How to Create a Successful Email Newsletter

Learn Newsletter Tips and Best Practices for Your Small Business

With so many working from home these days, professionals are relying more than ever on their inboxes to keep them updated on news, information, products, and entertainment. 

In recent years, we saw a global pandemic force businesses to reinvent themselves and to get creative in looking for new ways to reach and engage customers. As a result, we’re seeing a huge surge in the popularity of email newsletters. And while “email newsletters” are in no way a “new” method to reach people, in past years many businesses have stopped using them.  But for marketers and businesses looking to stay top-of-mind for their subscribers, sell more products, and engage with leads, there is no better way than an email newsletter.

Nowadays, the true value of email newsletters is more important than ever. But, creating a truly exceptional email newsletter entails more than just sending a few lines of text out once or twice a week. In this post, we’re going to show you how to write a rockstar newsletter that entices them to open.

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What is an Email Newsletter?

Simply put, an email newsletter is a way of reaching out to your customers, fans, and followers via email to keep them in the loop of all the happenings within your company. In addition, they are one of the most common ways to nurture the relationship between existing and future clients, primarily because of their low cost and tremendous value. 

It’s essential to understand what an email newsletter is before we can get into the meat of creating a rockstar email newsletter that will hook your customers and have them anxiously waiting for what’s next. 

Email newsletters can be used to market anything important to you. Whether that is news on your growth or new products, a sales event, your club’s monthly events, a new blog release,  or a newsletter notifying your followers of the progress of your novel. These well-designed marketing email newsletters should be delivered regularly (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) to ensure consistent website traffic and return on your investment. Newsletters make up the majority of all marketing emails sent, and they have a lot of potential. But more than just sending our more content, you need to know how to make your newsletter stand out. We can help with our newsletter tips, tricks, and best practices!

“If you build it, they will come.”

Check out the Tailwind blog and become an email marketing expert!

The Value of an Email Newsletter

Oh! That saying sure does make creating a business sound easy, right? But, in modern times, the truth is, “If you built it, go get them.” You see, simply having a great idea or product won’t do. To be successful, you have to put effort into finding customers, engaging with customers, and keeping them interested. The power of a successful email marketing campaign lies in what we call “top-of-mind marketing.” It’s what keeps your company and brand in front of potential customers’ minds so when they’re ready to buy, they think of you first, and it’s priceless. 

If you’re still on the fence about whether or not you should spend your time and efforts on an email marketing campaign, check out the benefits of email newsletters

Strengthen The Retention Of Your Customers Or Following

If you create an engaging and visually pleasing email newsletter, you can strengthen the relationship between you and your target audience. You may constantly remind current and potential clients that you exist if you send out a regular email newsletter. Many people become preoccupied and forget about a company they are interested in without intending to do so. A typical email newsletter serves as a simple reminder that you exist and have something to offer. Then, when a buyer decides to convert, the high level of trust you have built will keep you top of mind and increase your chances of becoming the brand of choice, whether for hairstyling services or movie screenings. Here are some pros and cons of email campaigns.

Low Costs

An incredible benefit of an email campaign is that they are low cost. Emails are intangible, so you don’t have to worry about the labor costs of creating a physical product. Plus, email newsletters generate a strong return on your investment. Many experts even say that email campaigns are the most successful channel for marketing digitally. 

Expansive Reach

In modern times, cell phones are always within the palm’s reach, and everyone has an email account on them which means your brand can always be in front of their eyes. It’s pretty easy to say that most people own emails and use emails in their daily communications. There are billions of people who use emails, despite the emergence of various communication apps, according to Statista. 

Personalize Your Brand

Creating a personalized experience between you and your subscribers will help to keep them interested and connected to your business or brand. And that’s everything in today’s marketing efforts. Effective email newsletters provide your organization or yourself an arena to share news releases, new products, or upcoming events. You can tell them about your brand’s story or even a hardship you overcame. The storytelling possibilities are boundless with email newsletters!

Data Analysis

Knowing how your customers interact with you is essential to making the best decisions and keeping you moving forward in your growth and outreach.  You can draw helpful data metrics through email newsletters, such as the number of people who opened the newsletter, who clicked through to your website, and more. You can refine your email marketing strategy and better understand your customer or following behavior with this data.

The Drawbacks of an Email Newsletter

As with anything else, email campaigns also have a few drawbacks. Given the large number of emails that people receive, it’s possible that yours will get lost in their inbox. Here are a few cons to email marketing. 

Competitive Landscape

Although people may subscribe to your newsletter, your email competes with many other communications. It’s always easy for them to unsubscribe, making it even more important to create excellent quality content. Brainstorming methods to beat other emails and have subscribers open your own message is definitely complicated. 

Easy to Ignore 

We all live a hectic lifestyle, and with our phones always in hand, too many emails can be frustrating. A drawback of an email marketing campaign is that people can easily look over your newsletter, quickly delete and even unsubscribe from it. So, you must take measures to create an engaging and valuable newsletter.

Labor Intensive

It takes a significant amount of time to produce a quality newsletter. You have to take time to brainstorm the objective of your newsletter, and the overall aesthetic and vibe, gather subscribers and consider so many other components.

How to Create an Email Newsletter

The secret is out! Creating an email newsletter is one of the most successful methods to deliver value to your customers, persuade them to buy more products, and keep them engaged with your brand. In general, newsletters are an essential part of any successful email marketing campaign and shouldn’t be ignored. Here are some tips on how to make your newsletter more engaging.

1. Select an Email Newsletter Service

The first step in creating your email marketing campaign is to select an email newsletter service provider. It is essential that your email campaign looks visually appealing and professional, so simply doing it in your daily email just won’t suffice. Not to mention your regular email account will not provide detailed reporting. You can find the best email marketing tools and platforms in 2022 here

2. Establish The Objective

Ok, once you have selected the best email marketing platform for your needs, the next step is to determine the objective. Spend some time deciding what message you want to deliver to your subscribers. Some awesome ideas on what you can include in your email campaigns are; sharing company updates and news, how-to guides, sharing new products, inspiring to connect with blogs, advertising services, upcoming events, and so much more. And since they are sent weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, you can mix up the message and objective. This will help to keep your subscribers engaged.

Remember though, the key to an exceptional email that will get read is to write great content. Here are some ideas of what you can include in your email newsletters. 

  • Business
    • Behind the scenes 
    • Promotions 
    • Product launches
    • Blog posts related to business services or products. (Content marketing)
    • Business updates
    • Job openings
  • Personal
    • Project updates 
    • Monthly film recommendations
    • Book reviews 
    • Quotes
    • Advice 

3. Design

This is one of the most critical parts of the process (other than the content itself). Having a visually aesthetic email campaign is key to increasing engagement. So, once you have your objective nailed down, it’s time to consider the design of your email newsletter. The design is uber important because it plays a significant role in establishing the tone of your newsletter. It can also decide whether or not someone will continue reading the newsletter. But, on the other hand, a lousy design may dissuade some people from connecting with your content. Thus you may lose out on a precious opportunity to establish a strong connection for yourself, your business, or your organization. 

Color Palette 

If you’re creating an email newsletter for an organization, you don’t have to sweat too much. You can stick with your organization’s colors! This will strengthen the branding of your communications. However, if you’re creating a newsletter for personal reasons, stick with colors you enjoy, and that go together. Feel free to use a color wheel or research to figure out an appropriate color palette. You can also consider the temperature of your colors to match your newsletter’s vibe. For example, consider warm colors if you are going for a lighthearted newsletter. On the other hand, if you create a serious newsletter, you may want to try cooler colors. 

Templates

Depending on the email newsletter service provider you use, email campaign examples and email newsletter templates may be available for you to use. If you create a personal newsletter, feel free to use it to your heart’s content. However, people with business may want to consider a more original design for a more professional and unique zeal. 

Layout 

We recommend a simple layout for an easy and clean reading experience. For organizations, make sure to include your logo and social media in the newsletter. Also, keep in mind white space to avoid overwhelming readers. 

Include Multimedia 

Just text is boring. Spice up your newsletter with pictures, videos, illustrations, and even gifs! The options are endless – so don’t miss out on your chance of maximizing your newsletter’s engagement. 

Unsubscribe Button 

Don’t forget to include an option to unsubscribe from your email list. You do not want to build an audience of people uninterested in what you have to offer. Including an unsubscribe ensures that people genuinely dedicated to your email newsletters remain. United States business email newsletters must do this as per the CAN-SPAM Act. 

Human Resources

If creating things isn’t your strong suit, you may want to consider asking someone in your business or organization to create the template for you. If that isn’t an option, consider outsourcing it to a professional. There are some legal requirements involved in sending email marketing campaigns so you’ll want to brush up on these prior to getting started. 

4. Content

Content is king in the marketing game! So, the content or meat of your email newsletter must be good. Sure! It’s ok to write your content that fits your brand, including the tone and buzzwords you frequently use. Your subscribers will well receive this because that’s part of what they love about you. But remember to not be too spammy or overboard on the salesy messages. This will surely turn them off and prompt them to hit the unsubscribe button.

Valuable Content 

You want to offer content of “value” to the subscribers. Additionally, you want to ensure your content adheres to what they sign up for. Otherwise, subscribers are likely to stop following your newsletters. Generally, you want to create content that informs subscribers with valuable information; you also want to make sure it is relevant to your interests or your organization. However, if the objective of your newsletter is to promote a service or product solely, keep it concise and minimize the sales tone as much as possible. 

Concise

People do not have all 24 hours of the day to read your email newsletter. So avoid long-winded essays and keep your content as short and sweet as possible. 

Grammar And Spelling 

Forgetting to review and edit your email newsletter is a big mistake. Improper grammar and spelling will make your newsletter look unprofessional. This is especially important if you are creating an email newsletter for a business or organization. So, take a few minutes to read it and look for grammatical errors. 

5. Subject Line

Oh, yes! The subject line on your email campaign is SUPER important because many times, that is what will get your email opened versus deleted or skipped. And an inappropriate subject line may even inspire subscribers to disavow their loyalty to your communications. So, put some thought into it and make your email subject line an attention-grabber and on-brand. 

Concise

Keep your email newsletter subject line clear and concise. The ideal character length for subject lines is around 41-50 characters. However, too long of a subject line may cause readers to lose interest. Writing a concise email subject line is always a best especially since many subscribers will read your email on their mobile phones.

Professional 

Remember, most people live an on-the-go lifestyle, and when it comes to email, most probably do a quick skim to see if they are interested in it before they click on it. So, it is imperative for your subject line to have a professional tone. Otherwise, people may get the wrong idea that your newsletter is spam. 

Grammar And Spelling

Again, you should always use proper grammar and spelling to ensure your newsletter looks professional. 

Be Honest 

Your subject line should truthfully summarize the content of your newsletter. 

6. Send It

Whew! So, you brainstormed your objective, carefully created some amazing content, included some attention-grabbing graphics, and double-checked your spelling and grammar – you’re now ready to send that puppy out. But, wait! Before you do, make sure you send yourself a test email first. This is an excellent option that most email providers offer. It lets you see exactly how your email marketing campaign will look when your subscribers receive it. 

It’s a fantastic way to catch mistakes, see the visual appeal to make some changes before releasing it to the world. If everything looks good, then go ahead and hit send!

7. Legal Matters

Oh, yeah! The stuff no one likes to think about – legal matters, but it’s uber important. First, make sure that you know any email newsletter laws your country and state have. The last thing you want is to send out a mass of emails only to be penalized for not following the law. 

For example, in the United States, there is a CAN-SPAM Act, a series of email marketing laws, such as providing an explicit means of opting out of emails. Prior to sending your first email campaign make sure to familiarize yourself with the rules and regulations. 

How to Improve Your Email Newsletter

Now don’t think just because you sent your email marketing campaign out that you’re done. It’s just the opposite. To understand how successful your efforts and emails are, you need to take time to measure and analyze your newsletter’s performance metrics. This will allow you to understand your audience’s behaviors better, noting any adjustments you can make to enhance future email communications. 

You should also consider AB testing or split testing. Compare two versions of the same newsletter, see which one performs better, and choose the best-performing email. Marketing is an ongoing effort that can and should continuously be tweaked for maximum return.

Key Takeaways

This complete email marketing guide is packed with the most essential information you need to create an engaging email message. Using these newsletter tips will help you create email marketing campaigns that are read and convert to traffic to your website and sales. Remember these key takeaways, and you’ll be an email campaign ninja in no time. The key takeaways that you should bookmark in your noggin are:

What Is it?

An email campaign is key to connecting with your subscribers, customers, clients, fans, and followers on a whole new level. It is a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly letter to them to share the latest updates, news, personal stories, new blog releases, behind the scene stuff, sales and promotions, and of course, your products. So keep top of their mind by sending regular email newsletters and watch your business grow. 

The Pros And Cons Of Email Newsletters

Marketing is an always-evolving way of reaching your customers, and with any such effort, there will always be some pros and cons. The pros of email marketing include the fact that it is a low-cost marketing technique; you’ll be able to analyze data, reach more people, and personalize your brand. But the downsides are also there. These include tons of competition; they are easy to ignore and delete and take time. 

Creating And Designing Your Email Newsletter

The essential factors to remember when designing your email newsletter are to select a color palette that fits in with your brand, choose a template and layout that is visually appealing, include eye-catching graphics and multimedia, and don’t forget to add an unsubscribe button. 

This is your year to totally elevate your business, blog, and brand to the highest levels. Rockstar status is just a step away. This email newsletter guide and your newfound understanding of the power of an email newsletter are going to help you grow. Check out the links below for additional tips and tricks on maximizing your email campaign efforts.

FAQs

Can I make an email newsletter for free?

Yes! There are email marketing tools that are free, or partially free, including Tailwind. You can create the perfect newsletter, or other types of email marketing templates for your business.

What is the best font size for email newsletters?

Generally, no less than a 14px font size for the body of your content is best practice. For mobile, you may want to increase the size to 16px or 18 px. And it is important to keep the font size of the body uniform to avoid looking messy.

Can I use email newsletters for B2B marketing?

Yes, you can! Just let B2C marketing, email newsletters, and other email marketing practices are also common and effective ways for B2B businesses to stay connected to their clients, followers, and leads. 

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A newsletter is one of the best marketing channels to connect with your audience. Learn how to create a successful email newsletter with our guide!

Complete Beginner’s Guide to B2B Email Marketing

B2B, or Business-to-business email marketing, is a proven method to nurture new leads, reach out to customers, and increase brand engagement.

With impeccably curated, value-driven, engaging content, you can guide potential, and new customers through the sales funnel from acquisition to purchase. Then, you can boost customer retention rates by keeping them in the loop and maintaining profitable relationships on both sides!

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What is B2B Email Marketing?

B2B email marketing is just what it sounds like: sending email marketing campaigns to professionals and businesses instead of individual customers

Brands that sell to or service other brands often rely on B2B marketing for raising awareness and lead generation.

But B2B email marketing requires a slightly different approach than regular business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing.

Why is B2B Email Marketing Important?

Email is one of the most effective channels for B2B marketing. Studies have shown that email has an ROI of 3600%!

That’s because email allows you to target your messages specifically to the people who would be most interested in what you have to say. 

You can segment your email lists by factors like job title, industry, or specific interests.

And since email is a two-way street, it’s also an excellent way to nurture relationships with your customers and build a rapport with potential leads.

Whether you’re a B2C or B2B brand, email marketing is arguably more powerful than any other marketing channel.

Not only can you reach your whole target audience at once, but you can do so quickly and cheaply. Plus, B2B email marketing offers tons of marketing strategies and perks like:

Generating Leads

Email marketing makes finding and nurturing potential sales easy. With a well-crafted sign-up form that exchanges value for email addresses, you can quickly build a subscriber list.

From there, you can segment your leads by their interests and position in the sales funnel to create targeted email campaigns that close deals.

Curating Relationships

Email marketing lets you reach out to sales leads and existing customers anytime, anywhere. Once a contact subscribes, you can send a welcome email to start the relationship on the right foot.

You can continue building rapport by sharing helpful resources, educational content, and updates on your product or service.

With B2B email marketing, you can keep your company top-of-mind with every subscriber. By sharing timely updates, exclusive offers, and stories about your brand, you can remind leads and customers why they subscribed!

Retaining Customers

Once you convert leads to buyers, you have to retain them. Once again, a solid B2B email marketing strategy makes it easy. You can craft a curated email campaign to:

  • Encourage sales
  • Thank buyers for purchases
  • Improve onboarding
  • Educate customers on using your product or service
  • Answer questions
  • Send renewal and product offerings

Done well, you can even use B2B email marketing to re-engage cold leads and win back lost customers.

Relating to Your Target Audience

B2B email marketing offers unique opportunities to format, design, and distribute your email content.

The format offers immense flexibility and opportunities for personalization that TV ads or flyers just can’t match.

Plus, audience expectations remain laxer for emails – some days, you can present research; others, you can ham it up.

Building Brand Authority

The value should reign in your brand, whether you’re raising product awareness, educating new buyers, or reporting your latest research.

Every email is an opportunity to deliver industry-leading, relevant content. Do this enough times, and your email subscribers will come to see you as an authority in your industry.

The brand authority will give you more credibility when making a sales pitch down the road.

It may also lead to organic link-building opportunities and social media shares.

Encouraging Customer Advocacy

B2B email marketing makes it easy to turn customers into brand ambassadors. Use emails to deliver information, offer helpful links, and promote referral programs.

The more sharable and accessible your information, the easier your customers become your marketers.

Also, don’t forget to engage with your audience. If someone replies to your email – reply to them as well!

Closing Sales

Last but not least email marketing removes some of the pressure off your sales team. With well-designed B2B email marketing campaigns, you can nurture sales through the funnel and allow your marketing teams to focus on meeting goals and closing the final purchase.

The trick is to combine an effective email marketing strategy with top-notch automation. With a little help from the sales experts on your team, you can take your B2B email marketing results to the next level.

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Why B2B Email Marketing Requires Unique Email Strategies

B2B and B2C email marketing share some overlaps – but ultimately, you need to rethink your entire strategy.

Think of it like identical doors with different locks: while you want to accomplish the same goal, you need different keys to get in.

Let’s look at a few ways B2B email marketing differs from its B2C counterpart.

Targeting Tactics

B2C brands have it easy – they market to one consumer at a time. But B2B email marketers have to target whole companies and specific individuals within each company.

Effectively, that means your email campaigns need to provide value to the business while speaking to a particular person within a company.

So in comparison to B2C you need to make the sales twice once to a company and once to a decision maker. (Yes, we know that the decision maker is essentially deciding on behalf of the company, but you get what we mean!)

The Sales Cycle

Buying something for yourself generally takes just a few minutes if you know what you want. But companies require multiple layers of coordination, budget analysis, and approval.

In B2B email marketing, that means creating more emails to nurture customers down the pipeline.

And since email marketing campaigns are designed to lead customers through sales cycles step-by-step, you can expect B2B email marketing campaigns to take longer.

Email Content

When you write B2C email campaigns, you can generally be flashier and more promotional about your brand. But when you’re connecting with businesses, the math changes.

B2B email marketing tends to succeed when brands focus on providing information, resources, and logical arguments. Forget repurposing B2C content – you’ll have to develop a whole new strategy.

You need to write professional copy for professional consumers. “Best Ways TO Be Productive” probably won’t cut it. The content in the emails will need to be insightful, sharing valuable tips or leading to a valuable information source.

B2B Email Marketing by the Numbers

B2B email marketing is incredibly effective.

  • 81% of B2B email marketers rely on emails as their primary content delivery system.
  • 91% of business-to-business organizations believe their email marketing strategy is one of their most important content marketing methods.

While that hints at the success of the strategy, that level of competition also means you need to bring your A-game every time.

Any company can send out email newsletters – but to stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to design email campaigns that actually convert.

But when it does work, it really works. As we mentioned – the ROI on B2B email marketing can be as high as 3,600%. In other words, for every $1 you spend on marketing, you’ll generate up to $36 in returns. Phew!

Grow your email list and automate the mundane with Tailwind!

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B2B Email Marketing Best Practices

Just like B2C email marketing strategies, B2B email campaigns that follow best practices tend to drive better results. Consider the following:

Focus on Email Design

Your email design should reflect the values and expectations of your industry. If you’re in cosmetics, fun, bright, and bubbly probably fits in better than if you’re in defense.

Doing some industry research and designing your own templates to spec can go a long way here. But do not overdo it. Minimalistic and simple emails can work great as well!

Use Templates

Using or building a library of on-brand email templates can help you work smarter and quicker.

Though it requires some time upfront, you’ll thank yourself later when you’re cranking out everything from welcome emails to post-purchase emails in minutes. Remember: if your desired audience can tell you’re using templates, you’re doing it wrong.

Did you know that Tailwind’s email marketing tool contains easy-to-use templates you can personalize to your brand in seconds? Try it out with our forever-free plan and watch your email campaigns soar!

Write Great (Personalized) Subject Lines

While email subject lines are always important, when you’re in B2B email marketing, annoying or suspicious subject lines get discarded that much faster.

The busier your audience, the less likely they’ll put up with bad writing or tons of spammy symbols.

Research shows that 2/3 of people open emails based on subject lines alone. While under 60 characters is standard, studies suggest about 40 characters (~7 words) should do the trick.

The key is to write short email subject lines that pack a big punch in a little package.

Personalize When Possible

Personalization in B2B email marketing can boost important email analytics like open rates, click-throughs, and drive conversions.

Addressing recipients by name and title, referencing employers, and sprinkling in other tidbits make your emails feel more conversational. And with email automation, you can personalize everything from subject lines to sign-offs.

Keep It Short and Sweet

Your ideal email copy length should range from 50-125 words to balance information value with short attention spans.

But brevity doesn’t mean lacking substance – you can pack in tons of value with smart formatting, strategic design, and images.

The first sentence of your email especially matters. It is one of the few things that the recipient sees immediately, before opening the message.

Be Conversational

When writing B2B email marketing campaigns, it’s easy to get stuck in “professional mode” and read as stiff or impersonal.

But even targeting brands, you’re still talking to people and fostering crucial relationships. While you may stray slightly more formal than B2C marketers, don’t be afraid to show enthusiasm, joke around, and stay light and engaging.

Just don’t overdo it!

Include a Relevant Call-to-Action (CTA)

Adding a relevant call-to-action allows you to take your connection with your audience to the next level.

Every call-to-action should:

  • Inform readers of the action you want them to take;
  • Answer the question: “What’s in it for me?”;
  • Be placed, so it’s visible and accessible;
  • Naturally fit into the body of the email;

You can use this chance to guide their next steps, such as visiting a landing page or blog post. Just make sure it’s relevant and fits into the context of your copy.

Use Images and Video

In B2B, as in B2C, visuals matter. Around 32% of marketers consider visuals important for their messaging.

Adding 1-3 images can promote higher click-through rates, while videos can increase clicks by 65% and reduce unsubscribe rates by 26%.

You can also use these alternate mediums to introduce new context, value, and personalization into your strategy.

Save Time with Automation

Email marketing automation lets you speed up mundane tasks, such as tagging and segmenting email lists, setting up drip campaigns, and sending relevant updates.

Not only does this save you time, but it also allows you to focus on other areas of your business.

Types Of B2B Email Marketing Campaigns

There are many different types of email marketing campaigns that you can send, each with its own goal. We could group them into three main categories:

  • Relationship – an email with a high informational value that helps to establish trust with the recipient.
  • Transaction – in this category, you would have emails that promote specific products or services with the goal of making a sale.
  • Loyalty – email campaigns sent to customers who have already made a purchase, aimed at maintaining customer loyalty and keeping them coming back for more.

Now that we have this out of the way let’s have a look at some of the types of B2B Email Marketing Campaigns that you will be sending. Think of it as an inspiration:

Drip Campaigns

This is usually the first step in the email marketing funnel. Prospect had left you their email through a lead magnet. Now you have to convert them. A drip campaign is a set of emails, sent in a 3-5 days sequence, trying to convert the warm lead.

Welcome Emails

After the lead is converted, you now have to nurture them. They don’t know much about you, so you have to introduce yourself and your company. In a welcome email, you will be introducing the company, its mission, and maybe some key people. This is the first step in building a relationship.

Product Updates

These campaigns are focused on the great new things that your product is now able to offer.  It’s important to show not only that your product is constantly improving but also that you are keeping up with the trends in your industry.

Customer Reactivation

At some point, your customers will stop using your product. Reach out to those passive customers and show them how your product has changed and why it’s worth their time to return.

Educational Emails

With this campaign, your goal would be to educate your new customers on how to use your product. The important thing is to ensure that your customers know that you are there to help them and want them to succeed.

Case Studies

Nothing beats a great case study. This is a great opportunity to show what your product can do and how impactful it can be. People like to relate, and there is nothing more that we want to relate to than a good success story.

Promotional Emails

To make a sale, you have to ask for the sale!  This campaign would be designed to promote a specific product or service. For existing customers, cross-sell campaigns are a great pick for expanding your collaboration. For prospects – a time-limited discount or a trial could do the trick!

Feedback Requests

You know that saying about “unknown unknowns,” right? Sometimes, you just don’t even know what problem the clients are having. Something like a hidden bottleneck. Getting truthfully and extensive feedback is the only way how to “uncork” it.

How to Create Converting B2B Email Marketing Strategies

Now that we’ve covered best practices and types of campaigns, let’s look at some strategies to create converting B2B email marketing campaigns.

Profile Your Buyer Persona(s)

As a B2B marketer, your goal isn’t to reach one person but a company’s decision-making unit (DMU). A DMU usually consists of multiple people who will scrutinize your emails, products, and value add.

To engage the decision-makers, you’ll need to profile company and individual buyer personas and segment campaigns accordingly.

In B2B email marketing, your buyer personas represent both companies (industry, size, budget) and individuals (age, location, and pain points by job title).

Using specific personas helps you engage individuals throughout the organization and market product(s) to your ideal audience at all levels.

Think Like a Buyer

Once you have buyer personas, you’ll want to tailor emails by role and pain points. For instance, you’d send different content to the person who uses your product versus the person who approves their department budget.

While you want to provide value at all levels, the type of value you promote should vary accordingly.

Grow Your List Organically – and Keep It Clean

Buying B2B email marketing lists sounds like a great way to get ahead. Realistically, though, you may alienate potential customers and end up in hot water legally.

Instead, focus on growing your email list organically. It may take longer, but you’ll see better results if everyone on your subscriber list wants to be there.

In a similar vein, take care to trim your list regularly. Unwanted or fake contacts can negatively affect your send reputation, increase bounce rates, and result in poor stats in your campaign analytics.

After all, if you’re not sending emails to valid addresses that want content, what’s the point?

Segment for Relevance

Email segmentation tools make it easy to group email subscribers according to characteristics like company, job role, industry, and budget.

Not all of your leads need or want the same things, so strategizing by a group can help you achieve better results.

Plan Your Campaign in Stages

Email marketing cycles should mirror the customer journey. By providing valuable content on customers’ timeliness, you can provide relevance and drive more conversions. Generally, you should tailor content to the five steps of the customer cycle:

  1. Awareness of your brand – eBooks, how-to guides, and thought leadership can familiarize leads with your product.
  2. Consideration of your products – Customer testimonials, product demos, and case studies can provide more information.
  3. Deciding if your product fits their budget and can provide ROI – Free trials, discounts, and cost estimates can provide incentives to convert.
  4. Retention involves renewing subscriptions, buying products, or continuing relationships – Tutorials and high-level educational content can keep clients engaged.
  5. Advocating for your brand as a customer – Surveys and referral programs can turn loyal customers into brand advocates.

Drip Your Campaigns

Drip campaigns are useful marketing tools for guiding customers down the sales pipeline. Setting up automated email sequences that trigger when leads act saves you time and can speed up the sales cycle. Just be sure to create content before you activate a campaign. So no improvisations on the go!

Consider Frequency

B2B email marketing works best when you send just 1-5 emails per month. (Though effective frequency varies by audience.) The goal is to keep your brand relevant without spamming leads or clients.

Send Cold Emails Carefully

Generally, we advise against cold emails for B2C marketers, but the rules are murkier in the B2B world. A cold email can pay off if you’re reaching out to leads you genuinely believe could benefit from your product. Just remember to research contacts before you reach out and make sure they fit your buyer persona!

Timing is Everything

B2B email marketing campaigns work best when you time them properly. The best times to send emails differ between audiences and businesses, as well as what stage your leads are in. Your analytic data can provide specific insights for your email marketing team.

Make Sure Your Emails Offer Value

Every email you send should offer value to your customers. While B2C customers often respond to emotions and entertainment, B2B email marketing customers want logic, a positive ROI, and to grow with you. To ensure you provide this value, every email should answer three questions:

  • What’s the offer?
  • What’s the value for the reader?
  • What should they do next?

Providing this level of value extends to your call-to-action. When you align value with relevance and customer interests, you’re more likely to succeed.

Stay on Message

When customers subscribe to email lists, it’s because they want to know more about your product and brand – and they trust you to provide it.

Don’t abuse that trust by spamming contacts with useless or off-topic content. Staying on message and only emailing when you can provide real value will keep your emails out of the trash.

Track Results

Once you’ve finalized and sent out your campaign, it’s time to analyze the results.

That doesn’t mean you should gather data points willy-nilly. It’s important to set goals for each campaign, along with attainable metrics. (For instance, if you want to drive demos, you’d measure how many demo sign-ups you saw after the relevant campaign.)

As you gather this information, analyze which factors lead to content marketing success. Then, you can use this information to optimize future campaigns.

But as a B2B email marketer, your work never ends. What works now might fail in three months – so monitoring data in every email campaign is crucial.

Key Takeaways

  • B2B email marketing remains one of the top ways for B2B brands to nurture leads, convert sales, and maintain lasting client relationships.
  • While it takes time and effort to learn, your marketing efforts will have you snatching up new subscribers and driving conversions in no time!
  • Testing every part of the email marketing campaigns should never stop.
  • You should always keep monitoring the data (and track everything), so you can make changes to improve your marketing strategy.
  • B2B is about persuading the company and the person who reads your emails.

Grow your B2B email conversion with Tailwinds Email Marketing Platform

FAQs

Is Email B2B Marketing the Best Strategy for My Small Business?

Email marketing is one of the most effective conversion strategies for most businesses both big and small! It’s easier to segment your audience with personal information that can make it easier to make contact in a more effortless, relevant way.

What are Some Common B2B Email Marketing Examples?

We already listed a few examples in this guide, such as Welcome emails. But other common examples include

  • Curated content
  • Announcements
  • Promotions
  • Gated content
  • Events
  • Surveys

There are many more examples, and depending on your business goals, you may use all or only some of these examples.

What Are B2B Email Marketing Strategies to Avoid?

There are so many great email strategies out there for you to use. Don’t fall victim to poor ones or errors!

  • Errors including incorrect personalizations and information
  • Not having segmentation in your listing
  • Content of the email not matching the subject line
  • Not including preheaders
  • Including too many CTAs
  • Not sending out newsletters
  • Being too frequent or infrequent with your email scheduling

Write Email Subject Lines That Get Opened (+ Examples)

Good email subject lines can make all the difference between a failed and successful campaign.

Writing good subject lines, which will make an actual person open the email, takes a lot of testing. But, arguably, it is one of the most important elements of an email marketing campaign!

Here are some statistics for you:

  • Businesses have only seven seconds to make a good first impression on customers;
  • A vast percentage of the 376 billion emails sent daily go unopened, let alone unread.

If you’re an email marketer, these facts are tied together by a single thread: email subject lines. In this post, we will focus on writing good subject lines to boost your open rates and, as a result, the overall bottom line of your email marketing campaigns!

What is an Email Subject Line?

The subject line of an email is the line of text that people see when they receive an email.

It is the first impression they have of the email’s contents.

Having a subject line of 7 words and about 41 characters is typically considered a sweet spot for the right subject line length.

What is an Email Preheader?

This is another sometimes overlooked element of engaging email subject lines.

This is a text that follows the subject line and is a sneak peek at what is in the email body. This is a second chance to grab attention in your email campaign!

Why are Email Subject Lines So Important?

Email subject lines are the first contact email subscribers have with your email marketing campaigns. Learning how to come up with the subject line of an email can make or break your campaign.

The right email subject line entices readers to open, click, and buy. Some half of recipients open emails due to catchy email subject lines alone. Nearly 70% report emails as spam on the same basis.

On the other hand, the wrong email subject line can drive customers away and even see your brand relegated to the spam folder. 

No matter how well-crafted your campaigns are, your efforts are worthless if your audience never sees your content. That’s why email marketers have to write catchy email subject lines every time – no exceptions.

While the process requires extra work, you can improve your open and click-through rates, spread brand awareness, and avoid the trash folder (or the spam folder!).

Are you new to email marketing? Learn more by reading our guide on “How to Get Started in Email Marketing!


7 Ingredients of a Converting Subject Line

Most industries that use email marketing see a 21% open rate, with 30-40% being above-average. But with the right email subject line, you can drive these statistics up.

The best email subject line tips all start with a few ingredients. Think of them like your spice rack: while you don’t have to include all of them every time, mixing and matching can deliver fantastic results.

1. Personalization

Now more than ever, marketers can use data about their target audience to provide the ultimate customer experience. Email subject lines are no exception; a little personalization here offers the sense of importance and connection readers crave.

2. Benefit

When opening marketing emails, most people ask: “What’s in it for me?” 

Your email subject line provides the perfect location to answer that question upfront. Including or hinting at freebies, discounts, or new information can inspire higher open rates among your audience.

3. Relevance

Generally, subscribers read emails to stay informed or learn more about a brand or topic (or receive a sweet discount). 

Crafting email subject lines relevant to their lives, trending topics, and your brand is a great way to compel clicks.

4. Urgency

Most people live in chronic FOMO, or fear of missing out.

By communicating urgency in your subject line and offering a solution, you can help readers scratch that itch. (For instance, you may put a deadline on a sale or countdown to the start of an upcoming event.)

Still, you’ll want to use this tactic sparingly. Otherwise, your urgent emails become “just another Tuesday.”

5. Intrigue

Sometimes, email subject lines work because they establish benefits upfront. Other times, it’s because they confer a mystery or question that readers just have to solve

Tantalizing email subject lines often increase open rates because readers have to click to satisfy their curiosity.

6. Celebrity Branding

Adding a relevant celebrity’s name to your subject line can boost clicks based purely on name recognition. (And a desire to learn what Kim K. is up to these days.) But only use this strategy if it aligns with your brand; don’t throw out famous names just for recognition.

7. Engaging Previews

Previews aren’t exactly part of your subject line, but they’re almost as important. Preview text provides a sneak peek at your email’s contents beside the subject line.

Take this opportunity to complement your subject line and further engage with your audience. 


Email Subject Line Best Practices

Every email campaign has its own purpose, which means your email subject lines should match it. 

While the style, tone, and direction of your subject lines will change, adhering to these best practices can help you make the most of your online marketing efforts.

Determine the CTA – if Any

Not every email subject line needs a call-to-action – but every email does. 

If you incorporate your CTA into your subject line, use it to inform recipients why they should open it, be it to receive free stuff or receive important information.

Segment Your Lists

Many marketers blast emails to everyone on their lists. But sometimes, that causes more confusion than clicks. For instance, if you send a list of the best “local” bars to someone 3,000 miles away, you’re not just not providing relevance; you’re showing you don’t know your readers at all.

Keep this in mind when you are crafting that ultra-personalized subject line. 

If you’re not sure exactly how to go about segmenting your email list, Tailwind’s email marketing tool has super simple features to help you create segments that are as specific as you need to engage your audience.

Simply open Tailwind Email from your dashboard, navigate to Contacts, and then click Manage Lists!

Haven’t started using Tailwind’s marketing suite yet? You can easily manage your social media platforms, email marketing, and campaign planning all in one place. Explore our suite of time-saving marketing tools with a forever-free plan!

Use Tokens of Personalization

You’ve heard of tokens of appreciation – now, we’re talking tokens of personalization.

Research shows that including a recipient’s first name in email subject lines can inspire a higher click-through rate.

But it doesn’t have to be just names! Locations, companies, and hobbies can build a sense of familiarity, too.

That said, you don’t want to get too personal too often, lest you sound creepy. Small, sporadic touches once in a while should do the trick.

Personalization is pretty easy to set up. Here’s a look at how to do it in Tailwind email! First, add an attribute for first_name.

When a new subscriber joins your list, make sure to fill out the first_name field. then, when you add this field to your subject line, your attribute (your subscribers’ first name) will appear in the subject line.

Avoid Spam Traps

Several subject line factors can lead readers to send you straight to the spam folder. Or even worse, the email spam filter will do it automatically. 

Some spam traps look like:

  • Loud punctuation (LIKE ALL CAPS and lots of exclamation marks!!!!!!!)
  • Including multiple types of punctuation in the same subject line !?*–/!}{
  • Aggressively salesy or clickbait-y language (“FREE!” “Buy Now!” “Make $$$ Today!”)
  • Weird   spacing  issues
  • Special or unreadable fonts
  • False or misleading statements that go unfulfilled in your email’s copy

Instead of focusing on this “unique” style of promotion, try offering expertise, information, or even a little wit to build real connections. And, make sure your email provider uses built-in best practices to avoid spam traps or federal violations. Tailwind email was built with these factors in mind.

Time Your Emails Wisely

Broadly speaking, you should research when your audience is most likely to act on your emails. The time when you send emails is important, but with “timed email subject lines” you can take it even one step further!

For instance, a food magazine may send an email with the subject line “The Best Drinks in [City] Tonight” just before happy hour. That would likely see more clicks than waiting until midnight. 

Be Unique, But Brand-Aware

Crafting actionable subject lines requires understanding your audience and brand. Use your email subject lines to highlight what your brand does well. 

Don’t be afraid to throw your company name out there to build familiarity and engagement. At the same time, have the courage to take a little risk.

For many readers, there’s a fine line between memorable and repulsive. Finding your happy place means you can carve a unique niche while having some fun.  


11 Tips to Write Great Subject Lines

Writing converting subject lines is an art, and like any art, it requires practice and testing. These tips can help you find your voice. 

1. Be Human

Even more serious brands can benefit from a conversational tone

Remember, your readers are people, not robots – meaning readability, connection, and friendliness often trump a cold tone. 

Even small, simple switches like using contractions can have a big impact!

2. Stay Short, Simple, and Sweet

Today, half of the emails are read on mobile, which cuts down the visible character count. 

At the same time, readers scan inboxes quickly, giving you just milliseconds to grab their attention.

Research shows that short subject lines – around 40 characters or 7 words – perform best. Precise, concise subject lines offer clear benefits, intrigue, or relevance without getting wordy.

“Increase your conversions by 50%!” offers fewer words and more benefits than “Here’s how to increase your marketing power while driving better conversions.”

3. Begin with Action-Oriented Verbs

A great email subject line is designed to inspire clicks, and nothing drives clicks like action verbs. Vibrant verbs give readers a sense of urgency or excitement that dull descriptions simply don’t.

Who wants to attend a “Local dinner with a singer” when you can “Dine with Lady Gaga” instead?

4. Make People Feel Special

Birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries…people love to feel special and included. Provoke a sense of belonging that boosts loyalty and conversions by making people feel like “insiders” with powerful phrases like:

  • Exclusive offer
  • Private invite
  • VIPs only!
  • Just for you
  • A gift from us to our beloved customers

5. Include Deadlines

You can capitalize on the power of FOMO – and remove distractions – by including deadlines that encourage readers to prioritize your offers.

From leveraging multi-email promotions to creating urgency around expiring events, the “now or never” language often produces greater results.

6. Pose Compelling Questions

Asking questions expands the idea of intrigue mentioned earlier. With the right question and a good subject line, you can show off your knowledge, pique curiosity, and engage minds.

Because questions feel incomplete without an answer, you can also inspire readers to open emails to learn more within. 

These can be anything from “Are you making these 10 critical business mistakes?” to “Do you know how long a giraffe’s tongue is?”

You can also get a little personal with a simple “Rough day?” or “Need a break?”

7. Use Numbers

Millions of businesses rely on vague subject lines that convey no real data to drive paltry conversions. But tossing numbers into your email subject lines can improve notice and open rates. 

Whether you’re offering “50% off – today only!” or a list of “Top 10 things we love about our customers!” numbers provide unavoidable benefits to readers.

8. Get Witty with It

A good email subject line should be relatively short – but that doesn’t mean it should be boring. Introducing a little humor with your self-indulgent wittiness can make your audience crack a smile and click on for more.

For instance, puns give you the opportunity to make yourself sound fun and relatable. (Take Quirky’s (a cable management product) “Abra-cord-abra! Yeah, we said it.” which offers both wit and a self-reverential poke.) 

You can look into other kinds of wordplay, too, like:

  • Alliterations
  • Rhymes
  • Word imitations
  • References and allusions

Any of these can help your email subject lines stick out in users’ minds and grab attention while offering great value. 

9. Draft Multiple Subject Lines

One crucial part of writing email subject lines is not limiting yourself to just one option

Take some time to write down your best 4-7 subject lines, each with a different style, tone, or angle. 

Even if you discard 99% of them now, you can save the good ones for later.

Want to cut down time on brainstorming? Use Tailwind Ghostwriter for email subject lines!

Simply input the purpose of your email (think: newsletter, promotion, welcome email), your preferred tone, and topics, like a new product or an upcoming event, and click Generate! Our AI technology will continue giving you a mix of subject lines until you find the perfect one for you.

10.  Get Feedback

Sometimes, you need to get out of your own head and see problems from someone else’s perspective. 

Ask your colleagues, spouse, or even your kids to look over your ideas. And if they have suggestions of their own, don’t be afraid to listen up! 

You do not have to look for exact subject line copy, but rather suggestions and alternative points of view. 

11.  A/B Test Your Email Subject Lines

These tips and best practices can get you started on your subject line journey. But you shouldn’t just take our word for it – ultimately, your brand and customers are unique and need a personalized touch. 

By A/B testing your subject lines, you can experiment to see what works with the most biased (and relevant) crowd of all: your own readers.


12 Examples of Catchy Email Subject Lines

Now, you have all the tools to start writing email subject lines that convert. For added inspiration, consider these catchy subject lines that have appeared in inboxes 🙂 

1. Best of Groupon: The Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)

Some rules are made to be broken – for experts, anyway.

From mentioning the brand name to offering benefits to throwing in a jab at Steven, Groupon schools marketers in top-notch subject lines – all while breaking the most basic rule: keep it short and sweet.

2. Essential Oils…Learn what they do!

Mother Earth Pillows sells, you guessed it, pillows! (Specifically therapeutic pillows.)

But this subject line broadens their scope by offering knowledge on a related topic: essential oils – something many therapeutic pillow users may be interested in.

Now that’s knowing your audience. 

3. real baseball fans eat burritos

The lower-caps. The pointed jab at burgers and beer. The knowledge that “real” fans eat burritos – as if everyone already knew that, right?

With this subject line, Boloco markets its product while convincing readers that Red Sox fans crave burritos, not burgers.  

4. Trip or Treat! Up to $300 off ends tomorrow

EF’s spooky subject line couples a quirky emoji with a sense of time-bound urgency. Absolutely boo-tiful.

5. Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring.

Here, Warby Parker combines a conversational tone with a personalized, relevant touch. Helpful, friendly, and approachable? Time to get those new glasses!

6. Don’t Open This Email

What’s better than answering questions? Getting away with something forbidden.

This subject line from Manicube gives readers the feeling they’re doing just that by telling them not to do the thing – thereby ensuring their readers will do the opposite of what they tell them.

Pretty clever if you ask us. (Not that you did.)

7. 10 bizarre money habits making Millennials richer

What brings together numbers, money, and Millennials? This subject line from Refinery29 that just screams “Open me!” (And we’re sure readers did, too.)

8. Not Cool, Guys

If there’s one thing BuzzFeed knows, it’s how to deliver on its clickbait. Just look at the preview text that followed this enigma of a subject line: “Okay, WHO left the passive-aggressive sticky note on my fridge?”

9. We Need To Talk…

PPC Protect boosted its open rate to 63% with this simple subject line. Not only does it sound important, but it triggers your curiosity (and perhaps a little anxiety, too).

10. TGIF!

Acronym-only subject lines mark the epitome of short, sweet, and relatable. 

11.  Join us for a Bling-ing good time

This email subject line from The Basketry builds on the power of risqué (alluding curse words) while marketing their product and upcoming event. (The rest of the email offered their contact information and an invitation to an upcoming “Breakfast & Bling” event.)

12.   “Yes, this is a fundraising email” and “Hey”

Simple, straightforward…and garnering open rates of nearly 80%. These two boring email subject lines, sent by Al Franken and Barack Obama, illustrate the power of celebrity names – and a bit of honest intrigue.

Key Takeaways

  • Good email subject lines can make all the difference between a failed and successful email marketing campaign.
  • A/B test subject lines often. Keep testing the winner against a new contender. Improvement never stops. 
  • Personalization is a good foundation for a high open-rate subject line. 
  • Questions work exceptionally well, don’t overuse them.
  • Shocking subject lines may have a negative effect, be careful! 

FAQs

What is a good example of a subject line for an email?

“Quick question?” – one of the most converting email subject lines is a question. This lets the person know that you’re not going to take up too much of their time (think: brevity), but you do need their help with something.

What makes a catchy subject line?

Keep it brief and personal. Questions work great as well. Just make sure that it is not clickbait!

How do you create urgency with subject lines?

“Ends today” – time constraints are a great way to create urgency. It lets the person know they need to act now if they’re interested.

“Only 2 left!” – scarcity is another great way to create urgency. If there’s only a limited number of something available, people are more likely to act quickly to get them.

Writing good email subject lines takes time and testing. In this post, we will help you to get to your best email marketing subject lines quicker!

An Easy Guide to A/B Testing Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is a great way to connect with your audience and promote your product or service. However, it can be difficult to know which approach will work best for your business. That’s where A/B testing your email marketing campaigns comes in!

Thorough A/B testing allows you to learn your subscribers’ preferences and deliver the best email campaigns optimized for results. Plus, you can use the results to guide your marketing team, eliminate opinion-based decisions, and grow your brand more effectively.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to improve your A/B testing strategy and catch the eyes (and dollars ) of your target audience.

Are you new to email marketing? Learn more by reading our guide on “How to Get Started in Email Marketing.”

What is A/B Testing, and How Does it Work?

Email A/B testing, sometimes called split testing, refers to experimenting with different email variations to determine what your subscribers respond to the best.

When you run A/B tests, you send two versions of one email to similarly-sized sample groups from your email subscribers list.

Then, you measure which version sees the most opens, click-throughs, and sales in your test batch. The winning version goes out to the rest of your subscriber list, where it hopefully collects eyeballs and drives conversions.

The goal of A/B split testing is to evaluate and compare changes to a single variable to drive more clicks and conversions. 

Over time, you can test almost every element, from subject lines to “From” names to call-to-action (CTA) buttons. As you perform more tests and compile your subscriber’s preferences, you can build an effective email campaign and drive more growth. Best of all, most modern email marketing tools offer at least basic A/B capabilities, which makes the testing process much more efficient!

Why is AB Testing Email Marketing Campaigns Important?

Nowadays, many marketers skip email A/B testing in their email campaigns. This happens for several reasons, such as not knowing what to test or relying on information generated by other marketers.

Unfortunately for those people, email marketing, like all marketing, requires knowing your audience – not another industry’s audience. 

Ultimately, your brand, products, and subscribers vary even from your competitors, which makes doing your own research vitally important.

A/B split testing allows you to find and capitalize on those differences. It’s one of the fastest, most efficient ways to connect with your audience and deliver them the content they want to engage with.

For most marketers, the results outweigh the cost and effort. For instance, Campaign Monitor found that improving their templates through A/B testing spiked click-throughs by 127% almost overnight. That’s just one metric – imagine how well you’d perform if you were optimized top to bottom!

7 Factors That You Should A/B Test

One benefit – and drawback – of A/B testing is that you can explore how dozens of variables impact your email marketing performance.

On one hand, that allows for unprecedented personalization, on the other, it requires a lot of testing to get right.

Here are seven factors to consider in email split testing.

1. “From” Name

Some marketers swear that what goes in the “From” field is the most important component of email marketing efforts. (Take your friends, for example. No matter what’s in the subject line, your open rates on their emails are probably 100%!)

As an email marketer, you can use your “From” name to build rapport. Tons of factors can impact your open rates based on your business and audience, such as:

  • Altering the level of formality (Mrs. Jones vs. Cecilia)
  • Whether you present as a person or company name (Fantastic Company A vs. Jenny)
  • And even including a greeting (Yo, it’s Jake!)

The key to success with your From field is selecting and sticking with the best version after you tested it.

Using one name, be it yours or your company name, consistently – allows your subscribers to recognize your emails in the future.  

2. Subject Lines

Your subject line is one of your readers’ first points of contact – it shows up right in the inbox. A compelling subject line makes all the difference in your campaign’s open rates.

Subject lines remain one of the most popular focus areas for A/B testing. They are right there “on the surface.” making the most critical impact. If nobody opens your emails, what is in them won’t matter.

Below, we’ll explore a few ways to maximize your email subject line potential.

Personalization

According to this study, the subscriber’s name is the single most impactful word in a subject line. Dynamically inserting your audiences’ names can add a feeling of connection and boost the open rate by 14%, leading to higher conversions.

For example, instead of saying “15% off sale!” you could say, “Janet, we’re giving you 15% off today!” This personalizes the subject line and gives the gift of savings simultaneously.

Word Order

The word order in email subject lines serves to frontload or backload information. For example, you could tell your audience:

Use this discount code for 15% off today!vs. Get 15% off today with this discount code!

In the second example, you immediately emphasize the reader’s benefit, potentially increasing open rates.

Question vs. Statement

For many people, leaving a question unanswered drives them crazy – use that to your advantage!

Throwing your audience a question inspires them to open your emails and find the answers your email campaign offers. Formats that catch your audience’s attention to keep them reading (and clicking) may start with:

  • Did you know…?
  • Do you want…?
  • Have you heard…?
  • Where can you…?

You can use A/B testing to see which type of questions work best – if at all.

Symbols or Numbers

Using characters like symbols, numbers, and emojis can capture your readers’ attention as they scroll through their inboxes. The key is to use characters that are catchy and relevant to your email.

You also want to avoid using emojis in every email; otherwise, the bright colors and faces lose their novelty.

Length

A recent study found that subject lines perform best around 41 characters or 7 words.

A shorter subject line length offers just enough information to draw readers in. In comparison, long subject lines may remove the “mystery” that draws your email recipients to click.

3. Email Template Layout

The best-performing email layout varies based on your industry, brand, audience, and the email’s purpose. You’ll also want to consider how much content you cram into each email.

Try switching between one- and two-column layouts or adding text over or through images. Use the responses to gauge whether your audience prefers their information quick and condensed or sprawling and easier to read.

Note: When you test layout, keep your content, subject line, and images the same. The goal is to test how your readers respond to rearranging, not changing, information.

4. Copy

The human attention span fell from 12 seconds to 8 seconds between 2000 and 2015. (You can thank smartphones for that!) Reduced attention spans mean that emphasizing great copy in your email body is more important than ever. 

If you can’t concisely and simply explain your point, product, or offer, you’ll struggle to build a successful conversion process and generate revenue.

Fortunately, you can use A/B testing to ascertain which facets of your copywriting work for your audience.

Length

One way to cater to shorter attention spans is by using fewer words. Minimizing language and maximizing value with short-form copy means sharing your story and offers while keeping subscribers’ attention.

However, this varies by demographic. For instance, older generations or industry professionals may prefer long-form copy that details your offer more thoroughly.

Personalization

Using your subscribers’ names, referencing their location, or even mentioning their company can improve the relevance and lead to more click-throughs.

Tone

Your copy’s tone makes a huge difference in how your audience perceives information. 

Incorporating positivity into your email has been found to engage readers’ brains more powerfully, encouraging them to understand – and act on – key messages.

5. Visuals and Images

Research suggests that human brains process imagery 60,000x faster than text. You can capitalize on this information by using images, graphics, and charts to:

  • Drive home your key message;
  • Encourage information absorption;
  • Increase engagement rates.

During the testing phase, you can examine how the type, color, placement, and quality of images drive conversions.  Adding text, moving GIFs, and even the activity level of subjects within the images can all impact engagement.

That said, images aren’t always successful.

Some marketers have reported that images actually decreased engagement rates because images detracted from their content. (Which is why A/B testing is so darn important!)

6. Your Call-to-Action (CTA)

CTAs are one of the most important parts of any email marketing campaign, especially when it comes to your click-through rate.

You can use your CTA to clarify your audience’s next step, such as:

  • Signing up for a webinar;
  • Purchasing a product;
  • Receiving a discount by acting now;
  • Learning more on your blog.

Of course, the tone and type of CTA matter to your audience. And optimizing your design for maximum clicks ensures that you drive as many conversions as possible.

You can generally choose from two basic CTA designs: adding colorful buttons or using hyperlinked texts. For some marketers, “loud” buttons improve click-through rates by catching readers’ attention.

For others, inserting simple text links right into the conversation better caters to a particular audience or product.

Color

We mentioned loud, right?

Colors can affect human mood and reactions. You can use this to influence your audience’s perception, emotion, and action. Then, apply it to your CTA (both buttons and hyperlinks) or build it into your established color palette.

Copy

Regardless of your CTA format, you should choose your copy carefully. Specific, action-oriented copy that drives a sense of urgency can increase your click-through rates more than generic text.

For example, switching from “Shop Here” to “Buy Now” probably won’t make a huge difference.

But moving from “Buy Now” to “I’m in, let’s do this!” or “Discover the secret to eternal youth here!” is almost guaranteed to increase your CTR. Don’t be afraid to speak directly to your readers’ desires and experiences!

Placement

Placing your CTA  helps direct your readers to take the actions you desire. If you hide a tiny CTA between images, randomly within the copy, or at the bottom of your email, your subscribers will struggle to find out.

However, if you make your CTA loud and place it strategically, you can guide your readers. 

Try embedding your CTA at the beginning of your copy, at the top of your email, or in product text.

Number

Why choose between the top and bottom of your email when you can put in two CTAs? 

For that matter, why limit yourself to buttons or hyperlinks when you can reap the increased click-through rates of both?

7. Delivery Times

While tons of data exists, it’s best to test this metric to see what works for your industry, brand, and subscribers. While you may never achieve 100% open rates, you’ll see more success some days and times than others.

 For example, people may be more likely to buy after lunch when they’re full than before lunch when they’re “hangry”.

This topic could be a separate post, so we wrote one! Check it out if you would like to learn more about the best times to send marketing emails.

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Types of A/B Testing

You can run four basic types of A/B tests. 

Single-Factor A/B Testing

Single-factor A/B testing involves testing just one factor across two variations of your email. (Such as only changing your CTA or subject line.) 

This type of A/B test requires a 50/50 split of your testing group. Using single-factor testing allows you to explore new ideas and gather intel one change at a time. 

As you test more factors, you can build on your database to make more informed decisions in future campaigns.

Multivariate Testing

Multivariable testing refers to testing multiple variables in a single A/B campaign

Generally, you move to multivariable testing once you’ve performed single-factor A/B tests on everything from your subject lines to your CTA. At this point, the goal is to determine the best combination of different elements rather than how a single factor performs. 

These more complicated tests allow you to build on winning elements from simpler prior tests.

The downside is that you can’t be sure if a single factor or multiple factors encouraged which reader behaviors.

Champion vs. Challenger Testing

Champion vs. challenger testing requires a long-term approach to improving the success of your email campaigns.

In this method, you use your winning variations as control groups against new ideas. (In other words, once you’ve found what works, you come back to test new ideas so you don’t fall into a marketing rut.)

Hold-Out Testing

Hold-out testing involves not sending some of your subscribers a particular email at all. Then, you can measure purchase rates to see if your marketing has any impact whatsoever.

Because this method involves a lack of promotion, it’s best performed rarely and in small groups.

8 Tips for Efficient A/B Testing Campaigns

Modern-day email marketing tools make A/B testing simple and quick. But before you dive in on your own, consider these strategic tips to increase your success.

1. Don’t Rely on Someone Else’s Results

Looking at where and how other marketers can provide valuable insights into your own potential. For instance, dozens of studies exist on the “right” way to write your email subject lines.

But ultimately, you’re running your own business and email campaigns with your own subscribers. Not to mention, marketing success varies widely between industries, brands, and demographics.

Running your own tests is crucial to avoid drawing incorrect conclusions from valid but irrelevant results.

2. Prioritize Which Factors to Test First

Picking between testing subject lines, button colors, and email template format isn’t always easy when you have lots of ideas. 

However, especially at first, you’ll want to prioritize the ideas most likely to drive better results with less effort.

To do so, ask yourself how:

  • …big of an impact each change could make;
  • …confident you are the impact will be positive;
  • …easily you can implement each test.

You can use the answers to these questions to rank your ideas in order of priority and improvement potential.  

3. Don’t Test Too Many Factors at Once

The main goal of A/B testing is to figure out how your subscribers respond to various changes in your marketing strategy. Testing too many variables at once removes your ability to determine what changes – if any – your audience prefers.

Plus, it’s often easier to measure the impacts of small or simple changes over large changes. (Think subject line or call-to-action versus template design.)

It’s best to wait on multivariable testing until you’ve compiled a solid database on individual variables. Then, you can start testing combination changes to build the best long-term strategy for your brand.

4. Identify Your Goal

Once you’ve found a factor to test, you’ll need to decide how you’ll measure your success. Open, click-through, and sales rates are all common email metrics. Consider how you want one primary metric to perform during the test (such as increasing conversions by 50%).

5. Form a Constructive Hypothesis

After you have a metric in mind, you can set up a  hypothesis. A simple “If I change X, then Y could happen” will help you think through your strategy. You’ll also avoid wasting time by making changes that aren’t likely to have a major impact.

At the same time, a well-formed hypothesis can encourage you to think outside the box.

6. Pick the Right Sample Size

When you run A/B tests, you pull out a section of your subscribers as your “guinea pigs.” Once you analyze the data from this smaller group, you can send the winning email to your remaining subscribers.

But determining the right sample size can be tricky.

When you have a smaller mailing list, you’ll need to have larger test groups percentage-wise to see substantial results. For instance, if you have only 500 subscribers, you may A/B test your entire list at once. Then, you can use the information to improve future email campaigns.

For brands with lists over 1,000 subscribers, the 80/20 rule can help. In marketing, this rule suggests that focusing on 20% of subscribers will produce 80% of your results.

So, if you have 1,000 subscribers, you’d use 200 of them for testing or two groups of 100 people. Once the data rolls in, you’d send the winner to the other 800 to drive results.  

7. Set the Right Timing Window

Aside from choosing the right sending time, you should carefully manage your testing timing window. Many marketers prefer to conduct A/B testing the same day the winning email goes out.

However, waiting up to 24 hours gives people more time to engage with (or ignore) emails, producing more accurate results.

On the other hand, if you’re dealing with time-sensitive information in a particular email campaign, you may want to send emails sooner.  

8. Don’t Forget to Act on Your Results

The goal of A/B testing is to find out what email marketing habits work best for your subscribers.

If one version performs better than the other, you have a winner.

If neither test version performs better, you’ve learned that that variable – or what you did to it – doesn’t matter to your audience. In A/B testing, even failed or inconclusive data can be valuable for future email campaigns.

Once you’ve gathered enough data on a single variable, it’s time to act on your newfound knowledge. 

While you don’t only have to stick with “winning” combinations (sometimes it’s nice to switch things up), knowing what increases engagement comes in mighty handy.

Key Takeaways for A/B Email Testing

  • A/B testing your email marketing campaigns can make all the difference between failed and successful email marketing campaigns.
  • Start with single factor testing, and keep putting the winner against contenders!  
  • Test everything, and make sure to take note of all the tests performed.
  • Once you’ve found what works, that’s not time to stop A/B testing. The process should be constant and ongoing to keep up with changing behaviors. 

FAQs

How Long Should A/B Testing Take?

The testing process can be nerve-wracking, but you need to allow for enough to gather clear data on what the most effective strategy was. Most experts say waiting at least a couple of hours to determine which is the winner for most opens, and it can take 12+ hours to determine which is the winner in terms of revenue.

What is the Goal of Email A/B Test Email Marketing?

The entire goal of email a/b testing is to determine which variation of your email campaign garners the best results. This can be a different definition of “best” based on your current business and marketing goals. Are you looking to increase revenue or grow your email list? These will help to determine the success of your a/b testing. 

Are there Tools to Help Automate A/B Email Campaigns?

There are many email marketing tools out there to help you create a successful a/b email campaign, including Tailwind’s Email Marketing!

Split testing your email marketing sounds intimidating, but it doesn't have to be! This guide teaches you to A/B test every detail of your emails with ease!

A Simple Guide to Ecommerce Email Marketing

If you’re like most eCommerce businesses, you’re investing in top-notch eCommerce email marketing strategies. 

A well-designed email campaign offers immense value, engagement opportunities, and increased lifetime sales. 

Not to mention, your email marketing campaign allows you to grow your reach and raise brand awareness.

If you’re not using email marketing in the modern age, then you might as well be burning your money. The same goes for marketers who don’t gear their email campaigns specifically for their eCommerce businesses.

eCommerce email marketing is its own kind of beast. It requires unique strategies, verbiage, timing, and of course, segmentation. Meeting customers where they’re at – in this case, their inbox – is a pretty intimate relationship. As such, you should handle every interaction with the care your subscribers deserve.

Want to learn more about email marketing? Read How to Get Started in Email Marketing!

What is eCommerce Email Marketing & How Is It Different?

eCommerce email marketing is an email marketing strategy designed to help online businesses engage with subscribers and customers.

Broadly speaking, email marketing has long proven to be a crucial component of business success. When running an online store, that’s doubly true!

Think about it this way: brick-and-mortar retailers have physical locations where customers convene, browse, and spend. But when your entire customer-facing business is an eCommerce store, maintaining a personal relationship is even more important.

After all, they can’t drive by your office or retail storefront driving down the road. To bring in business, you have to reach out to them first.

How to Effectively Use Email Marketing for eCommerce

Like many other email campaigns, you can use this email marketing strategy to:

  • Send welcome emails to make new subscribers feel at home
  • Highlight new product lines
  • Offer promotions and discounts
  • Or just thank your customers for being awesome

Employing this email marketing strategy in online businesses comes with immense benefits. You can develop brand awareness, build credibility, and establish lasting relationships. 

Plus, you can educate users on your brand’s value and “soft sell” yourself as an authority!

Ideas for ecommerce businesses to email their subscribers

Promotional vs. Transactional Emails: A Key Distinction

An eCommerce email marketing strategy varies slightly from regular email campaigns. Not only do you have normal promotional emails, but you’ll also take advantage of transactional emails.

Promotional emails are what you think of when you consider email marketing. These emails inform subscribers about products and offers, and maintain regular contact with customers.

Transactional emails have a few more “rules,” so to speak. Order confirmations, receipts, and delivery updates fall under this umbrella. 

While transactional emails are essential for maintaining customer relationships, they serve another purpose: protecting customers and online stores in the event that products are lost in transit.

Importantly, neither promotional nor email transactions are more important – you need both to run an eCommerce business.

Top Emails for Successful eCommerce Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing for eCommerce may play by slightly different rules. That said, just because you own an online store doesn’t mean you have to throw out the whole playbook. From welcome emails to post-purchase emails, here are the key components for a successful campaign.

Start With A Welcome Email

There’s no better way to welcome new subscribers and kick off your email campaigns than with an aptly-named welcome email.

You can use this first of many eCommerce marketing messages to make a good impression by making new customers feel noticed and appreciated.

Take a moment to set expectations, too, like how often you’ll reach out. Throwing in a little humor – without being obnoxious – also helps set the tone for your relationship with potential customers. Plus, it’s good for your brand.

33% of customers engage more with eCommerce businesses if they receive a welcome email first thing. And the return on investment with welcome emails can be up to three times higher than any other promotional campaign.

Cart Abandonment

Research shows that around 70% of all eCommerce visitors abandon their carts before purchase, resulting in lost sales!

Some 61% of visitors cite a lack of free shipping as the primary reason. Another 37% express frustration at online site sign-up requirements. 28% list a long or complicated checkout process as an additional barrier to purchase.

That makes abandoned cart emails some of the most important correspondence you’ll have (next to welcome emails). Studies show that they work: a well-timed abandoned cart email can recover nearly 22% of lost sales. In some cases, that number can be as high as 50%.

Post Purchase Emails (Order Confirmation Emails)

Post-purchase emails serve to thank customers for their orders, confirm transaction numbers, and send receipts. Moreover, post-purchase emails set expectations and simplify the shipping and return process later, should complications arise with your eCommerce store.

Here, too, research shows that these emails can benefit your online store. In one study, marketers found that post-purchase emails could add an additional 22 cents in revenue. That’s not a lot at first – but for every 1,000 receipts you send, that’s another $250 in your pocket.

You’re not limited to sending receipts, either. You can also upsell other products, build customer loyalty with a generous thank-you offer, or promote your referral program!

Are you enjoying learning about eCommerce email marketing and eCommerce email marketing strategies so far?

Learn more about how Tailwind can help you create the perfect emails speedily and simply.

Tailwind helps build emails in accordance with best practices for your email marketing campaigns. Not to mention, Tailwind combines your email marketing and social media marketing campaigns into one place for easy, effective execution.

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Cross Selling Emails

Upselling and cross-selling emails have a simple goal: to encourage customers to add extra (often related) items to their cart.

These emails can drive conversions, boost your profit margin, and build customer loyalty. Sure, you’re asking customers to spend money – but you’re also carefully curating a list of potentially helpful products.

One of the most effective ways to cross-sell products is by tacking them right on your post-purchase emails. Since digital receipts have some of the highest open rates out there, why not use them to get more eyeballs on your products?

Promotional Emails

Promotional emails are the bread and butter of eCommerce email marketing campaigns. You can offer discounts, announce exciting new product lines, or even promote a blog post!

With the right message, you can turn new subscribers into repeat customers, and from there, into loyal customers.

Given the value of customer loyalty to your eCommerce site, promotional emails are an investment worth making.

Seasonal Emails

Holidays, changing seasons, and even local events give you an excuse to reach out to your email subscribers. 

Put it this way: November and December alone account for a quarter of annual retail sales. Of that, online stores claim upwards of 15-30% of those sales, with email marketing driving the way.

That means online stores generate sales totaling $115 billion to $230 billion in just two months. All it takes is the right email marketing campaign to persuade customers your way.

Personalized Emails

Paying customers like to know that companies appreciate their business. What better way to generate sales and build customer loyalty than by sending out a special deal on special dates? 

From birthdays to wedding anniversaries to sign-up anniversaries, you should take every opportunity to remind customers that they’re always on your mind. Remember: eCommerce email marketing isn’t just about ensuring customers remember you. Sometimes, it’s about ensuring customers know you remember them!

Referral Program Emails

Inviting repeat customers to refer family and friends to your online store is a great way to capture leads. After all, 74% of consumers identify personal referrals as a key component of their spending decisions. And loyal customers are more likely to recommend brands they trust to their inner circle.

Setting up a good referral program – perhaps with a small discount or special offer – lets you capture those potential profits. (And rewards your loyal customers in the process.)

Customer Loyalty and Re-Engagement Emails

Customer loyalty and re-engagement emails do exactly what the name says. In either email marketing campaign, the goal is to strengthen your relationship with loyal customers. (Or, as the case may be, not-so-loyal customers.)

For instance, with customer loyalty emails, the goal is to encourage existing customers to remain that way. You might send out birthday emails, special offers for big spenders, or even a “Thank You for Your Loyalty” email to show appreciation.

With re-engagement email marketing campaigns, your task may be more difficult: rekindling waning relationships. Maybe customers have found a cheaper eCommerce site elsewhere. Perhaps they’ve just gotten busy. Sometimes, an email may have gotten stuck in a spam folder – it happens.

No matter the reason, a carefully-crafted email marketing campaign (let’s not forget the discounts!) can lure them back in.

Feedback Emails

One underutilized type of email marketing campaign is the feedback email.

Feedback emails provide opportunities to engage with customers on their level. More importantly (and frighteningly), they give your email subscribers a chance to say just what they think of you.

In turn, you can use this knowledge to better understand your customers’ desires and pain points, as well as any problems with your brand. 

Then, you can implement an email marketing strategy to address these points, whether you offer a discount or knowledge on how you plan to improve your product lines.

Paying customers – and your bottom line – will thank you!

eCommerce Email Marketing Campaign Tips

Personalization

Personalization is always important in email marketing, not just in eCommerce. Used delicately, personalization can improve open rates, clicks, and conversions. At the same time, you may avoid the email spam folder or server bans.

If you’re not personalizing emails, you’re missing a fantastic opportunity to personally engage with paying customers.

But it’s not just about using first names in the subject line; it’s about sprinkling your knowledge of your customers throughout your entire email marketing campaign.

Whether that’s using customers’ names, referencing their birthdays, or simply recommending the right products, a little knowledge goes a long way.

7 tips for eCommerce marketing campaigns, including personalization, proper segmentation, don't be boring, timing, drip campaigns and triggered emails, have a clear CTA and use the right tool.

Proper Segmentation

Personalization isn’t everything in a well-designed email marketing strategy. What’s the point of having all that customer information if you don’t put it to good use? By segmenting your list and sending emails based on customer behaviors and preferences, you can capture higher returns. Best of all, segmentation is easy to implement, especially with modern email automation.  

Don’t Be Boring

Many eCommerce brands could benefit from a more lighthearted approach to email marketing. Throwing in humor, referencing current events, and adding funny GIFs can brighten up your recipients’ inboxes. 

If you’d chuckle at a picture of a dog wearing a hat and monocle, your customers probably would too! Don’t be afraid to experiment a little.

Timing

In email marketing, timing is everything. (And no, we’re not just talking about not sending Christmas emails in July.) Customers want to know that your online business cares about them – without you bombarding their inbox until they block you!

Some companies balance these competing needs by sending a weekly newsletter and occasionally dropping in a special promotion. Alternatively, your email campaign may skip the newsletter entirely and stick with a monthly promotion, product release announcements, and post-purchase emails.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be pure guesswork. You can use A/B testing to gauge customer responses and determine the best schedule for your email marketing strategy. 

Feedback emails and surveys also provide unique insights that can significantly improve your business. 

Drip Campaigns and Triggered Emails

Automated drip campaigns and triggered emails let you keep in touch with email subscribers while gently ushering them down the sales funnel.

For instance, while welcome emails guide new customers in, abandoned cart emails help recover lost sales. And re-engagement emails can return a previously paying customer to a current paying customer.

And everyone – we do mean everyone – enjoys discounts, promotions, and “Just for You!” offers to brighten (or lighten) their wallets.

Have a Clear CTA

The average inbox receives upwards of 100 emails (or more) per day. Aside from the pressure of standing out, you have just a few seconds for customers to see and decide (or decline) your CTA.

Putting a big, bold call-to-action in every email makes your marketing messages clear and highlights your email marketing campaigns against the competition.

Use The Right Tool

Not only a solid email marketing tool is essential, but you must also make sure that you picked the right one.

Email marketing service comparisons go beyond this post, but there are just a couple of points that we would like to emphasize.

Make sure that the tools of your choice will have robust list management and funnel creation. You will need to tag subscribers based on their actions and send them different automated email campaigns based on their tags.

So look for email marketing software that will have these options and customizations.

Key Takeaways

  • Email marketing is an excellent way to keep in touch with email subscribers in general. But for eCommerce businesses and online stores, it’s absolutely crucial.
  • With the right email marketing strategy, you can sell your brand, build and maintain relationships, and drive sales. And by staying connected with your loyal customers, you can ensure that they return to you again and again.
  • Chose one of the email service providers that can connect to various eCommerce platforms. That way, you can set up a couple of optimizations to make your life a bit easier!
  • Light personalization, brevity, and consistency are key elements of email marketing performance in eCommerce.
  • Improvement never stops, AB testing should be a constant process, and subject lines can make the biggest impact.

FAQ

How does eCommerce use email marketing?

There are a number of ways that eCommerce businesses can use email marketing to drive sales and engage customers. For example, you can send out periodic newsletters with updates on new products, special offers, or other newsworthy items.

This helps to keep customers informed and up-to-date on what’s happening with the company and can encourage them to make further purchases.

Is email marketing part of eCommerce?

Email marketing is often used in conjunction with other types of marketing, such as social media or online advertising. However, it can also be a standalone tool to reach potential customers and encourage sales.

When used effectively, email marketing can be a powerful tool for driving traffic to your eCommerce website and increasing sales.

What is an eCommerce email?

An eCommerce email is a marketing message sent to customers or prospective customers with the intent of promoting a product or service. These messages can be sent as part of an email marketing campaign, or they can be sent on their own.

Ecommerce emails can take many different forms, but they all have one goal in common; to encourage the recipient to take action, whether that’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or taking some other desired action.

How do I write a good eCommerce email?

The best way to write an eCommerce email will vary depending on your goals and your audience. Pick one of the email campaign types from this post, and start experimenting!

Email marketing is one of the most profitable channels for eCommerce. We prepared a simple guide that will help you get started!

How to Repurpose Your Social Media Content in Email Campaigns

Producing quality content takes time. And with businesses stretched thin, keeping up with the demands of running multiple campaigns across multiple channels can easily leave you feeling stressed and frustrated. 

But the great thing about content is that it can be repurposed. The content you produce for social media can work beautifully in your email marketing campaigns too. 

And we’re going to look at how content repurposing can make your email marketing even better.

Five ways to use your social media content in emails

 1. Showcase user-generated content (UGC)

Social media is a great place to find images created by your very own customers (known as user-generated content or UGC for short).  

If you sell a physical product, such as a clothing brand or homeware, there’s a good chance that loyal customers might photograph what they’ve bought from you and share the images on social media. 

You can encourage more customers to do this by asking recent purchasers to tag photos of your product on Instagram. It can also work on Facebook and Twitter too.

Offering an incentive or running a giveaway is one effective way to generate more user-generated content. For example, you could award vouchers to the best image tagged on Instagram. 

For a masterclass on how to use UGC, look at the marketing materials of the underwear brand MeUndies. They’ve grown an active community of over 406k followers on Instagram thanks to their fun and racy content.

But much of this content is user-generated – customers and influencers alike are posting thousands of selfies showing their MeUndies underwear. In fact, there are over 32,000 posts with #meundies on Instagram. 

Image source: Instagram

And MeUndies has put this user-generated content to extra use by including some of the most popular Instagram images in their email marketing campaigns.

Image source: ReallyGoodEmails

The only images in this email are images created by customers and influencers on Instagram. This not only showcases the MeUndies products but also encourages subscribers to follow MeUndies on Instagram. 

Plus, featuring UGC is an effective form of social proof – potential customers see other happy customers wearing MeUndies underwear and that helps bring them closer to buying their own.

2. Use your social media feed and images in your email templates

Images are an important part of good email design. But producing high-quality images can be time-consuming and expensive. 

To save on time and cost, use images and link your feed from your social media accounts in your email templates. 

When you add your social media feed into your email, it encourages your subscribers to engage with your brand in multiple ways, as well as allows them to view your brand from new perspectives. Especially if you have a heavily visual type of business, such as jewelry.

Images from Instagram and Pinterest can be used to create newsletter headers. Here’s an example from the wellness brand Well + Good:

Images and takeaways from any webinars you are a part of are also great to add into your email template. By showing yourself in the light of leadership and community, you are positioning yourself in a trusting way while also providing visuals and value to your subscribers.

Well+Good used images from their Instagram account to form the header in their welcome email. The color palettes and subject matter of these images are typical of the images Well + Good posts on Instagram.

And this synchronicity between their social media and email marketing helps foster a stronger brand image and awareness – subscribers will more easily recognize content produced by Well + Good. 

Brand awareness – the degree to which consumers recognize your brand, product, or service – helps keep your business top-of-mind so that when consumers are ready to buy, they’ll think of you first. 

Image source: ReallyGoodEmails

Creating a strong brand image across your various marketing channels will help your audience become even more familiar with your offering. 

But it’s not just the email header where you can use social media images – you can also use them in the email footer. The bottom of an email is the perfect place to mention your social media channels and encourage subscribers to become followers. And using content from your social media channels will show subscribers what they can look forward to when they follow you. 

Here’s an example from the women’s health brand Hers:

At the bottom of their email, they’ve included a grid of images taken from Instagram alongside a call-to-action of ‘follow us’. 

With headers and footers like these, you can create email templates so that you don’t have to start from scratch with each new campaign. 

Tailwind’s social media & email management platform helps you do email and social media marketing all-in-one, including free email templates to efficiently and seamlessly run your email marketing campaigns. Sign up for a FOREVER FREE plan below!

Image source: ReallyGoodEmails

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3. Create an email from existing social media creative 

As well as using social media images to create headers and footers for your email templates, you can also use more elaborate social media content to design one entire email. 

Here’s an example from shaving brand Harry’s to illustrate the point:

This email promotes the three different scents available for Harry’s bar soap and body wash. And it’s done using eye-catching illustrations that are also featured on their Instagram account as animated GIFs.

A lot of work would have gone into designing the animated GIF for Instagram. So it makes sense to repurpose this content across other channels – not only does it save time, but it also saves money.

Rather than having to design fresh content for an email campaign, Harry’s has simply reformatted existing content to suit the format of the email. 

Another bonus of this is that it ensures this particular campaign reaches Harry’s audience wherever they might be – on Instagram or email.

In case followers missed the post on Instagram, they’ll receive an email promoting the same products as well. 

If you’ve ever found yourself looking at a blank template in your email marketing tool wondering what content to fill it with, take a look through your social media posts and steal your most attention-grabbing designs.  

 

4. Round up your most popular posts

If content is trending with your social media followers, there’s a good chance your email subscribers will appreciate the content too. So consider sharing your most popular social media posts in an email. 

Using the analytics in your social media accounts, such as Instagram and Pinterest, or in your scheduling tool, find the posts that are getting the most likes and comments. And then curate a collection in an email campaign

If you can theme the images, even better, as you can then link to related product pages on your website to drive sales. 

Here’s how clothing brand Urban Outfitters does it:

In this email Urban Outfitters has rounded up its most-liked Instagram posts. And each image shows off an Urban Outfitters product, from dresses to trainers. 

Image source: ReallyGoodEmails

This is another example of using user-generated content and each image includes the handle of the Instagrammer that created the content. It has the added bonus of encouraging email subscribers to create more UGC – when they see that others have had their Instagram posts featured in an email campaign, they’ll be inspired to seek their own ‘five minutes of fame’ by submitting similar content for Urban Outfitters to feature in their next campaign. 

Though you don’t have to use UGC – you can round up your own social media content too. Urban Outfitters sent a similar email to their subscribers rounding up their most-pinned items on Pinterest. 

4. Share social media polls and survey results

Adding polls and surveys to social media posts is one surefire way to boost engagement. For example, you can use Instagram Polls to ask your followers about their preferences – it’s easy for them to respond, and it provides you with valuable insights into your customers’ wants and needs. 

But a social media poll’s usefulness doesn’t end there because you can use the results to create emails that evoke curiosity among your subscribers. 

Here’s another example from Hers:

In this email, Hers presents the results of a survey that tells their audience what’s popular and what was most voted for. Granted, the survey was most likely sent via email. But it’s a good example of how to use survey results to create an email. 

Social media polls can also give you insights into what’s popular with your audience.

Image source: ReallyGoodEmails

Of course, you can also run social media polls as a survey via email and collect results across multiple channels. This will give you even more results to later share with your audience. 

6. Include social media testimonials

Including customer testimonials pulled from your social media accounts can provide that all-important social proof to help convert subscribers into customers. 

Here’s an example from deal finder site Scott’s Cheap Flights:

The goal of this email is to persuade the audience to sign up for a free trial of the premium membership. And by including a few customer testimonials from Twitter, Scott’s Cheap Flights assure potential trialists that they won’t regret the decision. 

Using testimonials like this is a great way to show off the benefits of your product or service, in the actual words of your customers. It helps build confidence among prospective customers who will take these testimonials as proof that your product or service is trustworthy. 

Image source: ReallyGoodEmails

And thankfully social media testimonials are easy to collect – simply search posts you’ve been tagged in and pick the most positive ones. If you’re low on social media testimonials, use one of these 25 proven ways to get more customer reviews on social media

Wrapping up

Constantly having to come up with new ideas for email marketing campaigns can be frustrating. But by repurposing existing social media content, you can save time, money, and your sanity. 

So when you’re next looking at a blank email template, wondering what to send to your subscribers, remember to:

  • Keep an eye on your most popular social media posts to better understand your audience and use these insights to decide what content to include in your emails. 
  • Collect user-generated content to give you a broader catalog of images and provide social proof to customers who might be sitting on the fence. 
  • Make your best social media content work harder by creating email templates and entire email campaigns from it – deliver the same message with consistent design across multiple channels to make sure it’s seen and heard. 

Repurposing content is just one way to integrate social media with your email marketing. And when done well, each channel feeds into the other, giving you greater reach, increased engagement, and more opportunities for conversions. 

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FAQ

What is content repurposing?

Content repurposing is a common marketing tool in which you take already existing content, such as your social media content, and recycle it into a new format suitable for another one of your business’s marketing channels, such as email!

Why repurpose your content for email?

Many marketers and business owners understand that “content is king”. However, having to constantly come up with and create new content for every marketing channel is extremely challenging and time-consuming. By repurposing your content you are saving yourself and your employees time and energy to use on other initiatives.

How do you write good email content from your social media content?

The important thing to remember is that your social media marketing and your email marketing are very different. You can’t simply copy and paste your social media content into an email template and call it good. The best way to write good email content from your social media content is to reformat it. This can be expanding on sections or shortening them, adding links, reworking or removing images, and trying to avoid copying all of the content verbatim, as your email list will likely notice.

Ever wondered if you could repurpose social media campaigns in your emails? The answer is yes - and here's how.

Your Guide to the Post Purchase Email Flow (with Examples!)

Many companies are neglecting post-purchase emails, which is a huge mistake!

It may seem that when a customer makes a purchase, that is the end of the customer journey.

In fact, it is only the beginning. It is a phase when a company has the opportunity to turn a one-time buyer into a lifelong customer, and that is when post-purchase emails come in!

What is a Post-Purchase Email?

A post-purchase email is sent to a customer after they have made a purchase. The purpose of these emails is to thank the customer for their purchase, provide them with information about their order, and give them information on how to use their product.

Most importantly, it gives you an opportunity to establish a relationship with your customers and turn them into repeat customers! 


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What are the Different Types of Post-Purchase Emails?

The types of post-purchase email may differ based on what you are selling. 

Before we continue to the detailed breakdown, here is the list of the high-level categories of post-purchase emails:

  • Confirmation emails – focus on thanking the customer for their purchase and providing information about their order.
  • Shipping notification emails – provide the customer with information about the shipment of their product, including tracking details and estimated delivery date.
  • Welcome emailwelcome emails are an opportunity to thank them for their business and introduce them to your brand or personal background.
  • Sales emails – post-purchase is an opportunity to convert the customer into a repeat customer.

But apart from sending these types of post-purchase emails, there are many ways how you can leverage them to establish a deeper connection with your customer.

Why Is A Post-Purchase Follow-up Email Important?

Post-purchase emails are important for several reasons:

Brand loyalty – If customers have a positive post-purchase experience, they are more likely to be loyal to the brand and make future purchases.

Repeated order – post-purchase email campaigns allow you to sell complementary products to customers who have already shown an interest – with their wallets!

Customer engagement – these emails provide an opportunity to keep the customer engaged with your brand even after making a purchase.

Post-Purchase Experience – sending important information after a customer has purchased to maintain customer loyalty and create repeat business.

Most importantly, it allows you to keep the conversation with the customer going. The best way to leverage this conversation is through a post-purchase email flow.


Elements of a Post-Purchase Email Campaign

Statistics show that it can take around eight touchpoints before the sale is made. 

Sure, you have already sold your product to the customer, but do you know what is better than the first sale? 

A second sale!

Since the customer already bought your product, and you have their payment details and info – that second (third, fourth, etc.) sale may come much quicker than after the initial eight touchpoints.

Post-purchase email campaigns allow you to create additional touchpoints and turn your one-time buyers into loyal, returning customers.

Here is an example of a campaign with post-purchase email subject line ideas!

1. Purchase Confirmation

The first email in the post-purchase email flow is a confirmation that the transaction went through.

This email should include all the details about what the customer has purchased. 

The goal of this phase is to confirm to the customer that everything went smoothly and you are working on their order.

If you are providing a digital product – this would be your welcome email.

Purchase confirmation email subject lines:

  • Thank you for your purchase!
  • Yay, Order Went Through!
  • Thank You, and Welcome! (Digital Products)

2. Order Updates

The second email is an update on the order status, aka “Where is it?!” 

Here you would let the customer know that their order has shipped or if there are any delays.

Keeping customers informed prevents them from wondering what is going on with their purchase, builds trust, and makes your customer service representatives’ lives easier.

Order updates email subject lines:

  • We are working on it!
  • Order # Is On Its Way.
  • Sending Your Order.

3. Product Usage Tips

The third email contains tips on how to use the product.

This email can be very helpful for customers, especially if it’s their first time using your product.

Guides, How-To’s, and videos will help the customer get more of the purchase, and yet again, we are building more rapport for the last stage of the flow.

Product usage tips email subject lines:

  • Did you know…?
  • {name], Let us help!
  • {Product} User Guide 101

4. Feedback Request

The product was received, and the customer is educated and is using it. Now it is time for feedback.

This is a great opportunity to get some insights on what can be improved while also thanking the customer for their business.

If you are running a small operation, you may request personal feedback through email.

Alternatively, you could use a survey form or ask customers to review you on one of the review platforms. (Do not forget to provide the links.)

Feedback request email subject lines:

  • How did we do?
  • We want you to be happy!
  • Did everything go well?

5. Cross-Selling and Upselling

At this point, quite some time had passed since the initial purchase.

The rapport is established, the product delivered, and we are now positioned to use eCommerce email marketing strategies to upsell or cross-sell complementary products.

For example, if you sold a Nikon camera, you could offer a photo album to store the pictures, extra batteries, lenses, etc.

The danger here is to come on too strong. The main objective is to develop helpful suggestions that will benefit the customer experience.

Cross-selling and upselling email subject lines:

  • New products that match your purchase
  • You may also like…
  • Product Recommendations

6. Ending the Flow (Optional)

This will be the last email in the post-purchase campaign chain.

You may have separated the customers into those who made a repeated purchase and those who did not.

To the repeated buyers, you might send updates and news or prepare the ground for seasonal sales.

For the undecided buyers, this is a great chance to include a coupon for the next purchase.

The goal is to show your appreciation for their business and leave the door open for future purchases.

Ending the flow email subject lines:

  • We have some news…
  • Undecided? Here is a discount
  • Thank You For Choosing {Product}

Examples of Post-Purchase Emails

Let’s have a look at examples of the post-purchase email types and email subject line examples that we discussed in this post!

Purchase Confirmation Email

Clear, informative, and right to the point. Exactly the type of post-purchase email that you want to see in the inbox after you confirm the credit card details.

The main objective of this type of email is to provide confirmation that the payment was successful and that the order was placed.

Right after that, the order details should follow – so the customer has an email receipt of the things that they ordered and how much they paid for them.

Subject line: Thank You For Your Order.

At the bottom of the email, apart from the support details, you can see a careful attempt to get more business.

Notice that it is not a discount but rather a referral program. As if you were happy with the purchase, they have a shot at not only making you a repeat buyer but getting another customer for a CAC of $125.

Shipping Confirmation Email

When money is paid, the customer likes to stay informed. After the order is processed, packed, and sent – make sure to let them know it happened!

This is a great example of an order update email from Food52. It informs the customer their order was shipped, provides the tracking link, and recaps what was sent in the package.

Subject line: Good News – Your Food52 order (#650050) has shipped!

In the lower section of the email, yet again, we can see a referral program. 

The great thing about the referral program is that, in contrast to discounts, you can run it all the time without devaluing your brand.

Thank You Email

Notice how this email copy leverages the basic Thank You email to tell their story.

They include their origins, mention that they are family owned and even show that they are socially responsible!

Subject line: Thank You For Your Purchase!

Combined with the mention of simple return and Canadian origin – it makes for a perfect Thank you email.

Feedback and Cross-Sell Email

When the customer has a chance to use the product, it is time for another round of relationship building.

The primary objective of this email is to get customer feedback on the product. The customer experience score is at the top, followed by a nudge to share on social media.

Subject line: Day 30. What’s happened so far?

At the lower part, you can see a cross-sell attempt.

If we follow the flow of this email, they lead customers to express their satisfaction and then offer another product without using discounts. 

Bellroy uses the excitement of the new product to sell more products!


Tailwind is your email marketing team all-in-one tool! Sign up for the best small business email marketing offerings!


7 Tips for Your Post Purchase Email Sequences

Whether you are a service provider in eCommerce or selling digital products, below is a list of tips that will make your post-purchase emails stand out.

Be clear

This is the first email customers receive after they give you their payment details. Make sure to be ve clear about what they paid for. 

Order details, product names, the total amount paid – all of this should be in the email for your customer to check.

Keep it short

After the first purchase, nobody will read a wall of text. Keep your post-purchase email short and sweet. 

The idea is not to introduce your brand or hard-sell another product in the first email. This will come later in the post-purchase email campaign flow. 

Focus on the service

Make sure to focus on the service that the customer just received.

  • If they purchased a physical product, talk about how happy you are that they made this choice. 
  • If they signed up for a subscription, welcome them to the club.

Be personal

Whether you are a small business or a bigger company, do your best to keep the email personal. 

Always add the name and contacts of the company representative the customer can reach out to if they have any questions or problems.

Share your story

Since the purchase was already made, there is no need to over-sell yourself. But this might be a good opportunity to establish a deeper relationship. 

Tell them a little bit about yourself or your company’s story. This will help create a connection and build trust.

Include contacts

Make it easy for customers to get in touch if they need to. Include all relevant contact information and links to your social media channels. 

It can happen that after ordering, the customer needs to change something and nothing damages the relationship more than spending 15 minutes to find an info email.

Don’t rush it

You want to turn your existing customers into repeat customers. That is understandable. 

But sending all the emails from your post-purchase campaign at once won’t help. The timing in which you send emails is important!

Keep around four days between your emails. That is a sweet spot. You will still have the attention of your customer, but you are not irritating them.


Post-purchase emails are necessary to keep the customer informed, but most importantly – they are used to keep the conversation going and increase customer lifetime value.

Keep the email personal and ensure it is relevant to what they purchased. 

Following these tips, you can create post-purchase emails that will help your customers and encourage them to return for more.

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Post-Purchase Email FAQs

When should you send a post-purchase email?

Send a post-purchase email as soon as the customer has completed their purchase. This way, you can keep the conversation going and, most importantly, keep the customer informed of what will be happening next.

How do you write a post-purchase email?

Keep it short and sweet. Thank your customer for their order, and include the recap of what they just purchased, along with the next steps.

What does post-purchase mean?

“Post” is a prefix meaning “after”, so post-purchase literally means “after purchase.”

What is a post-purchase flow?

A post-purchase flow is a series of emails sent to customers after completing a purchase. These emails can include shipping updates, special offers, or even follow-ups to see how the customer is enjoying their purchase.

What should be included in a post-purchase email?

First and foremost it should include the details of the order and that it was successful! The type of product, the number of items, prices, whether it was paid, and when the estimated arrival date is.

In the case of digital products, it should include a thank-you note and access details.

How do you follow up with a customer after purchase?

There are a few different ways you can follow up with customers after they make a purchase. You can send shipping updates, special offers, or even follow-ups to see how the customer is enjoying their purchase.

How do you ask a customer for reorder?

You can send an email to existing customers, asking them if they need any more of the product they just bought. Include a special offer, referral bonus, or discount for reordering.

Why is post-purchase communication important?

It helps to build a relationship with the customer and improves customer retention. Also, it allows you to upsell or cross-sell other products or promote your referral program to attract new customers. Post-purchase marketing should always be incorporated in your email marketing strategy for even better customer engagement!

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Not only do post-purchase improve your customer service, they also create the opportunity for repeat orders. Find out what they are, and how to use them effectively in this guide!

Complete Guide to Email Marketing Campaigns (9 Easy Steps)

Learning how to create a successful email marketing campaign is one of the best ways to connect with your customers and promote your business.

It actually does it so well that it is one of the most profitable marketing strategies. ROI on email marketing can be around 36:1. Meaning that you will get $36 for every $1 spent. Hard to beat! 

But not all email marketing campaigns are that successful. There are many tweaks and tips that can make all the difference between a good campaign and a waste of resources.

In this post, we will explain how to create an email marketing campaign, provide you with actionable strategies, and make sure that your road to success is shorter (and easier) so you can learn how to do email marketing yourself, successfully!

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What is an Email Marketing Campaign?

An email marketing campaign is a set of messages sent at specific intervals with a commercial purpose.

The goal is to promote a product or service, engage customers, or drive traffic to your website.

A successful campaign requires proper planning, execution, and constant A/B testing. 

But enough of the introduction, let’s get to the action!

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Email Marketing Campaign Types

Depending on the goals that your email campaign has, there are several campaign structures and messaging styles that you can choose from.

The most common goals for email marketing campaigns are:

  • Selling a product or service
  • Sending news and updates
  • Reaching out to cold leads
  • Nurturing customers/subscribers
  • Building relationships
  • Providing customer support
  • Helping new users

Now that we have the most popular goals listed let’s have a look at the type of campaigns that you would use to achieve them.

A list of the most common types of email marketing campaigns- news and updates, activating cold leads, nurturing customers, relationship building, customer support and new user onboarding.

Outreach Email Campaigns

This campaign is sent to people who don’t know your company yet.

It serves as the introduction and usually contains a CTA to learn more or sign up for your product.

The main objective is to increase brand awareness and get new leads.

Lead Nurturing Campaigns

You would use this email campaign when you have already captured a lead, but they haven’t converted yet.

The goal is to build a relationship with the lead and move them further down your sales funnel.

Welcome Email Campaigns

Welcome campaign emails are sent to new customers. It’s a way to introduce your brand, build rapport, and make sure they start off on the right foot.

In this email, you would usually thank them for the purchase (or for their trust) and give them a quick overview of what they can expect from your product or service.

You might also want to include a CTA to get them started or learn more about your service.

Newsletter

An email newsletter is a great way to keep your customers updated on what’s new with your business and your industry.

This is a great opportunity to establish yourself as an authority in your niche and build trust.

While it can be used to promote special offers, product launches, new posts, or events – you can also send industry updates or just articles that piqued your interest.

Promotional Emails

Sure, all the emails you send to your customers are promotional. But while the others are “soft” promotions, this one is right-in-your-face.

This email is typically used to promote sales, discounts, or special offers. You don’t want to come across as being too “salesy” or spammy, so be sure to strike the right balance. 

Offer a great deal, be straightforward about it but at the same time keep the customer relationship in mind.

Seasonal Email Campaign

Whether it’s Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, or any other holiday, it is a great time to pitch your seasonal offer to your audience.

You can use this type of email to promote anything from discounts and sales to competitions and giveaways.

Just find a way to tie your offer to the particular season or festivity – and you should see an increase in the results!

Reactivation Email Campaigns

Sometimes people just need a little reminder about your brand before they’re ready to buy from you.

You can use reactivation emails to reach out to those customers who haven’t interacted with you for a while and give them a nudge in the right direction.

Customer Retention Emails

It’s always cheaper to keep a customer than to find a new one. 

Make sure you’re doing everything you can to ensure that your customers stay happy and engaged with your brand.

If your service was not working, reach out to the affected customers. 

Or maybe you know they are about to receive your product – so ask them how they like it.

Every little bit of attention helps to achieve a lower churn rate. 

Product Announcements

Rolling out an update? Launching a new feature? Let your customers know!

Product announcements are a great way to keep your customers in the loop about what is going on with your business.

They also give you a reason to email your list and remind them about your brand!

Customer Support Campaigns

Email can be a great way to keep in touch with your customers and offer them support.

You can use email to answer frequently asked questions, give customer service updates, or even offer live chat support.

Cross-sell Campaigns

Do you have a product that goes great with another product? If so, let your customers know!

Cross-selling is a great way to increase order value and customer satisfaction. You can also use email to upsell or down-sell customers on different products from your offer.

E-Commerce Email Campaigns

Everything that we described above can be implemented in e-commerce, but there are some additional options.

For example, you can use email campaigns to send abandoned cart emails, order confirmation emails, and start a whole post-purchase email campaign!


How to Create an Effective Email Marketing Campaign

Let’s get into action. We will lead you through an example of a thought process when launching a new campaign.

Keep in mind that you have to edit it based on your business type and its goals, but the overall ideas will still remain.

1. Set clear goals

A bit cliche, but important nonetheless. You need to know exactly what you want to achieve with your campaign.

  • Getting more website visitors?
  • Increasing the number of leads?
  • Improving customer satisfaction?
  • Reducing churn rate?

Based on the desired outcome, you can better structure your message to the subscribers.

The worst is being indecisive and trying to achieve several goals at once. 

If you are sending an onboarding welcome email – it is too early for a discount!

2. Choose the right setup.

Technical aspects of email marketing go beyond the scope of this post, so we will just quickly run through some of the most critical tips.

  • Do not send from generic domains. Use a subdomain associated with your brand. So no gmails, outlooks, yahoos, or proton mail – it looks unprofessional.
  • If you are working with a big list and have not previously launched campaigns – consider using subdomains. It limits the risk of spam flags and blacklisting.

You will need to use one of the email marketing tools. There are plenty of email service providers that you can use – referred to as Autoresponders Tailwind being one of them!

Tailwind is your go-to social media and email marketing platform that helps you work more quickly and see your analytics all in one place. Tailwind’s email capabilities were built with email marketing best practices in mind to help you increase conversions and overall ROI on your email marketing campaigns. Get started for FREE below!

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3. Who is your client?

You have a list of emails, but who are those people? Who is your target audience?

Behind every subscriber is someone who decided to give you their email in exchange for something.

What are the decision-making triggers in your niche? The people on your list want to get value.

A major part of a successful email marketing strategy is to clarify the goals of your audience and create a campaign that will help them reach them.

4. Segment your audience

You have an extensive list, and you want to send everyone the same message. But not all subscribers are in the same stage of their buyer’s journey.

Better results can be achieved by segmenting your audience and sending them more targeted content.

There are many ways to segment your audience, for example, by:

  • Location
  • Gender
  • Age
  • Profession
  • Income
  • Interests
  • Purchase history

Or anything else that is important in your niche. 

Segmentation will allow you to target the customer profiles better. Your message will be more powerful, converting into better results.

5. Personalization vs. automatization

You are sending an email to thousands of people, but that does not mean there should be no personalization.

In many cases, generalization could be a conversion killer. 

Just mentioning the first name of the subscriber might already be enough. In case you have something else you can use, like the name of the company, city, or interests – consider how you can seamlessly inject it into the email body.

In case you are not sure if you are not getting too personal – you probably are. No need to congratulate them on their recent trip to Cabo that you scraped from Facebook.

6. Define a CTA

Each message in your email campaign should have a goal. Even the newsletters or welcome messages. 

They may seem like an on-off thing, but that would be incorrect. Everything should be a part of a wider strategy with an end goal in mind.

Each message should always have a clear call to action. Without it, people will not know what you want them to do, and your email campaign will have no real impact.

The CTA will depend on the type of email campaign. For example, it could be:

  • Visit the website
  • Read the blog post
  • Download the e-book
  • Give us your feedback

Conclude the email with an action request! 

7. Create a schedule

The best-performing email campaigns are those that are consistent. People like to know what to expect from you and when to expect it.

If they know that every Monday, they will get an email with the latest news in your niche, they are more likely to open it.

Also, do not forget about proper email timing. Do not expect people to open a “hobby” email on Monday morning. The same goes for sending a business niche email on Saturday.

Each niche has its own audience with its specific needs, so it is crucial to do your research and understand when people are most receptive to your message.

8. Keep it short

If you plan a campaign that will send emails every three days – keep the messages short and to the point.

On the other hand, if you are sending one email a month, you can make it longer. 

The main point is to keep the audience engaged with email copy that connects, at an appropriate length. If they receive 5 pages of text every second day, they will quickly lose interest.

You must find a balance between not boring the subscribers ( to the point that they stop opening your emails) and efficient monetization of your list, which is correlated with sending frequency.

9. A/B Testing

When your campaign is launched and running – pay attention to all the data that you will be receiving.

  • Which email subject line worked best?
  • What day and time has the best open rates?
  • Do images in email decrease delivery rates?
  • Which email copy brought the best results?

Take the top performer and test it against another option. Keep doing that. A/B testing stops only when you have 100% rates on everything that matters…so never. 

Better deliverability, slight improvements in open rates, and a bump in CTR – will do wonders for your bottom line.

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Tips to Create a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

In addition to the steps that we described in the previous section, here are some of the tips that you can try.

Experiment a bit

Don’t go crazy in every email campaign, but from time to time – do something unusual.

A weird subject line, crazy CTA, more personalized copy – you never know what will move the needle.

Email marketing is all about testing and experimenting. Don’t just test A/B test minuscule changes. Once every couple of emails – try to do something radical.

Don’t overspend

If you are working on a new domain, don’t start sending out 100 emails daily right from the bat.

That is the best way to get into the spam folder. 

There is a whole “science” behind warming up a new email address. Start sending 15 emails daily, and every 3-4 weeks, increase it by 5-10 per day.

If you already have an aged domain that is a “seasoned” email sender – this should not be an issue.

Platform choice

There are many email marketing software platforms to choose from. MailChimp, Constant Contact, and AWeber are some of the more popular ones.

Pick a reputable platform that allows plenty of personalization and, most importantly, automation features.

Look for the “if the user clicks X, then Y happens” type of funnel. It will allow you to quickly move subscribers through your funnel and provide deeper segmentation options.

Company info

Required by some regulations, and all in all, a good practice is to have the company’s address in the signature of your email.

In case the actual address is not available, at least some kind of company/brand information should be included.

Unsubscribe link

While it might be counterintuitive, make it easy for your subscribers to unsubscribe.

In case the unsubscribe link is not at the bottom of the email or it is hidden too well – some recipients may press the spam button, decreasing the overall deliverability of your domain.

Sure, it has to happen many times – but it compounds. If the user wants to leave, let them leave.


What are the Most Important Email Marketing Metrics?

We talked about the importance of analysis, testing, and comparison. Here are some of the main email metrics and what they mean to your campaign.

Open rate

This is the percentage of emails opened over those delivered. The optimal percentage will depend on your industry. 

To optimize this metric, you should try to send your emails at different times and days to find out which ones give you the best results.

A/B testing email subject lines can also lead to notable improvements in your open rates. So do not be afraid to experiment. 

Click-through rate

CTR is the percentage of clicks on the links in your email coming from recipients who have opened the email.

This metric lets you know how many customers are interacting with your email and if they are interested in the content you are sending.

It can be improved with better CTA and, of course, overall targeting.

Conversion rate

Percentage of purchases (or other goals) from the clicks that you got in your email campaign.

After a user has opened your email, the next step should be to convert them, that is, to carry out the action that you have set as a goal.

For example: buying a product or completing a form.

You cant deduct conversion rates from 10 clicks, so wait for at least 100 clicks to make any conclusions.

Bounce rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of emails that could not be delivered

That usually means that the email you were sending to does not exist.

Unsubscribe rate

This is the percentage of people who decided to stop receiving your future emails.

They may not be interested in the content you are offering, or it is not what they expected to get. 

You can try to retain them by customizing your unsubscribe page and adding some persuasive copy or an interesting offer.


Key Takeaways and FAQs

  • Successful Email Marketing Campaigns can bring one of the highest ROI among marketing strategies.
  • Be clear about the campaign goal, plan ahead and cater to the audience and the occasion.
  • Testing is a significant part of email marketing. Analyze the results and experiment with various tactics.

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FAQ

What is an email drip campaign?

An email drip campaign is an automated series of emails that are sent out over a period of time. The frequency and content of the emails can be customized according to your needs and goals.

Drip campaigns do not stop sending, even after the CTA was executed.

What is an email blast?

An email blast is a mass email that is sent out to a large group of people at once. The content of the email is usually the same for all recipients.

Email blasts are generally less targeted than drip campaigns and can result in a high number of unsubscriptions.

When should I send marketing emails?

The best time to send marketing emails depends on your audience and the type of email you’re sending. For example, if you’re sending a promotional email, you may want to send it on a day when people are more likely to be in a buying mood. If you’re sending an email newsletter, you may want to send it in the morning or at lunch break, to make sure that people have time to go through it.

How often should I send marketing emails?

The frequency of your email marketing campaigns will depend on your audience and the type of email you’re sending.

If you’re sending a promotional email, you may want to send it weekly, or monthly. If you’re sending an email newsletter, you may want to send it daily or weekly.


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A 9-step guide to launching successful email marketing campaigns, bringing you closer to 3,500% ROI and teaching how to create email marketing campaigns

Small Business Email Marketing Marketing: The Complete Guide

Email is a marvel of the modern world. With a few quick strokes, you can communicate with nearly 4 billion email addresses around the globe in minutes!

Small business email marketing is especially powerful as it allows growing organizations to expand their brand with minimal investment. Plus, email marketing provides small business owners with another avenue to build lasting personal relationships with their clientele!

Still, it’s one thing to know you should send an email campaign; it’s another to know how to take advantage of email marketing for small businesses.

Here’s everything you need to know to get started, from building your strategy to choosing an email marketing software!

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Why is Small Business Email Marketing Important?

Let’s be honest: your own spam folder is probably full of bad email marketing campaigns. Glitchy pop-ups, mangled subject lines, and phishing scams run rampant and give the industry a bad name.

But that just means small business owners who master email marketing have better chances of success.

When used properly, email marketing delivers one of the greatest ROIs in the business: up to $43 returned for every $1 spent.

And with 73% of consumers preferring email marketing over other avenues, it’s clearly the way to go!

Remember: successful email marketing campaigns aren’t just about blasting promotions around. They’re about nurturing relationships. Sure, you push the lead down the marketing funnel, but more than that, you can create brand loyalty for a lifetime.

A well-designed email marketing strategy constructs a two-way highway wherein the customer participates. Bare-bones newsletters and transactional emails won’t cut it; you need to spend time cultivating lifelong bonds.

Open communications with your customers. Listen. Respond to concerns. Adapt your products and service to their needs. Show the humanity behind your small business with well-written subject lines, vibrant email templates, and witty jokes.

In return, you’ll be rewarded with customer loyalty – and dollars!

The only limit is your imagination…and your willingness to invest in the next email campaign.

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How to Start Your Small Business Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing for small business doesn't have to be a mystery! Our small business email marketing guide will help you get high ROIs from email campaigns.

Email marketing for small businesses isn’t just about designing the brightest email templates or using the weirdest fonts.

A successful email marketing strategy requires planning, consideration, and the help of a great email marketing service!

Here are some things to cross off your list as you develop your strategy.  

Design Your Client Avatar

You should start first and foremost with your client avatar – that is, a caricature of your target audience. This is also called a marketing persona!

If you don’t know who you’re marketing to, you’re shooting emails in the dark and hoping they land. Designing a client avatar and reeling in the right subscribers means that every campaign has a higher chance of success.

Once you’ve met this need, you can move on to the next step in your email marketing strategy. 

Need some help? Check out our post on creating an actionable marketing persona!

Find the Right Email Marketing Service

Sure, you can write your first email campaign from your Google account. But as your business grows, you’ll find that Google lacks key features that make email campaigns pack a punch.

Spend some time researching the best email marketing services that fit your needs. (Or, read our recommendations below!) A variety of email service providers await in the wide world, offering crucial infrastructure and email marketing tools like:

  • Vibrant, prebuilt email templates
  • Drag-and-drop editor functions to design emails with ease
  • Customer retention tools like promotional and re-engagement emails
  • Sales CRM abilities
  • Unlimited contact storage and contact list segmentation

Plus, many offer a free plan to start, so you can test the tools and upgrade as you grow. 

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Decide on Your Email Campaigns

Next, you have to decide which email campaigns you need for your business. While you’ll adapt your strategy and email marketing campaigns as you go, you may want to consider starting with:

  • Welcome emails to greet new subscribers, set expectations, and show visitors around
  • Promotional emails to spread the word about great deals and discounts
  • Abandoned cart emails to remind website visitors what they’ve left behind
  • Post-purchase emails to offer purchase upsells or additional discounts
  • Transactional emails to send receipts, track orders, and confirm delivery
  • Regular newsletters to share news about your industry, company, or products

You can also send emails on other occasions, such as to mark birthdays or holidays, update customers on your brand, or simply thank customers for their loyalty. Sometimes, it’s just nice to feel appreciated.

Sign Up for Email Marketing Courses

If you’re not sure where to begin, or you’re ready to take your email marketing strategy to the next level, consider an email marketing course. Many email marketing service providers offer free or paid plans to teach you the ins and outs of the industry.

Though each course differs, they generally cover basics like designing campaigns, segmenting lists, setting up automation, and reviewing analytics. Plus, you’ll learn which tactics have been proven to work – and which will drive customers away faster than a coyote on a cattle run! 

6 Email Marketing Services for Small Businesses

The best email marketing services for your business may not be the best for another business. Small business needs and wants vary greatly by industry, location, and owner preferences.

Fortunately, there are literally dozens of email marketing tools available. We’ve plucked out six of the best.

Tailwind

Tailwind’s marketing automation platform was built with small businesses in mind, which gives its email marketing tool a power boost!

Not only can you import and build your contact lists, use beautiful templates with easy editing functions, and build easy automation to simplify your email campaigns, you can easily manage your social platforms and email sends from the same easy-to-use calendar!

Tailwind’s email tool features:

  • Beautiful premade templates that are a cinch to edit and personalize to your brand
  • Built-in best practices so you can send campaigns that actually reach inboxes
  • One platform to stay organized with your marketing – email, social scheduler, design, and more- all in one place.
  • Create automations and campaigns in a simple, straightforward builder that won’t leave you confused
  • Advanced segmentation for your contact lists for targeted sends to your specific demographics
  • Custom form builders to embed on your sites to capture leads and grow your email list.
  • Easy deliverability and optimized send times to make sure your emails arrive on time.

Best of all, Tailwind’s email tool is available on all subscription plans, including the forever-free plan!

AWeber

AWeber is one of the most popular email marketing services for small businesses that require simplicity and power on a limited budget.

This email marketing tool works beautifully for beginners thanks to its prebuilt email templates, AI-powered design assistant, and drag-and-drop editor.

You can use AWeber’s built-in automation and campaign marketplace to simplify your email campaigns from start to finish.

Plus, with A/B testing and intuitive analytics, you can design, test, redesign, and track your performance as you grow.

And if you need them, AWeber offers integrations with apps like WordPress and more than one signup form and landing page builder.

AWeber’s free plan offers limited features for up to 500 subscribers, while the premium starts at just under $20/month. All plans come with live chat and phone support.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of the best email marketing software available for small businesses, full stop.

The Constant Contact drag-and-drop editor is intuitive, while its automation is a cinch to use. With these, you can build beautiful, converting campaigns that rely on a host of other Constant Contact features like:

  • Quick and easy installation
  • Customizable email templates
  • Drip campaigns
  • Contact list segmentation
  • Advanced analytics reports

Best of all, you can sign up for a 30-day free account to test its tools before you commit. When you’re ready to upgrade to a paid plan, the premium starts at just $9.99 per month. 

ConvertKit

ConvertKit is a great email marketing platform if you need a free plan that doesn’t skimp on features. You can start adding new subscribers with features like unlimited landing pages and a signup form embedding tool.

From there, you can harness its range of automation to design your email campaigns. A powerful drag-and-drop editor makes for functional – yet affordable – email design.

And of course, ConvertKit boasts a full range of segmentation and personalization opportunities to make reaching your target audience even easier.

ConvertKit’s free plan offers limited features for up to 300 subscribers. Premium plans start at just $9/month for more advanced features and more email sends.

Drip

Drip is a robust email marketing platform designed for eCommerce customers. This email service provider boasts several advanced email marketing tools like:

  • Smart marketing automation
  • Intelligent email segmentation
  • Social media and SMS integrations

Drip also includes basics like A/B testing, lead generation, signup forms, and premade workflows.

You can trigger Drip campaigns based on customer behaviors like first-time and returning website visitors, abandoned carts, and more.

Unlike the other email marketing platforms on our list, Drip doesn’t have a free plan.

Instead, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial, with paid plans starting at $39/month.

And with Drip, you’ll also have constant contact with customer service through live chat and a full range of online courses to learn email marketing inside-out.

Sendinblue

Sendinblue aims to straddle the line between cost and service for users with more advanced needs. This email marketing platform boasts features like:

  • A full sales CRM
  • SMS marketing abilities
  • Marketing automation
  • Integration capabilities
  • Contact list segmentations

These come alongside a comprehensive list of basic services, such as beautiful email templates, custom workflows, and triggered autoresponders. While small businesses may enjoy its range of options, the interface itself may be more complicated for beginners.  

Sendinblue offers a free plan to send up to 300 daily emails to unlimited contacts – great for growing small businesses. As you expand, you can upgrade to paid plans, starting at $25/month for 20,000 monthly sends and unlimited contacts.

9 Tips to Pick the Best Email Marketing Service

Small business email marketing is an art form all its own.

While email marketing services for small businesses abound, you need to know how to find the best one to boost your marketing campaigns to their full potential.

As a small business owner, here’s what to look for to ensure your email marketing efforts pay off.

A Free Account or Free Email Marketing Service Trial

Not every email marketing service offers a free plan or even a free trial. But those who provide a free account alongside their paid plans often rank among the best, as you can try before you buy. They also give marketers a chance to shop different email marketing tools to determine which suits your needs – and which wants to upsell you needlessly.

And did we mention that Tailwind’s email marketing tool is available on our forever-free plan? That means $0 for access to our email tool, our brand new Copilot marketing plan tool, and our social media creation, scheduling, and publishing tools!

Unlimited Contacts

Most top email marketing services limited the number of email sends per day based on your plan. But many free and paid plans alike offer unlimited contact storage, so you can start segmenting your contact list immediately.

Plenty of Email Campaign Options

Email marketers have a broad range of email campaigns to choose from, including welcome emails, transactional emails, and promotional emails. The types of emails you need most depend on your business and industry. Still, the best email marketing service will offer plenty of choices.

Email tools like Tailwind offer a template library easily sorted by your Industry, Usage (what is the email for?), and seasonal promotions and considerations.

A Handy Email Editor

A crucial component of the email campaign creation process is actually designing your emails.

With a handy email editor by your side, you can adjust prebuilt email templates to your exact needs. (Or throw out the rulebook and design your own.)

A good email editor also makes it easy to edit your branding in-house, so your colors, fonts, and images reflect your small business.

Tailwind’s email builder features drag-and-drop editing and easy-to-use editing features for your email elements.

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Marketing Automation Features

The best email marketing services for small businesses offer a range of automation tools to simplify the designing and sending processes. With automatic workflows, segmentations, personalization options, and triggered emails, building and sending your next campaign should be easy as 1-2-3.

A/B testing

A/B testing lets you test and compare how various pieces of your email marketing strategy perform.

For instance, you may test which subject line gets the most clicks, or which CTA button converts the most sales. All top email marketing services offer A/B testing nowadays – but if yours doesn’t, you may reconsider buying.

Tailwind features prebuilt automations and the ability to build your own!

Advanced Reporting

Your email campaign isn’t over just because you’ve hit “send.” Now, you have to determine the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.

That’s where advanced reporting tools come in.

The best email marketing services offer advanced analytics to scrutinize your open, bounce, and click-through rates. You’ll also need these tools to determine your customer retention success and whether it’s time to readjust your email marketing strategy.

Sign-Up Forms and Landing Pages

For your email list to grow, your small business has to recruit new subscribers. To get those, you need at least one sign-up form on your website.

And as you build your list, you’ll want some landing pages scattered about to collect subscriber information and promote special offers, free eBooks, and more.

Together, these tools prove the benefits of joining your email marketing list and provide extra incentives to click on content. The best email marketing platforms will help you design and embed both signup forms and landing pages right into your website.

Website Builder

But what if you don’t have a website?

Well, some of the most advanced email marketing software boasts this ability, too.

Often, the extent of an email service provider’s website builder is somewhat limited. Still, you can use these tools to build your brand and start curating content like web pages or even a small blog.

And of course, let’s not forget tidbits like a signup form and landing pages to grow your contact list.

Building sign-up forms and lead-gen tools is a breeze with Tailwind’s email tool!

Key Takeaways: Small Business Email Marketing

  • As a small business owner, email marketing generates a huge bang for your buck.
  • With a few well-designed email campaigns, you can reach vast audiences and help your small business retain customers.
  • Each email marketing campaign is a chance to collect crucial data about your target audience and branding efforts.
  • Ultimately, all email marketing is merely a chance to build relationships that benefit both your customers and your brand.
  • With a solid business plan and the best email marketing software at your side, it’s easier than ever for small business owners to find success.

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Email marketing for small business doesn't have to be a mystery! Our small business email marketing guide will help you get high ROIs from email campaigns.