Are you knocking it out of the park with your emails? Any marketer would rarely answer yes to that question. No matter what your strategy looks like or how effective you think it is, email marketing mistakes happen, and results can always be improved.
A successful email marketing strategy goes a lot deeper than just a casual message to your subscribers once in a while to let them know you’re still around. If you want to create emails that engage, delight, and convert, you need to be diversifying your efforts with emails that span a range of formats, purposes, and frequencies.
Below are six essential types of messages you should be incorporating into your email strategy, and why they’re beneficial for not only you but your subscribers as well.
1. Newsletters
Email newsletters are crucial for building brand awareness and loyalty, and a great opportunity for marketing teams of all sizes to increase engagement with their audience. Whether you send newsletters weekly, monthly, or just once a quarter, use them to provide a round-up of your most recently published content, as well as a place to highlight any new promotions, offers, or events.
Why they’re great: Think of your email newsletters as hubs that can direct subscribers to other valuable digital resources. A well-done newsletter will drive more traffic to your website, grow your social media community, and increase your sales. Not too shabby for what some consider to be the most basic form of email marketing.
2. Lead Nurturing Drip Campaigns
Drip campaigns roll out targeted content to your subscribers to gently guide them along the sales funnel. We recommend having segmented lists for prospects in each stage of the buyer’s journey so you can reach out to them with resources that answer their unique questions and needs. And because they’re automatic, drip campaigns save you time in the long run.
Why they’re great: Drip campaigns are incredibly useful when it comes to staying top of mind with your audience, including re-engaging with prospects who might have gotten distracted somewhere along the funnel. They also help ensure that the content you put a lot of work into creating (blog posts, webinars, infographics, guides, etc.) actually ends up in front of who it’s intended for.
3. Transactional Emails
Marketing doesn’t stop at the point of sale. Transactional emails, which include digital receipts, shipping confirmations, and personalized post-sale product recommendations, deliver relevant information to your customers while also giving you a leg up when it comes to getting them to keep coming back again and again.
Why they’re great: Transactional emails fill in many of the gaps that often result in people becoming one-time customers. On top of providing need-to-know information, they also increase customer engagement and build trust — both of which are essential if you want to keep your customers around.
4. News Updates
It’s okay to toot your own horn! News update emails call attention to anything exciting that’s going on with your company. Next time you win a big award, have an upcoming conference that your CEO will be speaking at, or secured additional funding, let your subscribers know about it. It helps contribute to your brand authority and continues to secure their faith in your partnership.
Why they’re great: With all of the competition out there, it makes sense to use email marketing as a way to increase brand integrity and authority, and news updates do just that. For the best outcomes, send them only when something big happens — everything else can be mentioned in a newsletter.
5. Milestones
If you’re using a CRM, then chances are you’re monitoring key information about your customers, like their birthdays or anniversaries. So why not put all of that data to use with milestone emails? These creative and personalized campaigns recognize important occasions to drive conversions and make your customers feel appreciated.
Why they’re great: You know your customers matter, but they need to know too. Milestone emails remind your subscribers that you care, and can include assets like personalized coupon codes that lead to future purchases.
6. Promo/Offer Emails
Everyone loves a good deal, and promo emails are just the vehicle to share your most recent exciting offer. Why? Well, email marketing is one of the easiest ways to share deals and offers with your audience because they’re already enrolled and engaged with your messages. And, they’re a great way to get more eyes on a newly released piece of content, like a whitepaper or guide. After all, why create something if you’re not going to show it off?
Why they’re great: These types of emails get more eyes on your most valuable campaigns and content and can inspire thought and conversions that might not have otherwise happened.
So, change up your email marketing this year. Introduce a few new types of email messages into your campaigns and see how well they engage and delight your subscribers. Keep track of your results, and don’t be afraid to get creative with your approach.