The Importance of Promotional Emails
For ecommerce businesses, the value of using promotional emails to engage, excite and entice your customers cannot be overstated.
From seasonal collections to time-sensitive sales and even the announcements of new products, SmartMail’s range of professional and effective promotional email templates can help you use this direct, mass-enabled form of marketing to great sales success.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to this email marketing tool and offer some tips on how to write a promotional email using some of the best examples of real life campaigns.
The Different Types of Promotional Emails
Product Launch Emails
The introduction or (in the case of the promotional email example below) return of a product or service can be best announced through a product launch email.
Product Launch Initial Offer
As a bonus, you may want to consider including an initial offer or discount with your product launch. This utilizes some of the other best practices of email marketing outlined below, such as making it time-sensitive and exclusive.
Sale and Discount Emails
Customers are always looking for a bargain. Letting them know when a sale is on or a discount is available is a quick, affordable and effective way of grabbing their attention and encouraging them to make a purchase.
There are different types of discount emails depending on the nature of your campaign or offer. These can include promotional emails for:
- Site wide sales
- Flash sale
- Daily deals
- Clearance sales
Upsell and Cross-Sell Emails
The upsell and cross-sell promotional email templates capitalize on the amazing sales opportunity an already-converted customer offers by enhancing their original purchase with additional, complementary offerings.
Special Offer/Limited Time Discounts
Promotional emails outlining a special time-sensitive offer or discount are particularly effective as they entice customers and clients to engage out of fear of missing out on the great deal.
Holiday Savings Discounts
A subcategory of general limited time offers, promotional emails tied specifically to a season or current holiday are a tried and tested way of marketing your products or services.
Exclusive Subscriber/VIP Offers
Your subscribers and VIPs have already signed up with your brand for a reason. They want to know and take advantage of the special offers exclusively available to them as a thank you for their loyalty, and a promotional email is an excellent way of allowing them to do exactly that.
Gift Vouchers/Giveaways
If you’re running a giveaway promotion, your email subscriber list is a ready and waiting target audience. Promotional emails can help to boost sales and interest when there’s a chance to win a free giveaway or gift voucher.
How to Write a Promotional Email
Tips for Creating Effective Promotional Emails
1. Know Your Target Audience
Whether it’s the offer itself, the content of the promotional email or the design, you need to determine which target audience you are homing in on to help craft the most effective email possible.
2. Set Clear Goals
Once you have determined your target audience it’s time to set clear and measurable goals for your emails. Are you trying to increase sales or subscribers? Are you trying to boost event attendees? Knowing what the goal is won’t just allow you to determine the ultimate success of the promotional campaign, but also help to orient your creatives when creating the email.
Make sure to speak to the SmartMail team about the best way to set up testing and measuring of your promotional emails’ success. Whether it’s A/B testing or data-based metrics, we’ll help you determine whether your promotional emails hit or missed the mark.
3. Choose the Right Tone
Choosing the right tone is not always easy. There are a few factors to bear in mind: Your target audience, your branding image, and the message you want your promotional email to convey. The example below focuses on a breathless and hurried tone in its content to encourage subscribers to take advantage of the time-limited offer.
Alternatively, you can focus on a more personable and casual approach to your email. For example, this promotional email highlights the joys and excitement of the Christmas season in order to persuade its target audience to take action.
4. Personalize the Email
Effectively capturing the attention of your email subscribers and emails is essential. That’s why personalizing the email–from the addressee to the content itself–is best practice. Fortunately, SmartMail can help you set up easy and automated ways to integrate personalization.
5. Use Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines
Promotional email subject lines can be highly effective in encouraging (or dissuading) subscribers from clicking on and opening your email. Keep your subject lines enticing, concise and informative.
6. Include a Clear Call-to-Action
Whatever goals you set for your promotional email, it all hinges on the action you want the reader to take. Make sure you include a super clear and easy-to-follow Call-To-Action that fits with your campaign objectives.
7. Optimize Your Email for Mobile Devices
Did you know that81% of people check their emails on their smartphone? That’s why ensuring your promotional email is optimized for mobile devices is critical. Without optimizing, you’re risking your target market simply deleting the email without any sort of engagement.
Best Practices for Promotional Email Templates
To truly ensure your email is as successful and effective as possible, we’ve curated a list of the best practices using a real promotional email case study from Modernica.
Keep Your Design Simple & Use Color Wisely
Notice the black and white of the Modernica email? It’s striking, bold and super clear. Just because you’ve opted for simple, doesn’t mean your promotional email is going to be unimpressive.
Use a Clear and Easy-to-Read Layout
This promotional email doesn’t lose your attention with fluffy content or irrelevant imagery. It’s to-the-point and easy to follow which captures one’s attention and highlights exactly what Call-To-Action it wants you to take.
Highlight Key Information
Black Friday sale. 15% off. Link to shop the sale.
The key information in this promotional email is as clear as day and that makes the experience of ‘at the point of sale’ customers frictionless and seamless.
Use Eye-Catching Images
The images used in this Modernica email may be simple but the black graphics against the white background are certainly eye-catching (and match the rest of the design). You want your promotional email to grab and hold your readers’ attention.
Make Your Branding Consistent
The promotional email below emphasizes Modernica’s minimalist branding and is instantly recognizable. Your email subscribers have subscribed to you for a reason, so ensuring your branding is consistent across all marketing content, promotional email templates included, is important.
Start Promoting Your Products with SmartMail
The promotional email is a must-have marketing tool for all ecommerce businesses. But if you’re still unsure how to write a promotional email or how to get set up with the right distribution platform, don’t worry: The SmartMail team is here to help!
Let’s begin with a hassle-free, obligation-free and cost-free promotional email audit today!
