18 Electronic mail advertising and marketing concepts to spice up opens, clicks and gross sales

By Phil Norris November 28, 2023

You understand e mail advertising and marketing is a brilliant efficient technique to nurture leads, flip them into paying prospects, and retain present prospects.

However reaching your targets requires sending emails persistently and incessantly — seemingly not less than as soon as per week. And arising with that many e mail advertising and marketing marketing campaign concepts is powerful.

Possibly you’ve hit a artistic dead-end. Possibly your earlier exercise hasn’t delivered the specified outcomes. Possibly you’re new to e mail and simply don’t know the place to begin.

Both manner, you’re experiencing a serious case of author’s (or emailer’s) block.

Don’t fear, as a result of we’ve rounded up 18 e mail advertising and marketing concepts to encourage your subsequent marketing campaign, backed up with real-world examples and segmented throughout the next widespread targets:

• Producing extra gross sales
• Rising e mail open charges
• Getting extra clicks
• Nurturing leads
• Rising sign-ups
• Boosting buyer retention

Calm down, take a deep breath, and let’s get into it…

Objective: Generate extra gross sales

Promote a sale

Earlier than we begin discussing find out how to promote your newest sale by e mail advertising and marketing, let’s make one factor clear:

Gross sales aren’t a silver bullet. 

Run too many and also you danger devaluing your model. Additionally, customers base their shopping for selections on a variety of things, not simply worth. The greatest motivators are:

• Buyer scores and opinions (cited by 94% of respondents) 
• Value of product (91%)
• Free transport (78%)
• Model desire (65%)
• Pal/household suggestions (60%)

So there aren’t any ensures a sale will even transfer the needle.

Nevertheless, used successfully, gross sales can nonetheless be extraordinarily impactful, with a excessive proportion of customers throughout age teams saying they look ahead to reductions earlier than shopping for on-line.

Now, let’s take a look at an actual gross sales promotion e mail from inside decor model Bougié, which successfully mixed two of the highest 5 shopping for elements we talked about above by: 

• Providing a reduction on the product worth
• Offering free transport

After all, a number of gross sales span a number of product classes (and even total web sites), somewhat than specializing in a single product like in Bougié’s instance. In case you’re planning such a particular promotion, your finest guess is to focus on prospects who’ve proven curiosity in a related product class.

In Bougié’s case, this may very well be individuals who:

• Browsed different espresso tables
• Browsed different Pitch Drop merchandise
• Browsed or not too long ago bought different front room furnishings

Ship cart abandonment emails

An astonishing 70.19% of on-line purchasing carts find yourself being deserted. It’s a tragedy for ecommerce shops; simply consider all that misplaced income.

But it surely’s not all dangerous information, as a result of cart abandonment emails persistently see open charges of 43% or extra.

Not solely that, however these emails convert at a price of 18.64% — manner increased than the typical e mail conversion price of round 8%.

One of the best deserted cart emails comprise the next parts:

• Order abstract
• Product pricing
• Product imagery
• At the least one CTA to finish the transaction

Let’s take a look at an instance from menswear model Huckberry:

In addition to getting the fundamentals proper, Huckberry goes a step additional by selling “extra good things”, simply in case the recipient isn’t fascinated about shopping for the merchandise they deserted:

Use this tactic to advocate different merchandise or classes the client has beforehand browsed, or simply to level them towards your high sellers.

Share social proof

Social proof is a large supply of shopping for inspiration. As an illustration, three-quarters of customers “all the time” or “commonly” learn opinions when looking for companies of their space.

However social proof isn’t simply about buyer opinions. Different varieties embrace:

• Testimonials
• Business awards
• Suggestions from influencers, thought leaders, or trade publications
• Buyer success tales
• Accreditations

In our subsequent instance, furnishings model Retains Dwelling rounded up a few of its most glowing press protection from inside design and shopper evaluate websites:

As you may see, this e mail additionally featured a distinguished CTA. So if the e-mail recipient is gained over by all these spectacular trade opinions, they’ll simply click on by and store the Retains vary.

Use shortage and urgency

Wish to encourage your viewers to purchase proper now? Strive including shortage or urgency (or each) to your messaging.

Shortage and urgency are comparable, however they’re not the identical:

• Urgency is about restricted time. As an illustration, you would possibly inform prospects they solely have 24 hours to benefit from a reduction.
• Shortage is about restricted amount. For instance, you can say there are solely 50 areas out there in your subsequent course.

In our subsequent instance, Wix created a way of urgency by making it clear the low cost was a limited-time provide, as visualized by the countdown timer beneath the introductory copy:

Wix may have made this e mail much more impactful by combining urgency and shortage, akin to limiting the 50% low cost to the primary 100 prospects who signed up. That may have created an actual rush to the checkout.

Objective: Improve e mail opens

Break up-test e mail topic traces

Electronic mail topic traces are your #1 software for reinforcing open charges, with nearly half of e mail recipients opening emails primarily based on the topic line alone.

So should you’re making an attempt to extend e mail opens, the topic line ought to be your first port of name. However whereas we will give you dozens of inspirational e mail topic line examples, the one dependable manner to determine what works for you is to run a split-test.

That’s exactly what the oldsters at on-line advertising and marketing schooling firm Authority Hacker did. Throughout 78 e mail outreach campaigns, they trialed three barely totally different topic traces:

• Query?
• Fast query?
• Query for you?

Comparable as these choices sound, the three top-performing campaigns when it comes to e mail open charges all had the identical topic line:

That’s proper: between Marketing campaign A and Marketing campaign E, they managed to extend their open price by 12.5%, simply by eradicating the phrase “fast” for the topic line!

Earlier than you begin your individual topic line split-test, keep in mind to not change the opposite parts that have an effect on e mail open charges (specifically the e-mail preheader and sender identify — extra on them later). That manner, you might be certain any modifications you see to the open price are right down to the topic line alone.

The e mail preheader is a snippet of textual content that seems subsequent to or beneath an e mail topic line, relying in your system and inbox supplier. Confusingly, it’s also called the Johnson Field or preview textual content. However no matter you name it, you need to use it to extend your open price by reinforcing or increasing in your topic line messaging.

For instance, Sensi Graves Swim used the topic line to advertise limited-availability merchandise, then elevated the sensation of shortage with a preheader explaining there have been “just one or two” left in inventory:

Take a look at totally different sender names

We’ve lined topic traces and preheaders, however there’s one other — often-overlooked — ingredient that may have a huge impact on e mail open charges: the e-mail sender identify.

Do you have to use your model identify, like on this instance…

…or select a private identify plus your model identify to create a extra human really feel?

There’s loads of proof to recommend small modifications to your sender identify can yield huge impacts, with one group reporting 50% increased open charges after including an actual individual to its sender names.

However the easy reply is: you gained’t know the suitable method to your model and viewers till you take a look at it your self.

Professional tip: For finest outcomes, take a look at topic traces, preheaders, and sender names to search out the mix that delivers the best open charges.

Objective: Get extra clicks

Construct emails round one CTA

When brainstorming e mail advertising and marketing concepts, you need to establish one clear “aim” for every e mail you ship. Use that aim to create a single CTA that prompts readers to take the specified motion.

Add conflicting calls-to-action to an e mail and also you danger leaving individuals confused — which suggests fewer clicks and conversions.

Adobe acquired it proper on this e mail, which was solely geared towards driving downloads of a selected piece of content material:

The dearth of “noise” will increase the probabilities of individuals clicking and downloading.

Use adverse area in e mail design

Some emails make you are feeling such as you’ve acquired a migraine.

I’m not speaking about that out-of-the-blue message out of your boss asking should you’ve acquired time for a “fast chat”.

As a substitute, I imply these advertising and marketing emails which might be full of totally different GIFs, colours, fonts, photographs, emojis, and different visible bells and whistles.

Relating to e mail design, much less is extra. Create extra impactful emails through the use of adverse area (also called “white area”): empty areas in an e mail that assist different design parts to face out.

This instance from Codecademy is an train in e mail design restraint, with the wealth of adverse area naturally drawing your eye towards the provide and the CTA button:

Professional tip: Undecided the place to begin with e mail design? Don’t fear, as a result of AWeber has a library of 600+ customizable e mail templates to encourage your subsequent marketing campaign.

Describe how your product will change the reader’s life

In a world that’s obsessive about audio and visible content material, it’s simple to miss the significance of e mail copywriting.

However the phrases in your emails play a key function in serving to would-be prospects image what their lives could be like after shopping for your services or products. Which, in flip, makes them extra prone to click on by to be taught extra.

SectionSchool makes use of this tactic in our subsequent instance:

The e-mail copy encourages readers to think about themselves after three months of studying with Part and spells out the advantages they’ll count on. It’s precisely the form of messaging that will resonate with somebody fascinated about self-improvement.

Professional tip: As a common rule, your e mail copy ought to comprise a lot of “you” and “your”, and never a lot “we” or “our”. Bear in mind, it’s all concerning the buyer, not you.

Objective: Nurture leads

Present personalised product suggestions

Client expectations round personalization are rising, with 73% of respondents to a 2022 survey anticipating manufacturers to know their distinctive wants and expectations, up from 66% in 2020.

Which suggests probably the most efficient e mail advertising and marketing concepts for nurturing leads is to supply personalised product suggestions.

Baggage and equipment model Bellroy evidently understands this. On this e mail, it rounded up a bunch of related merchandise primarily based on the recipient’s looking and shopping for conduct:

Importantly, Bellroy made it clear that these weren’t generic suggestions through the use of phrases like:

• Only for you
• Customized to your tastes
• Your picks
• Hand-picked

As a result of why go to all the difficulty of offering dynamic product suggestions should you’re not going to inform individuals about it?

Share related content material

Electronic mail personalization isn’t nearly introducing your viewers to merchandise they could love. It’s additionally about pointing them within the path of content material they’ll discover attention-grabbing or helpful (or, ideally, each).

For instance, think about you’re an HR supervisor seeking to get extra worth out of your group’s studying and growth spend.

Throughout your analysis, you join Filtered’s e mail checklist, however you’re not fairly able to request a product demo.

Then you definitely obtain this e mail:

There’s a very good likelihood you’d be a part of the webinar to be taught extra. Which, in flip, makes it extra seemingly that Filtered will probably be entrance of thoughts if you’re prepared to purchase.

Have fun milestones

Milestones are a tailored alternative to nurture leads (and perhaps persuade them to buy one thing). There are numerous forms of milestones, together with:

• Buyer / lead birthdays
• Firm birthdays
• Anniversaries since a selected consumer motion (akin to subscribing to your publication)

Our subsequent instance, from language studying platform Busuu, demonstrates how milestone emails can be utilized to encourage a result in improve from a freemium product to a paid account:

Busuu primarily makes use of the three-month “anniversary” as an excuse to supply an enormous low cost off its premium plans.

Objective: Improve sign-ups

Ship referral emails

If I inform you to purchase one thing, you’ll most likely suppose: “Why ought to I take heed to this man? I don’t even know him. And the way did he get my telephone quantity?”

But when your mother or your accomplice or your finest pal recommends a services or products, there’s a good likelihood you’ll hear. In actual fact, customers belief referrals greater than some other channel: 

• Referrals (trusted by 40% of respondents)
• TV adverts (31%)
• Influencer suggestions (1%)

For that motive, referral emails are probably the most efficient methods to extend sign-ups for a web based course, occasion, or webinar. But when they’re going to ship the specified outcomes, you have to give you incentives for each the referrer and the individual they’re referring, similar to on-line coaching firm GeeksforGeeks.

The model constructed a easy however efficient referral scheme that rewarded each events:

• The referred buyer acquired a ten% low cost on any GeeksforGeeks course
• The referrer earned a 5% fee on the sale

That’s an actual win-win.

Tease new course content material

Simply as an ecommerce firm would possibly launch a brand new product to spice up gross sales, on-line course sellers can drive sign-ups by introducing and selling new course content material.

In our subsequent instance, the Content material Advertising Institute teased its new content material advertising and marketing certification, created in partnership with the American Advertising Affiliation:

Don’t fear should you don’t fancy studying all that replicate, as a result of it mainly says: this new course is launching quickly, signal as much as get notified when it drops.

Objective: Enhance buyer retention

Run win-back campaigns

Between 2013 and 2022, the typical ecommerce buyer acquisition price rose by a staggering 222%, so retaining prospects has by no means been extra essential.

Which brings us neatly to win-back campaigns. Often known as re-engagement or reactivation campaigns, they might help you retain maintain of leads or prospects who’ve stopped partaking together with your emails or shopping for your merchandise.

There are numerous forms of win-back campaigns, however probably the most impactful is the last-chance e mail, which mainly forces prospects to decide again into your advertising and marketing checklist. In the event that they don’t, they’ll be unsubscribed, so that they’ll cease spoiling your e mail engagement metrics.

Let’s take a look at a last-chance e mail instance from non permanent tattoo model Tattly:

Positive, this feels type of counterintuitive: why would you encourage subscribers to go away your advertising and marketing checklist?

However when somebody chooses to remain subscribed, that’s a transparent signal they’re fascinated about what it’s a must to say. And keep in mind: it’s higher to have a smaller pool of engaged prospects than a large checklist full of people that barely keep in mind your identify.

Reiterate your worth proposition

The purchasers you’re making an attempt to retain favored you sufficient to purchase from one as soon as upon a time. With a mild reminder of why you’re so superb, they is perhaps persuaded to do it once more.

Magnificence model AILLEA exhibits us what that reminder would possibly seem like:

First up, this e mail reiterates the model’s worth proposition, which is all about serving to prospects develop a extra sustainable, eco-friendly magnificence routine.

AILLEA goes on to ask the recipient two questions which might be immediately associated to its worth proposition:

By doing this, it subtly encourages the recipient to think about why they could wish to store with AILLEA. This messaging is supported by CTAs that immediate prospects to browse the model’s collections.

It’s all about persuading individuals to take one other take a look at the AILLEA retailer, the place they’ll hopefully discover one thing they love.

Ask for suggestions

There are two methods to determine why a buyer has stopped partaking together with your emails, utilizing your product, or shopping for from you:

1. Seek the advice of a soothsayer
2. Ask them

Personally, I favor possibility #2.

Asking for buyer suggestions has a pair massive advantages for manufacturers:

• Clients like being requested for suggestions (supplied you act on it). 4 in 5 customers say they really feel extra loyal to manufacturers that reply to and resolve their complaints.
• Even when a buyer leaves, you may be taught from their expertise. Discover out what put them off about your product or advertising and marketing — and repair it.

Right here’s a textbook buyer survey e mail instance from dairy model Tillamook:

Tillamook will get three issues proper on this e mail:

• It tells the recipient what’s anticipated of them (i.e. answering three questions)
• It clearly states the aim of the survey (discovering out if recipients discover the model’s emails helpful and attention-grabbing)
• It guarantees some form of profit (utilizing the suggestions to ship higher content material)

Keep on with this formulation to get extra responses out of your suggestions emails.

Profitable e mail advertising and marketing requires the private contact

Whether or not you’re encouraging a brand new e mail subscriber to make their first buy, asking present prospects to advocate you to their family and friends, or making an attempt to cease a beforehand loyal buyer from leaving, one factor applies:

You stand a much better likelihood of success should you communicate to individuals as people.

What are their ache factors? What do they like about your product? What would persuade them to carry out the specified motion proper now?

That form of personalised messaging is not possible to ship with out the suitable e mail advertising and marketing platform.

With AWeber, you need to use tags and customized fields to create dynamic segments that replace robotically primarily based on particular person buyer actions like: 

• Looking a product web page
• Making a purchase order
• Opening a selected e mail

That manner, you may ship the suitable e mail content material to the suitable individual precisely after they want it, which may enhance your profitability and gross sales.

See for your self by signing up for a free AWeber account.
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