October 04, 2020 Published by Sudipto

How to Design High-performing Email Marketing Campaigns? (With Examples)

But, you do open some of them. These are the ones that are so good that you often end up forwarding them to your friends or ...

Do you open every email that floods your inbox?

Probably no, right?

But, you do open some of them. These are the ones that are so good that you often end up forwarding them to your friends or colleagues.

Well, that’s what lies at the heart of a high-performing email campaign - the ability to create conversations.

In this article, you will get to know more about 4 principles that high-performing email marketing campaigns follow to get the desired results.

What Is An Email Marketing Campaign?

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective channels when it comes to connecting with prospects.

Adopting this channel in your marketing strategy helps you in sharing useful content with your subscribers. Plus, you get to be creative and generate the maximum ROI.

Be it product signups or blog subscribers, email marketing campaigns can cater to a number of purposes. All you have to ensure is that your content is useful to your subscribers. It's also critical to build a trustworthy name for your domain and ensure its reputation by security protocols, DMARC, DKIM, and SPF flattening which will not let you know about any suspicious activity from your domain.

But, the average person receives 88 emails per day! So, how do you cut through the noise?

That’s where you can use these tips to design high-performing email marketing campaigns.

4 Principles of Creating High-performing Email Marketing Campaigns

Be it a newsletter or an event invitation, email campaigns perform well when you follow certain principles. Take a sneak-peek into these principles essential for driving email marketing success.

1. Make Your Emails Easy to Read

No one reads your email word by word.

Instead, people scan your email content for relevant information. This is why text-heavy emails often fail to make it through when it comes to appealing to the reader.

Your email should be structured in such a way that your readers are drawn into your email content while being guided to the call-to-action. One of the best ways to do this is to use the inverted pyramid model.

Take a close look at the email template above to understand the key components of an email written following the Inverted Pyramid structure.

  • A headline that grabs attention: In this example, the headline ‘5 days only’ creates a sense of FOMO. Keep your headline concise to give the reader an idea about the content of the email. This headline needs to be enticing while providing the key message.
  • Elements That Build Anticipation: Next up are the elements that have the potential to convince the reader to click through. For example, the email above talks about coupon codes, features, and what a user can create using Designmodo. These elements along with strong visuals play a key role in influencing the reader about the benefits of clicking on the CTA button.
  • Call-to-action: The last element of an email written using an inverted pyramid structure is the CTA i.e. call-to-action which is ‘view all tools’ in this case. The CTA button is essential for the reader to take the next step.

2. Make Every Effort To Be Relevant

Why are you sending emails to your subscribers?

To build a relationship with them irrespective of the stage of the funnel they are at.

And, that’s why your email content needs to be relevant. So, what can you do to be more relevant?

  • Create Segments: The first step of creating a high-performing email campaign is to segment your subscribers according to geography, demographics, psychographics, and behavior. Create unique content that is relevant and interesting to each of the segments you create.

How to Create Segmentation for Email Marketing?

Geography

Demography

Psychographics

Behavior

  • Country
  • City
  • Area
  • Population
  • Language
  • Density
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Education
  • Income
  • Family
  • Occupation
  • Activity
  • Interest
  • Opinion
  • Values
  • Attitudes
  • Lifestyle
  • Intent
  • Buyer stage
  • Benefits sought
  • Life cycle stage
  • Engagement
  • User Status
  • Send The Most Relevant Offer: Once you complete segmenting your subscribers, now it is time to create content relevant for each of these segments. This way you will be able to offer more value to your subscribers.

3. Align Your Email Campaign With Overall Brand Image

Creating high-performing email campaigns becomes easier when your emails are aligned with the brand image.

What does it mean?

Chances are high that your subscribers have visited your site or social media profile before subscribing to your email newsletter. Now, they will recognize your email better when you use the same colors, fonts, and branding materials used on the site.

As you can see in the image above, Spotify uses similar elements on its website and emails. Here are a few ways in which consistent branding elements help:

  • Quick Recognition: Similar color, font, and iconography on the site and email help the subscribers to recognize your brand in no time.
  • Credibility: Now that your subscribers know that it is coming from you, you get to earn their trust and stand as a credible business.
  • Consistent Experience: Using consistent branding elements help you offer a uniform branding experience.

4. Make It Easy For Your Subscribers to Click

Did you know 63% of email opens happen on mobile?

That’s precisely why you need to make it easier for your subscribers to click on the CTA.

No matter what email marketing software you use, you should always go for a responsive design. That way your emails look great across devices. Making it easy for the subscribers to navigate, read, and take action is essential for creating a high-performing email marketing campaign.

Email has the highest ROI compared to any other marketing channel.

When things are not in place, you are at the risk of missing clicks from potential buyers.

That’s why a high-performing email campaign requires a tad bit of knowledge about the principles that help you stand out.

If you are not sure about what kind of journey to create for which segments and how to choose an email marketing vendor, you can always seek advice from a marketing automation consultant.

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SudiptoSudipto drives all things marketing at Neevista, the Australia-based digital consultancy. He was awarded the CCIP fellowship (USA) in 2013 and holds a Masters in Mass Communication. He also helps startups and SMBs in building a content strategy and bolstering their online reputation.