The average email marketing return on investment (ROI) is a $42 for every $1 spent. What’s more, according to market research firm Econsultancy, marketers rate email marketing as the second easiest digital channel to measure ROI. So, not only does email marketing pay well, you can track how your resources are being used.
To be successful all you need are some strategic, high-performing email templates, and you’re ready to start growing. In this article, you’ll learn about eight vital email types that can help you grow your business. Plus, for each one, you’ll get a swipeable email template that you can use today.
Sound good? First up:
Post Contents
- 1. Welcome New Subscribers
- 2. Follow Up Abandoned Carts
- 3. Follow Up with New Customers to Land Repeat Sales
- 4. Ask For a Review
- 5. Re-Engage Inactive Subscribers
- 6. Gather Valuable Information
- 7. Connect During Timely Holidays
- 8. Update Customers With Newsletters
- 21 Email Template Tips for 2021
- Summary
- Want to Learn More?
1. Welcome New Subscribers
It’s a special moment when someone subscribes to your mailing list. They’ve initiated a relationship with your brand, and if you play your cards right, it could be a long and mutually beneficial relationship. But make no mistake: First impressions count.
In fact, subscribers who receive a welcome email show, on average, 33% more long-term engagement with that brand. But that’s not all. Welcome emails generate 4x the open rates, and 5x the click rates of other bulk promotions.
Okay, but can they make you money? Heck, yeah! Welcome emails, on average, make 3x the transactions and revenue per email over regular promotional emails.
Welcome Email Template Examples
Here’s an example of a simple and effective welcome email from Lonely Planet that new subscribers receive after signing up.
This email does a great job of reaffirming the benefits of being a subscriber, saying “We deliver our most inspiring articles and travel tips to your inbox.” Then, they bring it home with an exclusive subscriber discount code. As a new subscriber, what’s not to love?
In this next example from exercise bike workout company Peloton, the email aims to lead subscribers further along the buyer’s journey by offering to help them find the instructors that are right for them.
They do this by inviting the new subscriber to “Take The Quiz.”
It’s short, simple, and benefits the recipient.
The “Welcome” Email Template
Subject Line: Welcome to [Business Name]
Body: Hi [Subscriber’s Name],
We’re thrilled to welcome you to the [Business Name] community! Each [Email Frequency], you’ll receive [Email Features] to [Key Benefit].
Plus, to thank you for subscribing here’s a discount code to receive [Number]% off your first [Business Name] order!
[Call-to-Action]
What the Email Template Looks Like in Action
2. Follow Up Abandoned Carts
Did you know that almost 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned? Yikes. It seems a shame to fall at the last hurdle, doesn’t it?
However, although online retailers could lose as much as $4 trillion to cart abandonment each year, estimates suggest that savvy retailers should be able to recover about 63% of that lost revenue.
One way to do this is with a well-crafted cart abandonment email.
Abandoned Cart Email Template Examples
Here’s a great example from dog and pet supply store Doggy Loot:
This email provides the names, images, and, prices of the items that the recipient left in their cart. Underneath, the call-to-action “Restore My Cart” makes it clear that it’s easy to complete the purchase.
But the real power of this email lies in how it injects urgency through scarcity. Note sentences such as “Items added to your cart are almost sold out,” “Hurry, don’t let these deals run away,” and “Fetch your items before it’s too late!” And Doggy Loot’s personality shines through in the email. From the image of the dog to phrases like “Fetch your items,” and “Lots of licks.”
Adidas begins this next example with the title, “Is Your Wifi Okay?”
This is a great way of relating to a younger audience always on the hunt for a good wifi signal. It also cheekily hints that the Gazelle Silhouette shoe is so good, that bad wifi must be the only reason the recipient didn’t buy it…
The email then hits the recipient with some social proof in the form of reviews (more on this below). Next, Adidas addresses a concern the shopper might have. In this case, if they don’t like the color of the shoe, they can easily customize it.
The Abandoned Cart Email Template
Subject Line: Don’t Worry, We’ve Got You Covered
Body: Hi [Recipient’s Name]!
We know life can be crazy and it can be easy to forget about your shopping cart – even when it contains amazing items.
So we’ve saved your items, and they’re still waiting for you. Your cart contains:
[Item Image, Title, and Price]
Complete Your Purchase with [Number]% Off Today
Complete My Order
Questions? Email us at [Sales Email Address].
What the Email Template Looks Like in Action
3. Follow Up with New Customers to Land Repeat Sales
Boom! You just landed a new customer. Now’s the time to sit back, relax, and order another drink, right? Nope. This is when you can make the real money. Because a 5% increase in customer retention can increase company profits by 25% to 95%.
What’s more, repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers! This is why smart businesses focus on “back-end” revenue.
“Front-end” revenue comes from the first orders your customers make. “Back-end” refers to all the additional purchases a customer makes over their lifetime.
New Customer Email Template Examples
In this example, ProFlowers immediately followed up a first purchase with a discount code:
Instead of sending a dedicated email, you could also include an offer like this in your purchase receipt email. Purchase receipt emails have an average open rate of 71%, compared with the average open rate of 22%. In other words, receipt emails can get the highest engagement scores out of all the emails you send!
The New Customer Email Template
Subject Line: [Recipient’s Name], a welcome gift from us to you
Body: [Recipient’s Name], we wanted to thank you again for your recent purchase – we’re thrilled to officially welcome you to the [Business Name] family!
A Welcome Gift From Us to You
[Number]% Off
Your next purchase with promo code: [Insert Code]
Shop Now
[On-Brand Sign Off]
What the Email Template Looks Like in Action
4. Ask For a Review
According to the Spiegel Research Center, nearly 89% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase. Plus, displaying reviews can increase conversion by 270%, and having only five reviews still results in purchase likelihood increasing by a factor of almost four times.
Why are reviews so effective? Because of something called “social proof,” which refers to the fact that people are heavily influenced by others. In other words, there’s security in following the crowd. Social proof reassures visitors that they’re making the right decision in buying from you. So you’ll want to ensure that you get as many positive reviews as possible.
Review Request Email Template Examples
Casper sends an email to customers asking them to review their products.
They lay their cards on the table by saying, “Help us out by writing a review. Your honest opinion will help other Casper shoppers make smart decisions.” It might not be the most compelling call-to-action, but that’s no bad thing.
Remember, you only want honest, positive reviews. So ask for them in an honest, positive way. It’s best to avoid incentivizing people in a way that might encourage bad, ambivalent, or unhelpful reviews.
Mountain Hardwear uses the same approach in their email:
They also list out the products purchased and provide a link to review each one. This allows customers to jump straight to the product they’re most inclined to review.
The Review Request Email Template
Subject Line: What do you think? Write a review
Body: Hey [Recipient’s Name],
We hope you love your recent purchase. Once you’ve had a chance to get to know the product, we’d really appreciate it if you would write a review.
Customer reviews keep us constantly improving while helping other [Name for People in Niche] make the right choice.
Write a Review
It’ll just take a moment, and we’re really grateful for all the feedback we receive.
If you’re not happy for any reason, please give us the opportunity to make it right before leaving negative feedback. Just reply to this email and we’ll be happy to correct the situation immediately.
Thanks again for being our customer, we really appreciate having you onboard and we’re always here if you need us!
[On-Brand Sign Off]
[Name of Real Person at Business]
What the Email Template Looks Like in Action
5. Re-Engage Inactive Subscribers
Let’s get real for a moment. Many of your subscribers and customers will lose interest in your business. They may still like and trust your brand, it could just be that time is short and something’s gotta give.
But don’t let it be your business. Instead, use a tactful re-engagement campaign to stay top-of-mind and center-of-heart. Plus, it’s not just the additional sales that you want. You also need to show Gmail and other email providers that people actually want your emails. Otherwise, you’re in big trouble.
The Gmail Anti-Abuse Team said that they want to “see evidence that your recipients love or at the very least, want your messages, for them to reach the inbox.” So, if a large portion of your email database is inactive (i.e., they don’t open or click your emails), email providers will start sending your precious emails to the promotions tab. Or worse, the dreaded SPAM folder.
Do re-engagement emails work?
Yes, in a case study from MarketingSherpa, they managed to re-engage 8.33 percent of a database with a “win back” email, and then another 8.57 percent with list-cleansing emails. That’s over 16 percent reactivated. So don’t underestimate the importance of re-engagement email campaigns.
A study by Return Path found that 45 percent of recipients who received win-back emails read subsequent messages. That is a huge increase in engagement from just one email! It would be crazy not to be doing this.
Re-Engagement Email Template Examples
Fashion store Missguided did a great job relating to their target market with the design of this re-engagement email:
The text is simple, humorous, and extremely on-brand. The design and emojis are also particularly effective.
Plus, they also offer free next day delivery to help turn those inactive subscribers back into paying customers.
Jack Wills uses a similar approach in their email:
In this email, Jack Wills start with a little humor: “Please say you miss us too!” Then, they’re completely upfront about their discount, saying, “As a little bribe, here’s a £10 off code.”
The Re-Engager Email Template
Subject Line: We miss you (so here’s $10 off…)
Body: Hey [Recipient’s Name],
It’s been too long and we’ve missed you! During our time apart, we’ve been busy – come and see for yourself and shop our new [Product Line]!
Plus, here’s a little something to help us get back to being best friends…
[Offer]
Shop Now
Not interested?
If you want to say goodbye, for now, unsubscribe here.
What the Email Template Looks Like in Action
6. Gather Valuable Information
Knowledge is power. To improve you must learn what works and what doesn’t. And one way to do this is to simply ask your customers using a survey.
Let’s look at the difference between reviews and surveys. When asking for reviews, you’re trying to collect positive feedback to display publicly as social proof. But when emailing customers a survey, it’s the negative feedback you want most. This is because negative feedback provides a clear way for you to improve your business.
There are two main ways to survey your customers. You can ask them to answer set questions or use something called the Net Promoter Score. This is a single-question survey businesses use to measure customer satisfaction. Recipients are asked how likely they are to recommend your product or service on a scale of 1 to 10. Then, respondents are grouped as follows:
To figure out your net promoter score, just subtract the percentage of Detractors from the Percentage of Promoters. To understand whether your score is good or bad, you can compare it to this chart showing the average net promoter score in different industries. Whether people will recommend your product or service is a strong indicator of your customer satisfaction.
Plus, it’s extremely simple to do.
Feedback Request Email Template Examples
Here’s an example of a great net promoter score email from Azendoo:
Using this form of survey makes responding incredibly easy for the recipient, and so you’re likely to receive more responses.
Then, you can always follow up the responses.
If someone is likely to refer your product or service, you can invite them to join your affiliate or rewards program. And if someone is unlikely to give a recommendation, you can ask them if there’s anything you can do to solve the issues your customer is having.
Alternatively, you could create a longer survey of questions.
If you decide to do this, it’s likely you’ll need to offer some sort of incentive to compel people to respond. And ideally, it should be an offer they can’t refuse!
In this email, Tailor Brands ask customers to complete a three-minute survey in exchange for 50% off their next order.
Tailor Brands start with a bold, clear title that’s quickly followed by the benefit offered to the recipient. Then they go on to explain the deal, making sure to mention that it’ll only take three minutes.
Now, 50% for three minutes? That’s a good offer!
The Feedback Request Email Template
Subject Line: Share your thoughts for [Offer]!
Body:
We Want to Hear From You!
(And give you [Offer])
Do you have [Survey Time] to share your valuable opinion?
We’re looking for ways to improve our [Subject of Survey] and we’d LOVE to know how you feel about [Subject of Survey].
As a thank you, we’re offering [Offer] in return for your thoughts on how we can better serve you, and others.
Take the Survey and Get [Offer]
We really appreciate your input!
[On-Brand Sign Off]
What the Email Template Looks Like in Action
7. Connect During Timely Holidays
Holidays like Halloween, Easter, and Black Friday are great excuses to get back in contact with customers. It is the ideal time to remind them to check out a new range of products or introduce a timely offer your customers can’t refuse.
Each industry has important holidays to celebrate, they are not just limited to the big events. Tailor your email content to your industry and you may find the secret to success. For example, if you sell yoga equipment you should send a holiday email on International Yoga Day on June 21st. Offer your customers 10% off purchases for 24 hours to celebrate the holiday and watch the orders come in.
Make sure that your email adheres to GDPR regulations if your subscribers reside in the EU.
Holiday Email Template Examples
There are many great examples for holiday email templates but I particularly love this Stocksy United’s Black Friday email:
Stocksy United clearly outline the holiday they are celebrating and use an exciting image to catch your attention. Their offer of 33% off until December 31st is reinforced by the price reductions and eye-catching images they use as you scroll down the email. Furthermore they clearly include the option to forward to a friend so that more people can avail of this offer at the end of the email.
The Holiday Email Template
Subject Line: It’s [Holiday]! Get Excited With our Top Offers
Body:
It’s [Holiday] and it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t celebrate in style. That is why we decided to give [Offer] to everyone today!
Don’t miss out on this exciting offer, visit our website today. We have added some great things to our range since you visited last.
Shop Now
[On-Brand Sign Off]
What the Email Template Looks Like in Action
8. Update Customers With Newsletters
Customers, and brand supporters, like to receive information about your business without having to go look for it. Send newsletters to email subscribers to keep in contact regularly and pass on valuable information about your business and product range.
Newsletters are the most widely used email templates in marketing. But to have successful campaigns you need to make sure that the information in your newsletter is useful to those who receive them. Simply sending a summary of articles you published once a month is not helpful to any of your subscribers.
Newsletters should tell your potential customers of the value in choosing to buy from you. They can also highlight new products that existing customers might want to purchase. With this in mind a newsletter calendar could be a great way to plan ahead and ensure that your emails are valuable and useful to all your subscribers.
Newsletter Email Template Examples
Roadtrippers provide useful information to their subscribers everytime they send out an email. They include niche advice on travel that will interest people who are just beginning their travel adventures, and also those who are more experienced.
Notice how they use striking photography with every article to draw people in, in an instant. Between the imagery and the well crafted titles, subscribers can’t help but click through to their blog.
The Newsletter Email Template
Subject Line: May’s Monthly Roundup: How to Solve this [Issue]
Body: Hi [Name]
[Issue] can affect many people. But it doesn’t need to become a problem. In our blog this month we talk all about how to solve this in three quick steps.
Read Our Blog
What’s more, we have a new [product] range that can really brighten up your day. Drop by our store to browse the colors we have on offer.
Browse Store
[On-Brand Sign Off]
What the Email Template Looks Like in Action
21 Email Template Tips for 2021
Here are some tips to bear in mind when customizing your email templates.
- Thank the recipient for subscribing.
- Reaffirm the benefits to being on your mailing list.
- Provide a way to further the relationship, such as a discount code, quiz, or simply by posing a question and asking them to respond.
- Inject your unique brand personality!
- Personality and humor will go a long way in this email.
- Consider adding an additional incentive like a discount or free shipping.
- Keep it short and snappy.
- Use scarcity when appropriate.
- Including a time-sensitive discount.
- Introducing them to your loyalty program.
- Featuring plenty of product images to compel the reader to revisit your website.
- Keep the tone light and friendly.
- Be open and upfront about your request.
- Encourage dissatisfied customers to reach out so you can resolve any issues and avoid negative reviews.
- Playful humor is important.
- Pack it with your brand’s personality.
- Offer an incentive to re-engage buyers.
- Include an offer that’s too good to refuse.
- Be absolutely honest about how long the survey will take to complete.
- Keep the focus on the benefits that the customer will receive in exchange for their time.
- Show appreciation.
Summary
Email marketing can be extremely powerful. Not only does it usually yield a high return on investment, most email software solutions provide a host of analytics for you to review and improve your campaigns. Although you should share your best content and announcements regularly, the eight emails covered in this article are the foundations of your email marketing strategy.
Whatever the content or purpose of your email, don’t forget to:
- Inject every email with your brand’s personality.
- Always be open and honest when asking for something.
- Focus on the benefit that you’re providing to the recipient.
- Find a way to move the relationship forward.
Lastly, what works for some brand’s won’t work for others. So make sure you test different emails and subject lines to craft the most effective campaigns possible.
Do you have any email advice or tips that you can share? Let us know about your experiences in the comments below!