Email communication to some may seem like a one-way contact. But as a sender, you should keep in mind that on the other side there is a real person. The person that opens your email and devotes time to reading your content. It’s important to show a respectful and caring attitude in your email to all your subscribers.
SendPulse has conducted a survey among our subscribers on what kind of content they want to receive in their inboxes and how often. This is how respondents answered.
About half of subscribers are concerned more about the content inside an email than about the frequency of emails.
The next question of the survey was: “Which content you prefer to receive in the emails?” Here are the answers:
The most popular answer indicates that subscribers expect to receive special offers with a discount or invitation to a sale. Useful content is also in focus: 30% of respondents marked it as a requirement.
Every email marketer has trouble finding new content ideas. So we prepared some tips for providing quality content on a regular basis.
Educational content
Joe Pulizzi is a content marketing evangelist, a founder of Content Marketing Institute, and an author of books on this particular topic. He believes that subscribers are not interested in reading how excellent your product or service is. He insists on the idea that subscribers want to know about how useful the product is and what problems it solves. This is what educational content should do:
- Educate
- Inform
- Answer subscribers’ questions
- Be responsive to subscribers’ interests
Here is an example from Piktochart.
Articles
This method works for online publications. The best practice to encourage subscribers’ clicking is to place a cut on the most interesting fragment and complement it with a beautiful photo. Here’s how Lonely Planet does it.
How-to instructions
Include step-by-step illustrated instructions for everything that can be useful to your subscribers. How-to instructions could help users to solve a problem. For example, a jewelry shop may include a guide on “How to care for silver” or “How to clean gold jewelry.”
We chose the ready-made how-to ideas for different business areas:
Gyms and health clubs
- Quick and easy weight loss tips
- How to motivate yourself to go to the gym on weekends
- Safe and reliable ways to build muscle and get stronger
- The mirror rule: learning to love myself
- How to control food portions
A bank
- How to avoid debit and credit card fraud
- How to plan a family budget: is it better to save or take a loan?
- How to protect your money when traveling
- Smart ways to save money on utility bills
- How to open an international bank account
A restaurant, bar, and cafe
- Cocktails, which every menu should contain
- How to quickly get a drink in a crowded bar
- How to survive a party if you’re an introvert
- How to drink limoncello that is a real Italian lemon liqueur
Dental services
- How to make your teeth whiter
- How to overcome a fear of visiting a dental office
- How to help a child who’s scared of the dentist
A mobile network
- How to choose the best plan for mobile
- How to set SMS notifications when a new email is coming in Gmail
- How to call home from abroad and stay out of poverty
- How to make money on mobile photography
Look at Verywell’s email campaign. The creators of the email include how-to instructions for choosing healthier flip-flops.
At the end of the email, there is a special selling offer that fits in with the rest of the email’s content.
Videos of how things are done
Gif and video have more ways of expression than words.
Use it to show how your product is manufactured. Tell your subscribers about the materials or components that are used and how many employees are involved in a process. You can also show how your product is packed in the warehouse. People like all these details about a product’s way from the factory to the store.
Entertaining content
Funny or entertaining content is a method that you can really capitalize on. Statistics show that entertaining content comes second in popularity after informative and educational content. Users worldwide like it and will willingly share it on social networks.
Entertaining content engages users because laughter and joy makes us happier.
The email jokes from BuzzFeed always cheer up.
Use video, images, memes to entertain and relax your subscribers.
Holiday cards
Holiday greetings help to build strong relationships with clients. It’s a right time to share your gratitude and warm wishes with subscribers. Whether you own a small company or run a large corporation, holiday greetings are one of the best ways to express appreciation to all clients for their continued support.
Of course, you may not have the time to create special holiday templates for your email, so that’s why email clients usually have a number of templates for different occasions. In SendPulse’s template gallery you will find over 100 free email templates dedicated to Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and more.
Gift guides
Companies that cover the steps and ways of choosing gifts in email simplify a subscriber’s life. Especially if subscribers receive this gift guide right before the holidays, as the one from Kate Spade. Emails like this can be real deal for people who have difficulties to come up with gift ideas.
Interesting stories of company’s achievements
Tell subscribers a story about your company’s evolution. How much has happened since its foundation? What achievements do you enjoy the most? If a company has a long, interesting story, find out the most remarkable events and share them with your subscribers. Don’t forget to add old photos for authenticity.
Candy factory Godiva includes the company’s story in their email and shows old photos from 1926. Not every company could boast such a long history, but almost everyone could find something special in their archive.
Behind-the-scenes stories
Share with subscribers your behind-the-scenes stories. Introduce your products and show your working environment and atmosphere at your office. Such openness would be helpful in enhancing trust between the company and subscribers.
J.Crew, in the example below, uses this method. They introduce Julie to subscribers. Julie is a designer and she talks about her experience of wearing a t-shirt from a new J.Crew collection.
Infographics
A unique advantage of infographics is an availability to present a wealth of information quickly and easily. Use this type of content to show numbers from your research, reports, and other information. The infographics allow subscribers to “scan” an email in several seconds and get the most interesting points. It is also undeniable that we tend to remember visual information more than written.
Event invitation
If you are planning an online or offline event, make sure to announce it via email. Make an attractive presentation and include photos from previous events to draw more audience.
We recommend you to experiment with all the ideas we mentioned. You can even combine some of them. Use your creativity to create engaging content for your subscribers, and SendPulse will take care of the technical side of your campaigns.
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