Email Marketing Revisited: Some More Ideas & Examples

This post is simply a reminder of the power of email marketing. To start from the beginning, see how to create landing pages and a sequence of high conversion autoresponse emails. 

Email is still very relevant, especially for the adult market. For instance, extremely high percentage (roughly 27%) of holiday sales are attributable to email marketing. This is particularly noteworthy since it is either free or cheap to manage while receiving such high related returns.

Needless to say, it is useful to start creating a mailing list from as soon as possible. There are 4 main ways of creating mailing lists.

• Pop-ups. These most commonly occur automatically when visitors are about to exit the site or shortly after they land on a page. They usually offer something in exchange for the lead's email address. The offer often includes newsletters, a coupon, etc. For coupons, the pop-up may say something like 'Save x% on your order ... sign up for the newsletter to get the coupon'.
• Giveaways. You can give away small products as part of the top of your sales funnel. If done appropriately, leads may be re-targeted for bigger promotions (like Black Friday for instance). This may be useful for info-mmercial products that can push your leads deeper through the sales funnel. Essentially, you can ride on the wave of a tentpole. However, this approach can also be used to generate general interest and excitement around the tent pole.
• Facebook. Run Facebook ads that send leads to an appropriate landing page on your website. Whenever possible, get visitors to your Facebook page to sign up freely for the mailing list so that you do not need to reach them via paid advertisements. See how to setup a Facebook page.
• Customers. Customers make the most qualified mailing list. It involves creating mailing lists from customers.

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Here are some approaches to sending emails to promote a sale like Black Friday or other tent-pole event. Some of these approaches may also be combined. Furthermore, it is always useful to encourage your leads to share the email through social media or other means. NB the most important part of email marketing is the email subject line. Additionally, remember to test different approaches until you arrive at the best email marketing option(s) for your ecommerce store.

1. Simple approach

Notice some of its key points. 

Clear Subject Line: 'Black Friday Sale - 40% off everything!'

Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): a conspicuous 'Buy Now' button.

2. Bold Imagery or Animations embedded in the email

If your brand is fun or otherwise given to this approach, use its visual appeal to attract your audience. 

3. Product-Specific Free Gift Coupon Email

The works since people typically buy higher valued items with coupons like this. 

Additionally, you can use this type of email with tent poles simply to remain relevant to your customers. Essentially, tent poles provide an excuse to make contact. 

4. Last-Chance Extended Sale Email

If you plan to have a sale last until the 10th day of a month. You can initially advertise it as lasting until the 8th. Then, as pre-planned, create a sense of urgency and scarcity with this kind of email. This is a very powerful strategy that prompts people to act. However, you may simply want to extend the sale to capitalize on the surge of responses.

5. Product-Specific Email

Rather than establish a sale for your entire store, promote a single product only. Remain true to the personality of your brand. For instance, if your brand involves humor, use images and words that reflect that humor.

6. Scarcity Email

Tell people that product X is nearly sold out. Keywords include 'moving fast', 'almost sold out' and 'no time to be on the fence'. The scarcity strategy is particularly successful on Black Friday.

Subject: Product X Almost Sold Out! Black Friday Prices + Free Shipping for a Few More Hours!

7. Against the Grain

Examples:

• Consider sending email before Black Friday with the subject line 'Don't wait til tomorrow. Take up to x% off our most popular products now.'
• Subject: 'This is Not a Sale' Then use the email as a platform to raise awareness of a relevant cause. Offer to donate a percentage of sales on black Friday to that cause. In addition to possible raising sales whether on black Friday or a low sales period, you also build a positive brand image.

Other Related Articles

• Auto Response Emails
• Tentpoling for Market Communications
• Landing Pages that convert visitors into leads