Gregg Blanchard August 9, 2021
The other day I mentioned that I'm going to start writing (a lot) about email to explore and make better sense of this industry. Today, I'm gonna kick things off with a bit of overlooked - but crazy effective - email strategy that has fascinated me for a while now. One of my places to find marketing ideas is simply noticing what gets me to act, and this is absolutely one of those.
Because if you ask me in this moment to name all the brands I can remember not only getting emails from but reading start to finish and remembering what I read? And...well...I'll have a very, very short list for you:
- Action Rocket's Weekly Email
- Sticker Mule
Seriously, that's it.
A Tale of Two Emails
Action Rocket's emails are full of really great links broken down into colorful, bite-sized chunks. The layout is responsive and the information is always solid. It's super well done.
Sticker Mule, however, is about as opposite as you can get.
With just 35 words, I've seen emails with longer subjects lines than the body of this message. Fancy graphics? No sir. Innovative coding? Afraid not. Design worthy of a sales deck? Not quite.
Yet despite this email arriving in my inbox days ago (the Action Rocket email came on Friday when I started writing this), I could remember the exact product that was promoted, the quantity required, and I was only off on the price by $10. Interesting how when you bring the start and finish of an email closer together, it's easier to get from one point to the other without missing something in between.
And while I don't need mailers, I do buy stickers. And guess where I almost always get them from?
Yep, Sticker Mule.
Underrated Strategy
Here's the thing, when you spend a week lining up everything you need for a high-end email:
- the beautiful, visual design
- the glossy, on-brand images
- the carefully-proofed copy
- the responsive template
- the perfect dark mode CSS
- the cross browser testing
The equation for the success of that email isn't just the value it delivers in terms of revenue, it's that value minus the cost of creating it.
But when creating your emails is a 20-minute process? And when your message is so concise and to-the-point that someone like me can recall almost 100% of the contents days after it was sent? And when it keeps your brand easily and neatly at the top of folks minds?
You gotta admit, the visuals may not win any awards, but the strategy is certainly intriguing.