You want your customers and prospects to remain interested regarding all things your organization brings to the table and look forward to hearing the latest and greatest of what you have to offer.
A great way to stay connected is to find your way into their email inbox, sending relevant messages without being spammy, which means:
There are so many different ways you can reach a lead, prospect, or a new customer in their inbox. Here are the 15 most common types of marketing emails to incorporate into your email strategy.
Itâs always a good feeling to gain a subscriber. Someone out there in the universe who wants to know more about your product or services. Sending a welcome email to that person is a way for your organization to introduce itself. Doing so will either educate them about your brand, allow them to learn more about your products, or simply build some familiarity with a new fan.
Hereâs your chance to get to know them a little better, too. You can ask them some questions about themselves, like their birthday or location, and even ask that they select preferences for how often theyâd like to hear from you.
No matter how you package it, just make sure to avoid making a bad first impression.
Depending on their purpose, automated marketing emails may also be referred to as kickback or trigger emails. They are a type of form email that gets sent to customers and sales reps when they perform specific actions on your website or social media. Examples of trigger emails may include:
Once you create your emails, you can use customer relationship management (CRM) software like Nutshell to send these messages at just the right time, maximizing efficiency and sales possibility simultaneously.
After the initial time investment of setting everything up, your automated emails will take care of themselves, leaving your sales team with more time to focus on creating more personalized emails and marketing tools.
When your business has something fresh and exciting to share, do so in a new content announcement email.
Whether it be a new product, sale, coupon, webinar, conference, eBook, the list goes on and on⊠but whatever it may be, be sure to spread the news. This type of email will describe and promote the offer with call-to-action links sending customers to a targeted landing page where they can learn more.
Make the actual content of the email brief with the CTA to learn more large and visible, so it canât be missed.
When your organization is about to host something exciting, be sure that your subscribers get a chance to RSVP yes. With an event invitation email, youâll want to get readers excited about registering for your new event, so be sure to highlight what makes this one so exciting and different from all the rest.
It goes without saying that the email should also include any important details about the event, like the date, time, price, and agenda.
Businesses of all shapes, sizes, and industries send out newsletters to their customers so they can stay top of mind. Whether youâre using this type of marketing email to send out new content from your blog or sharing general news about your company, they can be a great touch-point with your subscribers as you nurture them for the long haul.
Keep the format simple and relatively the same each time you send your newsletter, so your readers can get accustomed to what to expect every time one enters their inbox. And donât forget an eye-catching subject line to entice them to read more.
Depending on your organization and the products you sell, there may come a time when you need to send your customers an update.
A product update email can be a tricky one to send because customers donât necessarily find them to be interesting or thought-provoking. Because of this, make them short, sweet, and straightforward. List out the basic details to keep customers up-to-date on any changing features or functionality of your product.
If tons of updates are around the corner, donât spam your readers with a series of product emails every other day, and consider sending a roundup email highlighting everything they need to know in one email.
Nutshell Marketing plugs directly into your CRM data, so you can create highly targeted audience segments, track the impact of your emails in real-time, and manage all your communications out of a single tool. Get started for free!
Your sales team knows that any form of marketing is good marketing. From managing social media to networking at trade shows, they do everything they can to get the word out about your brand and draw in new interest in your services.
But even the largest, most experienced sales team could use some help in reaching new leads outside your target market. So why not use your most valuable resource to assist â your existing customers?
Referral emails invite your leads to create leads of their own. They often offer some discount or exclusive offer in exchange for them bringing in new customers who make a purchase at your existing lead’s suggestion.
Since word-of-mouth marketing from people with existing relationships is one of the most effective forms of marketing, referral emails can bring in major sales, expanding your reach and growing potential target audiences.
A dedicated send email is an email your organization will send to a specific group of people that subscribe to your business. For instance, when youâre hosting an event, like a conference or webinar, you may want an announcement to only those who have registered or signed up.
Essentially, these emails wonât be to your complete list of subscribers, but only to ones that are in need of the information your email includes.
Got an exciting partnership lined up? If so, send a co-marketing email. Co-marketing is when two or more companies partner with one another for a promotion, event, or task, as a way to leverage and gain from the audience of another company to increase their customer base.
Whether itâs an announcement regarding hosting a webinar or conference, or pairing up for a hybrid product launch, the email blast will go out to customers of all parties involved. Because of this, make sure the email clearly states all details regarding the partnership with each company — especially if the partnership is with a company thatâs more popular or more widely known than yours.
âTis the season to send a⊠seasonal campaign.
Whether itâs Valentineâs Day, the Fourth of July, Fatherâs Day, or Thanksgiving, your company may be running a specific promotion or special centered around a certain holiday. These types of email campaigns should have build-up before the event, so all subscribers know what to expect.
While these marketing emails are especially beneficial to retail organizations, anyone can send them! Just be sure you start ending these emails early enough to ramp up the excitement, stick to a theme (pink for Valentineâs Day!), and use urgency regarding the date of the specific holiday.
Any time I make a purchase⊠If I donât receive a confirmation within 60 seconds, I start to get nervous. Whether itâs a flight purchase, tickets to a concert, or something as small as buying a new book, I always want to know my purchase has been confirmed.
Your customers are the same. They donât want to worry about their purchase being processed somewhere out in cyberspace. Because of this, be sure to send a post-purchase or confirmation email to your customers once theyâve made a purchase.
Be sure the subject line is clear and concise, and keep the content of the email to a summary of the purchase, including a tracking number, the total amount the customer spent, and estimated shipping date. The design can be simple, too, and may include a CTA for the customer to track their purchase.
Similarly, whenever a new prospect, lead, or customer fills out a form on your website, donât leave them hanging.
Make sure they receive a kickback email automatically after submitting a form, sometimes referred to as a âthank youâ email. These emails should have a clear CTA for customers with minimal content. Simply thank the individual for signing up and include any link or information that was promised after sign-up.
An abandoned cart email should be sent to your customers when they put various products or items in their shopping cart and then leave your website without making a purchase.
This type of marking email should remind customers of the items within their cart and will usually also include some sort of discount code to entice the customer to return to your website and complete the purchase.
This is your chance to showcase why the customer should come back to your website and click Buy.
Are your subscribers ghosting you? Send them a re-engagement campaign. In this email campaign, consider asking for feedback regarding your products or services as a way to bring your business back to their minds. You can also send them a promotion that may pique their interest. If they engage, youâll have fresh feedback and may have even made a purchase.
If they unsubscribe, donât fret. At the very least, your engagement rates may improve when you weed out those who just arenât interested anymore, allowing you to clean up your email list and focus on those who actively engage with your content.
See also: 8 Winback Email Templates to Help You Recover Lost Leads
How well do you know your leads? If your answer is ânot very wellâ, lead nurturing emails can help get you there. These emails are essentially a connected series of emails for a specific purpose, full of useful content to the reader.
These can be used to promote any number of things, from a new blog post to an upcoming webinar, and even a discount your organization is offering. Whatever the case may be, these have a main purpose of promoting or informing leads about whatâs happening within your organization.
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No matter what kind of social media platform youâre looking to grow, a social campaign can boost your follower count with the aim of asking customers to engage with you elsewhere.
These emails can include a trending hashtag youâd like customers to use when posting pictures of them using your product. When new tweets, comments, or followers begin to appear, donât forget to engage with your connections! Itâs a great way to take your relationship to the next level.
Last but not least is another tried-and-true marketing email campaign⊠the post-purchase drip.
The goal of these emails isnât necessarily to sell anything new, but simply to follow-up after a customer has made a purchase. These can be used as a way to build brand loyalty, ask for feedback, or entice a customer to leave a review on items they purchased.
It can also feature tips on how to use the item they purchased or entice a customer to post a picture of their purchase on social. No matter what the content says, these emails are a great way to build trust with your customers and encourage them to come back for more.
While there are hundreds of types of email marketing campaigns, there are a few best practices you can keep in mind for any marketing operation. We’ve gathered some of our best email marketing strategies for your convenience.
Keeping these tips in mind can help you construct the perfect campaign and maintain it while navigating the ever-changing landscape of your brand, the economy, and your customers’ spending habits.
In email marketing, segmenting your audience is similar to defining your target market. It’s actually a bit easier since you already have some basic information about the people and brands you’re marketing to.
Audience segmentation is the process of separating your email list into categories so you can tailor their emails to their varied interests. You might segment them based on demographic information, like location and purchase history, or you may take a more creative approach and separate them by shared interests and hobbies.
Once you’ve determined your segments, you can create emails that appeal to their particular needs. Segmentation gives you more freedom to adjust your emails and enhance connection while saving you from writing out personalized emails to every client.
One of your marketing goals should be to make a personal connection with your leads. When your customers feel like you care about them as more than a number, they’re more likely to stay with your brand and choose you over the competition â even when the competition is offering something you don’t.
Today, most people’s email inboxes are inundated with impersonal form emails, and a majority of them end up ignored or quickly deleted. Personalizing your email is an excellent way to stand out and show leads that you’re different because you want to get to know them. Plus, it gives you plenty of opportunity to infuse every message with your brand’s identity, giving your customers a better idea of who you are and what your brand stands for.
Some of the easiest ways to customize your content include:
Consider how often you check your email on your phone or tablet over a computer. If you’re like most people, you check and reply to emails more often on your mobile phone than anywhere else. With that in mind, it’s crucial that any emails you send out look as good on a mobile screen as they do on a computer screen. To optimize your messages for any device:
Just as your email should get right to the point, so should your subject line. When subject lines reach upwards of 40 characters, most devices will cut off some of the text. And if the first part of that line isn’t interesting enough, leads won’t even click on it to read the rest.
Be descriptive in your subject lines, but try to keep them under 10 words for the best results. You can always say more in the body of your email when necessary.
Once you start your email marketing campaign, how will you know it’s working? Metrics and analytic data can show you what parts of your process are working and where you can improve your numbers. Collecting raw data like that can be a challenge, but with an automated platform, you can access those numbers with ease at any time.
CRMs are designed to help you stay in touch with your clients and monitor how your efforts affect metrics like click-through and conversion rates. They also allow you to automate some of your communications, further boosting your efficiency and possibilities for profit.
Testing your emails before you send them en masse lets you put your best foot forward every time.
Even the best email marketing experts can let a typo slip through or use improper formatting that makes the entire message unreadable. The good news is that most times, something like this is an easy fix. However, sending it out to your entire contact list can make your brand look unprofessional or possibly untrustworthy.
Prevent this by always sending your emails to a test recipient first. Then, make sure you view the message on a computer, phone, and tablet to ensure it’s optimized for each device. This quick check takes only minutes, but it ensures you deliver accurate and effective communications every time.
Most email sites now have automatic filters to detect anything they think may be spam. This means if your email doesn’t follow CAN-SPAM guidelines, your message may never make it to your recipient’s inbox.
The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act was first enacted by the U.S. government in 2003 to give email users rights against commercial email deliveries. All business emails must follow these guidelines, including honoring opt-out requests and identifying your messages as advertisements.
You can learn more about CAN-SPAM guidelines on the Federal Trade Commission’s website.
At the end of every effective email is a call to action (CTA). CTAs are actionable requests you give the recipient, such as learning more about a sale or sending the message along to their friends. This lets your message’s influence go on once the recipient has finished reading, giving them something more to do with your brand.
Similar to CTAs, including your social media buttons in your emails give your leads something actionable to do after they read your message. Whether you tell them to follow you or share your latest promotions on social media, this is another way of helping your sales team get the word out about your brand without adding to their workload.
No matter what kind of marketing email youâre sending, itâs a great way to connect with your customers. Take the time to ensure these emails reflect your brand, have a snappy subject line, and make your customers feel appreciated.
And if you’re still looking for email marketing inspiration, check out 28 Experts Share Their Best Email Marketing Tips, or the enormous Guide to Writing Much Better Marketing Emails, written by the Sell to Win Staff for marketers just like you.
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