographics, behavior, or interests, to make sure you’re delivering relevant messages. Having a solid understanding of your audience improves engagement rates and boosts conversions.
Pro tips for defining your target audience:
- Use data insights: Leverage customer data to create detailed buyer personas.
- Segment your list: Divide your audience into smaller segments for more personalized messaging.
- Refine as you go: Analyze and update your target audience over time as you gather more insights.
Defining your audience helps you deliver the right message to the right people, maximizing the impact of your campaign.
3. Draft Your Email Marketing Strategy
Without a strategy, your email campaigns lack direction and cohesion. This step involves creating a detailed roadmap for achieving your goals.
Your email marketing strategy should include your content calendar, frequency of emails, types of emails, and messaging tone to keep things consistent and help you stay focused on long-term objectives.
Pro tips for drafting a winning strategy:
- Map the customer journey: Tailor emails to customers at different stages of the buyer’s journey, from awareness to conversion.
- Plan ahead: Develop a content calendar to ensure a steady flow of engaging emails.
- Stay flexible: Be ready to pivot based on performance data or market changes.
A well-defined strategy keeps your campaign on track and aligned with business goals, helping you measure results and adjust accordingly.
4. Pick Your Preferred Email Marketing Platform
Your choice of platform determines the ease of managing your campaigns and the effectiveness of your outreach, so choose wisely.
A good platform streamlines processes and provides valuable data insights.
Consider features like automation, integrations, analytics, and ease of use, depending on what’s important to you.
Pro tips for choosing the best email marketing software:
- Consider scalability: Choose a platform that can grow with your business.
- Look for integrations: Make sure your email marketing platform can integrate with your CRM or other marketing tools.
- Test usability: Opt for a user-friendly interface that simplifies campaign management.
The right platform helps you manage your campaigns effectively, allowing for automation and detailed performance tracking.
5. Choose an Email Campaign Type that Supports Your Business Goals
Different email campaigns—such as promotional, transactional, or nurture campaigns—serve different purposes. Choosing the right one ensures you're targeting the right message at the right time.
Pro tips: when deciding on campaign types:
- Match campaign type to goals: Use promotional emails for sales and nurture emails for long-term engagement.
- Consider customer journey stage: Send relevant emails based on where your audience is in their buying process.
- Monitor performance: Regularly assess which campaign types perform best and adjust accordingly.
The right campaign type makes for more meaningful interactions and maximizes the impact on your audience, driving better results.
6. Speak to Legal About Email Laws and Regulations
Compliance with laws like GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CASL is crucial. This step ensures that your emails are legally sound, protecting your brand from penalties and building trust with your audience.
Pro tips for managing email regulations:
- Know your regulations: Familiarize yourself with the laws that apply to your email campaigns, based on your geographic region.
- Get explicit consent: Always obtain clear permission from recipients before sending them emails.
- Provide opt-out options: Ensure every email includes an easy and clear way to unsubscribe.
Legal compliance is not optional—it protects your business and helps build customer trust. Failing to comply with email regulations can result in legal consequences and damage to your brand's reputation.
7. Set-up an Engaging Opt-in Form
Your opt-in form is your first interaction with potential subscribers, and it’s essential for growing a quality email list.
An engaging opt-in form encourages visitors to subscribe willingly and ensures you're building a permission-based list. Elements such as design, placement, and incentives can significantly impact conversion rates.
Elements to include:
- Header: Clear, benefit-driven statement.
- Copy: Concise yet persuasive.
- Double opt-ins: Confirm subscription to ensure valid, engaged subscribers.
Pro tips for setting up opt-in forms:
- Craft a compelling header: Use attention-grabbing headlines that highlight the value of subscribing.
- Write persuasive copy: Keep the form copy concise while explaining the benefits of signing up.
- Use double opt-ins: Ensure recipients confirm their subscription to avoid spam traps.
An engaging opt-in form is key to growing a high-quality mailing list and making sure your emails reach an interested and active audience.
8. Run a Pilot Email Campaign
Launching a full-scale campaign without a test run is a mistake, one that can lead to missed opportunities and wasted resources. A pilot email campaign is a smaller-scale trial of your full campaign, designed to test audience engagement, content relevance, and platform functionality.
Pro tips for running an effective pilot campaign:
- Test different variables: Experiment with subject lines, content formats, and CTAs to see what works.
- Analyze open and click rates: Pay close attention to key performance metrics to evaluate success.
- Gather feedback: Use the pilot to identify areas for improvement.
A pilot campaign allows you to test the waters and fine-tune your approach before going all in.
9. Use Results from the Pilot to Launch the Email Campaign
Using data from your pilot campaign to refine your approach ensures that your full campaign is optimized for success. This includes tweaking subject lines, adjusting content, and improving audience targeting.
Pro tips when optimizing for results from your pilot campaign:
- Review key metrics: Focus on open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to get a sense of what to keep and what to change.
- Tweak based on feedback: Make necessary changes to the email format, content, or CTAs based on pilot performance.
- Segment audience more effectively: Use insights from the pilot to better target audience segments.
Using pilot data to refine your marketing campaign can maximize the impact and increase your chances of success.
10. Measure Your Results and Optimize Where Necessary
Measuring results allows you to track the success of your email marketing campaign and optimize future efforts. Continuous optimization ensures that you maximize ROI and improve engagement over time.
Without proper analysis, you won't know how well your campaign performed or where you need improvements.
Pro tips when measuring your campaign results:
- Track KPIs consistently: Focus on open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to gauge success.
- A/B test regularly: Experiment with subject lines, designs, and content to improve performance.
- Adjust based on insights: Use data to continuously tweak and refine your emails for better results.
Optimizing based on real-time data helps improve engagement and locks in long-term campaign success.
How To Send Marketing Emails that Get Opened
HubSpot’s State of Marketing 2024 report reveals three major factors that marketers believe will make or break your email marketing campaigns:
- Creating brand value-led content
- Delivering personalized experiences
- Being able to pivot on a dime
Amid the great AI takeover, delivering human content is more crucial than ever. That means using real-life experience, offering personalized content that shows you’re paying attention to what your prospects want, and being able to adapt according to the latest trends and events.
According to Litmus’s 2024 State of Email Trends Report, more than 80% of respondents saw at least some performance improvement when using subject line personalization, live or real-time content, and personalization using dynamic content.
Here are some other ways to get more eyeballs on your emails:
1. Segment According to Campaign Goals
We’ve already talked about the importance of personalization in email marketing, and segmenting your mailing list is a crucial step in delivering targeted content to your prospects. When done right, segmentation ensures that the right message reaches the right person at the right time, boosting engagement and conversions. Without list segmentation, you risk inundating inboxes with irrelevant information, leading to lower open rates, higher unsubscribe rates, and, ultimately, a lot of wasted effort.
Segmenting by campaign goals means dividing your audience based on specific outcomes you want to achieve, like increasing sales, driving event attendance, or promoting a new product. This process involves aligning audience demographics—such as age, location, behaviors, or purchase history—with the objectives of your campaign so that each segment receives content that speaks to their specific needs.
Pro tips for effective audience segmentation:
- Align segments with specific goals: Build segments around specific goals, like targeting frequent buyers for a sales push.
- Use behavior data: Focus on past behaviors like purchases or browsing history to create segments that reflect user intent, making your emails more timely and relevant.
- Test and refine as you go: Your goals will likely change, so review performance data and adjust your segments accordingly regularly.
Creating focused, goal-driven segments enhances engagement and maximizes your campaign’s effectiveness.
2. A/B Test Your Subject Lines, Lead Magnets, and Landing Pages
A/B testing offers the insights you need to enhance campaign performance. You can adjust your marketing efforts to better meet your prospects' needs by identifying what works and what doesn't.
The process involves comparing two versions of a marketing element—like email subject lines, lead magnets, or landing pages—to determine which performs better. A/B testing helps you understand your audience’s preferences in tone, eye-catching design, call-to-action placement, and messaging, providing data-driven insights to refine your strategy.
Most modern email platforms like Mailchimp have built-in testing capabilities that allow you to define variants to test. You can take your segment lists and randomly sample smaller test groups (usually around 20-25% of the total segment). Send each test group a different variant email with changes to:
- Subject line copy
- Call to action (CTA) email copy/design
- Body copy and messaging
- Images/visuals
- Layout/design
- Send timing and cadence
Pro tips for effective A/B testing:
- Test one element at a time: Focus on one variable, such as the subject line or CTA, to get clear feedback on what’s driving performance.
- Use meaningful metrics: Make sure your success metrics align with your campaign goals, like open rates for email subject lines or conversion rates for landing pages.
- Test regularly: Regular A/B testing helps you keep up with ever-changing audience preferences so your campaigns keep delivering the results you want.
A/B testing is necessary for any successful marketing campaign, so test and refine subject lines, lead magnets, and landing pages for maximum impact.
3. Tweak Email Elements to Improve Results
The small details of your email can make or break the success of your campaign. Ignoring elements like subject lines, content layout, or CTAs can lead to lower open rates, clicks, and conversions.
Consider each element of your emails separately—such as the subject line, body content, design, and CTAs— and optimize them to improve engagement and overall performance. By making strategic adjustments, you can boost open rates, encourage clicks, and increase conversions, ensuring that your emails are as effective as possible.
Pro tips for tweaking emails:
- Test subject lines: Experiment with different lengths, tones, and personalization elements to figure out what captures your audience’s attention
- Optimize CTAs: Make your calls-to-action clear, compelling, and easy to find within the email.
- Simplify design: Keep your layout clean and mobile-friendly, focusing on the most important information.
Even the smallest adjustments to your emails can lead to significant improvements in performance, driving better engagement and helping you achieve your campaign goals.
4. Set Relevant Email Marketing KPIs
Setting relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is a must for accurately measuring the success of your email marketing efforts. Without clear KPIs, it’s impossible to know what’s working and what isn’t.
Establishing KPIs involves defining measurable metrics that align with your email marketing goals. These can include open, click-through, conversion, and unsubscribe rates. By tracking these metrics, you gain insights into the overall effectiveness of your email campaign management.
Pro tips for selecting email marketing KPIs:
- Align KPIs with goals: Ensure your KPIs reflect your overarching marketing objectives, such as increasing sales or improving customer retention.
- Track engagement metrics: Focus on open and click-through rates to assess how well your audience engages with your content.
- Review and adjust regularly: While effective email marketing involves some level of automation, it’s still important to review and analyze your KPIs regularly and adjust your strategies based on performance data to continuously improve your email marketing efforts.
KPIs are the key to identifying trends and refining your approach, leading to better results and increased return on investment.
5. Analyze Your Email Campaign Performance
Understanding your email campaign performance helps you identify what worked and what didn’t.
Review key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates to gain insights into your audience's preferences and behaviors. With this information in hand, you can refine your strategy and improve future campaigns.
Pro tips for analyzing email campaign performance:
- Use A/B testing: Experiment with different subject lines, content types, and send times to determine what resonates best with your audience.
- Track key metrics: Focus on essential performance indicators like open rates and engagement to understand overall effectiveness.
- Gather feedback: Encourage subscribers to share their thoughts on your emails through surveys or feedback forms for valuable insights.
Analyzing your email campaign performance gives you valuable insights that will inform your future strategies and drive continuous improvement in your email marketing efforts.
2 Email Regulations You Should Know
Navigating the world of email marketing requires a solid understanding of the regulations governing how you collect, store, and use subscriber data. Compliance with these regulations not only protects your business from legal repercussions but also helps build trust with your audience. Here are two key regulations you should be aware of.
1. GDPR Compliance
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a comprehensive data protection law that governs how organizations handle personal data in the European Union. Marketers need to obtain consent from individuals before collecting their data and gives users the right to access, modify, and delete their information.
Pro tips for staying compliant:
- Obtain explicit consent: Ensure that your sign-up forms include clear language about data usage and require users to actively consent to receive emails.
- Make privacy policies accessible: Clearly outline how you collect, use, and protect subscriber data, and provide easy access to this information.
- Facilitate data access: Offer subscribers the ability to access, modify, or delete their information upon request.
Staying compliant with GDPR not only helps you avoid hefty fines but also demonstrates your commitment to protecting your subscribers' privacy and not spamming them, contributing to stronger customer relationships.
2. CAN-SPAM Compliance
The CAN-SPAM Act is a U.S. law that applies to commercial email messages. It establishes requirements for senders and gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them. Compliance with CAN-SPAM helps you protect your reputation and maintain a positive relationship with your audience.
Pro tips for staying compliant:
- Include a clear unsubscribe option: Every email should provide a straightforward way for recipients to opt out of future communications.
- Use accurate sender information: Your name and email address should clearly identify your business.
- Avoid deceptive subject lines: Make sure your subject lines accurately reflect the content of your emails to avoid misleading recipients.
Understanding and complying with the CAN-SPAM Act is an important yet often overlooked part of email marketing.
3 Email Marketing Best Practices
When it comes to email marketing, we believe in letting creativity lead. However, several factors can elevate a good email to greatness. Let’s look closer at the MVPs of email marketing best practices.
1. Avoid Spam Filters
It doesn’t matter how clever the content of your emails is if they’re not making their way to your audience’s inbox. Knowing how to craft your emails to avoid being in the spam folder is critical to any successful email marketing campaign.
Avoiding spam filters boosts open rates and engagement and enhances your marketing effectiveness. This helps build stronger relationships with your audience, increases brand credibility, and drives conversions.
Pro tips for skirting spam filters:
- Build and maintain a clean email list: To maintain a high-quality, engaged email subscriber base and prioritization from email service providers (ESP), you must regularly scrub and sanitize your email lists. Not to worry—this task can easily be automated via your chosen email marketing platform (along with other email marketing automations). Another best practice is the double opt-in, which involves sending new subscribers a confirmation email containing a unique link they must click to verify their identity and confirm their consent. You can automate follow-up emails reminding users to verify if needed.
- Use clear and honest subject lines: Whatever type of email you’re sending out, be it a welcome email, promotional email, or email newsletter, it’s a good idea to avoid misleading or overly promotional language in subject lines. This can trigger spam filters and turn off recipients.
- Monitor engagement metrics: Monitor open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates to gauge engagement and adjust your strategy as needed.
Implementing best practices enhances deliverability so you can ensure your messages reach your intended audience, foster engagement, and drive sales.
2. Use Personalization to Stand Out
Using a first name in a subject line doesn't cut it anymore. Armed with first-party data, marketing teams can now deliver hyper-personalized content straight to a prospect’s inbox.
Brands are excelling with AI-driven product recommendations, location-based details, and customized images to deliver dynamic content. According to Litmus’s 2024 State of Email Trends Report, more than 80% of respondents saw at least some performance improvement by personalizing subject lines, incorporating live or real-time content, and using dynamic content.
Pro tips for hyper-personalization:
- Leverage AI for personalized recommendations: Use AI to recommend products based on customer preferences, making emails more relevant and increasing the chances of conversion.
- Segment your audience effectively: Organize your email lists for marketing by location, behavior, or purchase history to deliver tailored content.
- Incorporate dynamic content: Implement personalized images and offers that change based on user data, like location and purchase history, to create an interactive and tailored experience.
User data is a veritable goldmine if you know how to use it. Crafting personal, relevant, and engaging emails leads to higher conversions and stronger customer relationships.
3. Use Email Marketing Templates
Creating an email involves multiple steps: content, design, development, and often email marketing automation. According to Litmus’s State of Email Workflows Report, 39% of marketers simplify their workflow by replacing text and images in existing email templates, significantly reducing their workload. Templates provide a structured format that lets you focus on quality content rather than starting the process from scratch each time.
Email marketing templates typically include pre-designed layouts for different types of campaigns, such as newsletters, promotional offers, or event invitations. They incorporate consistent branding elements, like logos, colors, and fonts, which help maintain brand identity while reducing the time spent on design. Not only do templates improve brand recognition, but they also make measuring results and analyzing campaign performance easier.
Pro tips for creating email marketing templates:
- Customize templates for each audience: While templates provide structure, you should still make sure to tailor content according to the intended audience.
- Test and optimize: Regularly A/B test different template designs and layouts to identify which formats resonate best with your audience, then refine accordingly.
- Keep it mobile-friendly: With 41% of views coming from mobile devices, optimizing emails for mobile is essential.
Use email marketing templates to streamline the design process and maintain consistency. This allows you to focus on delivering quality content that engages and delights your audience.
Key Takeaways For Mastering Email Marketing
Email remains one of the most potent and effective channels for SaaS marketers to generate revenue, drive conversions, and build valuable customer relationships at scale. Here are three of our top email marketing tips to keep in mind:
- Prioritize personalized and relevant email content over being in constant contact with your audience. Personalization and effective segmentation enhance customer engagement and drive higher conversion rates.
- Consistently measuring and optimizing email marketing efforts through defined KPIs and A/B testing leads to higher open rates, increased conversions, and strengthens brand loyalty.
- Choose your email marketing platform carefully. The right tool will integrate seamlessly with your CRM and other email marketing software, making tasks like building drip sequences and dynamic segmentation simple through intuitive UIs and pre-built functionality.
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