How to run a successful email marketing campaign? (12 Tips and more)

Ammar Mazhar
Ammar Mazhar

Last updated on

April 5, 2023

With over 149,513 emails sent per minute, the competition for standing out in crowded inboxes is becoming stiff. Email marketers have to think outside the box to generate leads and increase conversion rates.

As necessity is the mother of innovation, thus, email marketing campaigns are becoming highly innovative, consequently lowering bounce rates and improving click-through rates. 

But what are these innovative practices that veteran email marketers are employing to improve their campaigns? This blog aims to tell you all of these tips so that they can run a successful email marketing campaign.

New to email marketing? Need help in creating your first campaign? Mailmunch is a complete email marketing tool that offers 1,000+ HTML email templates, White Label Email Marketing solutions, and advanced Email Marketing Analytics to help you launch your campaigns.

What is an email marketing campaign?

An email marketing campaign is a coordinating set of emails sent at specific times for a particular purpose. The purpose of an email marketing campaign can be anything from building relationships with a prospect, promoting a new product or service, and increasing conversions.

Why should you send an email campaign?

Email campaigns should be a crucial part of your marketing strategy because they effectively reach a large audience at a low cost. In fact, for $1 spent on email marketing, email marketers can get an ROI of $42

Email campaigns can also be highly customized to target specific segments of your audience, and they provide a measurable way to track the success of your marketing efforts. 

Following are the reasons why email campaigns are essential:

1. Generate new leads 

A consistent flow of customers is essential for any business. This is where emails come in handy. According to research, 48% of email marketers consider email marketing campaigns the most effective lead generation method. 

Lead generation consists of double opt-in forms for prospects to signup to an email list

2. Lead nurturing 

Consistent nurturing of leads is required before they can be enticed to make their first purchase. This can be done by sending them educational material such as how-to guides, demo videos, tutorials, links to webinars, and useful checklists. Predict all the pain points that a lead might face and then guide them through it by sending them relevant emails until they reach the end of the sales funnel.

3. Data collection

Email marketing campaigns can be designed around data collection as well. Data is essential for any business, as it allows the business to monitor a customer’s interactions with its brand and enables them to send promotional emails more relevant to their customers.

4. Feedback from customers 

Emails aren’t only about lead generation and nurturing. It can also be used for getting feedback from the customers. Feedback emails consist of surveys and questionnaires that ask customers their opinions about a business’s products or services.

5. Improved customer retention 

Retaining customers is hard because customers lose interest in a brand if the brand doesn’t frequently interact with them or the content becomes redundant. So, to improve customer retention, email marketing campaigns are the perfect channel. You can experiment with the emails you send.

12 Steps to send your first email marketing campaign

Here are 12 steps to send your first email marketing campaign:

1. Create a clear goal for your campaign

Email marketing campaigns shouldn’t be launched without a clear goal. What should be the action you want your recipients to take? What do you aim to achieve from this email campaign? These are the questions you should ask yourself before launching your email campaign.

Once you understand the goal of your campaign, it will give your efforts a direction and helps you in achieving the results you desire. Also, your email marketing campaign goals should align with the goals of your business.

For example, if your company's goal in the third quarter of the year is to increase website traffic, then your email campaign should be about lead generation.

2. Know your audience

Before you can create a campaign that resonates with your audience, you need to understand who they are. No matter your industry, your business will have customers, each with their own specific needs and interest. Thus, it is vital to cater to them to make the email campaigns effective.

For example, Rivian is targeting recipients interested in traveling and exploration with its new “Weekend Camper Collection.” The email is targeting explorers and travelers.

Know your audience - Rivian example

3. Build a targeted email list

A targeted email list is a group of recipients who have been chosen to receive emails because they are likely to be interested in what a business has to offer. 

Building a targeted email list is beneficial because marketers can focus only on the recipients who are genuinely interested in receiving emails. Also, it is easier to educate a targeted email list about a company’s products and services because of their interest. 

Also another benefit of building a quality email list is that emails are less likely to be marked as spam by the recipients, thus, protecting a brand’s sender reputation and email deliverability rates. 

4. Understand email types

There are twelve types of email that you can send as part of your email marketing campaign:

Types of emails

4.1) Welcome emails

Your email marketing campaign is off to a great start - you've built up a list of subscribers, and you're ready to send them content. The first email in your campaign should be the welcome email. 

Welcome emails are sent to new subscribers when they first sign up for your list, and they serve a few important purposes.

Welcome emails have an average open rate of 50%; thus, this provides an opportunity to introduce the subscriber to your brand and what they can expect from you.

Finally, welcome emails set the tone for future communications, so making sure they're friendly and informative is essential. Your welcome email can be a vital part of your email marketing strategy with a bit of thought and effort.

Look at how the BBC welcomes its new subscribers by providing details about what they can expect from subsequent emails. These things include updates on the latest BBC programs and shows.

Welcome emails - BBC example

4.2) Announcement emails

Announcement emails keep subscribers up-to-date on what's going on with a business. Whether it is launching a new product, hosting a sale, or announcing a change in the company policies, announcement emails are an effective way to share the news.

One of the best things about announcement emails is that they don't have to be sales-y or promotional - they can simply be a way to share information with your subscribers. However, if you want to include a call-to-action in your announcement email, make sure it's relevant and targeted to your announcement.

For example, if you're announcing a new product, your call to action could be "pre-order now." If you're announcing a sale, your call to action could be "shop now."

Activate Insider is announcing who will be the keynote speaker for its webinar on digital marketing. 

Announcement emails - Activate Insider example

4.3) Testimonial request emails

Testimonials give your subscribers a sense of what it's like to do business with you, and they can be a powerful tool for increasing conversions. As recipients like to seek assurance about a product they are about to purchase, providing testimonials of satisfied customers can give them that assurance.

If you don't have any testimonials yet, don't worry - you can easily collect them with testimonial request emails. These emails are sent to customers after they've had a chance to use your product or service, and they ask for feedback. 

Include a link to a short survey in your testimonial request email, and make it easy for customers to leave their feedback. You can also include a link to your website or social media page, where customers can leave their testimonials.

Graza, an olive oil company, asks its customers to leave a review for its products. A CTA is included in the link that takes the customers to a feedback page.

Testimonial request emails - Graza example

4.4) Holiday emails

Holidays are a great time to reach out to your subscribers with special messages and offers. Whether you're sending a holiday greeting, announcing a sale, or giving a gift, holiday emails are a great way to connect with your customers.

To make sure your holiday emails stand out, start with a strong subject line. Then, personalize your email with a holiday message relevant to your business. For example, if you're a clothing store, you could wish your subscribers a "happy holidays and warm winter."

Finally, don't forget to include a call-to-action in your holiday email. Whether offering a discount or promoting a new product, make sure your subscribers find the CTA.

Harvard Sweet Boutique offers a 10% discount on various baked and confectionery items.

Holiday emails - Harvard Sweet Boutique example

4.5) Invitation emails

Invitation emails can be used to increase attendance at events, webinars, and other marketing initiatives. When done right, invitation emails can be highly effective - but only if they're well-crafted and targeted to the right audience.

Once you've got the attention of your subscribers, it's time to sell them the event. Include all the relevant details in your email and a strong call to action.

You can also include a link to a registration page or an event website in your invitation email.

4.6) Seasonal emails

The change of seasons allows businesses to start an email marketing campaign promoting their new seasonal products. Whether you're announcing a sale, giving a gift, or wishing your subscribers a happy holiday, seasonal emails are a great way to show your customers you care.

To make sure your seasonal email stands out, start with a strong subject line. Then, personalize your email with a relevant message to the season.

End, an apparel store, is announcing its new spring jackets to its customers in this email. 

Seasonal emails - End example

4.7) Reactivation emails

Don’t lose hope of never seeing inactive subscribers again. They might need some encouragement to start engaging with your emails. Thus, using reactivation emails is the way to go. 

These emails are sent to subscribers who haven't interacted with your brand in a while, and they're designed to get them interested in your business again.

Include a special offer or promotion in your reactivation email, and make sure to include a strong call-to-action. You can also have a link to your website or blog in your reactivation email footer. 

GoDaddy is offering its inactive subscribers a promo code to save them 30% on their purchase of website hosting services and website designing services.

Reactivation emails - GoDaddy example

4.8) Abandoned shopping cart emails

Abandoned shopping cart emails are sent to subscribers who have started the checkout process but didn't complete their purchase. These emails are designed to remind subscribers about the items they are interested in, and they're a great way to boost sales and revenue.

Abandoned cart emails have an open rate of 45%, 21% click-through, and 50% of them complete the purchase. Thus, abandoned cart emails are highly potent in increasing sales.

To create a successful abandoned shopping cart email, start by segmenting your list, so you're only sending these emails to those who have abandoned their cart. Then, craft a compelling subject line that will entice subscribers to open your email.

After you have gotten their attention, entice and compel them into completing the purchase. Write an email copy that reminds the customers why they showed interest in the product in the first place. 

Also, offer rewards and discounts for subscribing to your email list. This can help in retaining customers and also helps the customers in remaining updated on upcoming products.

See how Pulp&Press sends abandoned cart emails to its customers. The email copy is short and to the point. At the bottom of the email offers reward points to the customer if the recipient joins its “Pulp& Press Juice Club.”

Abandoned shopping cart emails - Pulp&Press example

4.9) Cross-selling emails

Cross-selling emails are sent to subscribers who have already purchased from your store. These emails are designed to promote a different product that might also interest the customers.

Cross-selling emails are good drivers of revenue. Personalized cross-selling marketing campaigns increase revenue by 28%. So, cross-selling emails are significant for businesses from a sales perspective.

Grab the customers' attention by including a special offer or promotion in the email copy. Provide a visible CTA that can take the customers to the product page. The CTA can be included in the header or the footer of the email. 

4.10) Upselling emails

Upselling emails are sent to subscribers who have already purchased from your store. These emails are designed to promote a higher-priced product or service than those they've already bought, and they're a great way to boost sales and revenue.

Upsells are 68% more affordable than acquiring a new customer. Moreover, 70-95% of companies' revenue that offers upselling comes from it.

An upselling email needs to be captivating and offer value simultaneously. Write about products in the email copy that can complement their purchase. Write about the benefits of this additional purchase you offer. Add testimonials to highlight the benefit of the purchase. 

This way, you can ensure that your products see an increase in their sales.

4.11) Newsletters

Newsletters are sent to subscribers regularly, and they're a great way to keep your subscribers up-to-date on what's new with your business. 

The main purpose of sending a newsletter is to educate the employees, customers, and other members on the news about your company. Whether you want to tell them about your goals, your new team members, or the projects you worked on, newsletters are the way to go.

When writing the email copy of your newsletter, keep your intent to be educational. Tone down the sales and marketing aspects of your email. Make sure that whatever you talk about has value for your customers.

4.12) Anniversary emails

Anniversary emails are sent to subscribers on the anniversary of their sign-up date or purchase date. These emails are designed to show your appreciation for their loyalty. 

When it comes to revenue generation, anniversary emails perform better compared to bulk emails. Birthday emails generate twice as much revenue compared to bulk emails.

5. Create compelling subject lines

Email subject lines are important because they are the first thing your subscribers will see. 69% of recipients report an email as spam after reading the subject line.

Your email subject line should be clear and concise so that your subscribers know what the email is about and are more likely to open it. Moreover, 41 characters or 7 words are considered ideal for a subject line. 

Use the most important keywords in your subject lines. Also, using emojis can increase the open rate of your emails. Use only one emoji per subject line, for using multiple emojis can get you marked as spam.

6. Write the copy

The copy is the body of your email. This is where you'll include your call-to-action and any other important information about your product or service.

When writing the copy for your email, keep it short and to the point and direct the customer to the CTA with a cohesive message.

Make sure your copy is relevant to the email subject line and copy. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing your subscribers' attention.

7. Create a clear call to action

The call-to-action (CTA) is the most important part of your email. This is what you want your subscribers to do after reading your email.

Your CTA should be clear, concise, and relevant to the email content. Use FOMO to your advantage. Design your CTA in such a way that it exudes urgency.

Finally, make sure your CTA is visible and easy to find. Use colors that don’t obscure the CTA button. 

Look how Starport has added CTAs in its email. The CTA button are colored purple which complements well with the grey background, so much so that it isn’t obscuring it in any way. Also, the email copy directs the recipient toward the CTA by suggesting to join the company’s moderated Discord community.

Create a clear call to action - Starport example

8. Personalize your email campaign

Personalizing your email campaigns can help you build rapport with your subscribers and increase the likelihood of taking action.

Include the subscriber's name in the email subject line and throughout the email copy. It will help your email stand out from all the other emails in their inbox.

9. Focus on email design

The design of your email plays a vital role in whether or not your subscribers will engage with your content.

Your email should be designed to look appealing and easy to read. Use images, videos, and infographics to break up the text and add visual interest.

Make your emails mobile-friendly. As 60% of email campaigns are read on mobile devices, therefore it is important to optimize your email for mobile devices.

 10. Pay attention to timing

Timing is everything when it comes to email marketing. According to a survey, working days of the week are considered the best days to send emails.

Furthermore, 8:00 am is the best time to send emails because it yielded an open rate of 20.32% and a click-through rate of 7.79%. Moreover, at 5 pm, click-through rates are higher than at any time of the day.

From the statistics, it can be seen that people like to check their emails at the start and end of the work day. Thus, as an email marketer or an entrepreneur, you should send your emails at these times for better results.

11. Track your metrics

Tracking your email marketing campaign metrics will help you get a holistic view of your campaigns and provide you with the information you need to optimize your campaigns. 

Here are the metrics you need to track your campaigns:

11.1) Open rate

The open rate is the percentage of people who open and read your email. Tracking your open rate should be the first thing to start with. 

A good email open rate is between 17-28%. And the average open rate in 2021 was 21.5%. So, if your open rate falls in this range, your email marketing campaign is considered a success. 

But it isn’t as simple as that. Open rates vary across industries. So, a better practice is to compare your open rate with the average open rate of your industry and see where you stand.

11.2) Click-through rate

The click-through rate is the percentage of people who click on the links in an email. It is an important metric as it reflects how people are engaging with an email. Some industries enjoy high click-through rates, while others have low click-through rates. 

Click-through rates are affected by spam triggering subject lines, wrong CTA placement, and high bounce rates. But if your click-through rate is at about 2.60%, then your campaign is considered adequate, for this number is the average click-through rate across all industries.

11.3) Bounce rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of emails that aren’t delivered to the recipient. Bounce rate is one of the most crucial metrics for any email campaign because it can also affect sender reputation and deliverability rates.

Bounces are unavoidable. Some percentage of bounce rate is expected when starting a campaign. But if your email bounce rate is at or above 2%, then it indicates that changes are required in your campaign.

11.4) Unsubscribes

Unsubscribes are the people who opt-out of your email list. Unsubscribe rates indicate how people are finding your emails and whether or not they like them. 

A good unsubscribe rate is 0.5%. If the unsubscribe rate is below 0.5%, the email campaign is considered a success. However, if it is above this percentage, your campaign might need some tweaking.

You can also include an option to unsubscribe at the bottom of each email. This way, people can opt-out if they're no longer interested in receiving your emails.

11.5) Spam complaints

Spam complaints are the number of people who mark your email as spam. Spam complaints are detrimental to any email campaign and can get senders of spam emails blacklisted. 

Don’t persist in sending emails to people who aren’t interested in hearing from you. They will be the first ones to mark your emails as spam. 

Also, do try to make sure that spam filters don’t detect any spam triggering words in your subject lines such as “sale,” “buy,” “clearance,” and “order.”

11.6) Lead Generation

Lead generation is the total number of leads generated divided by the total number of visitors. Lead generation rate gives an overview of how your campaigns are performing. 

All the leads that are generated in B2B engagement, 85% of them are generated through emails. Hence, you should work on your emails so that your prospects find them interesting.

12. Utilize A/B testing

Email A/B testing is testing two different versions of an email to see which one performs better.

To A/B test your email, start by creating two different email versions. Then, send each version to a small segment of your list. After a few days, compare the results of each email and see which one had a higher open rate, click-through rate, or unsubscribe rate. From there, you can make necessary adjustments to improve the performance of your email marketing campaign.

12 Tips and best practices for a successful email campaign

For running a successful campaign, here are 12 tips that you can incorporate into your campaigns:

12  Tips and best practices for a successful email campaign

1. Choosing the perfect email template

The critical part of any email marketing campaign is email templates. Email templates help businesses to stay consistent with their branding. 

Moreover, using email templates can help save people time that can be spent on tracking and optimizing the campaign for better results.

Making the template mobile-friendly is another best practice because most emails these days are read on mobiles.

Not sure where to get eye-catching email templates? Mailmunch offers 1,000+ HTML email templates for all types of email marketing campaigns.

2. Choose a relevant email list

You wouldn’t be able to achieve your email marketing goals if your email list didn’t receive or open any of your emails. Hence, it is important to choose an email list that is more relevant to your campaign than just aimlessly sending out emails to all of your email lists.

For example, if you're selling products for dogs, you'll want to make sure you're sending your emails to a list of dog owners.

3. Offer real value to your subscribers

Your subscribers are giving you their time and attention. In return, you need to offer them real value.

Don't send your subscribers emails that are irrelevant or uninteresting. Instead, send them emails that will teach them something, entertain them, or provide valuable information.

Moreover, you can also give them some discounts and offers to create value for them.

Look at how Munk Pack is creating value for its subscribers by offering them a 10% discount on their first purchase of its Keto snack bars.

Offer real value to your subscribe - Munk Pack

4. Keep it short and to the point

In this fast-paced world, no one really has time to wait and read a long piece of content.

Therefore, it’s prudent to keep the email copy short. How short, I hear you ask? According to research, email copies with 95 words had a higher CTR than those with 170 words.

As the above statistic suggests, getting to the point quickly in your email copy is beneficial for email marketing metrics.

5. Be conversational

Sounding like a robot in your email won’t benefit your email marketing campaign because the competition of standing out in crowded emails is ever increasing. Instead, using a conversational tone can help you achieve more than you initially expected.

People like emails from a real person and not from a bot. Thus, personalize the email copy addressing the recipient.

Questioning is the most effective way to sound conversational and personal. So, to do that, pose questions and answer them immediately. Include a problem or a challenge in your email and then provide a ready solution for them.

Another benefit of posing questions and answering them is establishing yourself as an authority on the subject matters.

This email copy from Flock is an excellent example of how to be conversational and sound like a real person.

Be conversational - Flock example

6. Create follow-ups

After working hard on your emails and sending them, don’t be just done with them. Make sure you're creating follow-ups to your emails. 

Upon initial contact, recipients might still have some questions about your products and services. So, it is essential to create follow-up emails to answer any questions they might have. 

Also, when a lead becomes a customer, a timely follow-up email should be sent thanking them for the purchase and offering additional products that might interest them.

7. Let subscribers set their email preferences

Some subscribers are interested in learning about some specific product or service, but not all of them. Thus, it is important for any business to provide them with a way to update their preferences regarding which email list they want to be part of and which they don’t want to be.

This can be achieved by adding a manage preference link in the email footer. By including it, recipients can control how much they want to hear and what topics they want to hear about.

8. Add alternative text for the images

Adding alternative text (also called "alt text") to your email is important for people who can't see the images in your email. Adding alt text can help those people understand what's in the image and why it's important to your email.

9. Plan drip email campaigns

Drip email campaigns are a great way to keep your subscribers engaged. With drip email campaigns, you can send a series of emails over time and send emails based on recipient actions like clicking on a link.

Drip email campaigns are perfect for sending educational content, product updates, or even sales information. Also, with drip emails, you can break down a long email into a series of emails.

10. Send birthday campaigns

People like to be remembered on their birthdays. And what is better than to be remembered by your favorite brand? Right? Birthday campaigns are perfect for making the customers feel that they are valued.

You can offer a discount, coupon, or even a freebie in birthday campaigns. Including an offer can also increase customer loyalty to a brand.

11. Include CTAs in your email marketing campaign

The entire aim of an email campaign is to entice the recipient into taking action. That is where CTAs come into play.

A call to action is more than just a button or a link with impressive wording; it is the conclusion to an engaging narrative. Therefore, write the email copy in such a way that, when the recipient reaches the end of it after reading it, he is compelled to click the button.

Your CTA could be something like "click here to learn more" or "buy now." Just make sure your CTA is clear and concise and is easily visible to the recipient.

12. Include opt-out option

An opt-out option gives your subscribers the ability to unsubscribe from your emails at any time.

Including an opt-out option is not a luxury that brands provide to their recipient; it is necessary. 

To protect subscribers' data and protect them from email fraud, regulatory bodies have made it compulsory for all businesses to include an opt-out option in their emails. 

Hence, the opt-out option can be an unsubscribe link included in the footer of an email.

3 Best email marketing campaign service providers

1. Mailmunch

Best email marketing campaign service providers - Mailmunch

Mailmunch has made both lead generation and email marketing a breeze with its easy-to-use features. It has evolved to become a complete email marketing tool that provides a holistic view to email marketers of their email campaigns. 

Create emails using a highly intuitive email drag and drop builder, or use one of the 1,000 HTML email templates. 

Use the advanced Marketing Analytics tool to know runtime open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, leads, and conversions. 

Mailmunch’s white label email marketing software allows you to customize the platform according to your choice and then sell it to your customers.

With a free price plan, start creating landing pages, forms, and popups and conduct basic analytics.

2. Hubspot

Best email marketing campaign service providers - Hubspot

Hubspot is not just an email marketing tool but a whole CRM services suite. This includes social media posts, email marketing, and blog publishing. 

Also, Hubspot offers email deliverability rate tracking, list segmentation, conversational bots, and form follow-up emails.

The updated package offers 10K marketing contacts, Salesforce sync, team management feature, and lead scoring.

3. Mailchimp

Best email marketing campaign service providers - Mailchimp

Considered a giant in email marketing, Mailchimp has established its authority in this niche by offering uncomplicated usability in its software. 

With just a basic plan, you can get Marketing CRM, forms, landing pages, and creative assistant features and add up to 2,000 subscribers to your email lists.

The advanced plan offers behavioral Targeting, Advanced Segmentation, and Customer Journey Builder features.

Those who run infrequent email campaigns have a “pay as you go” feature for them.

Send your first email campaign with Mailmunch today!

Before starting to launch your email campaign, you should set a goal towards which you can direct your efforts. Because an aimless campaign won’t bring you the leads and conversions, you aim to achieve.

After you set yourself a goal, start planning the emails of your campaign and adhere to all the best practices described here.

Afterward, tracking your campaign metrics will give you a 360-degree view of what aspect of your campaign needs improvement and what needs to be discarded. 

Use an email marketing tool to track your metrics and design the emails using eye-catching templates.

Ready to send your first email campaign? Then Mailmunch is a complete email marketing tool that caters to all of your email marketing needs. Create landing pages that convert, inform your audience with broadcast emails, create targeted drip campaigns, and use the advanced Marketing Analytics tool to monitor your campaigns.

Author Bio

Ammar Mazhar

A voracious reader and a music lover, Ammar has been writing engaging and informative content for over 3 years for B2B and B2C markets. With a knack for writing SEO-optimized content, Ammar ensures the results speak for themselves.

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