7 Types of Email Marketing You Need to be Using

Remember in the ’80s when your mailbox was stuffed full of postcards, letters, and catalogs from every major business under the sun? Oh, the good old days of direct mail marketing. 

Thankfully, many of us have said goodbye to all the blood, sweat, and tears of printing, postage, and mailing. And hello to something much more innovative, efficient, and effective; email marketing. 

A form of direct marketing, email marketing can quickly alert a massive amount of people about new products, discounts, and other services. Knowing the different types of marketing emails and when to use them can significantly benefit your brand loyalty, conversion of new customers, and bottom line. (the average ROI is $42 for every $1 spent on email marketing) 

Not sure what type you should be sending to your customers? We put together a list of the top marketing emails to help you get started!

The top type of marketing emails you need to be sending

There are several ways to successfully reach leads, prospects, and new customers in their inboxes. Here are the 7 most common marketing emails to incorporate into your email strategy.

Welcome Email

Congrats! You got new email subscribers….which means more potential customers. Now what? A welcome email! 

What it does:  A welcome email engages potential customers while getting them acquainted with your business.

Best practices: Your welcome email is one of the first pieces of communication subscribers get from your business. Therefore, you want to make a great impression. Nothing says “unsubscribe” like an irrelevant, too salesy, or poorly executed email. No pressure. 

So if you want to send out a really awesome welcome email, we recommend considering the following:

• Captivating subject line– You want people to open your email, right? This is the most essential part of getting them to do that!
• Set expectations– Help your customers understand what they should expect from you in future emails and in regards to the frequency of your communications.
• Build trust and loyalty right off the bat– Provide them links to content on your website to learn more about your business and the products of services you provide. 
• Introduce your social media platforms– Inviting your subscribers to join you on social media will help them develop a deeper trust in your brand and learn more about you. 
• Have a catchy CTA– Recipients should know what the next steps are to take and be motivated to learn more about you.
• Easy opt-out options– Your welcome email should provide clear “opt-out” options that allow subscribers to choose how many or how few emails they want to receive from you. 

Newsletter emails 

A newsletter email is a great way to nurture your contacts while establishing yourself as a top leader in your industry by sharing recent blogs, insights, and new products/services that will drive traffic to your website.

What it does:  Newsletter emails check many boxes: 

• Educate contacts about your business and new products/services
• Allow you to showcase things like your staff, recent accomplishments, and community involvement
• Keep your business at the top of customers’ minds
• Build brand awareness
• Provide another source of income by selling ad space in the email

Best practices: Your newsletter should provide a good amount of content but not too much that the reader gets overwhelmed and deletes it, or worse, unsubscribes. It’s all about maintaining balance. 

It’s also important to figure out the newsletter’s goal: is it to send people to your website? Or encourage subscribers to share it to build your contact list? 

Lastly, it can be easy to go crazy with the CTAs in a newsletter. Make it easier on your reader and yourself; put the most important stuff at the top with clear CTAs. 

Re-engagement Email

It’s essential to look at your subscriber list from time to time for those who have gone inactive. 

What it does:  A re-engagement email allows you to reconnect with customers who have done business with you in the past and hopefully get back to being top of mind. 

Best practices: This email will most likely go one of two ways: your inactive subscribers become active again or get so annoyed they go from inactive to unsubscribed. But don’t know till you try, right?

To win them over, be sure your re-engagement email is:

• Personalized– subject line, offer, content, etc.
• Focus on an emotion – sad (as in you have missed their business), humor or sarcasm (poking fun at the customer in a humorous or playful way) cheerful, etc. – Pick a mood and build an email theme around it
• Incentivizing: Make them an offer they can’t refuse, and make it sound exclusive!
• Sent at the right time– You don’t want to come off desperate or overwhelming, so timing is everything. We suggest waiting 30-60 days after they go inactive.
• Filled with the right content– Your email should contain well-written, straightforward, and informative content. 

Lead Nurturing Emails

Want to razzle-dazzle your potential leads? Ready to turn them into customers? Lead nurturing emails educate and motivate while providing users with information that helps them in their buying journey.

What it does: These personalized email campaigns move a lead from the “considering” stage to the “decided” stage. AKA, turn them into your newest customer!

Best practices: You shouldn’t focus just on selling or promoting a product or service. (Nothing will make a potential lead run away faster!) Instead, they should provide valuable content that builds trust, credibility, and lasting relationships with your brand. 

Promotional Emails

The sky’s the limit when deciding what to send in a promotional email, such as offering:

• incentives
• coupons/discount codes
• access to exclusive discounts 
• an invite-only event

These emails can also include new product/service launches or seasonal promotions.

What it does: Promotional emails alert your potential customers about a product or service and, when executed correctly, move them through the sales funnel into a conversion. 

Conversion may mean getting them to purchase the product or service or taking action by taking a survey or downloading an ebook.

Best practices: We highly recommend segmenting your email recipients to deliver personalized content based on their preferences and needs. Studies know that list segmentation email campaigns receive 14.3% more open and 100% more click rates than non-segmented. 

Transactional Emails

Transactional emails are automated emails that go out to an individual contact after completing a specific commercial transaction or event. They usually have a high open-rate while providing your customer with valuable information. 

What it does: These emails notify your subscribers of account changes, subscription or purchase confirmation, password reminders, payment notification, free trial expiration, etc. 

Best practices: There are a few things to keep in mind when setting up transactional email campaigns. 

• Specify the reason for the email- Although customers usually anticipate these types of emails, there is a chance it’s been a while since they engaged with your company. Be sure they know what the email is for by utilizing the Who, What, Why concept. This cuts down on them deleting the email or marking it as spam.
• Use a “reply to” email address- Having an email address that allows recipients to respond opens the door to more engagement!
• Follow local email laws- In the United States, it’s ok to include promotional content in a transactional email. However, it would be considered spam in places like Canada. Be sure to check the laws for each location of your customers, especially if you do business internationally. 

Video Emails

Want to improve the open and click rates of your emails? Let us let you in on a bit of a secret — video emails are where it’s at!  

In addition, statistics show that 64% of consumers purchase a product after watching videos created by a brand. 

What it does: Adding a video in an email to your subscribers can help form a relationship while building their trust. It can also help people understand your products or services. 

Best practices: Integrating videos into your email marketing campaigns is a brilliant strategy to increase engagement and your ROI. Take these tips into consideration to maximize the benefits of your videos:

• Use the word “video” at the beginning or end of your subject line somewhere– Putting it in ( ) can also help it stand out even more. For example- (Video) How to use email marketing for your business
• Place video below email copy– An email with just images or a video looks like spam.
• Create a mobile-friendly video that fits how your audience is likely to watch it– Will most be viewing the email on their smartphone or desktops? 

You’ve got mail 

Before you hit send or give the go-head to your automated emails, it’s important to make sure your emails bring value to your audience.  

Not sure where to start with email marketing? Ready to up your businesses’ email communication with your customers? Here at Firon Marketing, we partner with small to midsize companies to create individual digital marketing efforts that get results! Contact us to learn how we can help your company’s email marketing strategy.