Many of you have been in email marketing for years, and now you probably know all ins and outs that make an effective campaign. However, this situation can backfire: over time, campaigns start to look dull, content becomes boring, and email marketers struggle to find new concepts. That’s when we offer you a lifeboat — collection of email ideas for your inspiration.
Content:
Seasonal kits
In summer, people search for light clothes and beach accessories; during fall, we long for crawling under warm covers; winter is the time to tap into the long-awaited holiday season, and spring inspires us to change our lives and explore the new.
Nurture seasonal needs of your subscribers by offering useful products and content in your emails. TopShop, for instance, shares perfect total looks for summer nights and encourages to shop outfits on their website.
Research results
Reports, case studies and research results prove your expertise in the chosen area. Gather data and remember about its visual presentation.
ICORating sends out weekly reports on the upcoming and successful ICO projects. Thanks to free access to data, its accuracy and regularity, the ICORating emails became iconic to those who invest into cryptocurrencies.
Challenges
Challenges are the tasks completed on a bet, proven by photos or videos, and passed on to the next participant. “Ice Bucket Challenge,” “Mannequin Challenge,” or “Water Bottle Flip Challenge” are the classics which have gained worldwide popularity. You can also use this trick to your advantage — to increase reach and get recognised.
A pastry blogger Tessa Arias regularly invites subscribers to take on new challenges and bake their own goodies. To win an Amazon gift card, participants have to bake chocolate muffins, take a photo, and share it on social media.
Checklist
Have you ever felt like the universe is out to get you? It’s that very feeling you have when only on the way to the airport you remember that you’ve left your passport on the nightstand; or when the thought of grabbing a swimming suit to the pool has slipped your mind; or when you realize that you haven’t inserted a link in the CTA button, a second after you’ve sent emails to the whole mailing list. Probably, you’ve already equipped yourself with a few checklists, so you never forget anything again.
Why not create such a checklist for your subscribers? It’s cool to feel prepared for a vacation, isn’t it? That’s actually what the guys from Coach thought while preparing their travel checklist, which will always come in handy.
Interview
Interviews help to bring your audience closer to high-profile people and share more facts about your brand. The secret for an exciting interview lies in the questions: they must be provocative, funny or even awkward. Write a scenario of your conversation not to get lost during the interview, keep track of all topics to discuss and always be ready to get back to the main point if a respondent has gotten blown away by other thoughts or memories.
Planoly, a company which provides a tool for building a perfect Instagram layout, sees its foremost goal in helping creators get the most out of this social media platform. For that reason, they often invite different people for fun interviews where personas share their experience and a piece of advice with the audience.
Flash sale
One of the core targets of email marketing is to boost sales. To increase conversion, email marketers often launch flash sales, which are exclusive offers limited in time. The decision should be made fast; that’s why such campaigns bring a lot of instant purchases.
Think of launching a series dedicated to the sale. Use the first email to announce it, the second to elaborate on its terms, and the third to remind that the sale is almost over. Make your emails bright and colorful; you may try some GIFs to bring even more attention to your message.
Celebration
One of the best ideas for an email is a celebration. There are so many unusual holidays that may become wonderful opportunities for you to bring some fun to your subscribers’ inboxes. For instance, 6th of May is Parrot Day, 30th of July is Friendship Day, and 2nd of October is International Day of Email. Why not celebrate them with your audience?
Look at the email Icing dedicated to an extraordinary holiday — Piercing Day — with a special 50% off on earrings.
Video
To get 19% higher open rate, add a word “video” to your subject line. Seriously, video is one of the most powerful tools to get your message across to the public. Manuals, behind-the-scenes, webinars, interviews, before and after, educational and many many more — don’t restrain your imagination. By the way, you can learn more about how to use video content in emails in one of our blog posts.
Patagonia, for instance, made a video about rainforests and running as a way to save them. They shared a story and the “Watch the film” button instead of placing a preview in their email.
Charity
There are many ways to arrange a charitable event: do a fundraiser, start cleaning up in the parks or help those who are in need. These activities can improve the corporate image of your company and raise social responsibility.
In one of its emails, Astley Clarke informed subscribers that 20% of all sales would go to the World’s Land Trust, the organization which takes care of the environment.
Blog posts
If you have a blog, share new or most popular posts in your emails. This will serve two goals: provide value to subscribers and bring customers and prospects to your website.
Ometria, for example, complemented the description of the post with a bright attention-grabbing image.
If you are planning to start a blog, there is a guide on how to do it in ten steps.
Wallpapers
A well thought-out move is to share some valuable piece of content that people would be able to use and share. A good example is wallpapers for desktop or mobile: users download them to their phones and computers and enjoy inspiring images, while the logo of your company constantly reminds them of you.
Adidas, for example, sent out wallpapers with motivational quotes from their blog so that people can engage with their brand and share their passion for sport and creativity.
Cats =^.^=
You may believe it or not, but cats are the most shared, watched and liked topic on the Internet: there are more than two million videos of cats on YouTube! CNN have counted that there are 6.5 billion cat images on the web!
We can spend many hours talking about cases when cats raised open and click-through rates, but the best option is to try it out yourself. See how big brands use this trend. BuzzFeed lets their users choose topics of emails they want to receive, one of them being…Cats.
Threadless also couldn’t resist this “furry” trend.
Celebrities
Marketers often invite celebrities to promote their brand and send the strongest brand message possible. A celebrity is anyone who is respected and loved by your subscribers. So, always study your audience and their preferences to know their idols and role models.
Claire’s is oriented toward kids and teenagers, whose idols are very much different from the ones of adults. The company took it into account and collaborated with Jojo Siwa, a famous actress, dancer, and singer who is especially popular with kids, to create an exclusive collection of accessories and promote this collection in their emails.
As you see, there are so many ideas to get inspired! Try something new in your emails and astonish your audience with exceptional content.
And don’t miss our YouTube video about email content ideas.
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