What’s in this article:
- With a little creativity, email can be a powerful marketing tool;e explore four examples of email marketing that delights and delivers.
Every advertiser has heard that video is king and social media is the place to be, but email marketing is alive and well. With that said, email is a difficult nut to crack. Inboxes everywhere are fit to burst and consumers could swim laps in a pool filled with generic, newsletters from brands.
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To win with email, marketers need to unleash their creativity. Cleverness, cheekiness, and on-brand imagery will help businesses capture consumers’ attention and stay out of that graveyard known as the spam folder. We’ll dive intofour brands that nailed their email marketing campaigns:
1. Headspace: So relevant it hurts
Meditation app Headspace offers its basic course for free, but users need a Headspace Plus subscription to access the company’s constantly growing library of meditation content. This “Quick Heads Up” abandoned cart email covers all the bases: an invitation to email the help team for support, a button to return to the checkout page, and links to more information and FAQ.
What makes this a brilliant email is the way it incorporates the wellness that Headspace is all about. You came here for help calming your mind, and somewhere along the way you got distracted! Instead of making prospects feel guilty for their lack of focus, this email — much like meditation — accepts and appreciates whatever headspace you’re in before nudging you gently back on track.
2. Poolside FM: Totally on-brand nostalgia
Creativity is critical for email marketers, but it’s equally important for that creative spark to stay on-brand. Radio station and purveyor of summer vibes, Poolside FM crafted a digital presence that pays homage to the aesthetics of the ‘80s, so it makes perfect sense for the brand’s emails to follow suit.
This “Poolside FM for Mac 🌴 OUT NOW” email announced the launch of the Poolside FM — now known as Poolsuite FM — app, but even though it’s referencing modern technology of today, the fonts, colors, photography, and even the copy are all decidedly retro. Everything about Poolsuite transports users to another era; the brand does a beautiful job using their email marketing to push that experience one step further, subject line emoji and all.
3. Tattly: Go big or go home
Although many tattoo fans go full sleeve or get more than one piece of art inked, temporary tattoos are usually more of a one-off. But they don’t have to be! Temporary tattoo vendor Tattly leans into the full coverage look with marketing images that pull out all the stops. Newsletter subscribers received this “Welcome! Here’s your discount code!” email, for example, followed by a reminder: “Don’t forget about your 20% discount!”. The product photography in both emails encourages customers to go wild with the discount. The shots also do double duty by displaying the huge variety of styles that Tattly stocks.
4. Recess: Unleash engagement
The holidays are probably the hardest time of year for brands to stand out with their email marketing; everybody’s doing it, so it’s hard to stand out. Hemp and adaptogen-infused sparkling water brand Recess sent out a “we’re giving away free stuff (aka gifts)” email that hits all the high notes from the casual, all lowercase copy to the brand-right colors that stay true to their look and feel instead of going the green-and-red route.
While the email’s main focus is the “give yourself the gift of Recess” button, the best part of the campaign is how it pairs a weird concept — this Blackberry Chai can is also secretly Santa Claus — with an open-ended Christmas wish invitation. Instead of demanding measurable engagement or pushing customers through a sales funnel, the email makes an open-ended ask for freeform email responses.
Marketers that infuse their branding with creative flair and balance powerful visuals with a pointed message will be well on their way to winning with email this year. Give consumers a reason to care — whether that’s a big discount, beautiful content, or a holiday giggle — and they’ll be less likely to relegate your brand’s emails to spam, or worse, unsubscribe.