4 Email Marketing Campaigns to Try

Email marketing. It’s one of the oldest strategies around. And it’s probably even older than you think. (The first mass email was sent in 1978! That’s bananas!)

Email marketing may not be as young and fresh and hip as other tools today, but it still works. Email ROI is $36 for every $1 spent. A 3,600% ROI? We’d say that’s pretty dang effective.

On the Uncanny Content blog, we talk a lot about leveraging email for launching a new offer. But email marketing can be used for other purposes, too. Let’s talk about ‘em below.

The launch hype series

You didn’t think we’d bring up launch emails and then not talk about them in this blog, did you? Oh, you sweet summer child. We’ve had plenty of experience with planning and executing launch email sequences, so we’re passing our knowledge on to you.

Why bother with a launch sequence in the first place? Because you don’t want to try selling to an audience you haven’t spoken to in weeks or months. That’s the wrong way to launch a new offer for sure.

Your emails will likely go straight to spam. Or your audience will think, “Um, who are you?” and hit Delete without even opening your first email.

Here’s an example of some of the emails you should send to hype up your launch:

The email that builds hype. Let your people know what it is, what it does, and how they can find out more information.
The launch email. Your offer is available! Yay! Remind your email subscribers where they can go to buy. Keep it short and sweet.
The email that explains why. Why should your audience care about what you’re selling? What benefits are in it for them?
The email with answers. Your potential customers have questions. (And sometimes, excuses to hold them back from buying.) Bust any objections by answering them.

To sum up, you need a launch email series to warm up your audience, introduce your offer, and explain why it’s so valuable for your customers.

The welcome series

What do you do when you get a new email subscriber? If your answer is “Uh, nothing,” then we have news for you. You’re missing out on a big opportunity.

Start engaging with your subscribers from the get-go with a welcome series. It also has a similar purpose as your launch email series. You don’t want to show up in your subscribers’ inboxes only when it benefits you. Use a welcome series to nurture that relationship immediately.

What should you put in a welcome email? Here’s what we suggest for our content and copy clients:

A clear subject line, such as “Welcome to the X community” or “Thanks for signing up for X!”
A personalized greeting (which is pretty standard by now and should be used for all your emails).
An action for your reader to take, whether it’s to browse your products and services, learn more about you, or look forward to being on your email list.
Links to your website, social channels, or any other pages you want to drive traffic to.

We’ll let you come up with the finer details but remember this. Schedule your welcome email soon after someone subscribes to your list, if not automatically after. Wait too long and they’ll forget who you are.

The promo series

Use an email series to promote a new sale or encourage people to buy one of your offers. A promo email series sounds really similar to a launch series, we know. But a promo email sequence highlights an event, like a holiday sale, or an existing offer — not a new one, like a launch sequence does.

Promotional emails are probably the most common type of email that businesses use, so you have to make yours stand out from your competition. Some quick tips on how to do that:

Don’t waste your audience’s time with overly long emails. Make each email good, and make them count.
Always include calls to action, or CTAs. The next step you want your reader to take should be very clear and very obvious; e.g., a big “Shop Now” button that links to your sale page.
Tell them when the sale or special offer ends. A countdown is a visually interesting way to let your subscribers know when your promotion ends.
Have a catchy subject line. Remember, you have to stand out from all the other emails people get in their inboxes.

If you think that sending more emails will give you a better chance of getting clicks, think again. Flooding your subscribers’ inboxes will only annoy them. They’ll either ignore you, send your emails to spam, or unsubscribe.

The regular update series

Are you sending any emails to your subscribers when you don’t have something going on in your business? Email marketing doesn’t have to be about the hard sell all the time. You can show up in your audience’s inbox even if you don’t have a new offer, sale, or promotion to push.

Think of a regular update email series as you being you. This is the time to show your personality. Share behind-the-scenes news or updates. Be a human. These types of emails will remind your email subscribers why they like you and your brand.

Need ideas for what to talk about? Here you go:

Tell a story about your brand. How did you get to where you are today?
Be vulnerable. Is there anything you’re struggling with right now? (Maybe you noticed some of your favorite brands get candid about their experience with the pandemic.)
Look to the future. What are your goals? Where do you hope to take your business?
Introduce your team. What are their roles in your company? What are their likes and dislikes? If your business is online, where do your team members live?

You can still include links or CTAs in regular emails, but include them when appropriate. If you’re sharing a funny story about a design mistake you made for your new product page, for example, you can link the product page.

Just remember that these emails are more personal, friendly, and fun. It’s totally okay to give the sales and nurturing a rest once in a while.

Are your email marketing campaigns a hit?

Too long; didn’t read? Here’s what these specific email marketing campaigns are for and what they can do for your biz:

Use a launch email series to prepare your audience for your new offer. Warm them up to the idea of buying what you’re selling.
Use a welcome series to begin building a strong relationship with potential new customers from the start. Engage your subscribers and encourage them to stick around.
Use a promo email series to highlight an existing offer or to tease an event, like a sale. Promo emails are super common marketing emails, so make yours count.
Use a regular update email series to show off your personality. You don’t always have to sell sell sell — it’s okay to relax and be yourself.

Once you’ve tried one of these email sequences, don’t just chill and hope that they went over well! Dig into your metrics to see just how effective they were. Clickthrough rate, conversion rate, and unsubscribe rate, for starters, will let you know what your readers like and dislike.

Wanna see how a regular update email series is done? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and we’ll show you.