Product, event, promotion, oh my! There are many different types of emails that you can send for a variety of purposes. To help you craft the best email for your business goals, we’re sharing examples of 21 different types of emails and tips for each.
Keep reading for information on products, privacy, event, educational, and promotional emails.
Different types of emails will fall into different categories. Some operate better as standalone emails, while others will work better as part of a series or campaign.
For example, a welcome email might be the first in a series of emails, and a marketing email might be an entry point to the top of your sales funnel.
Experiment with all of these email types to see what works best for your email marketing strategy. You might find automated email marketing campaigns with trigger-based notifications work better than email blasts.
When sending a new product or update email, refrain from including every detail about your product. We know you’re excited to tell your recipients about this awesome new offering, but over-describing can be overwhelming to the recipient.
Instead, pare it down to the most important takeaways for the recipient. Then, point them to a blog post or your website where you have more information about your product release or feature.
Check out this new feature email from Wistia, a video software company. It hooks your interest by promoting the new feature in the subject line, “A/B testing is here! 🎉 Ah, that new feature smell.”
From there, it quickly describes the new feature and leads to a call-to-action button for you to learn more. Nicely done, Wistia.
When sending a privacy policy update or, perhaps, an email that account information has been compromised, you really need to check your attitude and your personality at the door.
Many people highly value their privacy and account information, and it can be offensive to make light of a bad situation. Avoid being cute or funny with this important message, and instead, get to the point, keep it dry, and crystal clear. It may not be enthralling, but it’s not supposed to be.
In this example with crowdfunding website, Indiegogo, their email describes their privacy policy update in accordance with GDPR without getting into any fluff.
Also, notice in Indiegogo’s email how the updates are bulleted and bolded, so you can get an idea of what’s changing without needing to fully read the additional text. Follow Indiegogo’s lead and spell out the updates or problem with brevity and visual comprehensiveness.
For event emails in particular, keep your desired action in mind. Do you want your recipients to add the event date to their calendar, submit a form to RSVP, or go to your website to purchase tickets? Once you determine the action, you’ll be better able to structure your email. We usually see more information about the event in the first email of the series, and in subsequent emails there’s a bigger push to the website.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see RSVPs or ticket purchases right away. When people are dedicating their time to an event, they need reminding and plenty of it. Maybe someone clicks an event they’re interested in, checks their calendar to see if they’re available, and then gets sidetracked with another task. I know I’m guilty of this!
To get these recipients back on track try segmenting those that click to learn more or add their tickets to the cart and forget to check out.
Here’s a great example of a “Go buy your tickets!” reminder from the Grandoozy music festival. This colorful, funky email would look very different if it was for a networking event or career fair, but for a music festival, it works!
Reflect on the type of event and your audience when designing your email. Try to add some of the flavor of the event in your email by visualizing how you want your recipients to feel at your event. Let those feelings flow and influence your email design.
Have you ever felt bombarded by the number of promotional offers in your inbox? Especially during the holiday season, the quantity of holiday deals can feel overwhelming. Give your recipients a break by providing educational information. It’s a great way to continue your relationship with your recipients without coming off too pushy.
Rather than pushing me to sign up or upgrade, this email from Bonusly, a platform for recognizing and rewarding employees, offers valuable information on employee habits and how to provide employee recognition.
This type of email works really well for Bonusly, but really any business can take advantage of this opportunity. A retailer, for example, could provide a what-to-wear guide for holidays, weddings, and company events. A home improvement business could talk about how to prepare your home for winter. And a communication platform can inform recipients with tips on how to engage their customers.
The promotional email is arguably the most common form of email marketing. This email offers you discounts or deals with the goal of persuading you to purchase their product or service.
Our data from last year’s holiday season showed that emails with percentage discounts (i.e. 20% off) in the subject line performed up to 6% worse than those without percentage discounts. We suspect this is due to the sheer number of emails in the inbox highlighting percentage-off discounts, making it difficult for these emails to catch recipients’ eyes.
Try testing other ways to phrase your promotion, such as “Buy one get one free”, “$20 off”, alongside more creative slogans, and see if that connects more with your recipients.
This email from Postmates, a food delivery service, hooked me in with the subject line: “FREE delivery to try the best of Denver!” The colorful gif of tacos caught my eye, and the simple copy with one call-to-action, led me exactly where I needed to go to get my taco fix. Huzzah!
With these emails, be careful that the deal promoted in the subject line matches the actual offer. It’s so disappointing to open a $20 off email to then realize you have to spend $100 before it can be applied. Be frank about your deal, and highlight that information in the subject line or preview text.
Transactional email has become crucial for businesses that operate through applications. It's how you communicate with your subscribers, expand your customer base, and drive revenue. If you're running flash sales or daily deal sites, transactional email is your go-to for delivering time-sensitive messages to your audience and confirming purchases once they're made.
As a retailer, you rely on email to provide shipping updates and confirm orders, giving you the chance to suggest additional products. And if you're into location-based apps, transactional email is what connects your users with their friends and local businesses.
Transactional email boasts the highest open rates, actively driving engagement among your recipients.
Marketing emails are strategic and targeted emails sent to a specific audience with the primary goal of promoting products, services, offers, content, or events. These emails aim to nurture leads, engage customers, and drive desired actions, such as purchases, sign-ups, or website visits.
Here are the key characteristics of marketing email types:
Value: Marketing emails are carefully crafted to deliver value and resonate with the recipients. They often include persuasive content, compelling visuals, and clear calls to action (CTAs).
Segmentation: Effective marketing emails are often segmented based on factors like demographics, behaviors, purchase history, or engagement level.
Personalization: Personalized marketing emails use the recipient's names, preferences, or past interactions to create a more individualized experience.
Call to action: Marketing emails aim to guide recipients toward a specific conversion goal, such as making a purchase, signing up for a webinar, downloading a resource, or visiting a website.
Types of marketing emails include:
Newsletters
Promotional emails
Drip campaigns
Abandoned cart emails
Re-engagement emails
Announcement emails
You could send your audience special offer emails, coupons, limited-time offers, or other valuable content.
Welcome emails mark your recipients' first interaction with your brand in their inbox. As the first touchpoint, they shape their first impression of your brand—and they're probably the most important nurturing email.
Your welcome email should achieve three key objectives:
Purpose: Remind your email subscribers of the reasons they joined while expressing gratitude for their engagement.
Interaction: Foster engagement by presenting an exclusive offer or a compelling call to action.
Expectations: Establish the tone and expectations for your future email communications
Your welcome email is your opportunity to secure your new customer's loyalty. Make the most of this chance to establish a strong initial connection with your new subscribers.
When someone adds items to an online shopping cart but leaves without buying them, that's called an abandoned cart.
Imagine this: You get an email about a big sale (50% off) and find awesome shoes for a great price. You add them to your cart. But then, you see an extra $10 for shipping. You get disappointed and leave the website without buying anything. That's an abandoned cart.
An abandoned cart email is a friendly reminder. It's sent to the existing customer who didn't finish their purchase.
For example, the shoe company might send an email to remind you about the shoes you liked. They could even give you a special code for free shipping. You might think, "Okay, I'll get those shoes now." So, you go back to the website and buy the shoes.
In simple terms, abandoned cart emails try to get you to finish your shopping experience.
A re-engagement email has one goal: to ask inactive subscribers if they still want your emails.
You want to make them interested again and engage with your brand—if they don't, it's time to remove them from your email list.
These emails should connect with subscribers and offer something good to make them take action. You're not selling, just asking to reconnect and get them engaging again.
Here are a few best practices to improve your re-engagement email campaigns:
Segmentation: Divide your list into engaged recipients and those inactive for around 1-2 months. Focus on crafting tailored content for the engaged and targeted content for the less engaged.
Friendly inquiry: Reach out to inactive readers politely to understand their disinterest.
Standout email subject line: Create subject lines that grab attention and differ from regular emails.
Preference center: Offer recipients a preference center to adjust email frequency or content. Allow unsubscribers to share reasons for removal, guiding future strategies.
Incentives and offers: Motivate engagement with appealing offers. Examples: Exclusive discounts, freebies, unique content, personalized recommendations, milestone rewards, gamification, and loyalty programs.
Announcement emails serve as direct communications for sharing important news and updates with subscribers, customers, or stakeholders.
These emails are designed to be concise yet engaging, often featuring a compelling subject line, relevant content, and a clear call to action.
These emails come in various forms:
Product launches
Upcoming event invitations
Company news
Sales promotions
Content releases
Policy updates
Whether it's inviting subscribers to webinars, notifying customers of sales, or sharing brand milestones, announcement emails facilitate communication and engagement.
Impactful announcement emails keep your recipients informed, engaged, and up-to-date with your brand's latest developments.
Thank-you emails express gratitude and appreciation to customers, subscribers, or contacts. These emails are brief and heartfelt, conveying genuine thanks and reinforcing positive relationships.
The content is personalized and may reference the specific action or interaction that prompted the thank-you email. These emails can take various forms:
Thanking customers for a recent purchase
Acknowledging their subscription to newsletters
Appreciating their engagement on social media
Recognizing their participation in events
Thank-you emails contribute to building a strong rapport with recipients, fostering loyalty, and enhancing their overall experience with your brand.
Holiday greetings emails let you share seasonal wishes and spread joy among customers. These emails feature festive designs, heartfelt content, and inclusive language that embraces a variety of celebrations. They often feature personalized touches, like using the recipient's name and engaging subject lines that capture attention.
These emails express warm wishes for holidays such as Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, and other cultural celebrations. They can also incorporate special promotions or offers to make the festive season even more exciting for recipients.
It's a meaningful way to express gratitude, celebrate shared values, and foster a sense of community.
Referral emails enlist your current customers, subscribers, or contacts to refer new customers. These emails leverage the existing relationships and trust established with current customers to expand the customer base through word-of-mouth marketing.
In referral emails, incentives are typically provided to both the existing customer (referrer) and the new customer (referred), such as discounts, credits, or rewards. The content of these emails explains the referral program's benefits, mechanics, and the brand's value proposition. Clear calls to action prompt recipients to share the referral offer, often providing personalized links for tracking.
Referral emails can take various forms, including direct invitations, shareable offers, rewards reminders, milestone-based referrals, influencer collaborations, and double-sided rewards. By capitalizing on customers' positive experiences and social connections, referral emails tap into an effective channel for acquiring new customers and nurturing brand loyalty through advocacy.
Referral email examples include:
Friend-get-friend offer: "Invite a friend and you both get $20 off your next purchase!"
Tiered rewards program: "Refer 3 friends and unlock silver status with exclusive perks"
Milestone celebration: "You've referred 5 friends! Here's an extra bonus to say thanks"
Limited-time promotion: "48-hour referral bonus: Get $50 for each friend who signs up"
Social media share: "Love our service? Share this link on social media and earn rewards"
Product-specific referral: "Refer a friend to try our new product line and get one free"
Exclusive access: "Give your friends VIP access to our beta program—you'll both benefit"
Charity donation: "For every friend you refer, we'll donate $10 to a charity of your choice"
These email examples showcase different approaches to referral emails, each designed to motivate customers to share their positive experiences and bring in new business.
Testimonial emails strategically leverage the customers to establish trust and sway potential customers. By presenting relatable success narratives and authentic experiences, these emails effectively steer recipients toward confident purchasing decisions.
You can use testimonial emails and social proofs email in a few forms:
Product endorsements
Customer quotes
Case studies
Success stories
Client spotlights
User-generated content
Before-and-after stories
Testimonial email examples include:
Star ratings showcase: "See why our customers rate us 4.8/5 stars"
Video testimonial: "Watch how Sarah transformed her business with our software"
Industry leader endorsement: "Hear what Fortune 500 CEOs say about our service"
Cross-sell emails introduce complementary or related products or services to existing customers based on their previous purchases or interactions. These emails capitalize on the customer's existing relationship with the brand to encourage additional purchases.
They already trust your brand (hopefully), so why not make another purchase?
Cross-sell emails strategically pair products that naturally complement each other or fulfill related needs. The email content showcases the synergy between the products, highlighting how the combination can provide enhanced value, convenience, or a comprehensive solution.
Personal outreach emails establish a direct and personalized connection with recipients, often customers, prospects, or industry contacts. These emails prioritize one-on-one interactions and are crafted to resonate with the recipient's specific interests, needs, or context.
Personal outreach emails can serve various purposes:
Nurturing leads
Following up on inquiries
Inviting collaboration
Requesting feedback
Expressing gratitude
Completing purchases
Solving customer issues
They are designed to spark meaningful conversations and foster a sense of connection that goes beyond automated or mass communications.
Onboarding emails introduce recipients to key features, benefits, and functionalities of your product, service, or platform. The content is organized in a logical sequence, gradually building the recipient's understanding and proficiency.
Your onboarding emails could include instructional guides, tutorials, tips, and best practices to help users get started. They often provide actionable steps, encouraging recipients to take specific actions that align with their goals and interests.
Onboarding email examples include:
Welcome message: "Thanks for joining us! Here's what to expect"
Getting started guide: "3 simple steps to set up your account"
Feature spotlight: "Discover our most popular tool: The Dashboard"
Video tutorial: "Watch this 2-minute video to master our core features"
Personalized next steps: "Based on your profile, here's what to try next"
Tips and tricks: "5 pro tips to get the most out of our platform"
Milestone celebration: "Congrats on your first week! Here's what you've accomplished"
FAQ roundup: "Common questions from new users—answered"
Unlike pay-per-click (PPC) ads, sponsored posts, or cold calls—whether appreciated or not—email newsletters are a result of your customers actively choosing to receive them by clicking the "Subscribe" button. Here's how you can use them to engage with your audience:
Spotlighted content: Elevate the latest and most captivating pieces from your website, including insightful blog posts and captivating YouTube videos.
Timely news highlights: Amplify news stories that feature your business.
Product alerts: Notify customers about significant product enhancements, offering a sneak peek into what's new and on the horizon.
Inspiring customer stories: Share firsthand accounts from satisfied customers.
Upcoming events: Extend invitations to upcoming virtual or in-person events.
Exclusive deals: Highlight premier products, exclusive promotions, and enticing discounts.
User-generated content (UGC) emails showcase content created by your customers or users. These emails leverage the authentic and relatable experiences of individuals who have engaged with your brand's products, services, or community.
The power of UGC emails lies in curating and featuring user-generated content, such as reviews, testimonials, photos, videos, or social media posts. Sharing genuine stories, opinions, and visuals of satisfied customers provides powerful social proof.
Use the above tips and examples to help guide your variety of email marketing sends. This blog post, of course, doesn’t discuss every possible email type, so when creating an email that’s out-of-the-box, or when you want a simple framework to make sure you’re hitting the right notes, ask yourself three basic questions:
Why are you sending this email?
Who are you sending this email to?
What action do you want recipients to take?
These questions will inform how you're going to create your content, the content’s tone, and the design and structure of your email. If you ever feel you’re getting off track in your email marketing, circle back to these questions.
