18 Email marketing ideas to boost opens, clicks and sales

By Phil Norris November 28, 2023

electronic mail advertising and marketing is a brilliant efficient approach to nurture leads, flip them into paying clients, and retain present clients.

However attaining your objectives requires sending emails constantly and often — possible at least once per week. And developing with that many electronic mail advertising and marketing marketing campaign concepts is robust.

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

Both method, 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 electronic mail advertising and marketing concepts to encourage your subsequent marketing campaign, backed up with real-world examples and segmented throughout the next frequent objectives:

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

Loosen up, take a deep breath, and let’s get into it…

Purpose: Generate extra gross sales

Promote a sale

Earlier than we begin discussing the right way to promote your newest sale via electronic mail advertising and marketing, let’s make one factor clear:

Gross sales aren’t a silver bullet. 

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

• Customer ratings and reviews (cited by 94% of respondents) 
• Value of product (91%)
• Free delivery (78%)
• Model desire (65%)
• Pal/household suggestions (60%)

So there are not any ensures a sale will even transfer the needle.

Nonetheless, used successfully, gross sales can nonetheless be extraordinarily impactful, with a excessive proportion of shoppers throughout age teams saying they wait for discounts before buying online.

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

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

In fact, numerous gross sales span a number of product classes (and even whole web sites), moderately than specializing in a single product like in Bougié’s instance. If you happen to’re planning such a particular promotion, your greatest guess is to focus on clients who’ve proven curiosity in a related product class.

In Bougié’s case, this could possibly be individuals who:

• Browsed different espresso tables
• Browsed different Pitch Drop merchandise
• Browsed or just lately bought different front room furnishings

Ship cart abandonment emails

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

But it surely’s not all unhealthy information, as a result of cart abandonment emails constantly see open rates of 43% or more.

Not solely that, however these emails convert at a price of 18.64% — method greater than the common electronic mail conversion price of around 8%.

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

• Order abstract
• Product pricing
• Product imagery
• A minimum of one CTA to finish the transaction

Let’s have 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 desirous about shopping for the merchandise they deserted:

Use this tactic to suggest different merchandise or classes the shopper has beforehand browsed, or simply to level them towards your prime sellers.

Share social proof

Social proof is an enormous supply of shopping for inspiration. For example, three-quarters of consumers “at all times” or “usually” learn opinions when shopping for companies of their space.

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

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

In our subsequent instance, furnishings model Keeps Home rounded up a few of its most glowing press protection from inside design and client assessment websites:

As you may see, this electronic mail additionally featured a outstanding CTA. So if the e-mail recipient is gained over by all these spectacular trade opinions, they will simply click on via 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 related, however they’re not the identical:

• Urgency is about restricted time. For example, you would possibly inform clients they solely have 24 hours to benefit from a reduction.
• Shortage is about restricted amount. For instance, you might say there are solely 50 areas obtainable 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 supply, as visualized by the countdown timer beneath the introductory copy:

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

Purpose: Enhance electronic mail opens

Cut up-test electronic mail topic traces

E mail topic traces are your #1 device for reinforcing open charges, with almost half of email recipients opening emails based mostly on the topic line alone.

So if you happen to’re attempting to extend electronic mail opens, the topic line ought to be your first port of name. However whereas we are able to give you dozens of inspirational email subject line examples, the one dependable method to determine what works for you is to run a split-test.

That’s exactly what the parents at on-line advertising and marketing schooling firm Authority Hacker did. Throughout 78 electronic 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 electronic 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 personal topic line split-test, bear in mind to not change the opposite parts that have an effect on electronic mail open charges (specifically the e-mail preheader and sender title — extra on them later). That method, you will be certain any adjustments you see to the open price are all the way down to the topic line alone.

The email preheader is a snippet of textual content that seems subsequent to or beneath an electronic mail topic line, relying in your system and inbox supplier. Confusingly, it’s often known as the Johnson Field or preview textual content. However no matter you name it, you should 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 coated topic traces and preheaders, however there’s one other — often-overlooked — aspect that may have a big effect on electronic mail open charges: the e-mail sender title.

Must you use your model title, like on this instance…

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

There’s loads of proof to recommend small adjustments to your sender title can yield huge impacts, with one group reporting 50% higher open rates after including an actual individual to its sender names.

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

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

Purpose: Get extra clicks

Construct emails round one CTA

When brainstorming electronic mail advertising and marketing concepts, it is best to establish one clear “objective” for every electronic mail you ship. Use that objective to create a single CTA that prompts readers to take the specified motion.

Add conflicting calls-to-action to an electronic mail and also you threat leaving folks confused — which implies fewer clicks and conversions.

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

The shortage of “noise” will increase the probabilities of folks clicking and downloading.

Use adverse house in electronic mail design

Some emails make you’re feeling such as you’ve obtained a migraine.

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

As an alternative, I imply these advertising and marketing emails which might be filled with totally different GIFs, colours, fonts, photos, emojis, and different visible bells and whistles.

With regards to electronic mail design, much less is extra. Create extra impactful emails through the use of adverse house (often known as “white house”): empty areas in an electronic mail that assist different design parts to face out.

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

Professional tip: Unsure the place to begin with electronic mail design? Don’t fear, as a result of AWeber has a library of 600+ customizable email 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 straightforward to miss the significance of electronic mail copywriting.

However the phrases in your emails play a key position in serving to would-be clients image what their lives can be like after shopping for your services or products. Which, in flip, makes them extra prone to click on via 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 will count on. It’s precisely the type of messaging that might resonate with somebody desirous about self-improvement.

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

Purpose: Nurture leads

Present personalised product suggestions

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

Which implies probably the most efficient electronic mail advertising and marketing concepts for nurturing leads is to offer personalised product suggestions.

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

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 if you happen to’re not going to inform folks about it?

Share related content material

Email 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 fascinating or helpful (or, ideally, each).

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

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

Then you definitely obtain this electronic mail:

There’s probability you’d be a part of the webinar to be taught extra. Which, in flip, makes it extra possible that Filtered might be entrance of thoughts if you’re prepared to purchase.

Have fun milestones

Milestones are a tailored alternative to nurture leads (and possibly persuade them to buy one thing). There are numerous kinds 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 basically makes use of the three-month “anniversary” as an excuse to supply a giant low cost off its premium plans.

Purpose: Enhance sign-ups

Ship referral emails

If I let you know to purchase one thing, you’ll most likely assume: “Why ought to I hearken to this man? I don’t even know him. And the way did he get my cellphone quantity?”

But when your mother or your accomplice or your greatest pal recommends a services or products, there’s an honest probability you’ll hear. In truth, shoppers trust referrals more than any other channel: 

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

For that purpose, referral emails are probably the most efficient methods to extend sign-ups for an internet course, occasion, or webinar. But when they’re going to ship the specified outcomes, you should provide you with incentives for each the referrer and the individual they’re referring, identical to on-line coaching firm GeeksforGeeks.

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

• The referred buyer obtained 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, online course sellers can drive sign-ups by introducing and selling new course content material.

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

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

Purpose: Increase buyer retention

Run win-back campaigns

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

Which brings us neatly to win-back campaigns. Also referred to as re-engagement or reactivation campaigns, they may also help you retain maintain of leads or clients who’ve stopped partaking along with your emails or shopping for your merchandise.

There are numerous kinds of win-back campaigns, however probably the most impactful is the last-chance electronic mail, which principally forces clients to decide again into your advertising and marketing record. In the event that they don’t, they’ll be unsubscribed, in order that they’ll cease spoiling your email engagement metrics.

Let’s have a look at a last-chance electronic mail instance from momentary tattoo model Tattly:

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

However when somebody chooses to remain subscribed, that’s a transparent signal they’re desirous about what you need to say. And bear in mind: it’s higher to have a smaller pool of engaged clients than an enormous record full of people that barely bear in mind your title.

Reiterate your worth proposition

The purchasers you’re attempting 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 could be persuaded to do it once more.

Magnificence model AILLEA reveals us what that reminder would possibly appear like:

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

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

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

It’s all about persuading folks to take one other have 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 along with your emails, utilizing your product, or shopping for from you:

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

Personally, I choose possibility #2.

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

• Prospects like being requested for suggestions (supplied you act on it). Four in five consumers 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 customer survey email example from dairy model Tillamook:

Tillamook will get three issues proper on this electronic 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 fascinating)
• It guarantees some type 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 electronic mail advertising and marketing requires the private contact

Whether or not you’re encouraging a brand new electronic mail subscriber to make their first buy, asking present clients to suggest you to their family and friends, or attempting to cease a beforehand loyal buyer from leaving, one factor applies:

You stand a much better probability of success if you happen to converse to folks 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 type of personalised messaging is not possible to ship with out the proper electronic mail advertising and marketing platform.

With AWeber, you should use tags and customized fields to create dynamic segments that replace routinely based mostly on particular person buyer actions like: 

• Shopping a product web page
• Making a purchase order
• Opening a selected electronic mail

That method, you may ship the proper electronic mail content material to the proper individual precisely after they want it, which might enhance your profitability and gross sales.

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