The Top 7 Results-Driven Email Formulas That Actually Work

Email marketing, as I talked about last week, is an incredibly powerful way to keep your subscribers educated and excited about your brand.

The emails you send to your list can come in many forms: newsletters, weekly or monthly re-caps, case-studies, and more. Relevant, exciting content that your subscribers anticipate opening.

Take a moment to think about the last 10 or 20 emails you’ve sent to your list. Did they all follow the same formula? Or did you mix it up from one to the other?

The reason for this exercise it to think about how you’re delivering your epic content to your subscribers. Because when all the emails you send look and feel the same – even if it’s the best content in the world – we guarantee your readers are already bored.

Awesome content is step one, but step two is to keep your subscribers on their toes by switching up the way you present information to them and varying the call to action.

When every one of your emails is pointing to “buy now” or “sign-up now,” but with no reason for them to do so, other than your written word, you need to re-think your email marketing strategy.

We’ve put together a list of the top 7 email newsletter formulas you should be implementing to your email marketing campaigns if you want to drive results.

Gbox is constantly switching up their email marketing to engage with their readers. We’ve included some great examples from their email campaigns to show you these formulas in action.

1. The Ultimate On-boarding Email

This formula is great for both your new and existing customers because it gives the reader the choice between three different ways to engage with your company.

And when the three actions are small and easy to achieve, your reader is motivated to take action immediately and directly from the email.

Use this on-boarding email formula to shine some light on an area of your company that the reader may never have engaged with before! Make your reader feel good with small actionable steps they can take to immediately see results. This can be through experiencing how a new feature of your business impacts them, a new community they can join with like-minded people, or a fun new rewards program they can benefit from.

We have seen high clickthrough rates on these on-boarding email formats because they are both enticing and low-risk for the reader to follow through on.

2. The Social Proof Email

Social proof never stops working for you. Word of mouth, shares on social media and testimonials on your website are just some of the social proof you must be providing prospective customers. People want to know that your company is popular and has worked for other people by having the stats to show for it.

We feel good about our decision to invest time and money into something when we hear about how other people’s lives have been improved by a product or service.

Imagine having a hundred, a thousand, a million people all telling you you’re making the right decision when purchasing a product or service for the first time. When the risk of failure is low, the barrier to conversion is removed from your prospect’s mind.

3. The Retention Email

Make a segment of your list of subscribers who haven’t engaged with your brand recently and send them an incentive to re-engage.

Reward them just for being a special reader. Make them say “Hey! This company really cares about me and I haven’t even used them yet. Their product/service must be awesome!”

It’s the difference between feeling like just another number, and being part of something special. When you go above and beyond to make your subscribers feel special, they reward you with their business.

4. The Hyper-Personalized Founder Email

Have the CEO or Founder of your company write a personalized letter to your list. Have them tell the story of their humble beginnings, or the struggle they had to overcome to build the company.

Making that emotional and human connection speaks to the hearts and minds of your readers and makes them feel more connected with your brand.

Like all long-lasting friendships, when there is depth and emotion in your email content, you’re forging the bond with life-long customers.

5. Award and Milestone Emails

Rewarding your readers for their engagement positively reinforces them to keep interacting with your brand.

A special “congratulations” email gives them a reason to keep engaging (they wonder: “What will I get next time?”) and makes them feel part of a special community.

You can implement these milestone emails for any number of different achievements: number of times they use your product/service, the length of time, or the amount of money they’ve saved because of you. Just be sure to hyper-personalize it to your brand experience to make it memorable.

6. The Weekly Update Email

Give your readers a rundown of the top news from your company at the end of every week.

A “highlight reel” of blog posts, company news, and other exciting information is especially valuable for readers who don’t have the time to spend searching for your best stuff.

Organize these emails with catchy headlines and a sentence or two of exciting information to hook them into clicking to learn about the larger story.

The biggest advantage of this email formula is its shareability. Make these emails super shareable and informative so your readers will forward them to their lists.

7. The Referral Email

Do you have a referral program for loyal customers?

Adding a special call to action in your emails telling readers about a bonus you’re offering if they refer a new customer to you incentivizes sharing.

In the same vein as social proof, awareness about your brand is driven by the customers who become advocates for your company. Set up a simple referral program to prompt this sharing and increase your reach.