If you’ve ever shopped online or signed up for something on the web, the chances are that you would have received an email welcoming you to the business, offering you discounts or special deals, confirming your registration and a whole lot more. Email has fast become a major part of a marketer’s toolkit. And with over four billion people in the world using email, it’s an essential part of your marketing strategy. If you’re just getting started and you’re wondering what the most essential email types are and why you should use them, this post is for you.
Contents
- 1 14 Essential email types
- 1.1 1. Welcome emails
- 1.2 2. Feedback and survey emails
- 1.3 3. Product or service updates and new features
- 1.4 4. Transactional and lead nurturing emails
- 1.5 5. Holiday emails
- 1.6 6. Milestone emails
- 1.7 7. Newsletters and digital magazines
- 1.8 8. Event emails
- 1.9 9. Gift emails and special offers
- 1.10 10. Co-marketing emails
- 1.11 11. Social media emails
- 1.12 12. Brand story emails
- 1.13 13. Video emails
- 1.14 14. Internal emails
- 2 Wrapping up
14 Essential email types
Without further ado, here are the most essential email types you should be sending to your email list. Not just because it nurtures your clients but also because it builds credibility, reliability and trust. It’s also a great way of engaging with your clientele, especially when you’re asking them for feedback.
1. Welcome emails
The very first time someone engages with your company and offers you their email address, you need to send out a welcome email. Most customers these days expect it. And receiving it does not have to be limited to saying “Thank you for joining us”. It can go a whole lot further by providing users a sneak peek into what they can expect to get when they sign up with your business.
2. Feedback and survey emails
We all know that online reviews are the new form of word-of-mouth marketing. Most people will check out product or service reviews online first before they make a purchasing decision. This is why gaining feedback from your customers is so important and this is where feedback and survey emails come into play. They can be used to nudge a client to leave a positive review. Or they can be used to send surveys which can ultimately help you improve your product or service offering in the future.
3. Product or service updates and new features
Many businesses innovate. And this innovation comes in the form of new products or features. One of the best ways to tell your audience about these is to send them an email. In this type of communication, it’s essential to emphasise the main benefits of the product or service update for your clients so that they know what’s in it for them.
4. Transactional and lead nurturing emails
The transactional and lead nurturing emails are actually a sequence of emails that are sent automatically when a user takes a certain action or interacts with your online platform in a particular way. For example, if a client has made a purchase, this will need to be followed up with a confirmation message. If this is the first time they’ve registered with your business, you need to send them a form submission thank you email. Other email messages that can form a part of this category include subscription cancellation emails, reorder emails for subscription services and even abandoned cart emails that notify a user that there are still items in their cart and encourage them to complete their purchase.
5. Holiday emails
Holidays are an excellent time to send emails to your customers because this gives you the opportunity to get personal. Christmas or Easter are just two examples of holidays you can use to communicate with your audience. And they can be used to not only send season’s greetings but be informative, educational or even transactional.
6. Milestone emails
Milestone emails take place when your business reaches a certain event that’s of special importance. Has your business reached the 10-year in business mark? Is it your business’ birthday? This is a great opportunity to notify your customers of your achievements and in addition, throw in something like a special deal or offer to mark the celebration.
7. Newsletters and digital magazines
If you operate a blog and publish content regularly, then new content announcements through newsletters or digital magazines is a good way of not only boosting your readership but adding value to your audience as well with information they would otherwise have missed.
8. Event emails
Whether you’re hosting a webinar or you’re going to be attending a conference and you’d like to invite your readership to it, event emails are the way to go. Keep them short and sweet and highlight the most important parts such as the date, time and place for the event. Make it catchy and show why you’re considered an industry authority and why they should not miss out on the event.
9. Gift emails and special offers
These are another excellent way of boosting sales while offering your customers added value. Make your gift or special offer emails enticing and easy to use. This will mean having strong call to action buttons as well as easy navigation that takes them to the exact place where they can shop or order from you.
10. Co-marketing emails
If you’ve entered into a partnership with another company that’s considered a well-known and established brand, then emphasising this collaboration to your audience will be to your advantage. Highlight who you’ve partnered with, why the partnership and what your users stand to gain from it.
11. Social media emails
If you’re wondering what social media emails mean, don’t worry! These types of emails are those that are typically sent through social media platforms such as LinkedIn and others. They are just one more way of reaching your audiences outside your traditional email list and no matter what your message or call to action may be, they need to be compelling and personal.
12. Brand story emails
Brand story emails tell the unique story and elaborate on the journey your business has taken to get to where it is today and where it’s going. Storytelling in marketing is a huge plus in a marketing toolkit and it needs to be utilised to its full potential. If you’ve got a story that you’d like to share with your audience, these are the emails that will do the trick for you.
13. Video emails
Video is quickly gaining traction as one of the most sought after sources of information. They can act as powerful agents of persuasion because if they are engaging, informative and catchy. Sending an email with a video in it is also proven to get much more clicks than those emails without one. So, whether you’re offering a sale or launching a new product that you’d like to show your audience how to use, video emails are a must.
14. Internal emails
Finally, don’t forget that your employees are your company’s ambassadors and if you engage them well and show your appreciation through valuable emails and internal communication, your business will get that much more exposure and a positive brand reinforcement.
Wrapping up
Although the quantity of email types that you can send out may seem somewhat overwhelming, it must be remembered that emails in this day and age are a must in any marketer’s toolkit. They help foster engagement, they drive more sales, they help improve your bottom line and they lead to customers who are loyal to your brand. If executed correctly, you’re much more likely to reap the rewards of email marketing than if you were to sideline this critical email tool and use it sporadically or haphazardly.
If you need some assistance with your overall social media and digital presence, let us know and get in touch with us. We’d be happy to help