But after the fun of summer emails, generating fall newsletter ideas can feel challenging.

The good news is, fall is the perfect time to build connections with your audience. As the weather turns, people stay in and spend more time on their devices. This gives you a unique opportunity to catch their attention. 

In the fall, find ways to start the conversation and build strong relationships with your customers that will last all year round. Read on to find out which holidays and special events, marketing tips, and creative content could boost your open rates, clicks, and sales this fall.

Fall Holiday Newsletter Ideas

Engage your readers this fall by marking their favorite holidays of the time of year. From Labor Day to Thanksgiving, find out how to stand out from your competitors and attract that holiday spend.

Labor Day

Labor Day marks the end of summer and the start of fall. It’s the final chance for cook-outs, parades, and beach days before the weather turns.

Send a Labor Day email with an exclusive promotional code or discount to tap into the holiday spirit and help your customers make the most of the last warm days. Postable marks the occasion with 20 percent off their designer greetings cards.

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Back to school

The back-to-school, college, or university season can be a period of stress and change for parents and students alike. Make that first day back a little easier and you’ll earn their loyalty for life.

Solve their problems and earn their trust with a discount or freebie on a service suited to students. Or design a two-for-one deal to fill a school backpack. Use cheerful graphics and warm copy to create an effective back-to-school email they will want to click. 

As it’s aimed at kids and parents, have fun with one or two eye-catching emojis in your back-to-school subject line.

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Sports season

Fall marks the start of sports season, including soccer, football, ice hockey, field hockey, and basketball. If your brand is sports-related, this is a golden opportunity to connect with your subscribers. Patricia Lopez is the founder of Dirt Pitch Apparel. She says, “As a soccer-inspired brand, we optimize our fall newsletter by matching important events from Major League Soccer with promos and discounts.

“Another key element in our strategy is segmenting our audience according to the soccer team they support.” Patricia then sends out targeted emails to each segment. “This has proven effective for us, bumping our conversion rates by almost 20 percent.”

Halloween

No list of October newsletter ideas is complete without Halloween. This spooky holiday is America’s favorite after Thanksgiving and Christmas. Luckily, it lends itself to fun and humorous content with a big visual impact.

Stephen Light, CMO and co-owner of Nolah Mattress, says, “Photos and other visuals trigger emotions and memories. Add high-quality media of your Halloween-inspired items to increase chances of making a sale.” 

In this LendingTree email, fun graphics and playful wording give even a serious topic like money-lending a lift.

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For more creative Halloween ideas, check out our post on Halloween email marketing and our list of 100 Halloween email subject lines.

Thanksgiving

The holiday season is here and customers are reaching for their wallets. In 2019, the average American spent $186.05 on Thanksgiving. Feature your products in Thanksgiving-themed photos and videos to appeal to your customers and earn a place at their Thanksgiving table.

Framebridge put their product at the heart of this Thanksgiving scene which plays on the desire to impress guests over the holidays.

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An alternative approach to your Thanksgiving newsletter campaign is to give thanks yourself. Consumer insight bodies note the growth of gratitude amongst consumers since the pandemic. So it feels timely and authentic for brands to say “thank you” at this special time of year.

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Black Friday and Cyber Monday

In 2019, U.S. consumers spent $7.4 billion on Black Friday and $9.4 billion on Cyber Monday. That’s a lot to play for. It also means stiff competition in your customer’s inbox from other brands looking for a slice of the pie.

Build up to the big day with reminders, promo previews, and exclusive offers for subscribers. Timed sales and codes add a sense of urgency as consumers rush to avoid missing out. Onsen does this well with their line, “Hurry – it’s our best deal of the year!”

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Further reading: 

• 8 of the Best Black Friday Emails to Inspire Your Holiday Campaigns
• 40 Black Friday Email Subject Lines to Boost Your Open Rate

Veterans Day

The military veteran population in the U.S. stands at over 18 million. Pay your respects on Veterans Day to show your values, impress existing customers, and earn new ones. 

Chipotle showed their support with a buy-one-get-one-free entrée and a warm yet respectful newsletter.

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Fall Sales

Your big sale for this season will likely be Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with mini sales and promotional events throughout the period.

The fall season is often the time for stock changeover as old summer items make way for new season products. Amplify this scarcity in your marketing campaigns to clear out the last bits of stock. Use phrases like, “Get your favorites before they’re gone.”

Combine with fall colors and fall-themed visuals and photos that evoke the change in seasons.

This email template design from Austin Eastciders ticks off autumn leaves, fall hues, and cozy autumn-themed woolly hats and plaid. There’s even a recipe for a whiskey cocktail perfect for the fall.

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Fall Newsletter Themes

Beyond the holiday season, craft relevant and engaging fall email campaigns by taking inspiration from fall experiences your readers will relate to. Offer well-timed information or promotions to improve your customers’ lives as they leave summer behind.

Colder weather

As the temperature drops, thoughts turn to retreating indoors, cozy clothing, and getting the house winter-ready. This is a rich seam for newsletter content, says Jori Patton, marketing manager at Fast Food Menu Prices. 

“An apparel store could release a fall fashion report. A plumber could offer weatherproofing tips. A landscaper could offer autumn gardening advice.”

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New beginnings

With students going back to class and the fun of summer fading from memory, fall is a time when many people turn over a new leaf. They might start a new fitness regime or begin learning a language. It could be as simple as wanting to makeover their looks or home.

If your product connects, send out a promotional email to help get your subscribers’ new habits off to a flying start.

Fall Newsletter Content Ideas

You’ve scheduled your back-to-school email campaign and planned your cold-weather newsletter. Great work. Here are more content ideas to fill those fall newsletter templates and maximize your sales this season.

Make it useful

Keep readers coming back to your newsletters by making them useful. You can offer activities, advice, recipes, tips, to-do lists, or gift guides. Think about the problems you can solve for your customers and how you can tie them back to your products.

This email from Panna plays on the pressure to cook a fantastic Thanksgiving meal. It offers new and exciting recipe ideas, both traditional and non, to help make the reader’s Thanksgiving a success.

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Add video

No doubt you’ve seen how effective video can be on social media. The same is true of newsletters. Adding video to your email can increase click rates by 300 percent. 

The best way to insert video in your email is to include a static image or still with a link. This ensures your email gets delivered and that all readers can view your video regardless of the email client they are using. With Sendinblue’s email builder it’s as easy as adding an image using the Drag & Drop function.  

If you’re a fashion brand, showcase your fall collection in an on-brand promo video. For other businesses, try these ideas to inspire and engage your customers: 

• A video of your latest products
• A customer testimonial interview
• A sneak peek of your HQ, workshop, or team

Contests and giveaways

Contests and giveaways generate two rounds of content.

1. An initial round promoting the competition
2. User-generated content as readers enter and win

Create community spirit with a spooky giveaway, a Halloween costume competition, or a Thanksgiving greetings card design contest. Generate a natural buzz around your brand by offering your products as prizes.

Customer reviews

Build interest in your products and boost your credibility by sharing customer reviews in your fall email newsletters. 

Prepare a couple of editable email templates and have them ready in your drafts folder. Then, next time there’s a lull in your content creation, drop in your latest customer reviews and hit send. 

Still waiting for your first reviews? Start the conversation. Send a segmented email to customers who have purchased your products recently. Ask them for feedback. You could offer an incentive such as a percentage discount or money off their next purchase. The reviews will feed future emails, web content, and social media posts.

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Personalization

With the power of segmented email lists, you know where your customers live, whether they have kids, and whether they celebrate Thanksgiving. Use this to your advantage by sending personalized emails to segments of your subscriber list. Unlike mass-market, generalized emails, these feel more personal, more relevant, and have a higher success rate.

Tip: Every fall in the USA, over 7 million Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah and more than 1 million Hindus mark Diwali. Involve people of all faiths by recognizing their holy days using your segmented customer list.

At this time of year, there are lots of local parades and celebrations. Business owner, Alan Harder adds, “If you’re targeting a regional market, incorporate local parades into your campaign.”

Of course, effective email segmentation relies on having the data you need. Update your subscriber questions and make sure sales are being correctly attributed to users.

Show you care

Stand out from the crowd by showing a little heart in your newsletter. If you don’t already support a cause, choose one that feels relevant to your brand and offer support in the form of donations, product gifting, or labor.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is an excellent opportunity to show support and raise awareness of an important issue.

Fall Email Subject Lines

Chelsea Cohen, co-founder of SoStocked, has a tip to help you captivate your customers: add an element of urgency and help solve their problems. 

“Use hooks like ‘X products you have to see before fall’ or ‘The X things that helped me get through the fall,’ taking inspiration from blog post headings.”

Make the subject line more eye-catching by using one or two emojis that match the theme of your newsletter.

Final Tips for Fall Newsletters

Your content planner is full of autumn newsletter ideas. You’re ready to add value to your customers’ lives with useful content from Veterans Day right through to Cyber Monday.

Before you hit send, remember,

• Start the conversation with your customers; think about how you can involve them
• Always include a call-to-action (CTA) to let your subscribers know what to do next
• Plan ahead and schedule your newsletters to save time

For help with scheduling and automation, sign up for a free plan with Sendinblue and start sending memorable emails today.

For more content like this, sign up for our monthly marketing tips newsletter and follow us on Twitter.

The post Our Best Fall Newsletter Ideas to Inspire Your New Season Emails appeared first on Sendinblue.

Want to launch your first email marketing campaign? Or are you looking for a watertight process to improve your strategy? This 20-point email marketing checklist is your ticket to campaign success.

Dodgy design, broken links, vague CTAs, wrong recipients… 

A lot can go wrong in an email. And jumping into campaign creation without a clear strategy makes costly errors more likely. 

That’s where the email marketing checklist comes in.

It’ll walk you through how to prep your email list, create click-worthy content, craft killer subject lines — and everything in between. Plus, you’ll learn the must-have checks for your email QA and sending.

Download the checklist

The 20-point PDF checklist takes you through each step of launching an email marketing campaign:

• Contact cleaning
• List segmentation
• Campaign goal and CTA
• Email copy
• Design best practices
• Subject line, preview, and sender
• Email QA
• Scheduling

The Ultimate Email Checklist for Campaign Success

1. Clean up your contacts

Successful email marketing starts with the list. So that should be the first thing on your campaign checklist too.

When it comes to email lists, it’s quality over quantity. There’s no use sending out a mass campaign that goes straight in the recipient’s trash — or worse junk mail. 

So, your first task is to clean your list of contacts you shouldn’t be sending to. This includes:

• Non opt-in contacts — those who haven’t explicitly agreed to receive your marketing emails. 
• Invalid email addresses — often due to typos. Most email service providers automatically remove such addresses when they can’t deliver messages. 

This will not only save you wasted email sends, but it will also aid your deliverability. Those who haven’t chosen to hear from you will likely unsubscribe or even mark your email as spam. This harms your sender reputation. As does a high bounce rate — when emails fail to deliver.

2. Prime your list

Once you know who you’re not sending to, you need to decide who you’ll target — and how.

The most effective campaigns tailor content to different groups of subscribers, or segments. This will improve your click-through rate as the email will be more relevant to the reader. 

An email marketing tool with contact segmentation features will make your life easier here.

3. Define your goal

After deciding on your target audience, the next question to ask yourself is what value they’ll get. This could be special offers, a solution to a problem they face, or simply interesting content. 

While your email needs to be packed with value, you should only ask the reader to do one thing. This is your call-to-action (CTA). 

You may think offering multiple options will up your chances of clicks. But you’ll risk overwhelming subscribers, causing them to switch off completely. So, to maximize your conversion rate, put your CTA front and center and make sure every link and button leads to this aim.

4. Perfect your copy

Next up on your email checklist: the content.  

The key to effective email copy is keeping it short and simple. Avoid long sentences and complicated terminology. Make your text easy to read by breaking it up with headings, paragraphs, and lists. 

Simple doesn’t have to mean soulless though. 

While the tone should depend on your brand, the best email copy is personal. One easy way to add character is with a well-placed emoji.

You should also keep the focus on the reader, rather than your organization — draw them in with pronouns like “you”. You can even address the reader by their name if your email marketing tool has personalization features.

5. Follow design best practices

Then, you need to catch your audience’s eye with an appealing design. Use a newsletter layout that draws attention to your CTA to maximize clicks. Images also have the potential to enhance your email — so choose wisely!

Your design should look as good on the smaller screen of a mobile device as on desktop. An easy way to ensure this is by starting from a responsive HTML email template. You might find your email marketing service comes with ready-to-use, free templates. All you have to do is simply adapt your chosen template to your brand’s colors, fonts, and logo.

6. Package the email for opens

After spending time perfecting your email content and design you’ll want to make sure subscribers open it. 

For the best first impression, your email QA checklist should also include:

• The email subject line — use this to tell recipients why they should open. 
• The preview text — this should complement your subject line with extra details.
• The email sender — the “from” name and email address should be recognizable and instill confidence.

Following best practices for these three elements will seriously boost your campaign’s open rate.

7. QA your final email

Once your campaign is ready, next on your checklist is to audit your email and proofread for any mistakes.

Key things to always double-check before sending an email include:

• Typos, spelling, and grammar errors
• Broken or incorrect links
• Personalized content not working

Preview your campaign in your emailing platform, but also send a test email. This is the time to check how your email looks on different devices (mobile, tablet, desktop) and email clients (Gmail, Outlook, IOS Mail…).

8. Hit send on your campaign

But wait, not so fast. 

In email marketing, timing is everything. So think carefully about when subscribers should get your message. Most platforms will let you schedule your email at the time and day of your choice.

Many factors impact your ideal send time, from whether your subscribers are businesses or consumers, to their timezone. What works for one person might not for the next. So even better if you can use a send time optimization tool to tailor to each recipient

Download Your Checklist for Flawless Campaigns

Ready to try this process out on your campaigns? 

Get the full 20-point checklist in handy PDF format today — simply fill out the form below to receive yours via email.

The post Email Marketing Checklist: 20 Steps for Better Campaigns [Free Download] appeared first on Sendinblue.

One of the best ways to do that is to keep in touch on important holidays and special occasions. If your Labor Day email can make their life better or easier, you’ll win a place in their minds for a long time to come. 

Labor Day is when we pay tribute to the workers keeping the American economy strong and stable. For consumers, it’s also a final chance to get together with family and friends before summer fades to autumn. 

In 2020, Labor Day weekend saw 10 times more travelers on the road than usual. Americans spent more than $2 billion on the holiday. The weekend is also known for massive sales as it marks the bridge between summer and autumn when many retailers need to clear their stock for new season products. Last year in response, credit card usage boomed by 9.9 percent, and debit card spending by 23.6 percent. 

What’s more, the holiday coincides with back-to-school and back-to-college, with a combined planned spend of $101.6 billion. 

That’s a whole lot to play for. The challenge is to stand out in an already crowded inbox. Hear from fellow small business owners and marketers on how best to leverage your Labor Day email marketing to win your customers’ hearts and boost your bottom line.

Labor Day Email Design 

When building your Labor Day email templates, you have a few eye-catching and emotive themes and ideas to play with. Pick the one that feels most appropriate to your brand and your promotion.

Traditional Labor Day theme

A patriotic theme shows your support for the working people of America. Choosing red, white, and blue will deepen your message and stir your reader’s pride.

Last days of summer

If you know your email list doesn’t traditionally engage with Labor Day marketing or if the holiday isn’t particularly relevant to your brand, opt for a ‘last days of summer’ theme. With nostalgic photography and fading summer colors, your email will be “more appealing and inclusive, and therefore more effective,” says Andrew Raso, CEO and co-founder of Online Marketing Gurus. This will create an organic sense of urgency as your customers rush to make the most of the final warm days of the year. 

This getaround email has an eye-catching photo background. The image instantly evokes long days of summer with a hint of nostalgia.

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Back-to-school

Finally, a fun, back-to-school email banner will speak to the parents and students in your audience who might be feeling a little frazzled as the new school year approaches.

Further reading: Our Best Fall Newsletter Ideas to Inspire Your New Season Emails

Labor Day Email Content

Now that you’ve nailed your Labor Day theme, it’s time to win your readers over with some fantastic content.

Add value

When planning your Labor Day marketing ideas, ask yourself how you can provide the most value to your readers. What about:

• A college checklist for the student living away from home for the first time 
• New picnic recipes for the long weekend
• The best tips for successful end-of-season camping trips 

If your customers feel they’re going to get something out of your email, they’re more likely to open it. Once you’ve earned their trust with your useful content, then you can entice them to visit your site. 

Salman Aslam, head of marketing at MuchNeeded says, “A newsletter might feature some historical anecdotes, spending statistics, celebration trends, or even fun facts. It works so long as the information is captivating. If you can tie it all into relevant products or content that’s even better.”

Overall, aim for lightheartedness and positivity. People have had a tough year and want to have fun. 

This Labor Day email example from BioLite focuses on specific relevant products in their camping range. The email effortlessly adds value by reminding the reader what they might have forgotten for their trip. It creates an emotional connection with the beautiful image.

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Tell a story

A unique approach to your Labor Day email campaign is to tell a story. Labor Day is a time to celebrate hard workers, so make it all about the people involved in your brand. Give a snapshot of the brilliant employees who work behind the scenes to make your business the success it is. Make sure to remind your readers to take a break this holiday and include a simple link to your website. 

Storytelling is engaging as a marketing tool because it helps people feel involved. Maximize this sentiment with a personalized subject line like, “Take a break this Labor Day, <Name>”.

Labor Day Sales Ideas

Labor Day is a great opportunity for a sale or promo according to Seth Lytton, COO of The Detroit Bureau. “Make your emails reflect that end of summer urgency. Encourage your readers to make one last fun purchase before the autumn comes.”

This Tattly email taps into the celebratory nature of the holiday as well as the fast-departing final days of summer. The imagery and color scheme support the copy in reminding the reader of the fun and hedonism summer brings, reinforcing the message that they don’t want to miss out on this Labor Day deal.

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When planning your Labor Day sale, start with the products. Special Labor Day discounts or themed sales are always effective. Curate a selection of items around the concepts of family, camping, parties, picnics, barbecues, or back-to-school, for a relevant and eye-catching sale plus a useful angle for your marketing. 

If you’re offering sitewide Labor Day savings, put that front and center of your communication. Like this email offering 15% off.

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Labor Day Video and Gifs

Video is the perfect tool to create eye-catching pre-sale previews. Demonstrate your sale products in a themed video to pique interest and gather momentum as your sale approaches. 

On Sendinblue’s email builder, you can insert an image or still into your email with a link to your video. This means no matter your customer’s email client they will be able to view your email and easily click through to your video. Make sure to link to the products you’re promoting in your video to complete the funnel. 

Similarly, gifs add some energy and excitement to otherwise static emails. Think about a setting sun, sizzling barbecue, or party gif to get customers in the mood to celebrate and spend.

Labor Day Email Subject Lines

Your Labor Day email subject line needs to work hard to stand out in a crowded inbox. 

• Link back to your theme with relevant copy. 
• Pick one or two relevant emojis to give it personality. 

When it comes to subject line ideas, think about creating a feeling of urgency that will encourage your customer to open your email straight away. If you can, pique their curiosity by alluding to what they might discover if they click through. 

Don’t miss our 2 for 1 deal on BBQ treats this Labor Day

Discover the secret to making your Labor Day party pop

Make this your best Labor Day yet with 50% off everything

For your B2B email campaigns, take a kind approach. Something along the lines of “Happy Labor Day! Do not open until tomorrow”. Recognizing the holiday is a day off for many shows your human side and lets clients know you care.

How to Time Your Labor Day Emails

To make sure your Labor Day email marketing campaign gets noticed, it’s all about building FOMO, fear of missing out. 

Thomas Jepsen, founder at Passion Plans explains: “Before any holiday, we always create scarcity campaigns. They are so powerful. We do a 30 to 40 percent discount and a very narrow time for customers to make up their mind. Instilling the feeling of scarcity usually sees demand skyrocket by 300 to 400 percent.”

A countdown timer is a great tool to help enhance that FOMO once your Labor Day event is underway. “We made a 72-hour countdown in our email campaign to instill a sense of urgency. It worked as we’ve seen more purchases come in as time passed. Letting customers know that they might miss out on something if they don’t take action is an effective email marketing strategy,” says Andrew of Online Marketing Gurus.

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Before you schedule send, check the sequence works together. There’s no point sending a “last chance to buy” email if this is the first time your customer has heard about the sale. They’ll only end up feeling annoyed you didn’t keep them in the loop. 

Here’s a suggested email series for your Labor Day email campaign:

• Email 1: 5 days to go – Announce sale
• Email 2: 2 days to go – Sale reminder and exclusive discount code for subscribers
• Email 3: Sale launch – Reminder and promote best deals
• Email 4: 2 hours left  – Scarcity reminder and promote fast-selling products

For help with scheduling and automation, sign up for a free plan with Sendinblue and start sending memorable emails today.

Segmenting Your Labor Day Emails 

Email marketing is all about connecting with your customer, giving them personalized service, and showing them you relate. It’s almost impossible to do this without segmentation. 

As a content marketer, Labor Day is a great opportunity to connect with your customers on a more personal level. No matter your audience, Labor Day marks a shift in seasons. This experience is different for different people making it a great opportunity to segment your email marketing list. Some are looking forward to the cooler weather, others are lamenting the end of summer. Some are preparing for new beginnings, while others need some motivation to make it through to the end of the year. 

Create messages and subject lines that speak directly to their experience and how your product or service can help. The more closely you identify with what they’re going through, the more effective your marketing will be.

Give your emails the best chance of success with personalized subject lines and opening greetings.

Labor Day Emails for B2B Businesses

If you’re selling to other businesses rather than consumers, Labor Day is an important opportunity to build community and demonstrate your business values. Sending out a message to your client list thanking them for their support will go a long way towards building loyalty to your brand. 

Equally, now is a great time to show how much you value your employees. “Customers and prospects would love to see the faces behind your company and brand,” says Felix Maberly of Tiger Supplies.

Finally, whereas most of the nation will be in their backyards celebrating, spare a thought for your clients who might not get a Labor Day holiday. Let them know what level of support will be available over the long weekend and when they can expect normal service to resume. It’s a sign of respect and courtesy they’ll remember.

Final Tips on Labor Day Emails

As a turning point in the year, Labor Day is a good opportunity to help your customers celebrate the final days of summer and prepare for the autumn months ahead. Follow these final tips to make sure your Labor Day emails hit the mark. 

• Create a theme your customers will engage with 
• Deliver content that adds value or tells a story
• Plan your sale around relevant themed products and create an element of scarcity
• Use personalization and segmentation to give your customers what they want and need

For more content like this, sign up for our monthly marketing tips newsletter and follow us on Twitter.

The post Labor Day Email Newsletter Ideas to Drive Sales This Season appeared first on Sendinblue.

The pandemic has given a boost to an already growing trend toward digital fundraising. With face-to-face methods off the cards, other channels proved their worth. 

And when it came to asking for donations, email marketing came out on top. 

In 2020, fundraising emails saw record results with better open, click-through, and response rates. And donors themselves said email is the channel that inspires them most to give.

But with this increased success, nonprofits are sending more donation requests via email than ever. So, your campaign needs to be spot on for supporters to take notice and act. 

Whether it’s tips on how to write your first fundraising email or ideas for boosting campaign donations, this guide has all you need. You’ll find a fundraising email template, best practices for content, design, and sending, plus examples to inspire you.

How to Ask for Donations via Email: A Foolproof Template

Making donation requests is a fundraiser’s day-to-day, be it in person or by direct mail. But how should you adapt your approach to write a fundraising email?

While there are some universal best practices for nonprofit email marketing, fundraising campaigns need a distinct strategy. And transferring the content of your direct mail appeals into an email won’t cut it!

Direct mail vs. email fundraising

Direct mail used to be the go-to tactic for donation asks. But in recent years email has proved its potential as a fundraising channel. Just take a look at these 2020 statistics from M+R’s benchmark report:

• The average open rate for a fundraising email was 18%, up 7% compared to 2019
• Email fundraising response rates rose by 41%
• Nonprofits raised an average of $78 per 1,000 fundraising emails

Direct mail and email fundraising often share the same goal, such as a seasonal or emergency appeal. But email boasts an immediacy that makes it particularly effective for time-limited campaigns. 

The challenge of email fundraising is to condense what might be a page for direct mail, into something digestible for an online audience.

Email recipients are easily distracted by other notifications or messages popping up. So you need to get to the point — fast.

If you don’t, your message risks getting lost in the depths of the inbox or deleted in a click. 

You’re likely asking yourself then, how long should a fundraising email be?

Your fundraising email needs to be as short as possible. This isn’t the time to go into your organization’s history and wider projects. Instead, keep the focus on your ask. 

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the best length for a fundraising email. But you can be sure that donation requests by email should be shorter than direct mail. One study for example found that, based on click-throughs, the ideal length for a nonprofit email was 25 lines.

5 steps to write an effective fundraising email

So, how do you squeeze everything you want to say into your donation email —  and get the reader to act on your request?

Here’s a template for how to write a fundraising email:

1. Start with a personalized greeting

A first name address is a must. If a contact doesn’t trust you enough to share their name, you likely need to build the relationship more before going in with a donation ask.

Using the recipient’s name will catch their attention and make your message stand out from generic marketing emails. 

You could even personalize the introduction further by referencing the contact’s connection to your nonprofit. For example, if they are a regular or previous donor, say so. This gives the sense that the message is written for them, not a mass of faceless supporters.

Most email marketing tools let you insert contact details like first name into your email text. For example, Sendinblue’s personalization feature pulls data you’ve gathered on contacts to show content unique to them.

You can even use this in your email subject line, like the example below:

2. Introduce the problem

Start your fundraising email with the issue you’re addressing. Tell the recipient why you’re writing to them in the first place. 

Is there an urgent crisis? A current problem going unaddressed? Hook the reader from the first line by showing the need for their support.

Don’t skirt around the topic — get your ask in early. Your email is a donation request, so make that clear from the start.

3. Add some context

Once the reader knows the most important information — what you need and why — bring in details to support your ask. Often this comes in the form of a beneficiary story that shows both the issue and the difference support can make.

4. Give the solution

You’ve got your reader’s attention with the issue. Next, tell them what they can do about it. 

Give examples of what support looks like and the impact it has. Then follow with another donation ask.

5. End with a human thank you and sign-off

Finish your fundraising email by thanking supporters. Then sign it off from a real person (rather than your organization). 

A P.S. is a good way to slot in a final donation request. Readers often skip to the end of an email so this will make sure you still get across your key message.

5 Fundraising Email Examples and Tips for Success

So, what does the above fundraising email template look like in practice? 

To give you some ideas, here are five fundraising email examples with best practices for how to ask for donations in email.

1. Tell a story

To inspire your audience to donate, they need to empathize with those in need of their support.

And the best way to do that? Storytelling. 

Here are some strategies for using beneficiary stories to win supporters’ hearts — and donations:

• Focus on an individual in hardship — research shows we empathize more with a “single identifiable victim” than a large, faceless group with the same challenge. 
• Make this individual as relatable as possible to your audience, for example choose someone from a similar demographic (age, gender, geographic location, etc.).
• Play on the senses and use specific details to bring the story to life.

This fundraising email example from Help for Heroes showcases these storytelling best practices:

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The headshot image and words “Meet Carl” introduce our protagonist. The story then gets straight to the point with specific details about Carl and his hardship.

The quotes that follow let him explain in his own words the emotional impact. The images reinforce that this is a real person with a life and family.  

In the final section you learn what changed thanks to the support he received. The image placement follows the story thread to highlight the difference in Carl at the beginning and the end. 

Notice too, the email copy. Sentences are short and easy to read. Meanwhile, the pronouns draw the reader in. The story uses the first person “I”, before shifting to “you” (the supporter). Mentions of the organization, in contrast, are sparse. Cutting out this “middle man” shows donors the personal difference they can make.

2. Focus on impact

Donors want to know you’ll put their money to good use. One survey found that the top two factors encouraging people to give were: “The charity is clear on what donations are spent on” and “Learning about the impact which the charity has”. 

A fundraising email isn’t just about pulling the readers’ heartstrings. You must also include proof of your project or service’s impact. 

This example from CLIC Sargent does both:

Source

What gives this impact story extra clout is that it’s written from the view of the beneficiary.

Plus, it’s relatable. Despite the family’s extreme situation, readers can empathize with the pressures of holiday season. 

Specifics like the £600 a month cost of having a child in hospital show the need for support. The email goes on to detail how donations help, including the boxes highlighting suggested amounts and what they’d pay for.

3. Have a clear call to action: Donate

Remember the age-old fundraising mantra? If you don’t ask, you don’t get. 

And once isn’t enough.

Your email should weave in multiple donation requests. See how Amnesty International does it in their email fundraising appeal:

The first thing you see — the email banner — is a call to action (CTA) linking to the campaign donation page. The following donation buttons and hyperlinked bold text lead to the same page.

Fundraising emails should have one goal: getting people to donate. So, like Amnesty’s example, avoid distracting the reader with conflicting links and asks.

This doesn’t mean you can’t mix up the wording of your donation ask though.

The example above has the sole aim of getting supporters to set up a monthly gift. But, the copy varies each time, using call to action best practices such as:

• Powerful verbs like “fight” 
• Words suggesting urgency, including “today” and “now”
• Personal pronouns (“I” and “you”)

Remember, impact is more important than the donation. So adapt your messaging accordingly. In Amnesty’s fundraising campaign, supporters are not giving money, but Nazanin’s “freedom”.

Donors also respond better to asks that are more limited in scope. In this case, helping Nazanin sounds achievable and is thus more appealing than, say, freeing all those unfairly imprisoned.

4. Keep your design simple

Don’t put style over substance. An overcomplicated design will distract supporters from the ultimate goal: donating. 

Take charity : water’s minimalist end-of-year fundraising email. It has all the key elements — logo, headline, authentic image, supporting details, CTA, and donate button. But the email remains as short as possible and has a clear layout with three main colors.

Source

The email is a mere 50 words or so. But within this it draws the reader in with an intriguing headline, states the problem, solution, and impact, then ends with a catchy CTA. 

Note too how the text layout leads your eyes to the most important part, “Give Now”, while the darker color makes the button stand out even more. 

Keeping your design simple, for example with single-column text and a clear font, also makes it easier for those viewing on mobile devices.

Tip: If you’re a Sendinblue user, you can check how your email looks on mobile before sending and adapt your design just for these devices.

5. Follow up your fundraising email

Even if you use all the best practices above, some donors will need an extra nudge.

That’s where the fundraising follow-up email comes in. 

A contact might have every intention to respond to your donation request, then life gets in the way. Your message is their reminder. 

You may worry about “spamming” your subscribers with follow-ups. Here, email segmentation is your answer. Use it to create a smaller list of relevant contacts to target. For example, you could exclude those who’ve already donated or only send to those who didn’t open. 

For time-limited campaigns like Giving Tuesday emails, don’t shy away from sending multiple or same-day follow-ups. This is a chance to play on the sense of urgency.

Take this year-end appeal, which Big Brothers Vancouver created and sent with Sendinblue’s email campaign software. It was part of a series of scheduled reminders that also updated supporters on the fundraiser’s progress.

The messaging uses social proof by referencing those who’ve already given and the amount raised. Meanwhile, the waitlist gives a sense of urgency for those who are yet to donate. Another strategy is to highlight how close you are to your fundraising goal.

4 More Fundraising Email Best Practices to Drive Donations

Aside from your email content and design, there are other best practices to bear in mind before hitting send on your fundraising campaign. 

Here are some final tips for a top-performing fundraising email:

1. Before you start: sort your list

Before sending your fundraising campaign you need a clean email list. This means subscribers are:

• Valid — the email address is correct
• Engaged — they regularly open and click your emails

Contacts that don’t fit the above criteria may unsubscribe on receiving your message or mark it as spam. Your emails are also more likely to end up in junk mail and never reach your audience in the first place. 

In nonprofit email fundraising, you must also consider if you have the right consent from contacts, i.e. they’ve explicitly agreed to receive your donation requests via email. If not, depending on the local data protection regulation, you can face hefty fines.

How-to: Easily clean your email list using Sendinblue

2. Personalize your message

Personalization goes beyond using the donor’s first name. 

You should use contact information to tailor your fundraising email throughout. One way is to insert unique details, like suggested gift amounts based on previous donations.

Alternatively, you can send a different version of your email to groups within your contact list using a segmentation tool. For example, you could adapt your messaging for:

• New donors or supporters
• Major donors who’ve made significant gifts to your organization
• Regular givers
• Different demographics, like age groups

Further Reading: The 12 Best Email Marketing Strategies for 2021

3. Write a killer fundraising email subject line

Your email subject line is the first thing a contact will read from your campaign. So it can be a dealbreaker for your open rate. 

The best fundraising email subject lines are:

• Short — After around 60 characters (or even less on mobile) it will be cut off.
• Intriguing — Give contacts a reason to open, for example use a question so they’ll open your email for the answer. 
• Urgent — Use words like “now” to get recipients to act. 

Here’s an example subject line in desktop and view from Amnesty International’s fundraising email:

In a nonprofit context, authenticity is also key. While tactics like curiosity and urgency are effective, don’t overstuff your donation request email subject line with these tricks. It can come across as “salesy” and turn off donors.

4. Send at the right time

So your campaign is ready to go. Now for the golden question: What’s the best time to send a fundraising email?

You’re right to ask — the send time can impact opens, clicks, and most importantly donations. 

Sendinblue’s study on the best time to send an email found that, for clicks and opens, nonprofit campaigns achieved the highest rates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 3 and 4pm.

However, the best advice is to test for your audience. Take the same fundraising email and try two different send times or days to see which brings in the most donations. Then use any insights to inform future campaigns.

Boost Your Email Fundraising With Sendinblue

Now you have the knowledge, you need an email marketing software that’s up to the task. And Sendinblue has the tools you need. 

The free plan gives you:

• Unlimited contact storage
• Easy list management to help you target your campaigns
• Personalization features to tailor content to each contact 
• A drag and drop email builder to quickly design professional, mobile-friendly campaigns
• A helpful support team available via email 

Sendinblue lets you send 300 emails a day free. And when you’re ready to upgrade, pricing stays accessible, starting at $25 a month for 20,000 email sends.

Why not try it out for your next fundraising campaign?

The post 9 Fundraising Email Tips to See Your Donations Soar [With Examples] appeared first on Sendinblue.

Getting the results you want when you’re emailing leads can sometimes feel impossible. How do you get people to open your emails? What do you need to do to get them to click and convert?

Whether you’re a professional salesperson or just writing your first sales emails, the right sales email sequence is essential. 

A great email sequence can set the stage for valuable calls and meetings. Emails can build strong relationships and customer trust, as well as bringing more revenue to your business.

In this guide you’ll learn how to write a sales email sequence that will help you build your sales funnel and get results.

The secret to sales emails that sell

Getting sales isn’t easy. There is a lot of multitasking and time management.

There’s just one secret to great sales emails: Start with what your customer wants.

You know the hardest part of your day. How much do you know about the hardest part of your target audience’s day?

Sales emails need to be adapted to your target audience. So do some research. 

You need to know who your contact is so that you can understand their problems and offer your product as a solution. Keep in mind, B2B and B2C are different. 

B2B versus B2C

B2B is more transactional. Your sales email needs to provide value to both your contact and the company they work for. 

For B2C, the offer is for the recipient.

If your email list is too big to do research on each individual, do some industry-specific research.  This little bit of homework about what that contact is doing and why will help you segment your lists to get your messaging right.

With Sendinblue, you can use dynamic segmentation to segment your lists.  This handy automation makes targeting future emails easier and faster.

Remember: Sendinblue only accepts email list that are 100% opt-in. Make sure all the contacts on your list have been acquired through opt-in list-building techniques.

Don’t use a sales email template

There’s nothing worse than a sales email templates that doesn’t really say anything. Templates are easy and polite, but at the end of the day, it feels like a template, which means most people check out before they get your message. 

Instead, start a collection of emails you like. Read these before you begin writing to get inspired.

Another suggestion? Voice type your sales email. 

If you’re a great salesperson, chances are you’re better at connecting with a person over a quick conversation than writing long emails or reports. 

Voice typing your first draft is a great way to get out your best pitch.  Those ideas that are easy to forget when you’re worrying about writing a perfect sentence or avoiding spelling errors. 

It’s easy to voice type with most word processing tools. In Google Docs, go to Tools > Voice Typing. When the microphone turns red, you’re recording!

A few more important things to consider as you write your sales email sequence:

1. Email subject line

Start your sales email with an intriguing subject line. You’ll probably rewrite it, but your subject should inspire, not summarize, the message in your email.

As you write your subject line and preview text, think about how your email will appear in the inbox. It’s not just the subject line, but the way the subject line, preheader, and the first line of your email work together to form a first impression.

As a Sendinblue user, you can use the mobile preview feature to test how the email looks on mobile and on different email clients.

2. Email Structure

Many sales people approach email structure like a high school english paper. It makes sense to fall back on habit, but you’ll want to rethink this if you want sales emails that sell.

Sales email structure should include only two things:

1. How you can give your customer what they want
2. Why they should believe you

If you have a little extra room, the rest of your email should anticipate and erase any objections.

Some people write better. when they say more and edit down, others like to get it all down at once and refine. 

A great sales email is as short as possible. Be ruthless in your editing — nobody has the time to read long and complicated emails.

3. Make a connection 

You want to make a connection with your sales email.

Here are some ideas to make that connection:

• Share something interesting and personal
• Tell a story
• Link to content that’s going to be helpful for your audience
• Offer a freebie or other incentive

4. Call to action: One email, one goal

Always include one simple call to action. The best CTA will make complex requests simple. You want to do the work for your lead so they don’t have to. 

As you write your CTA, think about where you want your reader to click and why they would click. Then, make sure you create a great experience after clicking. 

For example, if you want to schedule a meeting, include a link that makes it simple to schedule a time to meet. If you want them to sign up for a trial, send them to a simple landing page that doesn’t have a lot of extra information. You want the experience to feel easy and seamless.

Also important – include a deadline for your CTA and let the recipient know what will happen afer that deadline, then stick to it. 

Sales emails for emailing leads

You’ve gotten it before. Someone signs up for your list, you send your first email, and then get an outraged email in return.

Leads forget they’ve signed up all the time, and when you’re emailing leads you need to find a way to:

1. Remind them why they signed up 
2. Get them excited again

As you write your first email to a warm lead, make your subject line about the one thing you want your lead to get from your email.

If you want your leads to sign up for a trial, focus on a specific problem that leads can solve during their trial. 

For example, say your lead responded to a lead magnet about Google Ads for their ecommerce site. In your first sales email, send them instructions for how to update their Google Ads from your dashboard. This immediately gives them personalized information that they can use.

How to write a great sales follow up email

Timing is everything for a great sales follow up email. You’ll want to use email marketing automation to make sure you’re reaching out to your leads at the right time.

If your leads are opening emails more than once, or clicking links and attachments, that’s a sign it’s time to follow up.

As you write your follow up emails, think about where your sales emails fit in your buyer journey.

What other emails are they getting from your company right now? How did this lead get to you and where do you want them to go next? 

If you’re send out a mass email, spend more time personalizing your follow up email than you did on the first big send. Then, show your lead that you’ve done a little more research so you have something to offer that they want.

Here are a few things you can offer in a follow up sales email:

• Shares links to videos and other interactive content
• Encourage them to follow you on social media
• Share helpful articles, advice, or books to help them solve a problem
• Provide an introduction to someone that could help them out
• Offer feedback on a new product or service

Putting it all together

A sales email sequence is just that – a sequence. Each sales email in your sequence should come together to form something greater than your individual emails can be on their own. 

Each email should offer something more useful and targeted until your lead is ready for a conversation.

To start, you’ll want 3-5 emails that run over 1-4 weeks. Then track your results and adjust based on what works best for your audience.

Sales Email 1

The lead opted-in to your list and now you want to nurture their interest in your brand and grow awareness in your product/service.

What’s really important here is getting some information about this lead. That way, you can start to segment and personalize your next emails.

Sales Email 2

In this email, you’ll want to focus on a problem that many leads have, and show how your product can solve the problem.

Sales Email 3

Dig into the lead’s pain points even further.

Approach the problem from another angle and offer something extra.

This email should absolutely include a deadline, and what will happen next if they don’t respond.

Sales Email 4

This is the final email in your sequence. It should be gentle but honest, and include one more offer to get a conversation started. This email should also help your lead understand what communication they can expect from you in the future.

You’ve written your sales sequence! Be sure to test it to make sure everything looks and sounds good on multiple devices. Then, get ready for conversions.

To learn more, take a look at this case study on using Sendinblue email sequencing for lead generation!

Further reading: The Difference Between Cold Email and Email Marketing

The post Send and Sell: How to Craft a Seamless Sales Email Sequence appeared first on Sendinblue.

Digital communication, especially via email, is essential for maintaining customer relationships and business continuity. But it’s also important that you use digital channels correctly and avoid any faux pas that would put your reputation at risk. 

We’ve put together this crisis communication email guide to help you get your message across in the best way possible.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• How to plan crisis communication emails for customers
• How to adapt your messaging and tone 
• All the dos and don’ts of sending emails during the COVID-19 crisis 

We’ve also got a crisis email PDF checklist for you to download.

Let’s get started.

“I don’t know whether to send a crisis communication or not.”

Your customers are probably experiencing information overload right now. There’s a lot of noise. Do you really need to add to it? 

With the huge volume of COVID-19 emails being sent in recent weeks, people have been quick to criticize the sending of irrelevant and non-targeted emails.

Times are tough enough right now. The last thing you need is to jeopardize your brand’s reputation.

Whether you send out a crisis communication all depends on your ongoing relationship with customers and how your service to them has been impacted by the crisis. Ask yourself: What crucial information do my customers need to know about doing business with me at this time? 

Relevancy is key (as it should be for any email campaign, crisis or not). 

Only reach out if your message is truly relevant, informative, and brings value. Don’t send an email for the sake of it or just because everyone else is doing it.

Steps to planning your customer crisis communication

So you’ve decided to go ahead with sending a crisis communication to your customers. There are a few things to get your head around first. 

You’ll need to define:

• The message to be communicated
• Who needs to hear it (everybody or just certain contact groups?)
• How to communicate it (email is great for crisis communication, we’ll talk more about that later)
• The time-sensitivity of the information (how quickly does this message need to get out?)
• The different internal stakeholders who need to be informed/involved (so that everyone’s on the same page about what’s being communicated externally) 
• From whom the message should be signed off (the company CEO, account manager, the customer care leader, etc.)

It’s possible that you’ll need to create several messages and tailor them to different customer groups. Take every opportunity to segment your contact list, be it based on geography, demographics, or buying behavior. This’ll help ensure the relevancy of your message.

That customer with a Texas address who regularly buys off your online store? Well, he doesn’t need to know the opening hours of your store in New York. But he’ll be interested to know if you’re still taking online orders and what shipping delays to expect. 

That guest who booked a room in your hotel that one time seven years ago? Well, they probably don’t need to hear from you at all.

You get the idea.

Why email is the best channel for crisis communication

Email is great for delivering targeted, timely communications to a large number of people. It represents a direct line of communication with your customer and has a far better chance of being read than a post on social media. 

It can also work out pretty cheap, depending on which email service provider you’re using.

But, is there a standout reason why so many brands have chosen to email during the COVID-19 crisis?

As explained by Jason Rodriguez from Litmus during their crisis email marketing webinar: Email has the appropriate formality for a crisis situation. This is something that social media channels lack as they tend to be more relaxed and light-hearted. Another advantage of email is that it can be easily referenced later.

With that in mind, let’s look at how you should approach crisis communication emails.

Writing crisis communication emails: tone & messaging

How to hit the right tone

The best tone to adopt is one that’s empathetic. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. How are they likely to be feeling right now?

Chances are, they’re anxious. Whatever you do, avoid coming across too dull or serious. Likewise for any tone that hints towards gloom and desperation. Now is not the time to add to peoples’ anxiety.

Instead, adopt a calm and reassuring voice that’ll build confidence in your brand. Be customer-centric. Show you care, focus on the positive, and reassure your customers that you’re there for them at this time.

For some tone of voice inspiration, here’s an email that Sendinblue sent to its customers from Armand, our Co-CEO:

How to approach the wording and copy of a crisis email

Your customers have probably received countless COVID-19 emails by now. Their attention span will be limited so you should get to the point quickly.

Position yourself from the customer’s perspective and address the WIIFM (what’s in it for me), both in your email subject line and opening paragraph.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when choosing and formatting your words for a crisis communication email:

• Avoid writing in all caps as this can create an unwanted sense of panic
• Use short sentences and cut out any jargon, unnecessary words, or ‘fluff’
• Structure your copy in a way that makes it easy on the eye: make use of subheadings, bullet points, short paragraphs, white space
• Black-on-white text is best suited to the formal nature of a crisis email
• Highlight or underline important details
• Check you haven’t used any words or expressions that may come across as insensitive
• Avoid any unnecessary images that can distract from the message

The 6 types of information to include in a crisis email

1. How service levels have been impacted and what customers should expect 

Stick to concrete facts and information. If you’re honest and transparent about the situation now, it’ll help you manage expectations in the long run. Tell customers what they need to know: Opening/closing dates, product availability, back in stock dates, shipping delays, etc. 

2. Details of any contingency plan

What solutions are you proposing to customers in response to the impacted service levels? How have you adapted your business model to the current situation?

Maybe you’ve transformed your sit-down restaurant into a drive-through takeout, your physical store into an ecommerce, or your farm business is now doing door-to-door deliveries of fresh vegetables. 

Whatever your new way of doing things, share all the necessary details of how customers can continue to do business with you.

3. Concrete answers to their biggest concerns and questions

What are the most common queries you’ve been getting so far? Maybe they’ve been about reimbursements, cancellation policies, or shipping delays. 

Go through the questions you’ve received to pinpoint your customers’ main concerns. Address these directly in your email copy and provide any answers you can. 

Top tip: Be proactive. Reach out to customers with information first so they don’t have to come seeking it. This’ll also ease the pressure on your customer service email/phone line.

4. How you can provide value at this time

If your product or service can genuinely help people, let them know about it – but be careful about coming across as overly promotional.

5. If relevant: the protective measures you’ve been taking 

Only inform about sanitization efforts when these actions have a direct impact on the customer. Telling people about your extensive hand-washing might make sense if you’re a food delivery business, but not so much if you’re a SaaS company.

6. If you’re offering a product/service for free to help those in need 

If you’re generously offering up certain services, adding this information to your crisis email communication can help spread the word to those who can benefit.

What NOT to include in a crisis email

Again, you don’t want to say or do anything that might put your reputation at risk. The following are best avoided:

• Sharing any information you’re unsure of. This can quickly lead to confusion. Similarly, be wary of sharing advice that goes beyond your area of expertise (e.g. offering healthcare advice when you’re not a healthcare professional). Instead (and if necessary) direct people to official sources like the World Health Organization site.

• Out-of-context product placements or sales pitches (unless you’re sure it’s something that can genuinely help people right now)

• Using your crisis email as a means of re-engaging contacts who haven’t interacted with you in a long time (having a bunch of unengaged contacts does no favors for your email deliverability anyway so this could be the perfect time for clearout!)

• Jokes or anything too light-hearted that would give the impression you’re not taking the crisis seriously

And finally, just in case we haven’t been clear enough already… 

• Anything that doesn’t provide value or just repeats the same message of other brands!

Check before you send: Download the crisis email checklist

Tone and messaging aside, keep in mind that from a technical point of view, your crisis email is an email campaign like any other.

The usual quality control still applies: verifying campaign settings, testing on different devices and email clients, checking that links are working, etc.

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype and forget some email campaign basics. To help you out, we’ve put together a crisis email checklist. It covers everything from messaging to email content, campaign settings, targeting, and testing. Get yourself a copy ?

What about other pre-planned email campaigns? Should I pause them?

Pause them completely? No. Radio silence isn’t the answer. But re-think your advertising and promotions strategy? Most definitely. A complete content audit is in order. 

Take a look at your editorial calendar and pre-planned ads. Check that the tone, messaging, and imagery would not be considered insensitive in light of the crisis. You don’t want your brand to come across as tone-deaf.

Remain empathetic. Before running any aggressive promotions, keep in mind that some of your customers may not be getting paid at the moment.

If you’re still pushing offers, go about it carefully. The impact of a misstep could be detrimental to your brand’s reputation. You don’t want to be branded as the unscrupulous one who tried to profit from an unfortunate situation. 

Adapt your content strategy and be a helpful voice

On the other hand, it’s the perfect opportunity to spread some joy. As people seek reprieve from the constant stream of coronavirus updates, your content can come as a welcome distraction. 

You can tailor your content strategy and campaigns to the current situation (i.e one that involves people mostly staying at home). Offering helpful advice will help you stay top of mind in a positive way.

Share what you think will help people cope while staying in: recipes, cleaning tips, home workout plans, book/film recommendations – anything you think can be useful to your audience.

Summary

We hope these tips will help you to better navigate crisis communication emails with customers during this difficult time. 

As always, Sendinblue is on hand to support your small business. If you need an affordable solution for managing your email communications at this time, feel free to have a look at our different plans. 

If you have any questions or need advice, leave a comment below or reach out to us on Twitter. As always, Sendinblue customers can email support@sendinblue.com to be put in touch with our customer care team.

The post Crisis Communication Best Practices for Emailing Customers (+ PDF Checklist) appeared first on Sendinblue.

How are your email marketing campaigns doing? Could engagement be better? Is the conversion rate lackluster?

Do you ever feel a nagging sense that your strategy is lacking something? Do you wonder if you’re just spinning your wheels using the same tactics over and over? Are you having a hard time justifying your investment in email?

No matter how your email marketing is performing right now, there’s always room for improvement! If you make sure to include the following 12 elements, you will be able to create a successful email marketing campaign capable of achieving your business goals the next time you click send!

1. Opt-in

Never send emails to people who didn’t sign up for them. This is rule number one in email marketing, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Buying email lists or sending to non-opt-in contacts is not only unethical but in some instances, it can also be against the law. Always get permission before sending emails! This is the only way to achieve sustainable list growth for your email marketing.

To be extra cautious, you can utilize a double opt-in approach to verify that subscribers truly want to receive your emails. This strategy ensures that subscribers did, indeed, sign themselves up and still want to hear from you.

Subscribers that fail to confirm their subscription may have accidentally signed up — or maybe they’re simply having second thoughts about adding more volume to their inboxes. Give them an immediate way out by requiring that they verify their email addresses before receiving emails. You don’t want disinterested contacts in your list anyways.

2. Mobile-Friendly Design

It’s estimated that about half of email opens are on mobile devices, which means that your emails need to render properly across various devices and screens. Using a responsive email template is the best way to ensure mobile-friendliness.

However, simply using the right template isn’t enough. Your content also needs to be optimized for the mobile experience. This means thinking about how people consume email differently on phones and tablets compared to laptops and desktop computers. Some strategies to consider include:

• Putting the most important content above the fold to ensure that it will be seen. Users want to know immediately what the purpose of your email is — don’t make them scroll to find it.
• Limiting text in favor of using more visual elements. Reading text on a smaller device can be strenuous for some people. Images and concise copy are much more user-friendly.
• Being careful with whitespace and call to action (CTA) placement. Emails with too much text or numerous CTAs can quickly appear cluttered and turn recipients off.
• Optimize your emails for “tapability” by isolating CTAs and making links and buttons large enough for wide fingers to easily click on them.

The goal of your email is to communicate something important to your readers, so you want to make sure that they can get the message in the easiest way.

3. Follow through

Fulfilling any promises that you made to subscribers at the time of sign-up is essential. Whether you bill your emails as a weekly roundup of the industry’s best articles, daily inspiration, monthly professional tips, or something else, you need to send emails consistently and in accordance with that original promise.

Don’t email subscribers more or less frequently than you initially promised, and don’t push other types of content without getting their buy-in first.

Stay true to your brand identity with every email to ensure consistency across touchpoints. This further familiarizes your subscribers with your brand and gives them an idea of what to expect.

4. Clear objective

Every email campaign should be sent to achieve a specific objective or action that you want your reader to complete. Examples might include:

• Reading an article from your blog
• Making a purchase on your website
• Signing up for more email lists
• Sharing or downloading a resource
• Donating to a cause

It’s best to try sticking to one strong call-to-action (CTA) per email – buy, read, download, sign up, donate, provide feedback, etc. Using too many CTAs can cause your email to become busy and confusing, leaving recipients without a clear idea of what they should do next.

Simplifying the process that you want readers to complete increases the success or engagement rate with this action because the experience is much more targeted. Including multiple CTAs gives the reader too many options, ultimately diluting the engagement of your campaign.

If you find yourself using multiple CTAs throughout the email to achieve your objectives, you’ll likely benefit from breaking the email up into additional emails and spacing them out.

5. List segmentation

List segmentation is absolutely necessary if you want to send targeted emails that actually convert.

Filter your overall email list into smaller lists to properly align audiences with your email campaign goals. For instance, it doesn’t make sense to ask for purchase feedback from subscribers who haven’t read your previous 10 newsletters or contacts who haven’t made a purchase from you yet.

Segmenting users by demographic characteristics like gender preference, age, location, or parental status can provide a basis for focusing the offers of your marketing campaigns. If you have a clothing store, your subscribers who identify as men probably won’t be interested in a sale on the latest women’s exercise clothing items.

Other characteristics, like purchase history or previous email engagement, can inform your follow-up marketing strategy. For instance, while a subscriber in the pacific northwest may have different outdoor clothing needs than a subscriber in the south, a subscriber who has purchased an insulated jacket will almost certainly have a greater desire to receive an email with complimentary outdoor winter products like hats and gloves than a subscriber who hasn’t made a similar purchase.

6. Personalization

Many people hear personalization and assume that means inserting a subscriber’s name or rewards number into an email. While this is certainly a nice touch, personalization has become even more sophisticated and critical for email marketing.

The most successful personalization these days involves customizing emails to appeal to recipients in a meaningful way based on what you know about them. This means carefully integrating subscribers’ preferences, purchases, and engagements into a completely custom communication. This is usually done through a combination of advanced list segmentation to create targeted audiences and high-quality email editorial content to appeal to the specific needs of each audience.

Streaming music companies are masters of this approach because they collect data on the types of music individual users listen to, what time of the day they listen, and how long a typical listening session lasts to pitch new artists, curated playlists, or premium services to account holders.

7. Error-free content

Mistakes happen – it’s a fact of life. But, doing your best to minimize mistakes in your emails is very important for creating successful email campaigns and maintaining a positive brand image. Using an email marketing checklist to do a once-over before hitting send is a good way to ensure that you’re not forgetting anything.

Check your spelling and grammar, but don’t stop there. Ensure all fields are filled in (even ones that are easy to miss like the email preheader field) to provide a better subscriber experience.

Also, don’t forget to include an unsubscribe link to give recipients a way to opt-out of emails if they’ve changed their mind. Paying attention to these small details will make your company look more professional, improving the overall perception that contacts have of your brand.

8. Value

Every email you send should be able to pass the “So what?” test. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the “So what?” test is when you ask yourself why readers should care about your email. What value are you providing, and what’s in it for your contact if they read it. If you can’t answer this question clearly, it’s probably time to go back to the drawing board.

Providing value to subscribers is the main function of emails, but that doesn’t mean you need to be overly salesy and promotional at the expense of your readers’ time. Your emails can also provide value in the form of exclusive content, early access, or tips and advice. Focusing on value first and foremost will boost engagement metrics sustainably.

9. Shareability

Encouraging sharing in the form of an email forward or a social media mention can expand the reach of your email campaign and brand recognition organically by leveraging your readers’ influence in their network. Simply reminding subscribers that they can forward the email to friends and family is often the easiest and most effective way to achieve this. You can even provide a reward to readers who refer people to your business by creating a referral marketing program.

Including social buttons has also become an essential element to give subscribers an easy way to follow the brand on the social platforms that matter most to them.

10. Pre-send tests

With email marketing, you should always test your emails in your own inbox before you send them out. This is another last-minute check that can help make sure that you haven’t made any mistakes in your campaign, such as putting the wrong url for one of your links or formatting your text in a way that doesn’t look good once your email is delivered.

All you need to do is send yourself a test email and check to make sure everything looks and behaves the way you want it to. You can also check the responsive design by viewing the test email on your phone or tablet. This will help you be sure that you’re sending your best possible campaign.

11. Good deliverability

There are many things that you can do to improve your email deliverability, but the most basic action you should take is to ensure that your content passes the spam filter litmus tests.

Avoid spammy words when writing your email subject lines like “free” and “act now” to keep your emails from being immediately relegated to your subscribers’ spam folders. Similarly, you should use capitals and punctuation responsibly. There’s a big difference between “ONE DAY SALE!!! LIMITED INVENTORY!!!!” and “One Day Sale – Limited Inventory.” Inbox providers are very sensitive to any content that is perceived as spammy, but if you’re being genuine and respectful to your subscribers in your content, you should be okay.

12. Follow-up analysis

Once you hit send, your job is really just beginning. Email campaigns should always be monitored after they’re sent to enable continued improvements.

Use the performance data from your campaigns to compare with your other campaigns and benchmarks to develop a better understanding of what works for your readers, and what doesn’t work. Analyzing these email marketing KPIs will provide an indication of where there are the biggest opportunities for improvement.

By covering all of these elements in your email campaign, you’re guaranteed to see increased engagement and stronger relationships with your email contacts.

If you want more email marketing tips, subscribe to our newsletter!

The post 12 Elements of a Successful Email Marketing Campaign appeared first on Sendinblue.

What is bulk email?

Bulk email marketing is the sending of promotional email campaigns to a large list of contacts (customers, subscribers, leads, etc.) with the goal of driving sales, increasing customer loyalty, or communicating important information.

How to create a bulk email campaign:

1. Build a list of interested contacts who have opted-in
2. Define the goal of your email campaign
3. Create a strategy to target the right contacts
4. Build an email using responsive design
5. Optimize the email campaign content for conversion
6. Test your email
7. Schedule your campaign for the right time
8. Analyze the results

In this guide, we outline 8 key steps to show you how to create an email campaign that your subscribers will love!

With an average of 122% return on investment (ROI), bulk email sending is unparalleled in its potential to boost sales and help you build better customer relationships.

But despite the massive ROI of bulk email marketing campaigns, they still aren’t a silver bullet. Users are constantly being bombarded with emails from all different types of businesses. That means it’s getting harder every day to capture the attention of your readers.

This competition in the inbox is why bulk email marketing is an art that is constantly evolving. Over the past few years, email campaigns have become much more sophisticated. Email design has continued to be refined along with the rest of the web, and spamming is less prevalent thanks to regulations and better permission-based list building. The implementation of the GDPR later this month will help to continue these improvements as well.

While technically it’s possible to send mass emails with Gmail or even Outlook, we recommend using a dedicated email marketing service like Sendinblue.

By following the steps laid out in this article, you will have all the tools you need to send bulk emails campaigns and start harnessing the full potential of email marketing for your business.

Start sending email campaigns with Sendinblue today >>

1. Build a list of interested contacts who have opted-in

Behind every successful email campaign is a list of contacts who wanted to receive that email. Building your list with quality opt-in contacts is the foundation of email marketing strategy — and it’s also the law.

Gone are the days when you could simply buy a contact database and start sending them all the same bulk email marketing campaigns without their consent. Nowadays, we just call that spamming.

At Sendinblue, we have always stressed the importance of consent, and we systematically turn away potential customers who have contact databases that aren’t 100% opt-in. Now, with the GDPR entering into effect, consent is a legal obligation in Europe for everyone sending emails.

To start building your email list, you’ll need to create a subscription form in Sendinblue and embed it on your site like we have done in our sidebar:

These forms are super easy to add to your site using a simple snippet of HTML.

By using an opt-in process to gather your contacts, you’re ensuring that the people who receive your email campaigns have a genuine interest in your product or service. This is super important for sending effective marketing emails because it guarantees:

• Better open and click rates in your emails
• Fewer unsubscribes and spam complaints
• Better deliverability (which depends heavily on the previous two points)

You can also use your opt-in form to gather consent for multiple types of emails and data processing from your contacts (e.g. lead scoring, marketing automation, recurring promotions). To do this, just create a multi-list subscription form in Sendinblue:

This functionality lets your visitors define their email preferences by selecting which types of emails they want to receive. By checking a box, the contact is providing consent for that specific use of their contact information. Once they submit, their email address will be automatically added to the lists corresponding to the boxes they’ve checked.

For example, consider a user who fills out the form above and checks the first two boxes, but not the third. They will be added to the monthly marketing newsletter list and the list for automated emails, but they won’t receive weekly promotional email campaigns.

Resources

Here is a list of tutorials and guides to help you set up your contact database and implement your list building strategy:

2. Define the goal of your email campaign

Never send an email campaign without a clear purpose in mind. You don’t want to waste your readers’ time.

Now that you’ve got your list building strategy put in place, you can start thinking about sending your first email campaign. In order to do that, you need to decide on a goal. Some examples might include:

• Promoting a new product
• Sharing a discount with loyal customers
• Boosting downloads for your latest eBook
• Updating subscribers on news about your business

Depending on your business, you may have other goals that I didn’t mention — that’s okay. Your goals can be as specific or broad as you want, just as long as they fit with your business and your audience.

Once you define your goals, it will be much easier to figure out how to send bulk email with relevant content to the right target audience in your contact database.

3. Create a strategy to target the right contacts

Selecting the right audience for your email campaign is a big piece of achieving success with email marketing.

You should never send the same message to every single one of your contacts. The era of mass email marketing campaigns is over. It has been replaced by a need for more personalized and targeted content that is relevant to the recipient.

If you send all of your campaigns indiscriminately, you’re much more likely to land in the inbox of contacts who aren’t interested in that particular message.

This can result in spikes of unsubscribes and spam complaints and decreases in open and click rates, which will ultimately hurt the deliverability of your future email campaigns.

To maximize the potential of your contact targeting, you should use three tools:

• Multiple different contact lists
• List segmentation
• Lead scoring and dynamic segmentation with the help of marketing automation

Creating different segments with separate lists

This is the most simple way to segment contacts. Simply create multiple lists according to the types of emails that those contacts want to receive, and/or their preferred frequency.

Once you’ve created these lists, you’ll be able to select them before sending out your email campaign.

Creating conditional segments in your email marketing campaign

After you’ve selected a list for your campaign, you can get even more granular with your targeting by filtering your contacts using the “Create a segment” option:

Here you can define conditions to filter your contacts according to things like:

• Contact attributes (e.g. gender preference, geography, industry)
• Past email behavior
• Past purchases

For example, you can create a segment targeting only contacts who have opened your previous email campaign. This will help you ensure a high engagement rate for your next campaign as well.

Advanced: Implementing lead scoring and dynamic segmentation

For real-time segmentation, you can use marketing automation to dynamically segment leads into different lists based on their behavior and interests.

The most powerful way to leverage marketing automation for email targeting is to create a lead scoring workflow to track and identify where your leads are in the conversion process.

The process works by assigning “point” values to specific actions according to where that action lies in the process of making a purchase. Once a user takes an action, the corresponding point value from that action is added to their “lead score.” This score then helps you determine how “qualified” or close to making a purchase that specific contact is.

For example, you can assign a value of +10 to the action of clicking on a link in your welcome email. This makes sense because it shows an extra level of engagement beyond a normal lead who isn’t ready or interested in making a purchase.

Once you’ve implemented your lead scoring workflow, you can use the lead score as a trigger for dynamic segmentation.

In the following example, you can see that our dynamic segmentation workflow will automatically add a user to the list of “New Qualified Leads” once their score reaches 5 or higher.

Resources

Here are some resources to help you get started on optimizing your contact targeting.

4. Build an email using responsive design

Create email campaigns that look great on any screen using the intuitive Sendinblue drag & drop email design tool.

Oddly enough, creating the actual design for your bulk email campaign might be the easiest part of the whole process.

Thanks to the responsive email design tool in the Sendinblue platform, you can easily build professional-grade promotional emails without any technical skills or design experience.

The intuitive interface lets you drag and drop editable content blocks or choose from one of dozens of templates to make your own.

As you work through how to create an email campaign, play around with different types of blocks in the design to see what looks best. Before you move on though, make sure you haven’t forgotten:

• Your company logo
• A strong call to action that is tied to the goal of your email campaign
• Links to your social media profiles
• Unsubscribe link at the bottom

Of course, we could write an entire book on how to design an effective email campaign. That’s why we suggest that you take a look at the resources below for some extra help.

Resources

Here are some resources to get you started on designing your responsive email in the Sendinblue email design tool:

5. Optimize your email content for conversion

The success of your bulk email marketing campaign depends in large part on how it appears in your contacts’ inbox.

Making sure you stand out in the inbox is absolutely essential to making sure your email content gets seen. To do that, you need to focus on 3 key elements:

• Email subject line
• Email preview text
• Sender name and address

Here is where each of those elements appears in the inbox:

Pay close attention to the subject line

Your email subject line is without a doubt the most important element in your email campaign content. It’s the primary factor that determines whether your contacts will open your email… or send it straight to the trash bin.

To edit your subject line in Sendinblue, go to the “Setup” tab in the campaign creation process:

To be successful, your subject line should create intrigue or a desire to open in just a few words.

Here are a few tips:

• Limit yourself to 50 characters
• Highlight your most interesting offer
• Appeal to your customers’ emotions

The subject line is a good opportunity to be yourself and reflect your brand’s personality. For example, you can use emojis (within reason) to make your subject stand out. However, know your audience before you get too crazy — customers of a financial services firm might not want to see a unicorn emoji in the subject line of their monthly newsletter!

Don’t forget about your preview text

The email preview text (or preheader), is usually located just after the email subject line and serves as a preview into the rest of the email content.

If you don’t set this text before you send your campaign, it will default to the first few lines in the email itself, which isn’t always the best option:

In Sendinblue, you can set your preheader with custom text directly in the email design tool:

Just like the subject line, the preheader is an extra opportunity to draw your readers’ interest and get them to open your email. So choose wisely!

The best way to use this text is to expand on your preview that you touched on in the email subject line. You can have them work together to highlight the value that you’re providing inside, ultimately generating more engagement.

The size of your preheader varies between the different email providers. But generally, you should limit yourself to about 35 characters if you want to be sure that your message comes across.

Use a clearly identifiable sender name and address

Opening an email is kind of like opening your front door — it’s uncomfortable if the visitor is unexpected or a stranger. Contacts are much more likely to open if they know who is sending the message.

That’s why you need to choose a sender name and email address that inspires confidence in the recipient and makes it clear that the email is coming from your business.

In your Sendinblue campaign, you can set the sender name and address in the “Setup” step, just below the subject line:

In contrast to the subject lines and preheaders, your sender name and address should be the same for all of your campaigns. This will make you instantly recognizable in your contacts’ inboxes.

Here are a few tips to help you choose the right sender information:

• Include the name of your brand or site in sender name
• Humanize your business by also including the name of a person (e.g. Jeff from Sendinblue)
• Avoid using sender addresses like noreply@yoursite.com as these can diminish your contacts’ trust.

Resources

Here are a few resources to help you optimize the parameters of your email campaigns:

6. Test your email campaign before sending it to your contacts

Before you send your bulk email to your list of contacts, check to make sure you haven’t missed anything or made any careless mistakes!

Mistakes in an email marketing campaign can have devastating effects on your brand image. The usual culprits are fairly innocuous, including errors like:

• Typos
• Forgotten or incorrect links
• Text formatting errors

Even though these don’t seem like a big deal, they will reflect poorly on your brand and can even cause people to unsubscribe. That’s why catching them before you send your campaign is essential to your email marketing success!

The good news is, you can easily check for these mistakes by sending test emails to yourself and your team to proofread in the inbox. There are many ways to send yourself a test email in Sendinblue, but the easiest way is to go to the “Design” tab in your campaign creation process and click on the button that says “Send a test.”

From there, you can select all of the contacts you want to receive your test email.

In addition to those minor content errors, there are other bigger mistakes that you should avoid. Some examples might be sending your campaign to the wrong list or not using responsive design (though if you’re using Sendinblue, you can always preview your email on different screens in the editing tool).

To avoid these mistakes, you should do some additional checks after testing all of the links and proofreading the content. This will help you avoid any embarrassing mistakes that could wind up hurting your business.

7. Schedule your campaign for the right time

Take into account all of your knowledge about your audience to choose the best day and time to send your email campaigns.

Now that your campaign is fully vetted and ready to go, it’s time to schedule it for delivery.

But rather than choosing a random day and time, you should think carefully and choose a strategic time that makes sense for you and your readers.

Remember, your readers are constantly inundated with emails and most people tend to only visit their inbox a few times each day (typically following a routine). It’s best to find a time when you can be at the top of your customers’ inbox when they are checking their emails.

In general, bulk email marketing campaigns tend to perform better when sent on Tuesday or Thursday in the mornings around 10:00 AM or in the afternoons around 2:00 PM.

From a logical standpoint, this makes sense since… Many people check their emails in the morning when they get to work, as well as after returning from lunch.

But, what works for most may not work best for you. It’s important to test different times to see where the sweet spot is with your audience.

8. Analyze the results

Analyzing performance across your key performance indicators will teach you how to be better in future email campaigns.

As you continue learning how to create an email campaign that resonates with your audience, you’re sure to find areas where you can improve. Analyzing the results of your campaigns will speed up this process and allow you to form an email marketing strategy that works for you.

We have detailed reports for every one of your campaigns in sent in Sendinblue that allow you to follow results in real-time and dig deep on where you are doing well and where you can improve:

Here are the most important metrics that you should be monitoring:

Resources

Here are some resources to help you better understand your email campaign reports and gauge your performance:

Conclusion

A good bulk email marketing strategy is constantly being optimized according to previous campaign results and the shifting interests of your audience and your business. This is the best way to build lasting trust between you and your readers.

If there’s one last piece of advice I would give on how to create an email campaign, it would be to always ask yourself what value does your email bring to your readers. If you don’t have a good answer, go back to the drawing board.

Start creating beautiful email campaigns for your business with Sendinblue: It’s free up to 9,000 emails per month and unlimited contacts!

The post How to Create a Bulk Email Marketing Campaign: An Unabridged Guide appeared first on Sendinblue.

Source: Giphy

And no, I’m not talking about your dating apps — I’m talking about your email inbox.

Deleting spam from the inbox has become more and more of a daily ritual for many email users.

This has made it harder for businesses to figure out how to send bulk email campaigns that stand out among the deluge of work, personal, marketing, and spam emails in a potential customer’s inbox. To compete with all of this noise, some email marketers resort to purchasing lists, sending too frequently, or using click bait subject lines. But these tactics will turn you into the exact thing with which you’re competing — a spammer.

How to send bulk email without spamming

If you want to cut through the clutter and not resort to spam tactics, you’ll need to focus on three main areas to get noticed:

1. Frequency
2. Content and Design
3. Keeping a customer’s perspective

Businesses need to design their email newsletters to be less intimidating and more approachable. By optimizing bulk email campaign content for your customers instead of your sales objective, you can avoid looking like a spammer and send more engaging emails.

In this article, you will learn more about how to create awesome email campaigns with consumers in mind so that you’re guaranteed to strike a chord with your customers and how to send bulk emails without getting blacklisted.

Frequency

Despite many email marketing gurus insisting on a set frequency, not all email campaigns are created equal.

For example, a promotional campaign’s frequency could increase during the holidays, reminding your customers about specific deals. But, you wouldn’t want to use that same campaign frequency for the rest of the year — that will put you on the fast track to your customer’s spam box.

Email newsletters on the other hand, usually have a set frequency that your customers can depend on. If you’re sending a newsletter, it’s very important that you establish this frequency from the outset of your email marketing and communicating that to recipients so they know what to expect.

For promotional emails, try sending emails every two weeks. From there, monitor the results for each campaign type on this frequency and make adjustments accordingly to get the best engagement.

Be careful though! Sending campaigns too frequently can create a strong perceived pressure for your customers, which can be bad for you and your business down the line.

But, what exactly is perceived pressure?

According to a research paper published in the Journal of Business Research, perceived pressure is “the number of messages people think they receive […], rather than actual frequency.”

This means that your customers might feel like they’re being bombarded by too many emails without you even realizing. You want to avoid this at all costs or you might risk having your customers unsubscribe, or worse, send you to spam.

To illustrate this point, take a look at this SmartInsights email survey in which 45.8% of the participants said “they [were] emailed too often”.

Small businesses need to understand that in today’s digital marketing landscape, consumers are hypersensitive to spam.

To counteract that sensitivity, you should try implementing the following:

• Choose a schedule that compliments your other marketing channels to prevent exhausting your consumers with too much messaging
• Align frequency of your campaigns to your purchase cycle
• Test different sending frequencies for different email list segments to find the best results for each group of customers

When you’ve picked the best tips that work for your business, be sure to look at your previous campaign metrics and tweak your future campaigns based on the data you think is relevant.

As long as you’re mindful of customer perceptions, you can avoid adding too much perceived pressure in your campaigns.

Content and Design

First impressions are everything — especially in email.

Email content should always be authentic, sincere, and empathetic. By putting the needs of your customer before your desired outcome, your customers will be more receptive to your campaigns.

Know your audience

Write content that is tailored to the needs of your target consumer. If your campaign targets busy parents buying for children, write content that is to the point and saves them time.

To help you write more targeted content, you can use personalization tactics like adding their name in the email. But, the more effective strategy would be to segment your audience based on their interests, preferences, or any other relevant dimensions.

You can even do this for a newsletter. If you write content on multiple topics, you can segment your audience based on their interests in specific topics and promote different content to each audience.

Grab your customer’s attention with the subject line

Subject lines are the number one way to get customers to open your email. But, you can’t just create click-bait email subject lines either.

We all know the feeling of finding unwanted emails with bad subject lines and sending them to the spam box — it’s not great for the business or the consumer. That’s why you need to write subject lines that get straight to the point.

If you need some examples, check out this article containing the best email subject lines.

Keep the design simple

I still remember my marketing professors wise words, “K.I.S.S: Keep It Simple Silly.” This advice is especially relevant to email marketing.

The best approach to designing a campaign is likely going to be the simplest one. Here is an example of a design from our library of email templates:

You risk sensory overload if you have marketing content that’s packed with too much information or too many calls to action. Alleviate the burden by putting information behind links and minimize your CTA buttons.

Make sure your emails are responsive

One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make is failing to account for how readers consume emails. Your email needs to have a responsive design to service various devices that your consumer may use to read the campaign emails.

Here at Sendinblue, we make it easy for you to create responsive emails with our easy-to-use email design tool and library of email templates. The best part of this editor is that it requires no background in HTML or CSS to use.

So remember, stick to the basics with impressionable content, K.I.S.S, and responsive design.

Consumer’s Perspective on Email Marketing

Receiving too many e-mail advertisements from a business can put any consumer in a state of irritation.

Flooding customers with emails places too much pressure on them. This pressure can make consumers uncomfortable and lead them to unsubscribe, or worse, report your emails as spam.

Be proactive when constructing your campaign with these tips:

• Structure campaigns to focus on your clients that are going to receive the email, not the product you’re trying to sell
• Create a clear goal and call to action workflow for each campaign that results in your desired consumer behavior
• Give consumers options on the frequency and timing of the emails they receive from your company
• Check to make sure your campaign content reflects the level of trust and quality your customers expect from your company

Considering the recipient’s perspective can provide you with the right insight to create effective email marketing campaigns that are valuable to your consumers.

Wrap up

Now that you know how to send email campaigns without looking like a spammer in the eyes of your customers, it’s time to start sending!

Remember:

• Frequency – Dictate your frequency towards your customers data, look at your open, close and bounce rates and make changes as you start campaigns
• Content and Design – Keep It Simple Silly — content needs to be responsive in design, and If you can, introduce any social media call to action to promote your channels. This helps appeal to customers who haven’t followed you on other platforms
• Customer’s Perspective – Consider putting yourself in the shoes of your customers, look through your content and ask yourself if your campaign’s content is receptive for your audience

Source: Giphy

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The post How to Send Bulk Email Without Spamming from a Consumer’s Perspective appeared first on Sendinblue.

After all, three-quarters of companies agree that email offers “good” to “excellent” ROI according to a survey by Econsultancy.

But, that doesn’t mean you should flood your customers’ inboxes with daily promotional emails in the hopes that a fraction of them will click through.

As a matter of fact, 78% of consumers unsubscribe from email lists because they were receiving too many emails from that brand.

That’s why it’s important to find a happy medium that respects the privacy of your customers, while still driving more engagement for your business. However, that is easier said than done.

So, how many emails should you be sending to your customers?

Unfortunately, the answer isn’t simple. There is no one-size-fits-all solution because it will depend on the nature of your business.

Also, you may find that different groups of contacts in your list have varying preferences and tolerance levels for promotional emails. You might need to use segmentation in these cases to separate these groups and send them different emails altogether.

The goal of effective email marketing is to send the right emails to the right customers at the right frequency. To achieve this, you have to have the right strategy though.

So once you create your next email campaign — be sure to ask yourself these 3 questions before you hit the “send” button!

1. What value do my customers receive from this email?

Never send an email if you have nothing to say.

If you want your customers to continue opening your emails, you only need to follow one golden rule: Don’t waste their time.

By sending an email to customers that doesn’t give them any value, you are taking up time that could be spent doing something of value for their business.

If that happens, they are going to be much less likely to trust the value of your content the next time you send an email.

So, what do I mean by value?

There are two main types of value that you can provide in an email:

• Relevant content – Blog posts, news articles, product updates, etc.
• Targeted promotion – Discount codes or product suggestions

However, marketers tend to have a narrow view in the value of email. Instead of focusing on the value that customers get from your emails, some marketers only focus on what they are getting out of the deal.

This usually leads to emails that just promote the latest blog article they wrote or some broad promotional discount with a weak call to action.

Customers don’t want to read emails that have nothing to do with them or that do not interest them.

They are constantly being bombarded with emails, so their available attention span is limited. That is why it’s so important to be as relevant as possible so you don’t waste the little opportunity that you have.

Tips to ensure that you have value-driven email campaigns

1. Be selective with your email content

Whether you’re sending a promotional email or a newsletter, the content of your emails matter.

The products or content that you choose to include in your emails will determine how likely your readers are to engage with the email. The more relevant and interesting the content of your emails is, the more likely they will be to keep opening and reading.

That means you should avoid sending a newsletter that just has a list of your latest articles. You should only send the best articles that have the most potential for adding value to the reader’s experience.

Similarly, don’t send promotional emails out that only feature random products that nobody buys. Instead, you should try to follow a theme (e.g. seasonal items) to make the offers in your email cohesive and attractive to readers.

Basically, the rule of thumb is: Only include the cream of the crop in your emails. Leave out anything else.

Or, as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry famously put it:

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

2. Add a personal touch

Emails is not just a catalog of links for readers to stare blankly at and wonder which one (if any) sounds interesting. It is its own medium with which you can communicate clear value to your readers and continue to earn their trust.

For example, a newsletter can introduce some of the ideas or benefits that a reader will get from clicking through to the linked article.

Take a look at Backlinko’s most recent content promotion email I received:

Although the email is not flashy and it doesn’t contain tons of articles, it does a few things very well:

• Uses a more relaxed and natural tone to draw readers in
• Clearly communicates the value of the linked content in a relevant way
• Further entices users to click through by encouraging them to comment after reading

2. Do I have permission to send this email?

Sending an email to a list of contacts that has been purchased or borrowed is always a bad idea.

Email marketing is not a channel for prospecting, but rather it is a channel for building loyalty with people who are known to you.

The exciting potential of email marketing can lead some people to skip a few steps of the process. The most common mistake is buying a list of contacts.

The problem with buying an email list is that these contacts have no idea who you are. That can lead to a few major problems:

• Your emails will have low engagement
• You will have a high SPAM complaint rate
• You will get an inordinate amount of unsubscribes
• You’re going to make a lot of people annoyed or upset by intruding on their inbox

All of these things will hurt your sender reputation, which means your emails will be less likely to show up in the inbox the next time you send as well.

Tips to ensure that you’re following proper email procedures

1. Make sure your contacts are opt-in or double opt-in

If you plan on doing email marketing by the book (and we suggest that you do!), you need to have an email list that is 100% opt-in or double opt-in.

What does this mean?

• Opt-in means that your contacts explicitly gave you their consent to email them by signing up for your list (usually through a subscription form).
• Double opt-in is similar to opt-in, except there is an added step. After signing up, each contact receives an automated email that asks them to “confirm” his/her subscription (typically by clicking a link in the email). This protects you from getting bad email engagement metrics from fake or misspelled email addresses.

2. Always allow contacts to opt-out if they want to

Even if someone gives you their permission to send them emails, that doesn’t mean they will always want to receive your content.

People change their minds. Often.

So you should always make sure that you’re following best practices for keeping a clean email list.

In particular, you should always give your contacts an easy way to “opt-out” if they no longer want to receive your emails. Having a clear “unsubscribe” link can prevent people from getting upset if they change their mind about receiving your emails.

Plus, there is no point in keeping around people who aren’t interested in what you’re offering.

If you have unengaged users, it’s actually better if they are not in your list. That is because they drag down your email engagement metrics, which can hurt your deliverability in the long run.

In addition to having a clear unsubscribe option in your emails, it’s a good idea to send an automated email to unengaged users and ask them to “re-opt-in.”

This gives them the chance to unsubscribe if they want to, or remind them that you’re still there and re-engage with them.

3. Am I sending this email to the right contacts?

Segment your contacts to better target their interests and needs

Now that you’ve got a 100% opt-in contact list, it’s time to start thinking about who actually makes up that list.

Different contacts have different reasons for signing up for your newsletter, and not every contact is going to have the same interests or needs.

For example, some contacts might like a product or service that you offer, whereas some are more interested in learning from your content without actually making a purchase (at least not yet!).

Even within these groups, there might be smaller segments as well.

An easy demonstration would be an e-commerce brand that sells to both men and women. You wouldn’t want to send promotional emails about menswear to contacts who have only purchased womenswear before, right?

That is why email list segmentation is so important!

Tips to ensure that you are targeting the right contacts

1. Collect certain segmentation attributes at signup

If you really want to get granular in your email marketing strategy, it’s important to consider segmentation attributes as early as possible.

One way you can get a leg up on segmentation is collecting some attributes upfront about your subscribers.

In the example above, the e-commerce store asks for gender preference to better segment product promotions.

The same strategy can follows for any type of email list. If you are a blogger with a newsletter, ask subscribers when they sign up which subjects interest them most.

Getting this information early will make your life much easier down the road.

2. Further segment contacts based on their behavior

Although segmenting contacts by demographics and static attributes is a good start, it’s not enough if you want a truly successful email marketing strategy.

Within the segments you have already created, there are likely even smaller groups of people with more targeted interests.

For example, an e-commerce store might want to segment customers based on the categories of products that they purchase on top of the demographic segments that already exist. This would make product updates or recommendations much more relevant.

Using an automation tool like Sendinblue, you can easily create dynamic lists that are updated automatically based on user behavior.

And there you have it!

If you ask yourself these three questions before sending your email campaigns, you will be able to get a lot more value out of your email campaign strategy. Plus, you’ll be much more able to provide value to your contacts.

So, be sure to add these to your pre-send checklist — your readers will thank you.

Do you have any other last minute sanity checks that you perform before sending your campaigns? Let us know in the comments below!

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