I love email. I built my eCommerce brand on the backbone of sending email campaigns that drive engagement, high open rates, and most importantly revenue. My first employee Chris and I became so obsessed with marketing emails that we started a Klaviyo email marketing agency together.
As a business owner, your email list is your greatest asset. Sending emails is still the best way to have one-to-one conversations at scale, drive revenue and build a brand. In this blog post, I want to show you some real-world examples from my own online store. I will also go over the email marketing strategy and mindest that went into the email.
What is more important: To be a great email copywriter or a great graphic designer?
Effective email doesn't need any design. I know, you're about to throw your computer out the window because I said you don't need an overly designed email newsletter.
I am not saying you should have zero design elements or have some emails that are beautifully designed. I am saying that the best email marketers use great email copywriting to drive results.
Great copy results in higher open rates, click-through rates, and revenue.
Great copy should not be complicated.
Less is more and being clear on what you want a subscriber to do is part of a successful email marketing campaign.
7 Email Marketing Campaign Examples (Plus the copywriting strategy for each!)
Email Campaign: #1
Email type: Question
Email Goal: Get replies and engage your email list.
The strategy behind this email marketing campaign: Asking your email list to reply is a clear call to action that will invite your customers to engage and start a conversation. It also creates a highly targeted segment we can send to.
Breakdown of the copywriting elements:
Engagement: Asking your email list to reply is a clear call to action that will invite your customers to engage and start a conversation. It also creates a highly targeted segment we can send to.
Empathy: This is the easiest way to have better results with your emails. Actually caring and thanking your customers who have ordered from you. Using the P.S. Makes it feel more personal.
From the Founder: By attaching the founder to the email makes the brand more human. A real person started this company (it was me). Why not use my name in the email signature? It isn't required but it can be effective.
Email Campaign #2
Email type: Back in Stock Hype
Email Goal: Get replies and build excitement for the new product launch
The strategy behind this email marketing campaign: The ultimate goal is to increase units sold when products are back in stock. Sending emails before they are back in stock gets your list ready. The elements that made this email successful are the following:
Breakdown of the copywriting elements:
Personalized Email: This is simple, but it is sent to YOU. Not sent to everyone, making it feel like it's on a more personal level Using their name and email makes it more special to them.
Engagement: Asking your email list to reply is a clear call to action that will invite your customers to engage and start a conversation. It also creates a highly targeted segment we can send to.
Urgency: Adding authentic scarcity can increase FOMO and the desire to make a purchase. My brand often sells out of products and our customer base knows this. If you DON'T sell out and have plenty of products to sell, don't fake it.
Plain Text From Founder: By attaching the founder to the email makes the brand more human. When you send a personal email, you use plain text. Having a brand do the same makes it feel more natural and native to your inbox. It feels less promotional.
Pro Tip: The most important thing with email is to be authentic and have one simple call to action in most emails. Exceptional email copy doesn't need to be complicated.
Email Campaign #3
Email type: Launch Email
Email Goal: These are fun emails to send. The goal is simple. Sell more clubs.
The strategy behind this email marketing campaign: Product launch emails that do well are never single emails. It takes a series of emails to maximize revenue during the launch. You can see all the emails that went into a recent product launch that sold over $238k in 24 hours.
Breakdown of the copywriting elements:
Limited Supply: Telling your email list how many you have available quantities the supply risk and increases demand. To reiterate, only do this if it is authentic. Never try to use urgency and limited supply if it isn't authentic.
Launch: This launch email has less copy than some of our other product launch examples. It was effective because we hyped it well in advance and used a simple image to let them know it is back in stock.
One call to action: Get my 64! Simple copywriting and a direct call to action make this email work.
Easy to read: Simple graphic design and a large photo make it easy to see what the email is about just by a quick glance.
Email Campaign #4
Email Type: Almost sold out (sense of urgency works great for promotional emails)
Email Goal: These are fun emails to send. The goal is simple. Sell more clubs.
The strategy behind this email marketing campaign: Product launch emails that do well are never single emails.
It takes a series of emails to maximize revenue during the launch. You can see all the emails that went into a recent product launch that sold over $238k in 24 hours.
Breakdown of the copywriting elements
Limited Supply: Telling your email list how many you have available quantities the supply risk and increases demand. To reiterate, only do this if it is authentic. Never try to use urgency and limited supply if it isn't authentic.
Limited-time promotion: We don't use discount codes anymore, but when we did they could be used to offer a special price for a limited time. It can be effective to turn a new subscriber into a new customer.
Clear CTA (call to action): Get my midnight shadow set, there is no doubt what this email is about.
Easy to read: Simple graphic design and text on photos make it obvious why a customer needs to take action.
Email Campaign #4
Email Type: Open-Ended Question
Email Goal: Get replies and learn more about your target audience
The strategy behind this email marketing campaign: This is more of an open-ended question type of email. You may be surprised by some of the replies you get. Read them, you will learn something!
Breakdown of the copywriting elements
Engagement: It is great to ask for emails that aren't only about the products you are selling. Asking genuine questions like this to your new customers can open them up for an authentic relationship with your internal team. This makes your customer service team much more valuable to you, your brand and your customers.
Super simple CTA: HIt reply to let me know
From the Founder: By attaching the founder to the email makes the brand more human.
Email Campaign #5
Email Type: Single product feature
Email Goal: Drive revenue with a singular product focus (No discount code used)
The strategy behind this email marketing campaign: I like to send single product feature emails to show our email subscribers a product they may not have on their radar.
By only showing one product, you can go into way more detail and address any concerns with that single product.
Breakdown of the copywriting elements
Personalized email: It's an easy task to use your customer's name in your emails. It will make it feel more personal and it is simple to execute.
Value proposition: This email details specific situations in which you could use this club. This type of email can help prospective customer picture themselves using this club in that exact situation. The more specific the better.
Know your customer: We know that some customers are concerned about how well they can hit a one iron. It is not a commonly used club. So we address their concern right out of the gate.
Email Campaign #6
Email Type: Engagement (You're the CEO)
Email Goal: Build engagement and market research at the same time. I love these emails.
The strategy behind this email marketing campaign: It is so simple it works! A big part of our e-commerce success comes down to caring about our customers. I candidly want to know what they would make if they were the CEO. This mindset may not be teachable, but it can be really effective as a part of your overall email strategy.
Breakdown of the copywriting elements
Your customers are the boss: I truly believe my customers are my boss, because without them. We would not exist. Asking for their feedback and treating them like an owner creates a true brand connection.
Build a relationship: Building a real relationship leads to amazing word of mouth and a unique experience they can't get from other companies. I hope the other brands just keep blasting email newsletters with 20 calls to action and 10 different codes.
P.S. Link: Adding a plain text link gives your mailing list an opportunity to go to your store without having to type in your URL.
Email Campaign #7
Email Type: Plain Text Thank You Email (My favorite email marketing copy by far!)
Email Goal: Acknowledge your customers and product recap
The strategy behind this email marketing campaign: True empathy is the best way to build a brand that can last. Doing this consistently can go a long way to growing your brand and word of mouth.
The strategy is simple, thank our customers for being awesome and recap our products from the year.
Breakdown of the copywriting elements
Acknowledge your customers: It is so easy to thank your customers, but it is often overlooked. For me, I candidly want to thank them, because they are freaking awesome!
Behind the scenes: We didn't have to tell them we had our best year ever, but it can be powerful when it is done with the right context. It is because of them! Explaining that we have been in business for 9 years also helps provide a new perspective on the brand.
Product recap: A simple link list of products they may have missed this year or forgotten about. Great way to boost sales.
Ask for a reply: By now you know how much I love engaging with customers and getting replies!
Email copywriting recap
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! Email copywriting can be amazingly powerful. Ask authentic questions and empower your customer service team to build real relationships that will last.
Please let me know if you need help with your next email campaign. Have a question? Let me know in the comments and I will reply back. I promise.