Source: Freepik.com
Some people have been predicting the death of email marketing for years, but it’s still here and more powerful than ever!
According to research, small business owners said that email campaigns are the second biggest opportunity to gain new customers, right after social media marketing.
But the competition is tough, meaning you have to be very creative with your email campaigns to win your audience and potential buyers.
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We’ve gathered 13 email marketing ideas to take your marketing efforts to the next level.
Email marketing ideas for your next campaign
Game-based email lead generation
Did you know that gamification can help you encourage users to sign up for your newsletter and generate leads?
People are more likely to fill out your lead generation form when they know they’re getting something in return: voucher, discount or results of a personality quiz.
A good gamification platform like Adact offers you a wide range of games you can use in marketing: personality tests, trivia, Advent calendar and so on.
If you organize an online contest or competition, you can use Adact to send emails to prize winners. If you’re wondering how it all works, the good news is that you can integrate Adact with Mailchimp and automate the whole process.
💡 Check out this case study to find out how Telecom company Bite generated 500,000 visits to their website in just seven days, using a simple Match 3 game. You can do the same, thanks to over 30 customizable games Adact offers.
We also wrote a full guide on email lead generation: from building lists and creating campaigns to converting subscribers into customers. Check it out!
Welcome email
Source: Headspace.com
You should create an email that welcomes your new subscribers and explains what kind of content they can expect, how often they will receive your marketing emails etc.
This is the beginning of your marketing funnel: by subscribing to your list, your email subscriber is one step closer to becoming your customer. Now is the time for lead nurturing and the most effective way to do so is by sending them email marketing campaigns packed with value at regular intervals.
Custom content & recommendations
Source: Linkedin.com
The central part of your email marketing strategy should be segmenting your contact list and sending personalized content. You can do so based on customers’ previous purchases or the topics they’ve expressed interest in.
This is the best way to boost brand loyalty because you’re showing that you actually care about your customers instead of viewing them as numbers. In the picture above, you can see LinkedIn personalized course recommendations based on the information users have shared on their profiles.
Holiday campaign
Source: Dunkindonuts.com
When creating your content calendar, the first thing to do is to check whether there are any holidays or important dates that month. Holiday campaigns are a perfect occasion to celebrate your clients and send them special promotional emails related to the holiday we’re celebrating.
Check out the following articles for more inspiration:
Industry news
Source: Garyvaynerchuk.com
The best way to give value to your subscribers is to be the first to share the industry news and trends they should be aware of. It’ll help you build trust and they’ll start perceiving you as a reliable source and an authority in your industry.
Gary V. shares news from tech and marketing through his newsletter regularly, explaining complex topics in a simple way so that everyone can understand them. You can do the same for your industry!
Milestones
Source: Canva.com
Invite your email subscribers to celebrate your milestones with you! It can be anything, from your company’s birthday to achieving specific goals or reaching a certain number of users or followers. It’s also a perfect occasion to thank your loyal customers for being part of your community.
Check out how Canva celebrated reaching 100 million users by thanking each one of its users and making them feel special.
Social proof
Source: Marieforleo.com
You probably have a lot of customer testimonials on your website, but does anyone have time to read them? Probably not.
Today, we invite you to pick some customer stories and testimonials and send them as an email campaign, just like business coach Marie Forleo did in the picture above.
Of course, social proof doesn’t come only in the form of testimonials – it could also be celebrity endorsement, the number of satisfied customers, media mentions etc.
Product/company updates
Source: Canva.com
People subscribe to your newsletter because they want to stay up-to-date and be the first to receive relevant news about new products or features. Don’t forget to share all the updates in your email campaigns and encourage customers to write to you if they have any questions.
Webinar invite
Source: Hubspot.com
Webinars are a great way to engage your audience and share valuable content. Free webinars are also a perfect occasion to promote your paid product or services and try to upsell. They can also be a good way to send invitations to inactive subscribers and re-engage them.
However, people are bombarded with emails, so one email won’t be enough. Send them a reminder email and a follow-up email with the webinar recording.
Upsell emails
Source: Wizzair.com
To boost sales, you should offer upsells to happy customers who already bought something from you. The truth is that it’s much more cost-effective to retain customers than to get new ones.
You can learn a lot about upselling from airline companies. When you book a flight, they offer you to upgrade your seat, get a priority pass or a glass of champagne during the flight. That’s not all – they also make strategic partnerships with hotels, restaurants and transportation services. You can do the same in your business!
Special gifts
Source: Apple.com
The best way to boost customer loyalty is to treat your existing customers on a special occasion or for no reason at all! You can send them a gift card, discount code, voucher or a small meaningful gift.
According to Statista, email is the leading channel customers use to discover coupons. If you want to surprise them even more, you can use the Wheel of Fortune or scratch cards available with Adact.
Product sneak peek
Source: Glossier.com
A product sneak peek is an effective email marketing campaign for boosting product familiarity and creating excitement before launching a new product or service. You can also offer early bird discounts for your loyal subscribers that want to be the first to try out your new product.
“Best of” email
Source: Bookdepository.com
This tip can save you when you run out of email marketing campaign ideas or don’t have new content.
You can create the best content roundup by sending links to your own blog posts or even your old newsletters. Don’t worry – you won’t be repeating yourself. Most people don’t read all the content they see, so it’s a great way to remind customers of some evergreen content pieces.
On the other hand, you can also create seasonal campaigns to introduce subscribers to your best-selling products of the season. For more seasonal content, check out our summer campaign ideas and spring marketing ideas.
Conclusion
By now, you should have a lot of ideas on how to create effective email marketing campaigns. If you want to stand out in the crowd and really engage your subscribers, consider adding gamification to your email marketing efforts.
Adact has more than 30 games you can use in every part of the customer journey. Sign up today and create your first game within minutes, as no coding is required!
Email marketing ideas: FAQs
You can use email marketing to promote your products and services, educate the audience about your offer, cross-sell and up-sell or create limited offers only for your email subscribers.
The first step is to understand your target audience and provide them with a lot of value. Yes, you can use email marketing to sell, but not all your email campaigns should be promotional – or you can lose some potential customers.
According to HubSpot, email marketing has the third highest ROI of all marketing channels. It can be very effective if you use it properly and take time to A/B test all elements (sending intervals, subject line, call to action buttons etc.).
