It’s high time you send an email, but you have no clue what to write about. Sounds familiar? Don’t worry as this story happens to all marketers now and then. We’ve come up with a list of ideas to help you get your inspiration back. Make a note of the first 12 and expect more in the next part.
A piece of advice
Emails should bring value. Make sure you follow this rule. Think of questions that are relevant to your target audience and provide answers to those questions in your emails. To make your advice sound professional, write about things you are good at.
For instance, Verywell sends emails that provide an expert’s opinion on relevant topics such as “6 ways to consume 700 calories less this week,” “5 ways to be more self-confident,” or “3 ways to say goodbye to sugar” as in the example below.
Event announcement
Email marketers don’t usually cross paths with event managers, and that’s a missed opportunity. Event managers most likely have a whole lot of ideas for your emails. Anyway, take a look at events calendar and invite subscribers to the upcoming ones.
To build an effective event invitation,
- Inform on its date, time and place;
- Share a list of event participants and their performance program. For a conference, announce the speakers and the topics of their speeches;
- Encourage early birds by providing an exclusive discount code;
- Think of a creative design for your email: add some photos from the previous event, make an invitation in the form of a poster or a billboard.
Check out how Reseo invited the subscribers to their Autumn Conference 2018:
Survey
A famous entrepreneur and digital marketer Neil Patel once noted: “People are increasingly favoring brands and companies that make them feel like a part of a community. They feel like they have a role in the success of your business. Your success is success for them too. One of the best ways to get closer to your customers is the classic survey.”
Surveys are a wonderful opportunity of
- Positioning your brand in a right way;
- Testing out new products and identifying their strengths and weaknesses;
- Upgrading existing product or services.
While creating a survey, remember to mention how long it will take a subscriber to complete it — people often fear spending too much of their precious time on surveys or questionnaires.
True Citrus sent a survey email to learn if their website was user-friendly enough. After getting the results, the company was able to optimize content placement on their website, which helped them improve user experience. The email stated that the survey would take just 10-15 minutes, and also contained a 50% discount for the next order as a thank-you gesture.
Gift guides
There is always a reason to give presents, so we advice that you send out gift guides not only during holiday seasons but also in between. Experian Marketing confirmed that gift guide emails bring 48% more transactions than any other promotional messages.
Make it easier for your subscribers to navigate among presents and divide your offers into groups by price category, color scheme, interests, age, and so on. A traditional yet effective way is to divide offers into “for him” and “for her” categories.
Subscriber’s birthday
Birthday emails are opened and clicked three times more often than other emails. Statistics show that birthday emails generate over twice the revenue of bulk ones: $0.51 vs. $0.20 per email.
Gather birth dates of your subscribers at the sign-up stage, during the new account registration, or provide an opportunity for them to add these details in the preference center as Astley Clarke did.
Company’s anniversary
Let your subscribers celebrate your company’s anniversary with you! This is a great occasion to show off your achievements, present a discount, or hold a promotion.
For their 11th birthday, Homage gave out a discount and invited subscribers to a party broadcast online on Facebook and Instagram. Those who had actively commented on the upcoming event, could participate in a lottery. With its catching design and experiment with a literary device the email looks and sounds very friendly and endearing.
Reviews
Statistics show that 88% of people trust other users’ reviews as much as personal recommendations. Big brands have already leveraged this strategy and started promoting their products through reviews. This trend appeared when consumers got tired from perfect supermodel advertisements and stressed on the need to hear and see real people with real experience.
To make this tendency work for you, gather positive reviews and comments on social media and share them with your audience, as in an example from Glossier.
Infographic
If you need to share some data or numbers, opt for infographics — people perceive visual information better.
To create a good infographic, you should
- Collect unique data;
- Choose a way to present this data: time scale, graph, diagram, scheme;
- Write short explanations for the data;
- Choose readable fonts;
- Define color scheme;
- Add your company’s logo.
Check out how Pro Writing Aid added a link to the infographic into their email:
Storytelling
Create a brand legend and tell it to your subscribers with colors and emotions. This way, you’ll demonstrate the importance of what you do and build trust. And remember to center your story around a person rather than a product or technology — people always trust people more. Let your character be a bright persona, and you will never go wrong.
See a good example from Nasty Gal: the whole attention goes to their founder Sophia Amoruso. She started her business in San Francisco selling a small collection on eBay. Now, more than 350 people work for her in two different offices. To learn more about the team and the company, a subscriber should click the CTA button.
Photo contest
Photo contests increase email engagement and are not so hard to handle. Think of the prize, ask subscribers to share their photos and choose the best ones.
See how Chubbies company killed two birds with one stone: they held a contest as well as searched for new models. The prize for the best photo was an opportunity to participate in a commercial photoshoot. “Only most fun photos have a chance to succeed” — that’s how Chubbies describe their contest.
Gamification
Apply all the best from a gaming industry to your emails as games are what makes people relax and entertain. Check out how Forever 21 used GIFs in one of their emails to make it more fun and interactive.
A subscriber spins the reel and receives 20% off the next order.
# Hashtag
One of the latest email marketing trends is hashtag. Hashtags trigger curiosity and motivate users to look up the content which is hidden beyond them on social media. This extra feature can raise the effectiveness of your email and social media marketing.
Сheese Grotto, for instance, invented a gadget that can prolong the shelf life of cheeses, and introduced a dedicated hashtag in their email.
We also couldn’t help but look up this hashtag on Instagram to find mouthwatering photos the company and its clients share.
Take these ideas, add a pinch of your personal vision, and you will get a recipe of an email no less delicious than the photos above. As soon as you’ve got your own perfect idea of an informative, useful and entertaining email, it’s time to build and send it with SendPulse.
P.S. If you are hungry for more, follow our posts to get a new dose of inspiration 😉
Loading...
