The Best Email Marketing Examples to Inspire Campaigns in 2019
Emails, whether automated or not, flood our inboxes every day. They could be anything from a copy of your travel itinerary to the latest newsletter from your favorite online retailer. Whether you are a newbie or an expert in the world of email marketing; running a campaign, let alone a successful one can be challenging. Let’s look to the pro’s for some email marketing examples to inspire our campaigns in the new year.
What makes a successful email marketing campaign?
According to Radicati Group, business, and consumer emails sent on a daily basis could reach 319.6 billion by 2021. While most of them are left unread, marked as spam, or sent directly to trash without seeing the light of day, there are some email marketing examples that truly pique our interest, prompting us to click, read through the entire copy, or even convince us to extend a subscription, make a purchase, or join a pre-order.
But, what makes us positively respond to certain emails and disregard the rest? Is it the subject line, headline, the responsiveness, the design, the well-written call-to-action, or a combination? What makes an email marketing campaign effective?
Before overwhelming yourself, it helps to take a step back and study some of the best email marketing & newsletter examples. Here are some of our favorite campaigns that you can use to draw inspiration when building your own strategy.
Jaybird
Utah-based sports technology company, Jaybird is primarily known for their range of Bluetooth headphones and activity trackers marketed to those with an active lifestyle.
They inspire their audience by showcasing world champion athletes that are using their products in action. But that’s not all. Paired with the photo is short yet meaningful copy that conveys the struggle of an individual, making it more relatable, sentimental and inspirational. Although it may look simple at first, this approach makes their campaign relevant to their audience. It even conveys a sense of approachableness to the brand and what they deliver.
How this strategy can work for you
Promoting a product or service isn’t always enough, the approach matters too. Create a personal connection with your customers by discovering their hobbies and interests, shopping patterns, and pain points. Conducting market research like surveys and interviews can give you valuable insights into the type of content you need to connect and grow your customer relationship.
Airbnb
The first impression matters especially if you want to increase open rates. It is important to have a unique and catchy subject line—it is after all the first element that your audience sees, and the deciding factor whether or not your email is worth opening or not. According to Convince & Convert, 35% of recipients will open an email based on the subject line. Almost 70% of them will also mark it as spam based on the subject copy.
If you are struggling to create an email subject headline, try Airbnb’s approach. Instead of aggressively pushing to book with them for your next trip, they include a simple, useful tip as the subject line — “Travel tip: Book your Phuket trip at least 2 months in advance”. A month before your intended travel dates, they will send another email reminder. This simple approach is thoughtful, personalized, and doesn’t flood your audience’s inbox with promotions.
This simplicity is carried over in the email itself—through a clean and minimalistic design with a subtle reminder of the best time to book, a list of personalized recommendations, and an easy-to-see CTA button. The suggestions are limited and based on the homes that you’ve previously looked at. If you want to check other options, the CTA button at the bottom will bring you to their website.
How this strategy can work for you
One key tactic that you can learn from Airbnb is they focus on more personal and meaningful campaigns to transform a simple rental accommodation to a “live like a local” experience. You can apply this strategy by keeping design emails clean and straightforward yet with a clear intention to provide valuable and personalized content for your customers.
Netflix
The popularity of Netflix allowed both casual and avid movie and television fans to watch new and timeless films wherever and whenever they want. However, the on-the-go watching experience has the potential to become overwhelming, especially when their collection is continuously expanding. Netflix is aware of his, and to prevent fatigue with the thousands of movie and TV choices and keep you subscribed to their services, they send out recommendations and latest show announcement directly to your inbox.
They won’t, however, flood this email with every recommendation. Instead, they will highlight one movie with a summary, three recently added shows, and a bold “View All TV Shows & Movies” button at the bottom. They’ve kept it short and simple so it will pique your curiosity and guide you to ultimately decide to click the CTA button.
Once you click the button, whether you are on mobile or desktop, you will be directed to your Netflix’ account. The shows are neatly organized and grouped per film genre and popularity. You will also find top picks or recommendations based on your viewing behavior.
How this strategy can work for you
Netflix’s straight-forward and skim-friendly approach is a great strategy to apply if you are after customer retention and higher engagement. According to Informz, open and even click-through rates are higher for shorter emails.
While your subscribers may want to hear from you, chances are, they don’t want to receive lengthy promotional emails 2 to 3 times a day. Focus your attention on providing valuable content and remove anything that could confuse your subscriber to take your intended action.
Google Store
With the release of the latest Pixel, Google made sure to highlight their new product without overwhelming its audience with all the features. They choose the clean and minimalist approach with their promotional email for the Pixel 3, paired with a compelling copy, attractive offers, and eye-catching and direct CTAs.
How this strategy can work for you
Having a long promotional email is not bad (as you can see from Google’s Pixel 3 email campaign). What’s important is you should know how to present a product, regardless of its specifications and features, into a well-thought-out and organized email. Incorporate clear images of your products, keep the copy concise and straight to the point, and have prominent call-to-action buttons.
Spotify
If you’re a Spotify user, you’ve probably received their “New Music” or “Release Radar” emails, that are based on the artists that you like or follow on their platform. Let’s say your favorite singer just released a new song or album, Spotify will automatically send you an email to inform you of the release. This keeps you up-to-date while providing valuable information.
The email is kept clean and simple, highlighting the title of the new song released, together with the artist’s album cover and hard-to-miss, appropriately brand-themed neon green colored CTA button. On top of that, they also send out upcoming shows near your location.
How this strategy can work for you
You can apply Spotify’s strategy by keeping track of customer data and behavior. Leverage these insights to provide more relevant and valuable email to subscribers. Also, update promptly to build credibility and as a leader in your niche.
Pizza Hut
The best way to announce a promo, especially when you are in the food industry, is to highlight the meal without the additional design or copy that could take away the attention of your readers. Just imagine receiving a promotional email filled with cluttered images and unattractive and confusing copy—would you be encouraged to try it? Simplicity and straightforwardness are the keys to retain your audience’s attention and interest.
Pizza Hut does a great job of this. They kept their email simple with the image as the main focus and a simple and straightforward copy that explains the deal. The CTA buttons are set in bright neon green color, and strategically placed at the top and bottom of the email for maximum visibility.
How this strategy can work for you
If you go on and on about a promo, your customers could lose interest and leave. Practice brevity in your emails. Make sure to keep the copy short and exciting to read. Your email should also have a relevant image about the promo and have a bold CTA button.
Grammarly
Newsletters are not always about the latest coupons and sales; they are also used to show your subscribers the advantages of using your services. In a way, you are self-promoting and at the same time providing valuable information to your readers. Not sure how you can promote your brand without sounding like a narcissist? Take some cues from Grammarly.
Grammarly is an online tool for checking spelling and grammatical errors. If you sign-up with them, free or paid, you will receive a progress email. This report is sent out on a weekly basis. They also include tips and other informative articles to keep their consumers engaged and encouraged.
How this strategy can work for you
While it makes sense to include your business objectives in your email campaign, it is also a good idea to bring valuable content than have subscribers back to your website. Incorporate your customer’s progress and include useful blogs to help him achieve his goals.
Trello
Trello is an online project management system. It encourages collaboration and organization among peers and co-workers. To promote their platform, Trello’s approach is somewhat similar to Grammarly’s initiative—encourage consumers through progress. The difference? You won’t be greeted with numbers and stats.
If you haven’t used Trello for a while, they will send you a subtle yet friendly reminder that you’ve signed up for their services. No flashy imagery fills their email, a simple text, a CTA button going to your board, and a helpful guide to getting started will greet you.
How this strategy can work for you
Customers come and ago, and they won’t even tell you why. To promote yourself again, you don’t have to be aggressive or offer coupons. A friendly yet straightforward reminder entailing the features of your service or product can remind them why they choose to sign-up.
Headspace
Headspace, a meditation app, is consistent with their email design. If you are a subscriber, you’ll notice that their central imagery are playful cartoons mixed with a relatable and short description. However, the overall look of their emails is not only for aesthetic appeal. It is line with their services (helping individuals relax and have peace of mind). If a different approach was made with their campaign (like adding unrelatable images and text), it defeats the purpose of the vision of the brand and the company itself.
How this strategy can work for you
When designing an email, consider following your brand’s color theme and other parameters. If you have an inconsistent design, this may give your subscribers impressions that you are unsure of your brand identity.
Adidas
Getting a lot of abandoned carts? You are not the only one. SaleCycle reports that almost 80% of online carts are abandoned. The good thing? You can win-back a potential customer by sending out an abandoned cart recovery email.
Adidas sends out a follow-up with a quirky and persuasive ad-copy, a picture of the abandoned product, followed by reviews of the product.
How this strategy can work for you
There is always a chance that some customers will leave their shopping carts. While this is inevitable, you can still influence their behavior and purchase by sending out an abandoned cart email. You don’t have to give a considerable discount to persuade them. You have to remind them that they are not able to complete their transaction. Fine-tune your email design featuring the abandoned product and a CTA button too. Use attention-grabbing and clever subject line.
There are different ways you can market your products or services online. Email marketing is one that has the potential to deliver unmatched ROI for your brand. It all starts with understanding the needs and wants of your target consumers and developing a plan to satisfy them. If not, you’ll be placed in a difficult position wherein you are spending more on marketing campaigns than actually earning from it.
If you’re having a difficult time reaching your goals, you can get inspiration from the eCommerce newsletter examples above. They’ve mastered keys elements of an effective email marketing campaigns which are catchy and useful subject headlines, an equal balance of copy and imagery, a sense of personalization, and a clear CTA.
Guest author: Lane Harbin, Content Marketing Manager at Campaign Monitor
Lane Harbin is Senior Content Marketing Manager at Campaign Monitor, an easy-to-use email marketing tool that allows every marketer to send targeted newsletters to grow their business. With beautiful templates, a drag-and-drop interface and engagement-based segmentation, Campaign Monitor has helped more than 200,000 growing businesses take their email marketing to the next level.
Further Reading:
- Email Deliverability: 10 things landing your emails in the SPAM folder
- Business Email and Branded Links – 5 Key Reasons Your Brand Needs Them
- Blacklisted Short Links? Stop Using them in Emails!
- Comparing SMS Marketing and Email Marketing
This Article is About:
- Email marketing
- Email marketing examples
- Best email campaigns 2018
- Email marketing examples for 2019
