4 types of e -mails that receive the most commitment (+ 4 e -mails that fail)

My inbox is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you will get (with an excuse at Forrest Gump).

Only today I received:

• A newsletter from the Monumental Sports Network, which celebrated Nicklas Backstrom’s career, a beloved player from the Washington Capitals who just left the NHL. I am a fan. I got engaged; I clicked through and read the article.

• An advertising -e email that offers accounting services for an organization that is a customer of mine, from a company that I have never heard of. I don’t like cold e -mail, especially if it is completely irrelevant to me. I didn’t get involved.

• An e -mail from Sephora. I looked through it and didn’t really be interested in one of the products presented. But I remembered that I needed a new mascara, so I clicked through and bought one for picking up in the shop. I got engaged.

• An automated message from SAP Cloud support via an IT security -update. I started out of the blue these years ago. The content is transactional, not advertising measures, so there is no link to withdraw (it is not required under CAN spam), but they are completely irrelevant to me. I didn’t get involved.

I bet your inbox is also like a box of chocolates – because pretty much everyone is. And that includes your e -mail subscribers.

How can you make sure that your e -mails are the ones you deal with? Let us discuss.

Table of contents

4 types of e -mails with the highest engagement

There are many Types of Marketing -E emails, but these are the four with the highest commitment.

1. Welcome e -mails

There is a moment after someone has registered for your list where you are still curious. Still attentive. I am still wondering if you made the right decision.

That moment? It is the honeymoon period.

And a well-coordinated, well-coordinated welcome email (or even better a short welcome series) not only uses this moment, but can also be the highest performance in your entire program.

A typical example: I worked with a B2C customer who sold professional training courses. Your welcome e -mail not only exceeded the performance of your regular programs, but you crushed It.

You can get the details of the case study Here.

Yes, the sales generated pro-thousand emails (RPME) for the welcome message was three times as high as in the average manual booking of the company. And the conversion rate? More than the five times your manual send average.

And that was no coincidence or a unique promo. It was your automated welcome email. The calm high -flyer who runs in the background and never takes a day off.

Why does it work so well?

Because The welcome e -mail hits when attention, intent and goodwill are at its peak. Your new subscriber expected to hear from you. You want to know what you have just registered for. You are open to your message … maybe more than you will ever be again.

A strong welcome e -mail:

• Delivers an immediate value. Not “Thank you, here is our homepage”, but something that has the feeling that the subscriber feels that you registered was the right step.
• Defines expectations. Let them know what’s coming and when you will hear from you next.
• Drives action. Use a clean layout and a clear CTAS with a low alignment to lay out the path for your reader.

Imagine this: If someone appears on your metaphorical veranda and the bell rings, open the door and say: “Hey, I’m glad you are here. Let me show me around.”

It’s not just polite. It is powerful.

Welcome e -mails are not optional. They are fundamental. If you do not optimize this part of your program, leave simple income and long -term equity on the table.

2. Automated e -mails triggered by the action of a receiver

If welcome e -mails are honeymoon, the e -mails are triggered “You left your keys on the counter” Text that brings someone back before the door closes completely.

These automated send – things such as abandonment of cars and browsing from abandonment e -mails – are not just polite memories. They are work horses. Silent actor. Always to be regerator.

And they work Because They are behavioral. They do not guess what the subscriber might be interested in – they knowledge. They told you with their actions.

Take abandoned cars -E emails. I worked with a DTC -E -Commerce brand, in which the final message exceeded the customer’s regular advertising emails. The opening rates were 50%+ above average. Clickstords? More than double. Conversion rate? More than 2.0%. Income-per-e-Sent? About the roof (such as “18 US dollars revenue for each e -mail” over the roof) -see below.

Why? Because the timing and the relevance are baked.

These types of triggered e -mails, especially if they are carefully written, designed on purpose and sent immediately, outperform the rest of the program.

You feel personally. They are in time. And they are directly bound to the behavior of the recipient, which makes them incredibly effective.

So if you are not yet triggered, send programs as part of your e -mail strategy? This is a gap that is worth closed.

Would you like more information about this case study? You will find it Here.

3 .. e -mails that offer readers without buying an added value

These are my favorite -e emails. You are those not Try to sell you something immediately.

I call them Value-First emailsAnd they are a cornerstone of every long -term strategy.

Instead of promoting a product, they offer a moment. A recipe. A puppy video. A quirky holiday bond that stimulates curiosity or gives your reader a reason to smile.

And that’s the key: they open because they want To. Not because they are ready to buy, but because they have trained them to expect something that is worth it, even if there is no CTA for download or demo or can plan a call.

These e -mails are particularly useful if:

• You have a long sales cycle.
• The view is not quite willing to convert.
• They try to build trust (or earn it again).
• You want to keep the availability healthy without burning your list.

I used Value-First emails to help customers reverse engagement, reduce debit writings and to welcome their brand for months (sometimes years) between the most important campaigns in the inbox.

The best offer something independent – like a funny fact, a tool or a video – and weave in only enough brand presence to keep it in the foreground.

No hard sale. No despair. Just a quiet memory that we are still here and are still useful.

Here is a B2C example; This was for a well-known MBA program of a well-known university:

And here is another for an organization for B2B Financial Services:

Would you like to learn more? Checkout This blog post.

4. E -mails that adhere to the design of proven procedures

E -mail is a visual medium. Even those who feel How simple text.

So it makes sense that your e -mail – how easy it is to scan how well the design supports the content – can have a significant impact on the commitment.

And yet too often draft decisions are made solely on the basis of internal opinions or brand aesthetics. Not about what actually drives the performance.

I learned the following in over 20 years of optimizing e -mail campaigns: The e -mails that receive the most clicks and the highest commitment as a whole are those who consider themselves to design proven procedures.

Not overrated. Not failed to feel like it. Only clean, clear layouts that make it easier for the reader to accept their message and react to it.

A few important best practices that consistently achieve results:

• Respect the eye path. There is a natural way to scan content: from top to bottom, from left to right. The most effective e -mail designs lead the eye logically through the message: logo, heading, underhead, image (if you have one), CTA. If something interrupts this river, the commitment drops.
• Use the hierarchy to signal meaning. Headlines should look like headlines. The buttons should stand out from the rest of the text. Links should be easy to find and also click on a mobile device. Don’t let your reader work to find out what is important.
• Include the Whitespace. It is not a wasted space, it breathes room for breath. If you check each pixel with content, your message will be more difficult to read (and less likely to convert). See the example below.

If you are not sure how your current designs are stacked, I have summarized some more real examples in this article. You will see preliminary and after examples that emphasize how only a few simple design optimizations can convert a below-average email into one that delivers.

Because at the end of the day there is not only a good e -mail design see Well, it works.

4 types of e -mails with the lowest engagement

In this section I will discuss the four types of e -mails with the lowest commitment rates.

1. Irrelevant automated e -mails

Let us make something clear.

Yes, three of the four e -emails were in our “M and Maxine” category automated. But that doesn’t mean any Automatic e -mails are automatically effective.

Automation guarantees no relevance. It only guarantees that the e -mail is sent.

The most successful automated emails such as welcome messages, abandoned car memories and triggered follow-ups are all the answers to something that is Recipient deed. Someone registers for your list. Add an object to your shopping cart. Request a download or fill out a form.

There is the intention. There is a context. There is a clear next step.

But if automation is used regardless relevance? Then things fall apart.

Perhaps it is a birthday message that was sent to someone who never gave you his date of birth. A profit-back email to someone who has just made a purchase last week. A “We miss you!” Take in a subscriber who has never primarily dealt with your e -mails.

These e -mails are not only not, they can actively damage the relationship. The best case are ignored. The worst case, you drive cancellations or spam complaints.

The lesson here is simple: automation is a tool. The strategy is relevance.

If your automated e -mail does not match where the subscriber is In it moment – what you think, do or expect – it will not be committed. It will not convert. And no trust will build up.

Automation should feel personally. Context. Useful.

If this is not the case, it’s just noise.

2. E-mails that exaggerate

Let us talk about the e -mail approach “Advertising, advertising, advertising”.

Yes, e -mail can (and should) increase sales. It is a high-roi channel. It moves the needle. I’m not here to deny that.

But if any e -mail you send, just a voucher, discount or “last chance!” Is! Promo … You train your list to ignore you until you give away something. And that is a difficult habit to break.

E -mail is not just a transaction tool. It is a relationship channel.

Think in the long term. You are not just looking for a unique purchase-sie to build familiarity, trust and relevance. That means mixing value: useful tips, insider information, even a small brand personality. The type of content that make your readers happy that you have opened your message, even if you don’t click (this time).

The truth is that consistently helpful content earn attention. And attention is the gateway to action.

So yes, they promote. But do not make every e -mail a pitch. Otherwise, the only commitment you receive is cancellations.

3 .. deceptive e -mails

If someone registers to receive e -mails from you, this is the beginning of a relationship. And deception has no place in a healthy relationship. For example:

• This friendly from the address, which says that the e -mail comes from a beloved brand when it actually comes from an unknown E -Commerce company.
• The not only the subject line (you won a Ferrari!), Which decides to enter a competition to win a car.
• This “free” offer in your body copy, which neglects that you have to provide a credit card to use it.

You can get an increase in your open and/or click rates if you do this for the first time, but it is unlikely that you will take the measures you should actually take as soon as you can see that you have been deceived.

And it is unlikely that you will open up future e -mails from you and end the relationship.

4 .. e -mails, for which recipients were not explicitly entered in order to obtain them

If your email receivers are in the USA, an opt-in is not required under CAN spam. Regardless of this, you should always get an explicit opt-in before sending an email to someone.

Here is the reason.

As a consultant in the United States, I worked with organizations whose lists are not-opt-in and a mix. The data points must be taken into account here.

Bottom line performance

Opt-in lists just make it better. Period. Here is a customer case study, one of the few that I have done over the years that this proves.

Yes, both lists received exactly the same e -mail. Yes, we sent the e -mails at the same time.

The only difference was how the E -Mail addresses were acquired. The subscribers to the opt-in list expressly asked to receive emails from this non-profit profit. The email addresses in the emergency opt-in lists were recorded without the knowledge of the list of the list.

Read that Complete case study.

Spam complaints

If the person who receives your e -mail does not know how you received your e -mail address, you will have an increased risk of spam complaints and delivery problems.

The non-profit organization presented in the case study above was cut off by your email provider. They were no longer allowed to send because the spam complaints they received on their programs were too high. They were so high that the IP on which they were, which they shared with some other ESP customers, had the risk of receiving a block -listing block list.

How high is too high? Here are the thresholds as defined by Google’s E -Mail -Sender Guidelines:

Years ago I advised myself for a publisher. Your entire list was non-optin; In addition to scraping names from the Internet (which is a stricter violation according to the US CAN-Spam law), you had a corporate-wide mandate that every employee provides you with 25 new email addresses per month.

When I arrived there, they wanted to include best practice to improve performance. They also had serious reliability problems. Under no circumstances could I help them with the former without repairing the latter.

They broadcast from their own servers and had their own internal availability team because the serious marketing platforms and delivery agility providers would not work with organizations whose lists generated these spam complaints.

It was a bad situation. The only thing it would repair, not overnight, but at some point it was to register. But that was not negotiable for them. They felt like the risk and the cost of fighting the consequences of taking the risk. I didn’t agree. I haven’t worked with them much longer, but we separated mutually.

Find the right types of e -mails for your marketing strategy

If the e -mail marketing was still in its infancy, people asked me if they should send advertising news or newsletters. I would say “yes” because Variety is also a good thing in e -mail marketing like a box of chocolates.

The key to success is to get the right mix for your brand – and for each of your recipients.

Here are the non-negotable:

• Permission -based, Unsubscribe reports. Do not send e -mails to people who have not explicitly said that you want to receive them
• Well-designed emails. They should be easy to fly over with high legibility.
• A profit -oriented one Welcome message To control the relationship on the right foot.
• A regular Newsletter This offers value without purchase to position your brand as one as one that understands the needs of your audience.
• Relevant automated e -mails Triggered by important recipient actions such as shopping carts, searches of memories, etc.
• Advertising emails that contain social evidence, such as customer statements, use-oriented content and a strong CTA.

First steps

Does that seem a lot? Don’t be overwhelmed. Great e -mail marketing programs are not created overnight. Start with an e -mail. Then another. Then another. And before you know it will be an e -mail marketing expert.

Note from the publisher: This post was originally published in November 2023 and updated for completeness.