Marketing emails are promotional messages sent by a business to their prospective or existing customers. These messages may contain offers, updates, or other information to build customer relationships and guide the customer to take a specific action.
Successful marketing emails contain relevant information, an interesting subject line, and a clear call to action.
Marketing emails work for all types of businesses including online stores, digital marketing agencies, SaaS businesses, and local businesses. They can help generate leads, earn repeat or new business, strengthen customer relationships, and facilitate business-audience communication.
Marketing emails are commercial messages sent to customers with the business owner’s permission. These messages can be used to share offers, announce services, teach through educational content, invite to events, or remind customers to make a purchase.
Email marketing is permission-based, and therefore, gives businesses a communication channel to engage customers with offers and content of their choice. Well thought out email marketing can facilitate and strengthen relationships with customers, build trust, and support other business objectives including lead generation and sales.
Sales and conversions: Promote related products and special offers, and provide opportunities to make purchases.
Customer retention: Keep your customers informed and engaged after their first purchase.
Brand awareness: Share information and content to increase awareness of your brand.
Customer education: Provide information about your products to educate potential customers and answer their questions.
Repeat purchases: Remind customers about related products they might be interested in, and notify them about new relevant products.
Customer feedback: Encourage your customers to provide you with reviews, survey responses, and suggestions for improvement.
Email campaigns are the most cost effective and easy to measure type of marketing campaigns. The success of an email campaign mainly depends on how relevant it is and the action it helps the customer take. A campaign that requires the customer to take action but generates fewer clicks than an email that generates more clicks but does not require action may be more valuable.
Types of Marketing Emails
Depending on your audience and the stage of the customer journey, different types of email marketing campaigns help you achieve your goal.
1. Welcome Emails
Welcome emails are sent after people sign up to receive your emails.
Welcome emails usually introduce your business, explain what your customers will receive, and set expectations.
As a digital marketing agency, after introducing your business, you can include a link to a website checklist.
2. Promotional Emails
Promotional emails sell products or services, provide special offers, discounts, or limited time offers. They also announce new packages.
These emails work best for eCommerce businesses and retailers as well as for service providers and businesses with seasonal offers.
Example subject line: Check out our Website Design Packages!
A promotional email should explain the details of the offer, who it benefits, and how to take advantage of it. Price and time sensitive offers honestly, and do not add artificially induced a sense of urgency or misrepresent discounts to create a false sense of loss.
3. Newsletter Emails
Newsletters are emails containing useful information for subscribers at regular intervals.
Some common newsletter articles include:
- New articles or information from the business’s blog or industry updates.
- Announcements or updates about the business.
- Tips or tutorials about the business’s products or services.
- Links to useful resources.
- Announcements of upcoming events.
Example Subject Line: Digital Marketing Tips
A newsletter should always provide useful information to the reader. Frequent, random emails are less useful to the reader than less frequent, managed emails.
4. Lead Nurturing Emails
These emails help prospective customers learn about products or services before they make a purchase.
A lead nurturing sequence can include emails that explain the problem, solutions, and the business, answer common customer objections, and finally offer a demonstration of the product or service.
Example subject line: 5 Tips to Improve Your Website’s Conversion Rate
For a service provider the lead nurturing sequence can include emails that:
- Offer a practical guide to solving a common business problem.
- Explain the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.
- Present a case study of a related service and the positive outcome.
- Offer a consultation.
Each message should build on the last, rather than simply repeating the sales pitch.
5. Product Launch Emails
Product launch emails are sent to announce a new product, service, feature, or collection. They help generate product launch awareness, explain the benefits of the new product, and lead interested customers to a product page. Effective subject lines include: “Introducing Our New Collection – What’s New?” or “Announcing Our New Service!” When launching a new product, there are a few crucial things to include: The new product, why the recipient should care about the new product, and what the recipient can do next (i.e. Buy the product). The email should include an honest picture of the new product, a detailed description, and a direct link to the product page.
6. Abandoned Cart Emails
Abandoned cart emails are automatically generated emails sent by an online store to a customer who started the checkout process and added items to their cart, but did not complete the purchase. The emails are generated by the platform and are sent automatically after a customer leaves the checkout process. Abandoned cart emails may include a picture of the items in the cart, a return to cart link, answer common purchase questions, and clarify the store’s shipping and return policy. It is a good practice to include a promotion in the abandoned cart email. However, an equally good practice is offering convenience, trust, and clarity in delivery information or a simpler checkout process to alleviate customer hesitation.
7. Re-Engagement Emails
Re-engagement emails are designed to reach customers who have lost interest in a business. An effective subject line for a re-engagement email might be, “Would You Like to Keep Hearing from Us?” Re-engaging customers may require the business to offer a freebie, educational resource, or other useful content to the customer in an effort to re-gain the customer’s interest.
If your contacts remain inactive, consider adjusting your sending frequency according to your list management policy.
8. Event Invitation Emails
Event invitation emails are used to invite subscribers to webinars, workshops, product demonstrations, conferences, or other in-person events.
Tips:
- Clearly state what your audience will learn and/or how your event will be beneficial.
- Consider adding a optional brief survey to gain further insight.
- Offer a link for your audience to easily view your event presentation if it is not available in person.
9. Customer Feedback and Reviews
These emails are used to collect customer feedback and/or reviews on their purchase and/or experience.
Tips:
- Make your customer feedback surveys as short as possible in order to increase the likelihood of your customers completing the survey.
- Explain to your customers how their feedback will be helpful to you or your business in order to increase the likelihood of your customers completing the survey.
- Keep the language used in your survey simple and straightforward.
- If your goal is to obtain public reviews, review the terms of the review website in order to be clear and concise in your requests.
- Be transparent with your customers in regards to what incentives you are offering.
10. Educational Emails
Educational emails provide your audience with a way to learn more about a given topic relating to your business or service. This type of email can include tips, tutorials, checklists, ebooks, industry overviews, and more.
Example: “A Simple Guide to Improving Your Website’s SEO”
Writing Marketing Emails
Effective marketing emails have one goal and are targeted. Knowing your audience and the objective helps write the email to achieve the goal.
Identifying Your Audience
There are several kinds of audiences and each has specific reasons for interest in your emails. Some may be potential customers, repeat customers, first time buyers, or interested parties.
Dividing your audiences based on different interests allows for more specific emails to be sent. A customer who already bought your product may want to know how to use it, while a potential customer may need an explanation of your services.
There are lines that should not be crossed when trying to provide specific information to your audience.
Identifying Your Goal
Decide what you want your email to achieve, before writing it.
Examples of goals may be
- Creating leads
- Selling more products
- Getting customers to participate in an event
- Visiting your website
- Using your product
- Getting customer feedback
Email should focus on only one goal. Although it is acceptable to have other goals, focusing on too many goals may dilute the message of the email.
Useful subject lines
Subject lines give a preview of what a reader can expect to find in the email.
Subject lines should be brief, specific and related to the content of the email.
| Email purpose | Example Subject Line |
|---|---|
| Newsletter | Your Monthly Guide to Better Website Performance |
| Product Launch | Meet Our New Collection |
| Lead Generation | Need Help Improving Your Website? |
| Event Invitation | Join Our Free Marketing Workshop |
| Customer Retention | Tips to Get More From Your Purchase |
Avoid bluffing, going overboard with punctuation, false urgency, etc. A subject line should give an accurate gist of the message. Don’t trick people into opening your email.
Step 4: Create a Useful Opening
The opening should have the email value proposition and explain the relevance of the email to the recipient.
Do not make your email long and drawn out explaining your company, product, and services. The email should be focused on the recipient and should explain how your company, product, or service is related to the recipient’s issue, challenge, or opportunity.
For example: “Is your website attracting visitors but generating few enquiries? A clearer service page, faster mobile experience, and more evident contact options may help remove barriers to potential customers.”
Step 5: Explain the Benefits
Describe how the product, service, or information addresses the customer’s need.
For example: A mobile-responsive website design means visitors can access your website and contact your business from all screen sizes.
Step 6: State an Actionable Statement
Tell the recipient what they should do next.
Examples:
- Explore Our Services
- View the New Collection
- Download the Guide
- Book a Consultation
- Register for the Webinar
- Complete Your Purchase
Use descriptive links or buttons. Make sure that your links work and the pages that you link to are mobile-friendly.
7.Make The Email Easy to Read
Simple, straightforward design helps your email look nice and work well.
Use short paragraphs, descriptive headings if appropriate, nice fonts, high contrast, and designs that work well at different sizes.
make any important information in your email available in text.
Provide meaningful alt text for images and links that provide useful information.
8.Test Before Sending
Check your marketing emails for spelling and grammar, links, images, personalization, unsubscribe, and tracking. Also, check how the email will look on desktop, mobile, and if there are any issues with the design. Personalize fields, segment audiences, and check required marketing disclosures. Make sure your links, buttons, and other things that people can interact with work. Send a test email to make sure it all looks good.
Marketing Email Examples You Can Adapt
1. Promotional Email for a Service Business- Subject line here
Email body:
There are several examples of emails that can be modified to promote specific offerings. Fill in the blanks with the name of the business, link to more info, pictures of offers, etc.
Example 1: Promotional Email for a Service Business
Subject: Looking for a Better Website for Your Business?
Email body:
Your website is often one of the first places that potential customers learn about your business.
We help businesses create professional websites that let them present their services in an easy to understand format and in turn help their potential clients to contact them easily.
Our website design services include:
- Creation of responsive web layouts.
- Design of service and landing pages.
- Design of contact forms and enquiry options.
- SEO.
Would you like to know more?
CTA: Check out our Website Design Services.
Regards,
[Business Name]
Ecommerce Promotional Email
Subject: Products Recommended for you
Email Body:
Hello [First Name],
If you want to see what’s new? Check out the newest products we have.
Not sure which one is right for you? Check out the details and decide for yourself.
CTA: Check out the Collection
Thanks for being a part of our community.
[Brand Name]
Lead Nurturing Email
Subject: 3 Improvements for your Website
Email Body:
Hello [First Name],
No one likes a website that only attracts visitors and doesn’t drive any enquiries. Look into these 3 improvements:
Ensure that your website has clear messaging and value proposition.
Is your website mobile friendly? Is your audience able to navigate through your web pages and complete your forms?
Are your contact options/ enquiry forms clear and easy to find?
Making these improvements can greatly help your visitors understand your offerings and drives them to take the next steps.
Would you like us to review your website?
CTA: Request a Website Consultation
Best Regards,
[Business Name]
Example 4: Re-engagement Email
Subject: Still Useful?
Email Body:
Hello [First Name],
We want to make sure the emails you receive from us are useful to you.
We send useful tips and resources, important updates about our products, and exclusive offers.
What would you like to see more of? Less of?
CTA: Update Your Preferences
If you would no longer like to receive marketing emails, you can also unsubscribe.
We appreciate your feedback!
[Brand Name]
Inactive subscribers who may benefit from a re-engagement message.
It’s better to have a smaller, more relevant audience than sending every message to every contact.
Consider Your Sending Frequency
There is not a frequency that works for all businesses.
For example, a newsletter may work well for a weekly publication, but for a service business, sending messages monthly may work better.
The right frequency may also depend on the expected value of each message and how actively subscribers engage with your communications.
Use Marketing Automation Appropriately
There are many automated messages that businesses can send based on events.
A few of those messages may include:
- Educational emails after a resource is downloaded.
- Post-purchase emails to guide the user on how to use the product.
- A reminder to complete a purchase after leaving items in a shopping cart.
- Renewal messages for a subscription.
- Re-engagement emails.
When using automation, build safeguards so subscribers do not receive conflicting messages.
Improve Email Deliverability
Deliverability means whether your messages reach the recipient’s inbox or get bounced or filtered as spam.
There are many best practices to improve your email deliverability.
These include using a trustworthy email service provider, authenticating your sending domain, and keeping your contact list clean and removing invalid emails.
Keep a close eye on your spam complaints and bounces and improve sender reputation.
Be sure to offer and honor an easy way for users to unsubscribe.
Google’s sender guidelines outline authentication requirements and recommend other best practices for sending email to Gmail users. In addition, Google imposes specific requirements for bulk email senders. These requirements include including a one-click unsubscribe mechanism for commercial email and an opt-out mechanism for email sent to subscribers. Familiarize yourself with the official Gmail Sender Guidelines before sending bulk email.
Follow Relevant Email Marketing Laws
The rules governing marketing email vary by the sender’s and recipient’s location, the nature of the message, and how the email address was obtained.
For example, under the US’s CAN-SPAM Act, commercial email must contain accurate sender information and a valid physical postal address, and be transparent in its subject line. The EU’s GDPR and ePrivacy laws may also impose other requirements in the context of how and when consent is obtained and processed.
Rather than assume a given country’s email rules apply everywhere, you should understand the rules for your audience and your business. The FTC’s CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide offers official US guidance.
In practice, the best way to ensure compliance is to send emails only to those who have an interest in receiving them.
This article outlines how to measure the effectiveness of marketing emails. The standard email campaign report shows the number of emails sent but doesn’t relate the emails sent to the business outcomes.
METRICS
| METRICS | What it measures | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery rate | It is the ratio of emails sent and accepted by the receiving servers. | Identify delivery and list quality issues |
| Bounce rate | It is the ratio of emails not delivered. | Identify bad email addresses and/or sending issues |
| Open rate | It is the ratio of delivered emails that were opened. | Use with caution due to privacy protections that impact email tracking |
| Click through rate | It is the ratio of delivered emails that were clicked. | Investigate if the email content and/or the email links call for an action. |
| Conversion rate | It is the ratio of recipients/visitors that completed a defined goal. | Determine email sign ups, purchases, bookings and/or inquiries |
| Unsubscribe rate | It is the ratio of recipients who unsubscribed from an email list. | Review email relevance, expectations and/or frequency. |
| Spam complaint rate | It is the ratio of recipients who marked your email as SPAM. | Review consent, relevance and deliverability. |
| Revenue per campaign | It is the revenue attributed to a campaign via the chosen measurement model. | Analyze campaign economics and business impact. |
Use consistent definitions when comparing campaigns. Email providers may calculate the metrics differently, therefore, avoid comparing results without checking how each metric is defined.
Open rates deserve caution because of the use of privacy protections and/or automated image loading. Measuring clicks, qualified leads and/or purchases generally provides more actionable outcomes.
How to Improve Results Over Time
Use a simple test process:
- Establish a baseline with comparable campaigns.
- Pick one variable to test, such as the subject line, offer, CTA, or layout.
- Divide the audience appropriately and keep other conditions as consistent as possible.
- Measure the result that corresponds to the campaign’s goal.
- Leverage the knowledge to future campaigns and keep testing.
- Do not call a winner with a small or inconclusive difference. Results can be arbitrary.
6. Common Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
It is often the recipient’s experience that determines the success of a campaign.
Bulk Email Blasts: Don’t be fooled by the allure of fast, artificial growth. Purchased or scraped email lists will hurt your reputation, and possibly even land you in legal hot water. Instead, build your audience through proper, ethical means.
Untruthful Subject Lines: The subject line should accurately reflect the content and offer.
Inadequate Benefits Focus: Avoid talking solely about your company. Focus on the benefits and how the offer helps the reader.
Too Many CTAs: A campaign should aim to achieve a single, primary objective. Each campaign should be clear on the next step.
Mobile Usability: Consider smaller screens when designing buttons or other campaign elements.
Unresponsive to Unsubscribe Requests: Make unsubscribing easy and promptly update suppression lists.
Focus on Misleading Metrics: A campaign can be easily unprofitable due to many factors, including broken or malfunctioning links. Measure all types of campaign automation and workflows to reduce automation trust issues.
Marketing Email FAQs
What is the main function of a marketing email?
A marketing email has many functions. The main function is to reach an interested audience to market products and services and to provide information and help nurture leads, deepen customer relationships, and help encourage relevant actions such as purchases or inquiries.
What are some examples of marketing emails?
Some types of emails include the welcome email, the promotional email, the newsletter, email sequences, product emails, emails as reminders for abandoned carts, educational emails, event emails, emails to solicit feedback, and re-engagement emails.
What is the structure of a good marketing email?
A good marketing email begins with the definition of the audience and the end goal of the email campaign. It includes a clear subject line, and the body copy is structured in a similar way to an AIDA format. The email body provides a description of the offer and the benefits of the offer, and includes a call to action. The email is formatted for easy viewing on a mobile device, and the email is tested to ensure it is free of errors before it is sent.
How frequently should marketing emails be sent?
The appropriate frequency of sending marketing emails varies. Some factors include the industry, the expected frequency of emails from the business, the value of the content of the emails to the audience, and the level of engagement of the audience. A consistent frequency is determined, and the frequency and the expectations are communicated to the audience during the sign-up process. If the audience is not engaged by the emails or other communications from the business and complaints of spam increase, the frequency should be changed.
What is the difference of marketing and transactional emails?
Transactional emails are emails which help to confirm or complete an action, such as an email which contains a new password or an email which contains a shipping confirmation. Marketing emails help nurture leads or provide information. Emails can help encourage the completion of an action. Transactional emails can be integrated with marketing emails.
What metrics are important to consider for email marketing?
The metrics that are most valuable depend on the goal of the campaign. Click through rate measures engagement, conversion rate measures the completion of a goal, and revenue or qualified leads can show value for the business. The health of a campaign can be measured by looking at delivery, bounce, unsubscribe and spam complaint rates.
Can marketing emails help a small business?
Absolutely. Small businesses can build customer relationships and engage with prospective customers through the use of marketing emails. A small, relevant email list and a reasonable email sending schedule can be a good starting point.
What is the best email marketing software?
The best email marketing software for you depends on your budget, the size of your contact list, the level of automation you need, integrations, the reporting features, and compliance with legal requirements. Focus on features that are most valuable to you, and determine if there are plan restrictions or limitations before making a decision.
Conclusion
Marketing emails can be a way to build customer relationships, engage qualified prospects, strengthen customer retention and boost sales. Marketing emails have the potential to reach the right people.
In order to be successful, campaigns need to be designed with a goal in mind. Choosing the right email type to fit the goal of the campaign is critical. The email should provide something of value to the customer and tell them what to do next. It is important to be a good email marketer and engage in sound email sending practices. Always measure what is important to your business. Providing something of value in every email can strengthen customer relationships and help retain customers. A trustworthy email has a better chance of getting noticed.
