Are you tired of sending emails that seem to disappear into a black hole, never to be seen or heard from again? Well, fear not! With the right tips and strategies, you can master the art of an email marketing campaign and make your messages stand out in the crowded inbox.
There are many successful email marketing campaign examples that can help you achieve your goals. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a newbie to email marketing campaigns, continue reading. This guide covers everything from how to get started, best practices, successful email examples and what tools you will need to create email campaigns that will get noticed and drive results.
What is an email marketing campaign?
An email marketing campaign is a series of scheduled emails used to entice existing customers and future prospects to take a certain action. Whether you’re looking to promote a new product drop, or promotional sale, or are just eager to spread the word about your business and start driving sales, email is crucial to your marketing strategy. But don’t just take our word for it – the statistics speak for themselves.
According to a survey by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing has an average ROI of 4,300%. This makes it one of the most effective digital marketing channels. That’s right – for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average ROI is $44! So if you’re looking to maximise your marketing dollars, email is the way to go! But it is not just about the bottom line – 78% of marketers say they’ve seen a significant increase in email engagement and that figure is only growing.
How to start an email marketing campaign?
Now you know what an email marketing campaign is, let’s talk about how to start it from scratch.
Set your campaign goals
First of all, it is important to establish campaign objectives and expected results, such as increasing the rate of returning customers or sales by a certain amount. You should also align your goals with your company’s broader marketing goals and KPIs.
Build your email list
The next step is to build your email list using various techniques like offering incentives, sign-up forms, and QR codes.
Finalise content
Once you have built your list, decide on your email content and target audience. Some examples include an ongoing newsletter, a welcome series, or an abandoned cart campaign.
Build an email campaign template
The final step is to create your email campaign template. You can do this by designing your emails in HTML, using a drag-and-drop editor, or choosing from pre-built templates. You should keep best practices in mind when designing your emails. For example, balancing your image-to-text ratio, and A/B testing your subject lines and CTAs.
Engage with your audience
You can even go the extra mile and create a memorable experience for your subscribers. Just add a fun interactive element, gifs, or a poll to increase your click-through rates.
Automate
Lastly, take your email marketing campaign strategy to the next level by setting up your automations. This allows you to set up email triggers, create reminders for events, send abandoned cart emails, and so much more.
Check out in detail how to start an email marketing campaign that will deliver timely, relevant, and personal messaging to the masses.
Examples of email marketing campaigns
In this section, we’ll explore some of the best email marketing campaigns and what makes them so successful.
Awareness email marketing campaign
An awareness email campaign strives to maintain brand recognition by offering valuable content that addresses specific customer pain points and positions the brand as an industry leader. By staying in regular contact with subscribers, you increase the likelihood of being their go-to solution provider over competitors.
DocuSign uses an awareness email campaign to draw attention to certain product solutions, providing additional information about why it’s important and how to set it up. By addressing customer pain points, you can make the onboarding experience smooth and seamless, which leaves longlasting positive impression on a customer.
Lead-nurturing email marketing campaign
This campaign builds relationships with customers and guides them through the buying journey. You have to provide valuable information to convert potential customers into paying ones.
Generally, it’s best to have at least 3-5 emails in a series, spaced out over a period of time (e.g. weekly or bi-weekly). However, longer series with more content can be effective as long as the content remains relevant and valuable to the audience. Here’s an example of how to structure a lead-nurture series with content for each email.
First lead-nurture email
- Introduction and thank you for subscribing
- Explanation of what to expect from the series
- A brief overview of your company and what you offer
- Call-to-action to engage with your brand (e.g. follow on social media, check out blog content)
Second lead-nurture email
- Highlight a specific problem or challenge your audience faces
- Share a success story or case study that demonstrates how your company solved a similar problem
- Provide value through helpful tips or advice related to the problem
- Call-to-action to encourage readers to learn more about how your company can help solve the problem
Third lead-nurture email
- Further discussion of the problem
- Provide more in-depth information about how your company solves the problem
- Include a customer testimonial or review
- Call-to-action to schedule a demo, request a consultation or make a purchase
Sephora’s lead-nurturing email communicates to customers who have signed up for their email list, offering tips, tutorials, and exclusive deals. These email campaigns are effective because they provide value to the customer at each stage of the buying process, whilst encouraging them to engage with the brand. This leads to increased loyalty and repeat business over time.
Revenue-generation email marketing campaign
This email marketing campaign helps increase sales and generate revenue for a business. These emails often include special offers, promotions, and discounts to entice customers.
Upsell and cross-sell opportunities are an essential part of revenue-generation email marketing campaigns. Suppose a customer is purchasing a laptop, an upsell can be offering an upgraded version with better specs or features, while a cross-sell is suggesting a laptop bag or accessories to go along with the purchase.
Including upsell and cross-sell opportunities in your email marketing campaign not only increase revenue but also enhances the customer experience by providing them with additional value and options. It’s important to keep in mind that these offers should be relevant and add value to the customer’s purchase rather than just pushing unnecessary products.
Check the below example of how Columbia effectively uses a simple abandoned cart email to generate more revenue over Black Friday sales. Abandoned cart emails are extremely effective as you’re communicating with a visitor who has already shown purchase intent. The email’s call-to-action is positioned prominently at the top and uses enticing language to encourage customers to click through before the promotion expires.
Traffic generation email marketing campaign
With this email marketing campaign idea, you can increase website or landing page traffic. The goal is to encourage recipients to click through to the website or landing page and start engaging.
A traffic generation email campaign may include a variety of tactics. For example, promotional offers, content marketing, social media marketing, and referral marketing. Also, there are links to blog posts or product pages, and they often have a clear call-to-action. For example, The Body Shop sends referral emails to existing customers. This encourages them to refer their friends or family to their brand. The email includes an incentive for existing and new customers, such as a discount or exclusive offer.
Email marketing campaign best practices
To create a successful email marketing campaign, follow best practices in engaging with subscribers. In this section, we will explore some approaches to help you create impactful campaigns that drive results.
- Build a quality email list: A good email list is the foundation of any successful email marketing campaign. Ensure your list includes only individuals who have given you permission to contact them.
- Use a clear and compelling subject line: Your subject line should be eye-catching and reflect the content of the email. Avoid spam trigger words, and make sure the subject line doesn’t exceed 50 characters.
- Personalise your emails: Personalisation can increase the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Use the recipient’s names in the subject line and body of the email and segment your list to tailor the content to each recipient’s interests.
- Optimise for mobile: Most emails are now opened on mobile devices, so optimising your emails for smaller screens is crucial. Use a single-column layout, a legible font size, and include a clear call-to-action.
- Test and optimise: Regularly test different elements of your email campaigns. This may include subject lines, content, and calls-to-action, to optimise for better performance. Analyse metrics such as open and click-through rates to make data-driven decisions.
- Provide valuable content: Make sure your emails provide value to your subscribers. This can be in the form of informative articles, special promotions, or exclusive content.
- Use a clear call-to-action: Make sure your email has a clear call-to-action that tells subscribers what you want them to do next. This could be visiting your website, purchasing, or signing up for a webinar.
Besides, follow these advanced tips and strategies to engage your audience and drive results.
Final words
In conclusion, mastering email marketing campaigns can be a powerful tool to reach and engage with the target audience. It starts with understanding what an email marketing campaign is, its examples, and how to start one.
To ensure the success of email marketing campaigns, it’s also important to follow best practices. With the right strategies and tactics, businesses can leverage the best email marketing campaigns. This will help to achieve their marketing goals and drive long-term success.
