Email marketing strategy remains a cornerstone of successful digital marketing campaigns. Done right, it’s a great way to drive engagement and it can provide a solid ROI.
In fact, it is still one of the most effective marketing strategies — boasting an ROI of $42 for every $1 spent.
Email marketing is a powerful tool to connect with your audience, nurture leads, and drive sales. The secret lies in crafting compelling content that resonates with your subscribers.
Designing captivating email campaigns requires a deep understanding of your audience, creativity, and marketing tactics to convince your readers to take action.
In this post, we’ll share 12 inspiring email marketing examples and what makes them stand out, so you can get started on creating your own successful campaigns.
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Successful email marketing campaign examples are not just about promotions. They’re also about storytelling, building relationships, and providing value to recipients.
To help you improve your email marketing efforts, we’ve compiled some top email marketing examples that showcase innovative approaches to design, messaging, and audience engagement..
1. Grammarly
Type: B2B upsell email campaign
Goal: Convince free users to upgrade to a premium subscription
Subject line: 👋 Just until tonight: $75 for a year of Premium
What’s great about this email marketing example:
Grammarly has a history of well-executed marketing efforts, and this email campaign is not an exception. The main goal here is to inspire free users to buy a premium subscription by showing a clear breakdown of its advantages, and adding a limited offer that invites subscribers to consider the opportunity.
With concise copy and simple design, this is one of the email marketing examples that makes it easier for users to acknowledge the advantages of purchasing a premium and act accordingly.
How you can do better:
When presenting a limited offer, you have to make sure that you are showing the regular price as well.
Without comparing the prices directly, people will not understand exactly how much they can save by clicking on the buy now button.
2. Pipcorn Heirloom Snacks
Type: Product launch
Goal: Get subscribers to check out and buy the new product
Subject line: We’ve brought a NEW Twist to the snack game!
What’s great about this email marketing example:
Pipcorn’s email presents a strong visual approach that will catch any user’s attention. It also breaks down all the characteristics of this new product in an engaging way that’s easy to understand.
How you can do better:
Add calls to action after each specific section, especially at the end of the email. This is a tactic you can find in many successful marketing email examples. You want people to have the link to your product at the tip of their fingers once they have already read all the information.
3. Omnisend
Type: New service
Goal: Educate users on this new service and invite them to try it
Subject line: Promote new products, run special events or pre-sale campaigns with Landing Pages!
What’s great about this email marketing example:
Omnisend has a clean design approach that helps users scan important information without needing to read huge paragraphs. The bulleted list helps target customers’ pain points and talk directly to their needs.
It also provides extra value by adding a link with additional resources at the bottom of the page.
How you can do better:
The subject line in this email is long and it doesn’t include a keyword at the very beginning. This can make users lose the whole point of the content and not know if it was something they could benefit from.
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Goal: Showcase a new product and let customers know they have limited time to purchase
Subject line: Knit By Hand, Built To Last
What’s great about this sample of email marketing:
This is one of the best email marketing examples, with a strong visual impact and a good distribution of images, text, and calls to action.
Providing such a clear design approach for any email campaign gives you a higher chance of conversion.
How you can do better:
The subject line should include the fact that this product is a limited edition, as this can be a good incentive for people to open the email to take advantage of a time-sensitive opportunity.
What’s great about this example of email marketing:
Efficient email marketing requires timing, and Baking Steel mastered this with its welcome email. By reaching out to new subscribers with a clear explanation of what they do and how that can benefit them, they are not only sharing a brief introduction but also selling from the very beginning.
How you can do better:
The subject line is intriguing, but it lacks clarity. Make sure that you include clear terms so your users know why they need to click on that email.
Goal: Share valuable information with existing subscribers
Subject line: Ready to start a t-shirt business?
What’s great about this newsletter marketing example:
Shopify is a multipurpose platform that ecommerce brands love and it isn’t hard to see why. In this email, they share a business idea and a handful of different resources that can help subscribers explore the possibility and even start right away.
How you can do better:
When putting together an informational email, it’s important to stay on topic. Email marketing campaign examples that focus on specific topics guarantee that the content is most pertinent and useful to your intended audience.
The article recommendations on the button should include only ecommerce and print-on-demand resources, avoiding other marketing projects like making money on Instagram.
Another detail that can’t be overlooked is the CTA design. When including a CTA, make sure that it always stands out from the surrounding text so people know how to reach it intuitively.
Goal: Let people know the benefits of their current plan
Subject line: Psst…🙋♀️Pumpkin Spice Latte is available exclusively for Starbucks Rewards members! 🍂🍁
What’s great about this email marketing example:
What makes this one of the examples of great email marketing is its strategic use of exclusivity and desirability.
By focusing on a product that has all their customers waiting in line, Starbucks crafted a great benefit that its rewards program members will appreciate.
It also serves as a way to both promote and provide exclusivity to a new product that will be launching soon.
How you can do better:
The design could be better, especially the last paragraph, which includes an important item: the call to action. Adding some white space and making the call to action bigger can make a great difference.
8. Accor Hotels
Type: Special discount offer
Goal: Make customers take advantage of a current sale or discount available at your business
Subject line: Alex, plan ahead when booking your next trip
What’s great about this email marketing example:
With its visually appealing newsletter template, personalized introduction and a clear breakdown of what the offer is about, this email is a convincing one for any avid traveler.
Also, the pictures serve as an inspiration for any subscriber who is considering the offer, but not yet convinced. By looking at all those beautiful places, they’re more likely to find somewhere they want to visit — and jump right into that discount.
How you can do better:
Mentioning the offer in the subject line is a must. If people don’t know that they might find an opportunity to save money just by opening that email, they’re less likely to click.
9. Stumptown Coffee Roasters
Type: Product update and brand awareness
Goal: Let subscribers know more about the production process and brand values
Subject line: Behind the coffee: Huye Mountain
What’s great about this email marketing example:
Because of its skillful use of emotional appeal, this email gets a spot in this list of good marketing email examples.
With a clear focus on storytelling and transparency, this email shows how content is not only about selling but also about building a strong relationship with your audience.
The narrative tone combined with the images gives users the right idea about what’s behind this product and what motives they might have to support this cause.
How you can do better:
Break down big pieces of text into smaller ones and use images as a way to divide paragraphs. This will help users enjoy the story even more.
10. edX
Type: Recommendations
Goal: Highlight certain products and get people to purchase them
Subject line: Your program recommendations are here
What’s great about this example of email marketing:
Edx is a great educational platform that provides different certifications to fit all students’ needs. In this email, they communicate exactly what they can offer for anyone looking to level up their career, and they encourage you to find out more about these options.
This is one of the best email marketing examples with the right combination of a motivational approach and a sales strategy that every student will appreciate.
How you can do better:
Include clear buttons with calls to action so people feel the need to check out each program that catches their attention.
11. Holo Taco
Type: Lead nurturing
Goal: Retain current customers and nurture relationships
Subject line: Want a Free Gift on Your Birthday? 👀🎁💅
What’s great about this email marketing example:
Making customers and leads feel important is a priceless resource, and Holo Taco is one of the email marketing examples that understands this. By asking for their birthday and promising a special gift, they provide a personalized communication dynamic that any user would appreciate. Besides, who doesn’t love a gift?
How you can do better:
Make sure that you format the email in a way that makes it easy to read, including white spaces, short paragraphs, and bullet points.
12. Highway Robery
Type: Product update
Goal: Update users on new products available and invite them to purchase
Subject line: Return of the Robi
What’s great about this email marketing example:
Highway Robery plays with creativity and humor, which leads to a genuine connection. By incorporating memes, jokes, and a conversational tone, this email feels like getting back in contact with an old friend.
How you can do better:
The subject line is creative, but it can also be a bit confusing. When sharing updates regarding a product, you should include which product you’ll be talking about in a way that even new subscribers will understand.
How to create an email marketing campaign
So, now you have seen some email marketing examples and you have an idea of what efficient marketing should look like. But, how can you start building an email that will leave your audience speechless?
So, in order to create a great email, you’ll need software that’s up to those expectations. Need some ideas? Here are 10 email software tools and their main features, to help you make an informed decision based on:
Your budget
What industry you’re in
Your technical background
The current stage of your business
However, if you want a quick and free option suitable for ecommerce stores, you can sign up with Omnisend and get started in just a few minutes.
Step 2: Create an email
Now it’s time to get to work! You can create an email from scratch if you want to control the entire design process, but you can also find a lot of pre-made templates that can help with this.
To send your first email, you just need to:
Go to “campaign”
Choose the “email” option
Craft the best subject line
Add your brand details and a brief of what your email will look like
Choose a template and start creating!
If you want a more detailed tutorial, check out this video where we show you how to create and send your first email on Omnisend.
Step 3: Save and schedule your email
Now that you have your email ready to go, it’s time to send it. Add your contact list and then choose which recipients you want to contact with this email. If you don’t have a preferred audience for this campaign specifically, just choose to send it to all the users within your audience.
After you have all the contact information sorted, you will have the option to send the email right away or schedule it for later.
Sounds easy, right?
Your next steps
Now that you know what you need to build an effective marketing campaign, and you also know how to start this ambitious process in Omnisend, now’s the time to give it a try. It’s as easy as signing up for a free account and building your first email with all the tips and email marketing examples shared above.
Remember, you want to send emails people can’t avoid opening and enjoy reading from start to finish. This requires not only strong copy, but also a user-friendly design approach and the ability to measure and understand your performance.
When you sign up for Omnisend, you’ll get access to email marketing campaign examples and engaging email templates to simplify the design process, a complete toolkit to manage everything, including order confirmation emails, newsletters, welcome email sequences, and more. And, last but not least, accurate data that will help you analyze email marketing metrics.
If you take advantage of all the resources we have on our platform, you’ll be sending emails like a pro in a matter of days. Are you ready to get started?
Get started with Omnisend today & drive sales on autopilot with pre-built automation workflows
Bernard is the Sr. Director of Communications & Creative at Omnisend, with a passion for good research, helping ecommerce businesses with their marketing automation needs, and beating absolutely everyone in Mario Kart 64.
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