There aren’t many canonical examples of nice electronic mail advertising, however CD Baby founder Derek Sivers is chargeable for one.
Years earlier than it was stylish to create kooky transactional emails, Sivers decided that his transport affirmation electronic mail “felt actually incongruent with [his] mission to make individuals smile.”
So he got here up with one thing higher:
That electronic mail triggered a cascade of goodwill and new enterprise. In Derek’s own words:
That one goofy e-mail created hundreds of latest prospects.
Whenever you’re considering of the way to make what you are promoting larger, it’s tempting to attempt to assume all the massive ideas, the world-changing massive-action plans.
But it surely’s typically the tiny particulars that basically thrill somebody sufficient to make them inform all their pals about you.
One witty electronic mail received’t change what you are promoting, however a sequence of little moments can create an important expertise on your prospects and preserve them coming again. These moments can pad your backside line too. Even only a 5% enhance in buyer retention can increase profitability by 75%.
This bought me considering — who else is utilizing electronic mail to thrill their prospects?
I went looking via my very own inbox for examples and got here up with seven nice ones. These firms aren’t counting on electronic mail to do the heavy lifting, they’re stitching a customer-centric mindset into the material of their enterprise.
These examples could appear minute. In some case, they’re. However little particulars — regardless of how small — get observed. These emails all make their recipients life a bit simpler, higher or happier. And that’s one thing we should always all aspire to.
1. Starbucks – Make your buyer’s day
You’ve bought a free drink ready!
The Starbucks rewards program delivers excellent news on a regular basis. The result’s blissful prospects (like me) who’re desirous to open their emails.
What I really like in regards to the electronic mail under is that it merely delivers excellent news. It doesn’t ask the purchasers to take any motion.
This can be a good instance of an electronic mail as a layer in a customer-centric firm. The one purpose the e-mail is distributed in any respect is due to the rewards program — you may’t ship an electronic mail like this with no good relationship.
Watsi, a non-profit crowd-funding platform, leads with buyer satisfaction in thoughts. Co-founder Grace Garey summed this technique up properly in First Round Review:
You wish to have not less than one electronic mail that’s designed solely to make individuals’s day.
2. Blue Apron – Over-deliver
The Blue Apron publication signup on their web site is fairly convincing. A brand new recipe each week? Certain, I’ll join.
What Blue Apron doesn’t let you know, although, is that subscribers additionally get free meals. Right here’s the welcome electronic mail they ship a couple of minutes after the brand new subscriber indicators up:
Blue Apron may use the free meals as a hook to get new subscribers, however they don’t as a result of it’s their approach of delighting the subscriber. It’s an surprising shock.
Death to the Stock Photo does this as nicely. When I interviewed co-founder David Sherry, he informed me they’ve constructed over-delivering into their enterprise:
Quite a lot of firms will say, “Be part of our checklist and get a free e-book.” We don’t say that. However when individuals join, we give them one thing free. It’s a pleasant shock.
And who doesn’t like a pleasant shock?
3. Product Hunt – Be useful
Notifications like this one stroll a tremendous line:
On one hand, it’s one other electronic mail within the inbox. However on the opposite, Product Hunt acknowledged that eight of my pals are all all in favour of the identical product. They included their names or pictures within the electronic mail as social proof. It is smart that I’d have an interest too.
I truly actually appreciated this electronic mail since it was so contextual. It saved me within the loop with out begging for my consideration.
Watch out with emails like this because it’s straightforward to harass individuals. This one works as a result of it’s triggered because of my community’s frequent curiosity. You’ll want some good engineering to drag this off but when you are able to do it and do it nicely, you’ll be offering further worth to prospects.
4. Hover – Don’t ask for something in return
I virtually by no means obtain emails from Hover. Once I do, it’s one thing helpful like this. I’m so used to getting worth and utility from their emails that I at all times open them.
The perfect half? They don’t ask for something in return.
There are such a lot of methods to ship utility within the inbox and updates like this are one in every of them. Your prospects deserve to be told about product updates, safety points and adjustments to their account. Ship them emails that ship worth with out asking for something in return.
It feels extra like correspondence than advertising, and your prospects will recognize it.
5. Intercom – Put your self in your buyer’s footwear
That is the e-mail Intercom sends whenever you request one of their books:
It would take a minute to comprehend what’s particular about it…
Obtained it? You’ll be able to obtain the e-book in three totally different codecs!
That will not appear to be a giant deal, however take into consideration the way you learn long-form content material. PDFs are nice on a desktop pc however the Kindle format is preferable in case you open the e-mail on a pill or smartphone.
Regardless of which machine or platform prospects are utilizing, the emails you ship (and their attachments) ought to create an superior expertise for readers. It’s all about placing your self of their footwear.
Intercom does simply that, which makes receiving this electronic mail a pleasure.
6. Evernote – Make prospects really feel completed
Whenever you join a brand new Evernote account, they ship a sequence of 5 onboarding emails.
Within the topic line of every electronic mail, they let you know the place you’re within the sequence. It’s a progress bar that units an expectation for extra academic emails sooner or later. There’s fairly a little bit of science behind this technique, in accordance with marketer Taige Zhang:
…Individuals need progress bars. However why are they so highly effective and efficient for engagement?
It’s as a result of, as individuals, we’re pushed to:
1. Have targets; after which
2. Accomplish targets.We inherently be ok with reaching one thing. Dr. Hugo Liu from MIT and Hunch.com says in his article Need to Complete, “It seems that whenever you end a fancy activity, your mind releases large portions of endorphins.”
Constructing this into your onboarding helps customers really feel completed. And since Evernote broke down their app into small, digestible chunks, it’s straightforward to get began. Everyone seems to be blissful.
(Psst. I wrote a whole case examine on these 5 emails, which you can read here.)
7. ProFlowers – Make issues straightforward
Replenishment emails are one of many best methods to make your prospects’ day. It’s surprisingly laborious to search out good examples, however this one arrived in my inbox lately:
Final yr, I purchased my mother flowers for her birthday. Eleven months later, ProFlowers despatched this electronic mail, reminding me that my mother’s birthday is arising. The financial savings is good however the actual worth right here is that it makes it straightforward for me to be son. 🙂
This can be a good instance of contextual advertising. It’s customized primarily based on my previous buy historical past and arrives at simply the suitable time.
Over to you
It’s not laborious to make your prospects smile. In case you have half-hour to verify Fb and Twitter, then you could have time so as to add character to your advertising.
Have you ever obtained an electronic mail that made you smile lately? Tell us within the feedback.
