30 Sep
Emails are still the most profitable channel to market your brand.
While collecting emails and encouraging website visitors to opt in to your list is a major process that requires a lot of time and effort to perfect, the end goal is not to have a massive list of subscribers. At some point, you have to convert these subscribers into customers.
Effectively turning all those email leads into paying customers really depends on the types of emails you’re sending.
Why are emails important?
Email is an important method of business communication that is fast, cheap, accessible and easily replicated. Using email can greatly benefit businesses as it provides efficient and effective ways to transmit all kinds of electronic data.
Why do you need different types of emails?
The problem with many ineffective email marketing campaigns isn’t that they send emails too frequently or infrequently. It’s that the content they’re sending isn’t differentiated enough.
If you’re simply sending out the same old weekly newsletter over and over again, your subscribers will stop being interested in your emails before they have a chance to convert.
The other problem with ineffective email marketing campaigns is that they don’t include a good mix of “value” based emails versus “selling” emails. If you are constantly sending either one or the other type of email, you’ll either turn your subscribers off or you’ll never sell anything.
Be willing to mix things up. Your subscribers will appreciate it, and you’ll enjoy the benefit of higher open and click through rates, leading to increased sales. To get you started, let’s review some of the different types of emails you absolutely need to be sending your list.
1. The Welcome Email
This is the email you send a subscriber within 24 hours after they opt in to your list. It’s a simple email that tells them how happy you are that they’ve subscribed, and then lays out some of the things they can expect to receive in their inbox.
A welcome email is so successful because customers are expecting it when they sign up and because they’re excited about your brand. This is when first impressions really count and when your customers are most engaged, so spend time and resources on creating an amazing first email.
Some brands take it a step further and offer a welcome discount. This is one of the best ways to make sure you don’t lose your subscriber and to gently nudge them along the purchase funnel.
You could also consider creating a welcome sequence to keep your brand top of mind for a longer period of time and sustain interest. Every element of your welcome email is prime real estate – including your subject line. Use it wisely.
2. The Offer Email
This email includes a discount, coupon, or some other special deal that you send out to subscribers as a “thank you” for being on your VIP list. Offer emails typically have high open rates. Whether or not your business model includes offering sales and discounts, it’s a good idea to send out some sort of special offer just for your subscribers every now and then. This shows your appreciation, and drives sales.
3. The Survey Email
A really good email marketing campaign isn’t a monologue, it’s a dialogue. You can’t expect to shower your subscribers with emails without ever asking them for their input.
That’s where the survey email comes into play. It’s a simple email (typically sent within the first couple weeks) that asks them to respond to certain questions around topics relevant to your product. You can then use this information to better tailor your marketing efforts to their needs.
Your survey, however, doesn’t need to be a lengthy 10 minute questionnaire. You could simply ask your subscribers to rate their willingness to recommend you to a friend.
4. The Request Email
This email can be used to ask for a favor, such as a testimonial or review on a particular site. Since online testimonials are essentially currency in many industries, this is a high returning email.
You send request emails to your customers to get any required information about your business. It can be:
- Feedback including any comments
- Excellent testimonials from existing customers
- Request for writing a review about your product/service
- For joining any event, webinar, or interview
5. The Newsletter Email
Aside from content emails, the most common type of email to send your subscribers tends to be a newsletter. These emails keep your subscribers updated using a different mix of information.
They contain new updates regarding your business, industry, blog posts, case studies, or any other valuable information. While the newsletter email gets a lot of focus in email marketing circles, don’t fall into the trap of sending boring or uneventful newsletters just for the sake of sending a newsletter. This is a surefire way to make your followers hit the “unsubscribe” button.
Always make sure that your newsletters contain important, intriguing, or helpful information. If you don’t have anything important to say this week, skip it.
6. The Free Gift Email
Everyone likes free stuff and doesn’t want to pay for everything. Using this strategy is good to get better engagement. Free gift emails are sent to customers and subscribers on holidays, birthdays, and other special occasions to engage them. Gifts can be anything of value to your subscribers.
An exclusive, free gift email sprinkled in to your email marketing campaign will work like magic to keep your subscribers engaged and, well, subscribed.
7. The Value Email
Value emails didn’t have any promotional intent. They usually don’t need email opt-ins or any other kind of related activity. You can send any valuable material if you feel it is relevant and benefits your subscribers.
A value email is where you simply provide value with no strings attached. It could be a blog post, a dose of inspiration, or a simple tip. These emails are where you really start to build a relationship with your audience, and they are an absolutely critical component to a high-converting email marketing campaign.
8. The We’re Hiring Email
Subscribers want to feel like they’re special. When you have a job opening, send out an email asking them to nominate people who they believe would be a good fit (or apply themselves). This shows that you really value their input, plus, your subscribers are your biggest fans, why not give them the first shot at working for your company?
9. The New Product Email
When you launch a product or new inventory comes in, your subscribers should be the first to know. You already know that these are your most engaged customers, so it’s a fantastic way to jumpstart your sales.
You want your targeted customers to purchase your product like crazy. And here comes the use of new product launch emails. These emails are sent to inform your email subscribers about a new product/service. They commonly have the following information:
- Features of your product
- Benefits it drives
- Story of product
- Problems it solves
- Launch date and time
- Special discount and bonus
10. The Reorder Email
If you’re selling products that are disposable and customers need to buy a new one after it, then reorder emails are used. Common examples of disposable products are toothpaste, towels, gloves, diapers, hand wash, and other one-time usable products.
Or if you run a subscription service, or sell consumable goods that are ordered in regular intervals, a simple reorder email can be an effective way to retain customers.
Reorder emails are also called renewal emails. Renewal emails are used to remind customers about paying a monthly subscription fee for service or renewing their certificates for any educational program. You can send customers invoices as well as inform them about the new stock.
11. The Abandoned Cart Email
If you’re in ecommerce and selling a product/service and facing the same problem then abandoned cart emails is a must-have. You send abandoned cart emails when any customer adds products to their cart but leaves it without finally paying money. Means left the purchase.
Customers abandon their carts due to several reasons but you need to make them your paying customer. In an abandoned cart email, you can remind your customer about the cart and items in it. Sending a nice email reminding them that they haven’t checked out is a very effective way to recover those lost sales.
12. The Announcement Email
It’s worth repeating that email subscribers like to feel valued and special. Whenever you’re launching a new product or announcing an event, send a simple email to your subscribers to let them know and make them a part of your growing brand. This email takes very little time, and is an effective way to conjure up excitement.
13. The Anniversary Email
Many marketers like to send out an anniversary email to thank subscribers for being a part of their list. You could celebrate the 1-year anniversary of a subscriber joining your list, or you could celebrate a big milestone for your list in general.
14. Getting To Know Email
As an entrepreneur and marketer, you want to know as much about your subscribers as possible.The more information you get from the people on your list, the more targeted your marketing, the less time you have to spend on it, and the more you can sell.
So in this email you’re asking them to respond back to you with information about themselves. Unlike the helper email, you’re not asking just for their challenges with your topic. In this email you’re asking them about their lives and experience with your topic in general.
This email also gives you insight into the exact type of person who you’re attracting onto your email list. You can gather information about your current and target customer, which will make it far easier to market to them.
15. The Conformational Email
Email marketing success highly depends on the quality of leads. Sometimes subscribers opt-in to your list with the wrong email address and want to get a free e-book or video. For hiding these types of spammers and getting quality leads, it is vital to confirm that email. And here comes the use of confirmation email.
16. Plain Text Email
Emails that are HTML based on proper design are good to engage customers. But their chances of going into the spam folder are also high. Plain text emails contain text messages only, whether long or short.
Due to their simplicity, they have a higher deliverability rate and lower bounce rate. Along with that, they directly go to the primary email folder, which is a target of every email marketer.
Wrap up
Sending different types of emails is a great way to engage, convert, and build trust with your email subscribers. They not only educate your subscribers but also build strong relationships with them. Now, it’s on you to identify which one can help you and implement that to see results for your own business.