An Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing Campaigns

An Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing Campaigns
30 June, 2022 • ... • 1101 views
Aida Kubatova
by Aida Kubatova

Email marketing is a great way to connect with your customers and gain new leads. It can help you sell more products, tell a brand story, provide good service and generate repeat purchases from loyal customers. It is the best way to present content that is relevant and useful to your audience.

What email campaigns are

In marketing, an email campaign is an email (or a set of emails) you send to a group of customers to achieve a specific goal. A great campaign example is Jet Blue’s anniversary celebration campaign — it’s funny and relatable. The goal of the campaign is to strengthen relationships with their customers and encourage engagement with their brand.

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How they work 

Before planning your campaign, first, you need to determine its main goal. After that, you might want to work with your existing database. It will help you segment your audience, so only those who might be interested in that exact campaign will receive your email. Then it’s time to work on the email’s subject line, copy, and structure. Usually, special email services are used to send out and track your campaign. Based on those metrics new campaigns are created.

An email campaign includes a well-written subject line, helpful content, and a specific call to action. A call-to-action (CTA) encourages the reader to take action, whether that action is to become a customer, participate in a company event, or visit a website. In most email marketing efforts, one main CTA is included, with the option of a secondary CTA message. 

Bulk email service providers are frequently used to send email campaigns. But don’t forget to segment your audience so that everyone gets suitable content according to their specific interests or needs.

Why use them 

Email campaigns are incredibly important to any business. Litmus’ 2021 State of Email Report shows that more than 90% of survey respondents say email marketing is at least somewhat critical to their company’s overall success. These campaigns don’t require much budget, are easy to measure and have high success rates. 

Emails are still one of the oldest yet most effective digital marketing channels that make it possible for you to send messages to your contacts in a direct and reliable way. Despite the rise of social media, email marketing remains one of the most successful methods of reaching out to your target audience. It’s not a choice but a requirement for all types of businesses.

Types of email marketing campaigns 

Because there are so many different types of email marketing, we thought it would be helpful to compile a list of different types of email marketing campaigns with examples so you can choose ones that will help you grow your business. Each type has a specific goal.

Welcome emails 

When a person joins your mailing list, the first thing they should receive from you is a welcome email. It’s good to request that clients specify their email frequency preferences and the type of content they want to receive. Ensure your email copy is as eye-catching as the one below from Otherland.

From: otherland 

Subject: Greetings from Otherland

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Announcement emails

These emails are sent to announce an upcoming event, sale, seasonal holiday, launch of a new product or feature, etc. The goal is to spark the attention of subscribers and encourage people to buy or visit. 

From: Nextdoor 

Subject: You’re the first to know: new profiles are here!

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Testimonial request emails 

Emails of this type ask customers to provide feedback by commenting, evaluating, or filling out a survey in order to help improve the service. You can use the data for social proof and case studies later.

From: Graza Subject 

Subject: We’d really love your feedback

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Holiday emails 

These emails are sent before holidays and sales like Christmas, New Year’s Day, Mother’s Day, Black Friday, and others. Holiday emails remind customers about holiday discounts. It increases positive emotions connected with your brand and builds trust.

From: Google 

Subject: Hey Google, tell me about the Year of the Tiger

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Invitation emails 

Such emails ask subscribers to attend upcoming events like online conferences and webinars. You can attach a countdown GIF and the link leading straight to the event, making sure your audience easily joins the event.

From: Ramp 

Subject: Save the Date for Ramp’s Future of Finance

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Seasonal emails 

Intended to send specific seasonal offers, such as Christmas presents in winter or swimsuits in the summer. Make them relatable and send them out a few weeks in advance.

From: Sonos 

Subject: Summer beckons

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Reactivation emails

Reactivation or re-engagement emails are sent to inactive users who are no longer buying from you or are not interested in your business. Try to reactivate them and remind them of what you’ve got to offer. These emails have a high retention rate, so do not miss out on them.

From: YouTube 

Subject: Time is almost up, your YouTube Premium benefits end soon – renew now.

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Abandoned shopping cart emails 

For whatever reason, many customers add products that they like to their shopping carts but end up not making purchases. An abandoned cart email reminds them about it and makes them purchase selected items. Treat your customers by offering a discount or free shipping option.

From: United By Blue 

Subject: Looking for a sign? Free shipping.

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Cross-selling emails 

This one sells products that are connected. For example, if your customer bought a bag, a perfect cross-sell would be a matching wallet. This campaign can skyrocket your sales with a minimum effort, just make sure you choose products that relate to the customer’s purchase.

From: Goodreads 

Subject: You finished Musashi. What’s next?

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Upselling emails 

Upselling promotes more advanced and expensive goods than the buyer had previously considered or purchased. Selling to an existing customer is much easier than selling to a new one as you have already built trust with them. A study shows that 91% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that remember them and make relevant offers.

From: Grammarly 

Subject: Write like a pro. Here’s 20% off Grammarly Premium!

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Newsletters 

An email marketing newsletter is the most widely distributed campaign. This is the way to send your subscribers some non-promotional emails. They can help you to create trusted and loyal relationships with their customers if done correctly.

From: Namecheap

Subject: Improve Your Website from Concept to Code 💻

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Anniversary emails 

You can use this form of an email to let your customers know that it is the company’s anniversary, thank them for shopping with you, and offer some great deals. It boosts sales, brand recognition, and customer retention. 

From: Twitter 

Subject: Happy Twitterversary!

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How to create an email campaign 

After you choose an email campaign type, it’s time to create it. There are several steps, and your campaign’s success depends on how well you will craft it. And with so many options available for crafting an effective email marketing campaign, it can be hard to know where to start. So take some time to create the best campaign out there, by following these basic steps:

  1. Set your goals 

What is the purpose of your email marketing campaign? Having a purpose in mind will help you choose the type of email to send, as well as the design and information. Set realistic, attainable goals and keep track of your progress. Your metrics should be measurable, like an email list growth rate, leads from emails, number of completed targeted actions, or an income from the targeted actions and sales. It’s important to understand how a particular campaign will help your marketing strategy. Always set a deadline for a specific goal that needs to be reached. Use your current data for meeting new benchmarks. This will help you with managing the process without getting lost.

  1. Segment your mailing list 

One of the easiest ways to improve your email marketing is to segment the mailing list. Segmentation allows you to send your message to the right people on your list. You can divide your subscribers by interests, age, location, gender, and actions to create smaller groups. Segmented campaigns get a 39% higher open rate. This will help you stay in touch with your target audience and boost your conversion. 

  1. Write a copy 

Whether it’s for a promotional campaign or a personalized customer message, the email copy must be something people want to read. A well-crafted copy helps to get your subscribers to open and read your email. Crafting the perfect email copy might feel like an overwhelming task most of the time, but it’s absolutely worth it when it comes to conversion. It takes time and knowledge to become an expert in email copywriting. And sometimes writing a decent short email is more difficult than writing a full novel. 

  1. Use A/B testing 

A/B testing allows you to see if your email will reach your target demographic without sending it to the complete list. The number of subscribers necessary for testing is determined by the size of your mailing list. 

This is how A/B testing for emails works. Subject line #1 will be seen by a small portion of your audience, while subject line #2 will be seen by another small portion. The option with the most opens will be sent to the rest of your audience.

How to measure its effectiveness 

We all want to know that our email campaigns are going well. To do this, we define what metrics are crucial and track them to evaluate the performance of email marketing campaigns. This is a collection of metrics that you may use to track the effectiveness of your campaign:

Open rate. The open rate indicator is one of the metrics which is used to know about how effective the email campaign is. The open rate shows how many people have opened the email, compared to the total number of persons who received it. 

Click-through rate. The number of times a call-to-action button has been clicked. If your email’s click-through rate is high, it means the material is relevant and helpful to your readers.

Bounce rate. It’s a term that refers to the frequency of emails that did not make it to their intended recipients. Bounces can be caused by a variety of factors, including wrong email addresses, a full inbox, an email that is too large, or a recipient’s server identifying the email as spam.

Forwarded emails. This refers to a series of emails that were re-sent to other recipients. It shows how many brand evangelists you have.

Unsubscribers. The unsubscribe rate indicates the percentage of your subscribers who have decided not to receive your messages any longer. The average unsubscribe rate is 0.17%. Unsubscribing is unpleasant, but it cleans up your mailing list by allowing users who are no longer interested to depart without any effort on your part. 

Spam complaints. Spam complaints are concerns raised by email recipients about emails that they do not want to receive. Recent research shows that 20% of deliverability issues were caused by a lot of spam complaints. Because even the best email marketers receive complaints, it’s critical to understand how spam complaints work and try to avoid them.

Email campaign best practices and tips 

Whether you’re new to email marketing or an experienced pro, you probably want the same thing: to send the most effective email marketing campaigns. Here are some best practices and tips on keeping your consumers engaged, increasing your ROI, and getting your campaigns successful.

Customize the name 

First impressions are crucial. Your subscribers are unlikely to open your email if it does not stand out and establish trust. If people continue to ignore your emails, your future initiatives may end up in the spam folder. That’s why it’s a good idea to add your sender’s name to the email.

Write a catchy subject line 

Your email subject line is the email copy’s equivalent of a headline. They won’t open it if it isn’t relevant or engaging, and it doesn’t motivate your readers to take action. Put as much effort into your subject line as you would into a compelling blog title. If you’re going to spend four hours on email copywriting, you should devote half of that time to the subject line.

Craft a quality copy

Crafting a quality email copy is directly linked to open rates and conversions. You can boost up your conversion rates for your emails by leveraging these email copywriting tips:

  • In all of your email marketing copy, be relatable to your audience. Nobody enjoys dealing with marketing automation. Demonstrate that you are aware of your subscribers’ feelings and needs.
  • Keep your paragraphs short — each one should include only one important theme. 
  • Make your emails as personalized as possible. Subscribers give you a lot of flexibility when it comes to personalizing your emails. You can use the names of your customers, their businesses, and more to catch their attention.
  • When it’s acceptable, be lovable and friendly. When you have the opportunity, be nice, spread love, light, and positive energy.

Do not forget the CTAs

Your email’s call-to-action button should, first and foremost, be easy to recognize. Keep in mind that people scan their emails. Your CTA is the most important thing you want your recipient to notice. As you can imagine with so much content in your inbox already and so many emails in your inbox competing for attention, people scan their inbox and your email is one of hundreds or thousands.

Some of our favorite actionable CTA button examples:

  • Yes! I want one
  • Order now 
  • Reveal my mystery coupon 
  • Start saving today
  • Curious? Read on
  • See the crazy video

Conclusion

An email campaign harbors the power to influence your customers, make you stand out from the competition, and grow your business. The marketing potential of a campaign is enormous, so leverage these tips for your next campaign: 

  • Set realistic goals when starting campaign planning.
  • Segment your audience by interests, age and location.
  • Focus on subject lines.
  • Craft a perfect email copy for your subscribers.
  • Add CTAs to make your customers act on an email.
  • Use A/B testing to find out which subject line works the best for your campaign.

 

All email examples are credited to Really Good Emails.

30 June, 2022
Article by
Aida Kubatova
Aida Kubatova is a content writer and digital marketing manager. She’s experienced in writing marketing articles for B2B SaaS blogs, newsletters, landing pages, case studies, and interviews. Every day, she creates useful content to help marketers around the world learn more about the latest news and trends. Aida also helps small startups to grow their audience using the power of community marketing and influencers.
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