How Big Brands Use Email: Secrets Revealed

Email is a powerful marketing tool that gives you a direct line to your customers and leads. According to Statista, by 2023, an average of 347.3 billion emails are sent and received every day.

Email marketing can be intimidating for a small business, but there are a few secrets to creating successful campaigns. In this webinar, VP of Learning and Development at Realvolve + Firepoint Valerie Garcia shares some helpful tips.

Sending a Welcome Email

Whether you’re a B2C company or a B2B company, sending a welcome email is important to build trust and engage new subscribers. These emails should have a clear purpose, and the goal should be to move the subscriber through your email funnel.

This email from REI is a great example of a well-crafted welcome email. The email begins by addressing the subscriber by name and then explaining why they’re getting this email. This makes the email more personal, which can help increase open rates. The email also includes a link to change preferences, which is a great way to show that REI cares about the subscribers’ experience with their brand.

This is a great example of an email that uses a welcome series to guide subscribers through the different features of the software. It starts with an introduction email that offers 10 days of free meditation, which reinforces the brand’s value proposition and entices subscribers to keep engaging with their product. The next email offers a guided tour of the features and ends with an enticing CTA that encourages subscribers to try out the software.

Sending a Reminder Email

Reminder emails are a great way to remind recipients of important information that may have been overlooked or misplaced. For example, if you have an event coming up in a few days, sending a simple email reminder to ensure everyone arrives on time can make all the difference. Similarly, if you have a double opt-in or two-factor authentication process to confirm newsletter subscriptions, reminder emails can help people remember to complete these steps on time.

When writing a reminder email, it’s important to start with a friendly greeting and keep it short and sweet. Then, explain the situation and provide a solution. Finally, give your recipient a clear call-to-action and close the email with an appropriate closing remark.

Examples of reminder emails include appointment reminders, payment reminders, subscription renewals, and abandoned cart reminders. However, you can also use them to ask for feedback on products or services or to promote upcoming webinars and events. You can even use them to incentivize attendees by adding a countdown timer to create urgency.

Sending a Follow-Up Email

When a client doesn’t respond to your initial email, the best way to reconnect is to send a well-crafted follow-up message. It’s an opportunity to show you care, demonstrate your interest in them, and remind them of the initial conversation (and perhaps make sure their accounting department hasn’t forgotten about your request).

Whether your follow-up is designed to schedule a meeting time, offer some type of immediate value, or provide a CTA, identifying your objective helps you craft a professional-sounding email with a clear call-to-action. You can use Close’s AI Email Writer to generate personalized and contextually relevant follow-up emails that drive better response rates and help you close more deals.

Want to learn more about how to create effective email campaigns? Register for this free webinar and discover tips & tricks that will help you take your email game to the next level. Plus, our VP of Learning and Development, Valerie Garcia, shares an exclusive Bonus Secret! Click the button below to register.

Sending a Thank You Email

Often sent after a purchase, this type of email reassures new subscribers that they’ve made the right choice and encourages them to continue their relationship with the brand. It also provides the opportunity to re-engage with inactive subscribers.

A thank you email from a brand is more likely to make an impression on the recipient if it’s personalized. Use the recipient’s first name and a greeting that fits your relationship with them. This is also an excellent time to add a few emojis or other fun elements that show your personality and reinforce your bond with them.

This thank you email from Baking Steel captures users’ attention with a picture of a pizza and an eye-catching subject line, and then delivers on their promise to provide recipes that are easy to make at home. The email also highlights the brand’s values and mission, which shows customers that they’re valued. This is a great way to keep the conversation going and encourages readers to click through to its ecommerce website.

Sending a Coupon Email

Coupon emails are one of the best ways to generate e-commerce sales and convert your customers. They can be sent during the consideration phase of the sales funnel, as well as the loyalty stage. For example, a buy one, get one free offer could encourage a customer to make that extra purchase they hadn’t planned on.

It’s important to note that people value items more when they are limited, so make sure your coupons are framed in that way. You can add scarcity by including an expiration date or limiting the number of available vouchers in your email.

You can also personalize your email with the use of segments and groups, as it’s been proven that personalized messages perform better than general blasts. If you know that a particular customer is a runner, for example, you can send them a VIP coupon for running gear—this creates a sense of exclusivity and makes the subscriber feel valued. You can see how big brands use email to fine-tune your coupon campaigns. Simply create two versions of your email—one with a discount, and one without—and send each to a subset of your audience. The email with the highest conversions will be sent to the rest of your subscribers automatically.

Sending a Promotional Email

Promotional emails are emails that introduce your products, services, or brand to new customers. They can be a great way to drive sales and increase customer loyalty. However, they should be sent sparingly and only to customers who have opted in to receive them. Otherwise, your email may be viewed as spam and will get flagged in the Spam folder.

The objective of a promotional email should be clearly defined before you begin writing the message. This will help determine how to word your subject line, preview text, and content. It’s also important to consider how your promotional email will add value to the recipient, such as through social proof or an offer.

In this example from Jimmy John’s, the subject line uses a cookie emoji to create a sense of urgency and encourage readers to open the email. The message body then provides a discount that’s only available to subscribers who open the email. Netflix’s promotional email asks users to share their favorite shows, which provides valuable customer insights while increasing engagement.

Sending a Video Email

Video emails are a great way to engage your audience and increase conversions. However, this method of email marketing can be challenging because videos can be large files and some email clients may have size limits for attachments. Fortunately, there are a few ways to overcome this obstacle.

One option is to use a screenshot of the video as an attachment. This will allow your prospects to watch the video without having to load the entire file. Another option is to embed the video directly into your email using a video block provided by your email marketing platform. This option will allow you to keep your email design simple and is more likely to display properly on all devices.

Whatever type of video you choose to send, it is important that you create a compelling thumbnail and call-to-action button in order to drive engagement. Additionally, be sure to include a subject line that is engaging enough to encourage your subscribers to open your email. A high-quality subject line can also help to prevent your email from getting flagged as spam by some email providers.

Sending a Newsletter

Email newsletters can be a great way to keep in touch with customers and stay top of mind. They are also a powerful tool for promoting and growing your brand. To be effective, your email newsletter needs to be timely, relevant, and mobile-friendly.

Start by deciding what your goals are for the newsletter. Whether it’s keeping people connected, building your brand, or driving sales, decide ahead of time how you’ll measure success and set these as your email marketing goals.

Then, create content that will achieve those goals. Make sure it’s relevant to your audience and fits in with your brand image.

It’s also important to consider how often you want to send your newsletter. Over-sending can lead to people unsubscribing from your emails, so it’s important to strike the right balance between frequency and quality. Lastly, use A/B testing to see what works and what doesn’t. This will help you find the best subject lines, CTAs, and content to drive more action from your email newsletters. A/B testing can also be used to test how your email newsletter performs on different devices and in different inboxes.