There are a lot of different ways that you can market your ecommerce business. Search engine optimization and pay-per-click are becoming increasingly popular strategies, and they certainly should be a part of any diverse campaign. But there are still few approaches that beat a classic, well-crafted email marketing campaign.
Creating great email marketing isn’t easy, though. You need to have flowing copy, beautiful visuals, and a solid understanding of your own brand identity. If you’re looking for ideas, there are plenty of ecommerce shops that have been known for their very strong advertising emails. Here are 13 of our favorites.
Dropbox
Dropbox is an online storage service that allows you to upload files to the cloud for a subscription fee. As such, they don’t have many products that they need to market. Still, they use emails to keep users updated on things that might be happening with the company so that they can stay engaged with the application. Their simplistic approach to email marketing works very well for the brand.
Rather than filling their images with superfluous text and large images, they keep things to the point. If they are emailing you about your password, they simply say what they need to say and leave it at that. This minimalist strategy makes their emails feel important and worthwhile, and customers rarely unsubscribe. This works particularly well because Dropbox has established itself as a simple, utilitarian company. In short, their marketing matches the general feeling about their brand.
Beardbrand
Beardbrand has quickly established itself as a leader in the beard care industry thanks to their unique branding. Their advertisements play on the traditional concept of masculinity with a bit of extra quirkiness, and they tend towards a conversational, friendly relationship with their customers. This same approach is used in their marketing emails. While most of their emails are relatively heavy on the copy, it works for them because it lets them show off their sense of humor and relatability.
Additionally, Beardbrand emails regularly feature sizable discounts at the bottom of the message. This encourages the reader of the email to take action and actually go and buy something after building positive feelings towards the brand with their clever copywriting.
Hello Fresh
A meal delivery service, Hello Fresh relies on their customers making repeated purchases rather than just buying one box of food and then never buying from them again. Because of this, their marketing emails tend to emphasize product bundles. This encourages customers to purchase multiple boxes all at once for a reduced price, and it helps turn one-time customers into dedicated subscribers.
In their emails, Hello Fresh will generally have a large headline declaring the deal – “30% off your next 2 boxes,” for instance – followed by a short description of what the product bundle is. They then make it easy for the customer to capitalize on the deal by having a large, clear, and prominent button at the bottom of the email that takes them directly to where they can purchase the bundle for themselves. In a situation like this, clarity is key.
Etsy
Etsy is one of the biggest ecommerce businesses out there, so it makes sense that they would absolutely nail their email marketing. Interestingly enough, though, their emails are actually quite simple. They use a calm color scheme and feature a few products without much copy at all. In this case, Etsy knows that they don’t need to do much convincing. Their customers already know that they are elites in the industry, and their emails express that level of confidence.
One clever thing that the company does do, though, is present a “For You” list of products. Each email contains a few items that have been personally picked out for the recipient, and this level of individual attention really makes a big difference for the customer that is reading the email. Seeing items tailored to their tastes makes them feel like they are being individually cared for, and this increases the odds that they will make a purchase.
Holland and Barrett
Holland and Barrett is a company that manufactures supplements that help with everything from staying awake to falling asleep. The idea of their products being useful throughout the entire day is actually a concept they incorporated into their email marketing, and the execution is pretty brilliant. Rather than filling their email with a handful of unrelated and seemingly random products, they used a novel and innovative organization system.
In one email they sent out, they decided to group products by the time of day they are meant to be used. An alarm clock image that precedes each grouping makes this clear to the reader. This not only provides a logical organization of the items, but it also gives the email a sense of chronology and progression. It’s a small touch, but it really makes the reading process feel quite smooth.
One Kings Lane
Deciding how much information to put into a marketing email can be tough. If you provide too much info, readers’ eyes glaze over. But if you don’t have enough, they might feel lost. One Kings Lane, an online home goods and furniture store, hits the sweet spot with their email campaigns. They provide just enough information that every question that might come up is answered, but the emails still manage to feel short and to the point.
They accomplish this with large headlines and very clear sections. If the reader just wants to learn about new deals, they can find that at the top of the email. If they are more interested in checking out the brand’s blog, a large headline and a different colored box makes that very easy. Although there’s a lot in the email, it works because each bit of content is separate and easy to identify with just a glance.
Vessi
Vessi is a shoe brand. So why is it that some of their marketing emails don’t actually explicitly mention that they sell shoes? The answer to that question reveals a strategy that you can use to make your campaigns more effective.
Basically, Vessi understands that customers don’t like feeling like they are being marketed to. By skirting around the fact that they are selling shoes and instead just presenting their products in a more casual way, customers instead feel like they are individually coming to the idea that they should shop with Vessi.
Vessi accomplishes this in one great email by starting it off with a question about travel. This is then followed up by a few potential answers to the question, and each answer is accompanied by small photos of their shoes in action around the world. This level of marketing is almost subliminal, but it feels totally natural and comfortable in context.
Dollar Shave Club
Dollar Shave Club understands that a great email marketing campaign is held together by strong visual direction. One major component of this is contrasting colors. By using colors that strongly contrast with one another, you can quickly draw attention to important parts of your email. This is a hugely important strategy in the Internet age where the average customer’s attention span is quite short. If you want them to see something in your email, you better get their focus quickly.
In many of their emails, Dollar Shave Club uses a sharp color scheme of blue and brown. But for things that they want you to see, they employ a bright orange. In one email, they use this to highlight buttons announcing free samples. These buttons become impossible to miss, and every reader just naturally wants to click on them. Is there anything more appealing than a bright orange button?
Death Wish Coffee
Death Wish Coffee is a company that shows how important unique branding is. They sell coffee, and that means that they have a whole lot of competitors. They’ve managed to become relevant and successful off of the strength of their branding. They employ an edgy and modern design sense that’s more akin to a skate company than a boring coffee shop, and ecommerce shoppers really love it.
This same edginess is present in their emails. They are short and to the point, with bold color schemes and simple images featuring skull-and-crossbones. The emails also frequently feature huge text that announces the point of the message. If there’s a sale, it will be announced right at the top of the email in massive, brightly-colored text. It’s still tasteful, but it also grabs your attention right away.
Topshop
Many companies operate with a relatively limited idea of what they can do with their emails. A paragraph or two of text, a few images, and a punchy headline is all that they have to work with. But what if we told you that there were actually – gasp! — other possibilities? It’s true: other content aside from text and images can be placed into your emails. One you may have never considered before is gifs.
Topshop makes great use of gifs in their emails. They frequently use them to announce sales, and they often take up the entirety of the email’s body. Because their gifs feature text, they don’t need to accompany them with explanations. Gifs work well for Topshop because they have a consumer base that skews younger, but any brand can make use of them if they are clever enough.
Made In
Made In is a shop that sells cookware, and we are a big fan of the emails they send out to their customers. They usually do a good job of sharing content that is actually interesting and engaging rather than simply sending out a list of products to buy. One email that we particularly love has to do with a debate over different burger styles.
Of course, Made In doesn’t have a huge stake in the discussion. But the point of the email is to present a relatable subject for the reader to ponder while reading the email. Made In then sneaks in the idea that one of their products could help you cook either style of burger involved in the debate. It’s a great execution of the concept that you should hook in your reader before trying to sell something to them.
Apple
Apple is king when it comes to minimalist advertising. They’ve developed a strong enough reputation that they no longer really need to introduce themselves. Instead, they use the space in their emails for clear product images, concise descriptions, and helpful links.
Take their email promoting the iPhone SE as an example. There’s no copy saying that it’s a new iPhone that will let you make phone calls, video chats, and text messages. They know that their customers already know all of that. Instead, they offer a few specs and then get straight to the point: they show you where you can buy the phone and how you can transition your data to it once you get it. All of their other emails are similarly wise in presenting only the information that is necessary for their recipients.
Esprit
There are a whole lot of fashion brands out there in the ecommerce world, and that makes it hard to stand out from competitors. Esprit manages to consistently rise above the pack with their email marketing thanks to their excellent product presentation. Their emails feature models wearing entire outfits of Esprit clothing, and the outfits are then broken down piece-by-piece so readers can pick out the items that they want.
Even better than this is the fact that each piece of clothing gets its own button that will instantly take you to the page to buy it. You don’t need to click on a button that says “Shop the outfit” or anything like that. They make it very easy to pick out what you like and quickly buy it. It mirrors the experience of actually shopping in a store, and it works very well to close out sales.
