An effective email marketing campaign doesn’t require a lot of money. If you know your audience, you can tailor relevant and personalized content that will drive clicks and conversions.
It’s about being clever with your email marketing and putting the needs and requirements of your prospects and customers at the center. It’s about providing a solution that will make people’s lives easier and better.
Plus, 61 percent of customers, according to Statista, prefer to be contacted by companies through email marketing – that’s great news for your business as it’s cost-effective and easy to track.
So let’s look at some great examples of email campaigns from businesses of all sizes to get inspiration for your campaigns.
5 examples of emails at different stages of the funnel
There are many different types of emails depending on their purpose. Each one uses a different approach, language, and tone to engage a certain kind of recipient so it’s important to look at examples of each to inform your email marketing campaigns.
1) Welcome email - Ritual
Ritual is an online retailer of multivitamins and nutritional supplements for women. As an online business, it focuses on mobile-optimized emails and they send 4 emails a week with an average subject line length of 28 characters according to mailcharts data.
Why does it work?
This email works because it not only welcomes new subscribers or sign-ups but also entices them with an offer of 10 percent off a bundle. It also has the text ‘Welcome gift inside’ as the preview text.
In terms of color, it’s not only eye-catching but matches the website, making the customer journey seamless in terms of visuals.
2) Promotional email - Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble is a US bookseller and Fortune 100 company. It has retail stores but also operates online. Mailcharts reports that the company sends an average of 3.75 emails a week and 85 percent of those are promotional.
Why does it work?
This email focuses on time running out or ‘ticking’ to drive a sense of urgency. It cements this by saying that any item will run out soon, tapping into a sense of FOMO. The CTA uses active language, ‘Activate 15% off’ to prompt clicking.
The email also shows examples of books to drive interest, and rather than your standard ‘BUY NOW’ as a call to action it urges people to ‘CHECK AVAILABILITY’ tying into the fact this offer and stock will run out.
3) Subscription email - LEGO
As a modern-day superbrand, LEGO offers enormous scope for fun and play in its marketing. It has huge brand recognition and builds on its strengths in its email marketing. Interestingly, the company only sends 1 email a week and none of those are promotional reports Mailcharts.
Why does it work?
The subject line of this email is simple ‘Thank You for Subscribing’ but it follows through when opened by repeating the same text in the first panel. The sub-text reassures the recipient that they will never miss out on any offers as they are now a subscriber and invites them to ‘SHOP NOW’.
The second panel offers value to the reader along with a free subscription. The offer of free coloring pages drives people to the website as a thank you. A small gesture, but one that leaves a positive feeling.
4) Nurture email - Harry’s
Men’s grooming and shave supplies company Harry’s offers a subscription-based service along with online and retail channels. It sends one email a week and all of its emails are promotional, reports Mailcharts.
Why does it work?
A nurture email aims to re-engage your list. These could be active or lapsed users but to entice people to click and read you need to offer something of value. Harry’s does this by helping men to get a ‘baby face’ when shaving.
It’s an image-based email but effective, as it goes from one step to the other. While the focus is on the steps, they include a simple line ‘Otherwise known as pre-shave primer’ and a CTA to enable people to click right away. There’s another CTA at the bottom, ‘SHOP PRE-SHAVE’, offering two opportunities to click but varying the text.
5) Cart abandonment - MADE
Online furniture retailer MADE sends 1.8 emails per year and 85 percent of them are promotional. It operates solely online and relies on digital marketing tactics to promote its brand and products.
Why does it work?
The subject line uses personalization which drives click-through - ‘[NAME], finish what you started?’. Once you click, the headline text is ‘Recognise this?’ which is a creative alternative to reminding someone about cart abandonment.
The email also includes a picture of the item and offers a discount on the next order. It also plays into a sense of urgency by including ‘make sure you check out before someone takes them home’. The panel at the end also takes the opportunity to showcase other products that a recipient may be interested in.
5 Email Marketing Examples by Occasion
Now that you’ve seen great examples of email types, let’s move on to some examples to mark occasions that are repeated every year. These can be planned with the use of an email campaign calendar and you can have some fun creating them to get your prospects and customers engaged.
1) Black Friday - Casper
It’s not the easiest product to make exciting, but mattress manufacturer Casper manages to make their brand emotive. The company sends 5 emails a week and 92 percent percent of them are promotional.
Why does it work?
While the subject line is longer than many would recommend, it shows perfectly the links between Black Friday and the mattress with humor thrown in - ‘Every Friday is Black Friday when your eyes are closed. Because you’re napping.’
The gif stays true to its brand colors but is simple and captivating featuring a moon to reinforce the fact it’s all about sleep. The offer is conveyed simply with a CTA of ‘SHOP NOW’.
2) Valentine’s Day - Notorious Nooch
Launched in 2021, Notorious Nooch claims to be The UK’s “First Naturally Flavoured Nutritional Yeast” and is founded by the author of ‘How to Vegan’. There’s no available data on their emails but the company has come to market with a bang!
Why does it work?
You cannot escape the colors in this email, they’re loud and bold, just like the brand’s website. The subject line ‘20% Off Everything For All Dust Lovers ��’ leads with the offer and then uses the word ‘lovers’ to link to Valentine’s Day.
The copy tells people that ‘we’ve never discounted this much before’ prompting people to take advantage of the offer. Plus the discount code feeds right into the theme ‘ILOVENOOCH20’
3) Father’s Day - Grovemade
Custom furniture maker Grovemade creates and sells high-end products. Its emails have imagery as the focus to reflect its ethos of design as a brand.
Why does this work?
The image is what stands out in this email. It showcases the type of product Grovemade creates and is their pick for dads. The text is sparse but reflective of the event and product ‘Insert “bright idea” dad-joke here’.
The date reminder for Father’s Day could create urgency and the CTA is simple but a hark back to dads.
4) Christmas - Adobe
Software company Adobe is well-known as a brand across industries. The company sends 1.6 emails a week with only 6 percent being promotional.
Why does it work?
The email imagery is consistently festive but highlights the capabilities of Adobe’s products. The first block in the email has the headline ‘Festive Flow’ to tie it into motion graphics and offers a free template from the start to tie into Christmas.
The second block also offers a free asset encouraging click-through to ‘Explore free collection’ as the CTA. The email encourages engagement through free assets and the subject line ‘Spiced Up Season’s Greetings’ teases people to find out more.
5) Mother’s Day - Apple
Apple needs no introduction as a brand and that allows them to be very focused and personalized in their emails. The technology company sends 6 emails a week with 20 percent including a promotion, according to mailcharts data.
Why does it work?
The email works because it taps into emotions. It tugs at the heartstrings with the headline ‘Give a gift that does as much as mom’ meaning that if you buy it for her you’re showing love and appreciation. It also focuses on helping ‘mom get everything done’ and shows images of a toddler and a Bazaar article in line with the theme.
The sections use text that includes ‘her’ in each one bringing it back to mom and the benefits of these products to her life. Each CTA is different, from ‘Buy iPad Pro’ to ‘Buy Apple Pencil’, ‘Buy Smart keyword’ etc. tapping into a range of price points and needs.
Pump up your email marketing campaigns
Email is an effective and low-cost way to drive conversions and retain customers. Understand how to use the channel effectively with DMI’s short email marketing course that covers data strategy, email content creation and design along with testing, automation, and optimization.
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