Think spending time on subject lines is bogus? You want to glean as much data as you can from your email campaign, so make sure tracking is selected. You want to know how many people open your email, and how many people click the links.

Email marketing platforms have predesigned templates set up for you already. You want your emails to be consistent so that when subscribers receive them, they associate them automatically with your company. Words are not just filler- each one counts- so you better make them good. Writing copy is challenging, but this part of your email marketing campaign is essential.

Before you blast an email with a grammatical error to 2, subscribers, send it to yourself and read through several times. Look how email opens increase on Wednesday and Thursday:. Whatever the data tells you, test out different times and see what gets your company the best number of opens and clicks. Your email has been sent and your inbox is getting filled with pesky auto-replies. Mmm, no. Check to see how many clicks and opens it received, as well as which links got clicked.

Do your best to use this information to your benefit. What went well? What are some other things you could try? Alternately, some emails might see lower open rates. Post an email signup form on your website, and encourage your social media followers to sign up for information.

Tailor the length of your email sequence to the length of the buying cycle and stage the persona is at in the buyer's journey. In other words, deliver the right message at the right time. Once you know who you're emailing and why, it's time to strategize how to move them from A where they are to B where you want them to be, the goal of the campaign.

Over the course of the campaign's timeline, you may want multiple touchpoints. You may also even consider follow-ups based on the actions that each recipient takes. Plan these emails out, outlining the core message and take-away for each email.

Keep in mind that you can't expect a single email to do everything. Your email campaign can be made up of multiple emails, so consider taking your email recipients on a journey with each email serving a single purpose. This will increase the odds of each email being successful in its role toward reaching your goal.

For example, if you're doing a lead nurturing campaign, you might have a few educational emails to take them from the awareness stage to the consideration stage before providing more conversion-focused content. The subject line is the gate keeper of the rest of your email. Your buyer persona will not be exposed to your content unless they first click the subject line.

With that in mind, use this precious real estate for copy that compels them to read further. You can do that by:. Once you know the purpose of each email you're sending and you have the subject lines, you can write the copy that will engage your list.

Consider where your audience is in their buying journey and provide the type of content that they'll find useful. For example, it doesn't make sense to promote products if you're emailing a segment of subscribers who are largely in the awareness stage of the buying journey.

Few people want to read an email that simply gives them a wall of text. Visuals help your recipients quickly understand the point of the email. In fact, intentional and well-placed imagery can increase click-through rates , so put thought into not just what you want to say but how you want to say it, using visuals to support your message.

Once you've written the copy for your emails, you'll want to build them out in the email software client you're intending to use. With a comprehensive email builder, you can create, optimize, and personalize your own email campaigns without needing any technical or graphic design experience.

Remember, if you're taking up your audience's time -- and inbox space -- with another email, your message must have a point to it. Consider what you want your email recipients to take away from the email. Don't confuse your email contacts by providing too many options. For each email you send, there should be a single action that you want the reader to take. Then, instruct them to take that action and set expectations for what will happen when they do. Your goal behind the CTA may vary depending on the audience's buyer's journey stage and what you want to accomplish with your email campaign.

For example, you may simply want to engage them further with another piece of content, or you might want to get them to make a purchase. Regardless of what it is, you should follow CTA best practices such as making the ask with clear language and emphasizing it with contrasting design elements. Consider the experience. Do your email recipients want to feel like one among hundreds of other people in your database? Or do they want a personalized experience as though you're talking directly with them?

Automation helps save time, but it should never be at the cost of the experience. Marketing emails need to be personalized to the reader and contain information that is relevant to them. People who don't want to read your emails don't belong on your list. Keeping them only skews your open rates down and increases the number of people marketing your emails as spam. Besides, according to CAN-SPAM guidelines , you should always provide a way for them to opt out of email if they no longer want to receive communications from you.

Typically, this opt-out link lives in the footer of each email you send. Once your emails are built out, check them over before hitting the send button. Effective email marketing campaigns are designed for all devices on which users can read their emails -- desktop, tablet, and mobile. Consider sending them as a test to a colleague and checking them across multiple devices and email clients. As the campaign runs, take notes. Are your open rates and click rates what you expected?

What went well vs. Are you on track to hitting your goals with the campaign? The more you pay attention to the data, the more you can understand what's working and what's not for your audience, leading to more effective campaigns in the future. Now that you know how to responsibly wield email marketing, grab some inspiration from the masterful email marketing campaigns below.

If you're reading this, you probably have an email address or two, or three In fact, you've probably been sending and receiving emails for years, and you've definitely received some questionable deliveries in your inbox. While email has managed to stand the test of time, many marketers have failed to update their strategies since its inception. So to ensure you're sending modern emails that warrant some of your recipients' precious time and attention, we've compiled a list of effective email examples to inspire your next campaign.

Great companies are always evolving, and your customers expect to experience change. What they don't expect because too many companies haven't lived up to this end of the bargain is to be told about those changes.

That said, this email from ModCloth serves as a refreshing change of pace. If you're going to change the way you communicate with a lead or customer, give them clear, fair warning so, if they aren't on board, they can make the necessary adjustments to keep their inbox clean. It sets expectations for communication moving forward so that the buyer persona can choose what's best for them.

Did you see that? Did you see it move? Pretty cool, right? This small bit of animation helps to separate this email from Tory Burch from all of the immobile emails in their recipient's inboxes. They also leverage exclusivity by framing the promotion as a "private" sale. Oftentimes, this type of positioning makes the recipient feel like they're specially chosen, which encourages them to take advantage of the special opportunity they've been presented with.

Emails can get static, boring, and impersonal. This email subverts those expectations without going overboard. RunKeeper makes an effort to reengage lost users with this friendly, informational email. By highlighting their app's most recent changes and benefits, the copy works to entice recipients to give the app another chance. It also discusses benefits that the recipient may not know about since the last time they used the service. Small inclusions like the "Hi friend" greeting and the "You rock" closing makes the content feel welcoming and less aggressive.

Here's another great example of animation being used to create a more interesting email marketing design. Unlike static text, the swipe motion used to provide recipients with a look "under the hood" of their email tool is eye-catching and encourages you to take a deeper dive into the rest of the content.

Not to mention the header does an excellent job of explicitly stating what this email is about. The animation is subtle, and it's executed in a way that serves to enhance the email's body copy. Even better, it works well with the design of the email, creating a matching but contrasting focal point before the reader dives into the rest of the copy below.

This email from Loft aims to demonstrate their understanding of your crazy, mixed-value inbox. In an effort to provide you with emails that you actually want to open, Loft asks that their recipients update their preferences to help them deliver a more personalized experience.

This customer-focused email is super effective in making the recipient feel like their likes, dislikes, and opinions actually matter. It centers the recipient's needs with the slogan "Happy Inbox, Happy Life. You've heard it a million times and a few thousand of those times may have been from us : You should create a sense of urgency with your calls-to-action. That's what makes a lead take action, right? Well, this email from UncommonGoods succeeds in creating a sense of urgency by focusing on the value of acting now.

Thank you for reminding me before it's too late -- I don't want to be in the dog house because my gift arrived after Mother's Day. Confession: We have a serious email marketing crush on JetBlue. And they continue to deliver their lovable marketing in this cheeky email campaign that aims to humorously reengage customers. Every element from the header, to the three witty points, to the actionable, contrasting CTA work together to create a lovable campaign that's promotional without being pushy.

This copy is bursting with friendly personality and airline jokes. The email is relatable and reads as though it comes from a friend, which will help earn a positive reaction. My friends at Harpoon are so thoughtful, aren't they? This simple, timely email really does feel like it's coming from a friend, which is why it's so effective. In an age of email automation, it's easy for email campaigns to feel a little robotic.

And while I'm certain that this email was, in fact, automated, it feels really human. If you're looking to strengthen the relationship you have with your existing customers, consider taking the time to set up a quick email like this to let them know you're thinking of them.

Personalization: From the timing of the email birthday to the personalized salutation, this email was sent to the right person at the right time. That's quite powerful, wouldn't you agree? Rip Curl, an Australian surfing sportswear retailer, combines urgency and our psychological need to be part of something to create an email headline that jumps off the page.

This positioning is designed to lead people to believe that there's a "revolution" taking place and it's their turn to get in on the action. At the end of the day, people want to be part of something that's bigger than themselves, and this email aims to motivate them to do so by purchasing this sleek watch.

For many of us, when it comes to wrapping gifts, the struggle is real. Crew Factory recognized this problem and then created this email to serve as a solution for those incapable of pulling off a Pinterest-esque wrap job: gift cards. The email offers up two different ways to pick up a gift card -- in store or online -- in an effort to avoid excluding anyone.

They've also included a map of the nearest store location at the end of the email to lower the purchasing barrier even further. Their 11 unique email templates are enough to meet your basic email design needs and get you started. Whatever kind of email you want to send, you will find several email templates for it. This is an excellent source for email templates for marketers that are looking for tons of unique design ideas.

They also provide customised email templates for different industries. Of all the sources listed here, this is probably the biggest in terms of their collection of email templates. ActiveCampaign is another popular email marketing tool that also provides free email templates. They have tens of email template designs for different kinds of business and personal emails. They use different colour schemes, layouts, and designs to make engaging email templates that are ready-to-use.

You can scroll through their selection and see which layout will work best for your email. You can also customise these designs and make these comply with your brand aesthetics.

Still looking for more great email marketing templates? BEE Free is a great source for finding unique and vibrant email templates suited for all occasions, both for personal and business use. They also categorise their email templates by industry and type of email, so it is easier for you to find something that you can use as-is, without modification.

And, given their selection of templates, there will hardly be any need for you to check out any other sources. This is not a popular email marketing tool. In fact, not many people know about it.

It is kind of a hidden gem. And you can use to your advantage. This is a website that boasts thousands of email templates and design assets. They provide 39 of these free of cost that are available for download by anyone. These cover templates for different kinds of emails that you need to send in the course of your business. So, scroll through their selection and see if anything catches your eyes.

Also, all these templates have a responsive design so these will work well with any kind of device. Because a lot people check their emails on the go. So, that is one less thing that you need to worry about and you can use any of these templates as-is. With our curation of sources for free email templates, you can now access hundreds of designs for your business emails. All of these have a good collection of templates that you can choose from.

So, take your pick while keeping your brand aesthetics in mind and design beautiful and engaging emails that deliver the desired results. What are you waiting for? Start creating successful and engaging email campaigns now with these templates. In this post, we curated a list of 11 of the best online sources to find free email templates that you can use for your campaigns. Take your pick while keeping your brand aesthetics in mind and design beautiful and engaging emails that deliver the desired results.