Often, business owners do not know the different types of email marketing. Each of them supports different business goals and objectives. Therefore, to reap these benefits and create a more focused strategy, you need to understand them.
Customer journeys are anything but simple. Aggressive selling will suffocate the customer, while a lack of engagement will lead them to unsubscribe.
The trick is to use the correct type of campaign. This way, you’ll be able to hit the mark while balancing your promotional acts. So, let’s take a detailed look at different email marketing types and how to use them!
How Many Types of Email Marketing Are There?
Outbound and inbound emails are the two main types of email marketing. All the other types are extensions of these two main categories.
You can send outbound emails to anyone. Your audience doesn’t have to be a part of your subscriber list. Businesses often send outbound emails to create brand awareness. Cold emails are a significant part of this, where you don’t require customers to intentionally sign up for your newsletter.
Outbound emails are the best way to offer help before people even ask for it. That’s why lead generation campaigns that offer value are so popular. While outbound emails may take some time to convert, they definitely work when you send them at the perfect touchpoints.
But how do you know who to contact? Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) help you answer this question. These profiles help you narrow down your audience, ensuring you target those most likely to benefit from your offerings.
On the other hand, brands send inbound emails to people in their email lists. These emails target subscribers at different stages of the lifecycle and depend on customer demographics, behaviors, and preferences.
Inbound email also has two subtypes: recurring and standalone email campaigns. People send recurring emails regularly to build relationships, nurture leads, send updates, etc. You can even schedule and automate these emails. Just make sure they’re consistent with your brand voice and customer interaction.
Then, there are standalone or one-off emails that you only send once. These emails have no predefined schedule. They might not even be a part of the lead nurturing cycle. Instead, you send these emails for one-time updates, promotions, or discounts to existing subscribers.
10 Types of Email Marketing Campaigns That Are Highly Effective
Up till now, we’ve only discussed the basics to give you a head start to plan your campaign. There are still multiple other types of emails you need to learn about.
Remember, beginner email marketing requires continuous engagement. Therefore, it’s essential to understand which email will bring the best results. Personalization is equally important. Sending a generic sales pitch will never work in your favor. To learn better, let’s look at ten types of emails and how to send them for a more impactful campaign.
1. Welcome Emails Set the Stage
People expect a reaction from the brand when they subscribe to its email newsletter. That’s what welcome emails are for. You send these emails at the first touchpoint of customer interaction.
After all, welcome emails had an average open rate of 36.9% by 2023. This trend will definitely increase in the coming years, so hit back immediately with a catchy subject line.
However, sending a generic welcome and thank you message isn’t enough. You need to research customer pain points and expectations using automated marketing tools. This will help you personalize the welcome message.
Track their website visits, reasons for signing up, and the solutions they’re seeking. Once you know the history, build your welcome email accordingly. After a great subject line, introduce your service or product and highlight its best features.
You can also mention the customer’s pain point and send a special welcome offer. This will create a great first impression on your potential customer.
Bright visuals and clear calls-to-action (CTAs) also work wonders in welcome emails. You can use high-quality product images while introducing your company. You can also encourage customers to claim welcome discounts with CTAs.
Promotional emails are popular because they offer something valuable to the customer. People are always looking for ways to save money, so giving them one will make them a fan. Not only will you increase your sales, but you’ll also gain customer loyalty.
However, sending the same offer to everyone will never work. Instead, use segmentation to personalize the offer and make it more attractive.
You must also remember that promotional emails aren’t just about discounts. Building a story, highlighting the offer’s benefits, and encouraging action through CTAs is what will get you the conversions.
Moreover, binding your offers with time makes them more attractive by creating a fear of missing out.
But remember, if you don’t personalize your email enough, it might end up in the promotions folder. You don’t want this to happen since people rarely pay attention to that tab.
There’s also a risk of your emails going through spam filters and ending up in the spam folder. This hurts your reputation as well as your email deliverability. So, always personalize your promotional emails and make them so attractive that people can’t help but engage.
3. Transactional Emails Are the Most Basic Campaigns Everyone Should Send
Transactional emails are basic, but they offer a great advantage. These emails have the highest open rate since customers want to remain up-to-date on monetary matters.
Moreover, they build trust by providing transparency in the payment process. You can increase customers’ confidence in your brand and encourage them to explore more.
However, don’t think of transactional emails as just monetary updates. Instead, take this as your chance to send a recommendation list or introduce more services.
This sales opportunity will never go to waste. Even if customers don’t react to your offer immediately, they’ll still see it. That’s a guarantee, which means your offer will remain at the top of their minds. Establishing credibility through post-transactional engagement will also encourage customers to consider your brand again instead of trying a new one.
4. Update Your Audience With Post-Purchase Emails
You may think sending many emails will annoy your customers. While it’s true for other types of emails, post-purchase emails don’t fall into that category, especially for e-commerce brands. These are just another type of transactional email but are best for engagement. Sending post-purchase emails brings higher open rates due to customer excitement.
When people order something, they want to receive the product as soon as possible. Meanwhile, they also seek updates. So, send them order tracking links. Moreover, if there is any delay in the delivery, tell your customers before they start asking.
You can also send care tips once they’ve received the product. If you’re offering a service instead of a product, consider sending demo videos and tutorials.
All these dedicated emails build your credibility as a brand. When customers feel your passion and involvement in the process, they start trusting your brand even more. Lastly, you can use these emails to update customers about new products and services.
5. Nurture Your Leads Through Email Newsletters
Nurturing is like warming up your customer to finally make a decision. You can use email newsletters to strengthen your relationship with customers by making them feel involved. Basically, it’s the best way to stay in touch without sounding too salesy.
Businesses usually use newsletters to update customers about their brand. They make the content appealing by adding compelling visuals, interactive elements, and personalized messages.
Some examples would include product or service updates, payment method updates, industry trends, customer reviews, etc.
However, there’s no use in sending newsletters without a catchy subject line. Why would your subscribers want to read an email that’s not giving them any immediate benefit? So, make sure your subject line is authentic and click-worthy.
Also, include your contact information and company logo in the email’s header.
Moreover, design your newsletter with headings and break everything up so it’s easy to understand the actual message. You can also set it in magazine style for a modern look.
Remember, newsletters reinforce your brand logo and colors. However, always give your subscribers a way out if they don’t want your newsletters anymore.
6. Bring back Inactive Subscribers With Re-Engagement Emails
No matter how great your conversion rate is, there will always be some inactive subscribers. Sometimes, people sign up just to get a discount. These people might not interact with your emails in the future. Others simply lose interest or leave due to poor customer service.
But whatever the reason, you can use a re-engagement campaign to bring these people back.
Another name for re-engagement emails is win-back emails. They target subscribers who haven’t interacted with your business in a long time.
Think of these emails as a last try to spark some interest before removing inactive contacts from your email list. After all, if they don’t buy anything in a long time, they’re not helping your business. In fact, sending emails to inactive accounts messes with your email marketing deliverability and wastes your resources.
When you create these emails, your subject line, content, and CTA should be consistent with the goal. Using subject lines such as “We miss you” and “It’s been a while — let’s reconnect!” works the best.
Moreover, add special offers such as welcome-back discounts or bundles. You can also add a list of your latest products. Use these emails to emphasize missed opportunities with subject lines like, “You are missing out on our greatest hits!”
Getting these emails right translates to retaining customers. The more customers you retain, the less you have to spend on acquiring new ones.
7. Increase Event Attendance With Invitation Emails
Simply informing customers about your events won’t bring much attendance. You need to give them a road map and highlight your event’s value through an invitation email. After all, people aren’t going to attend an event if they don’t get anything out of it.
Invitation emails work best if they’re professional. It shows that your event is worth attending. However, don’t sacrifice personalization in favor of professionalism. There should be a perfect balance between both.
So, start by creating great subject lines. Highlight the benefits of attending your event and create a story around it, especially if your event is for charity. Tell people why their attendance matters to the cause and align it with their beliefs. In case the event isn’t charitable, you can spark interest with fun activities.
The content for such emails should clearly state the event topic, theme (if there’s one,) location, time, and date. Don’t make people search for this information, or you’ll risk pushing them away.
For CTAs, you can send registration or booking links. Once the subscribers confirm their availability, send them reminder emails a few hours before the event. These tips will ensure that your event has maximum attendance and brings you the desired outcome.
8. Increase Customer Engagement With Feedback Collection Emails
Businesses use feedback collection emails to ask for customer opinions. These emails are a great way to engage your customers. However, they are also excellent for evaluating the quality of your services.
You can send these emails after product purchase or subscription with surveys about satisfaction and customer loyalty.
You can also use these emails for market research and to understand the latest trends better. Using survey email also builds trust since you’re showing customers that you care about their opinions.
Moreover, you get better insights into what your email subscribers are expecting from your brand or industry. Use this cost-effective campaign to collect real-time feedback and boost your marketing strategy.
9. Avoid Missed Opportunities With Abandoned Cart Emails
Abandoned cart emails target audience members who have added products to the cart without checking out. While some customers fill carts without any intention to buy, sending a reminder is worth the effort.
Sometimes, people might simply forget about those items, or they might wait for holiday discounts. So, pay attention to cart recovery emails, as they break the last barrier to your revenue.
Sending cart-abandoned emails with a coupon code is the best strategy. You can search the Internet and get an idea about how to send these emails.
Rudy’s cart recovery email can give you a head start. Its subject line, “Don’t let free shipping go to waste,” is very intriguing. You can take an idea and offer something valuable to get a sale.
Keep in mind that the content here shouldn’t be too long. Simply highlight the items in the cart and mention when they’re going to expire. Moreover, add something like discounts to drive customers to make a purchase. The CTA here should simply redirect the customer to the checkout page.
10. Create New Opportunities With Upselling and Cross-Selling Emails
Upselling means driving the customer’s attention to a higher-end offering than the one they’re purchasing. It can be an upgraded version or an extended service.
On the other hand, cross-selling means inviting customers to buy additional or complementary products or services.
The trick is to perfect the timing for sending these emails. Otherwise, the campaign might not even work. For example, upselling works best when customers are using free trials. A good strategy would be to ask customers for their feedback on the trial and use this opportunity to upsell.
You could add content such as “Enjoyed the free trial? Unlock all features with a premium plan.” Other opportunities to send upselling emails are before subscription renewal, product launch, or even in a thank-you email.
For cross-selling, you can introduce new products after order confirmation emails, thank-you emails, and abandoned-cart reminders. Some brands even combine both email practices to increase revenue.
Learn the Types of Email Marketing To Make Your Strategy More Effective
If you want to have an effective campaign, don’t just randomly email your prospects. Understand the types of email marketing and use them contextually for your marketing funnel and campaigns.
If you do it right, you can build relationships and turn one-time purchasers into loyal customers.
If you’re looking for help with email marketing, try Beambox. Our WiFi marketing platform helps you build contact lists and automate your campaigns. You can gather actionable data that help you understand what works and what doesn’t.
You can get more reviews for your business and run other marketing campaigns from one platform. Start your trial today!
Frequently Asked Questions About Types of Marketing Emails
If you still feel like you’re missing something, let’s look at the following frequently asked questions and learn more.
What are the main types of email marketing?
The main types of email marketing for small businesses are inbound and outbound emails. You send inbound emails to your subscribers. These are the people who have already signed up for your brand’s email updates and newsletter.
On the other hand, outbound emails go to a broader audience who may not know about your brand. Since these are cold emails, you don’t require explicit permission. However, it’s still better to check with your area’s laws.
What is the most common type of marketing email?
The most common type of marketing email is promotional email. It works because it provides extreme value to your customers and resonates with their preferences.
Main promotional emails are discounts and special offers such as buy one get one free or free shipping. These emails are great for customer engagement and loyalty.
How do lifecycle emails work?
Lifecycle emails work by sending targeted content at many points of customer interaction. The process starts with awareness and goes on to include knowledge, consideration, selection, purchase, and ambassadorship.
These emails work because they address all aspects of the buying journey with the right email at the right time.
