Design

Originally published on October 29, 2020. Last updated October 22, 2021.

Cyber Monday is the most significant e-commerce event of the year. It’s the busiest online shopping day, which makes it crucial for businesses to take advantage of the hype. Cyber Monday sales are projected to more than double Thanksgiving sales, reeling in about $11.3 billion this year. Black Friday sales fall a bit short of Cyber Monday with about $9.5 billion in sales.

What’s the best way to boost your Cyber Monday sales? Building a Cyber Monday email marketing campaign. Email is by far the most effective marketing channel before, during and after this day of online shopping.

Focusing on your entire campaign means sending plenty of emails before, during and after Cyber Monday and Black Friday. The “after” is called Cyberweek, and this is when companies big and small extend their Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions throughout the week, and launch big email campaigns to go along with them. Each stage of the campaign is necessary to reach your sales goals.

Here are a quick roundup of Cyber Monday and Cyberweek email marketing ideas to help stand out in the inbox.

What is Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday takes place on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The term “Cyber Monday” came into play in 2005. The National Retail Federation noticed a spike in online purchases on the Monday after Thanksgiving — and decided to coin the phrase to take advantage of the increase in sales. Cyber Monday sales have continued to rise annually making this day a well-established event that consumers look forward to.

Why should you participate in Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday shoppers span across varying age and race demographics: No matter who your target audience is, they’re likely to be browsing online stores on Cyber Monday. It’s your job to get your products on their screens.

Since email marketing is one of the best ways to increase your visibility to win over customers (new and old). Start planning your Cyber Monday and Cyberweek email marketing campaign now to be competitive and stand out from the crowd. Here are a few sale-boosting tips, ideas and examples to keep in mind.

Cyber Monday sale-boosting email tips

Crafting your Cyber Monday and Cyberweek emails doesn’t have to be intimidating. Once you craft your strategy and an optimized design, you are smooth-sailing towards increasing your sales. Follow along with these best practices:

Make it exclusive

Consider opening the proverbial doors early by offering a Cyber Monday discount code on Sunday, portraying the early access as an exclusive perk. When you create a sense of exclusivity around a sale, it makes the demand go up and encourages consumers to make snap decisions to get a product before it’s gone. Gap did that here by sending an early Cyber Monday code (applicable online and in-stores) on Sunday morning.

Subject line: We’re giving you code CYBER early (hint: open quick!)

Craft good copy

Skillshare’s Cyber Monday email did a great job with its copy by skillfully addressing the reader’s pain points in a few words, promising to make next year “your most productive and creative year yet.” Skillshare also has one of the best Cyber Monday subject lines, reminding customers that their deal is only available for a limited time.

Subject line: 24 hours only: Get our best deal of the year

Perfect your Cyber Monday email subject lines

Speaking of subject lines, we’ve been seeing a few key trends in the Cyber Monday email subject lines in our inbox. Many brands are working to create urgency where they use pressing language and all caps, they are extending their sales past Cyber Monday itself, and they are using emojis to help grab their readers’ attention.

Try a holiday-inspired design

On Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving is over and brands are transitioning into Christmas and holiday-oriented marketing. Don’t be afraid to tap into the new season and use holiday-inspired design elements in your Cyber Monday email marketing. TOMS created a festive red background for this discount email.

Subject line: Today only! 30% off for Cyber Monday!

Create engaging content

Take a little extra time in your Cyber Monday email marketing to create content that builds your customer engagement. For example, skincare brand Murad created a holiday gift guide arranged by budget (under $50, under $100, under $150) and by person (for Mom, for a friend, for a work friend). This piece of content provides true value to customers who are thinking about what to buy for friends and family.

Subject line:  ➡️ 30% off Cyber Monday savings inside

Jazz it up with GIFs

Don’t be afraid to add a little spice to your emails. Every Cyber Monday email campaign could use a little humor and personality. GIFs are a fun way to help your product stand out. Take it from Kate Spade, which created this marketing email to showcase a discounted product in style.

Subject line: cyber monday special: only $129 for this tote

Use quality images

The North Face created a visually striking Cyber Monday email that works for several reasons: It’s simple, with one primary image and basic black lettering. It’s strategic, with links to the men’s and women’s product pages right up top. And most of all, it’s inspiring — the stunning visual grabs a subscribers attention and excites them to check out your sales. Design your Cyber Monday email with beautiful images that are hard to resist.

Subject line: Cyber Monday sale starts NOW

Craft a strong CTA

Make it easy for people to shop by providing links that will take them directly where they want to go. Puma offers multiple CTA buttons with different product categories — men’s, women’s and kids’ — for each reader quickly finds what they need. Your CTA is a big part of what hooks people into clicking “Buy,” so make it visible, unique and as tempting as possible.

‍Subject line: Snoozed on Cyber Monday? The savings continue.

Offer free shipping

Many Cyber Monday emails advertise their free shipping first, announcing it at the top of the email before continuing on to explain the rest of the deal. Sometimes, free shipping is the equivalent of a 15% or 20% discount, which pays off big time for shoppers with a lot to buy. Try taking the same approach as TJ Maxx and designing your Cyber Monday email with a highly visible free shipping offer.

Subject line: Cyber Monday treat: FREE shipping!

Initiate a sense of urgency

If your goal is to get people to make a purchase, your Cyber Monday and Cyberweek email designs should reflect it. Like Boll & Branch does here, remind customers that time is running out — if they don’t shop now, the deals will be gone for the season. When somebody feels like they’re missing out, they’ll be more likely to buy. Use your subject line, copy and other elements of the email to help improve conversions.

Subject: Missed Cyber Monday? There’s Still Time

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Design your Cyber Monday emails with Beefree

Even though it’s an unestablished holiday, Cyber Monday has provided businesses with immense amounts of sales and growth, with email marketing being the key to leveraging that growth. With a well-designed Cyber Monday email sequence and marketing strategy, your business will be in a position to reel in crazy amounts of excited customers.

Get inspired and quickly design using a template from our Cyber Monday collection. Easily customize your template with the necessary copy, logo and images to match your brand identity. BEE Pro helps you get your emails out fast so your customers know about your big promotions sooner than other businesses.

Consistently and creatively using color in email is one of the most important things you can do as an email designer or marketer. Our brains can process visual information 60,000 times faster than text, and color is a major factor in how we evaluate what we’re seeing. Up to 90% of product assessment is based solely on color. In one case study, a company saw a 20% increase in conversions just by switching a call-to-action button from green to red!

It’s clear that color has power. But how can we harness that power in email? Read on for 10 creative ways to use color in email, with design inspiration from brands doing it right.

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1. COLOR YOUR ALT TEXTALT

text is the text that shows up when your email’s images don’t appear. This happens because your subscriber has image-viewing turned off or because the images are too large, making them slow to load. It’s an email design best practice to always use ALT text so that readers who don’t see images still get your message. Here’s how ALT text typically looks (on the left) and how the same email appears with images (on the right):

It’s clear to see why it’s not wise to send an email that’s entirely made up of images — it really won’t look good if the images aren’t there. But if you’re sending image-heavy email campaigns, you can style ALT text, too. Check out how much better the ALT text looks in this email (on the left) with background colors added (email with images loaded appears on the right).

Color your ALT text to improve your email’s design, even without images.

2. ORGANIZE CONTENT WITH COLOR TABS

Small color tabs or labels can improve content organization, helping readers skim your email. We’ve seen quite a few brands consistently use this technique to add order to both text and image content. One of the great things about these small splashes of color in email is that they’re not images. Using an HTML background color means they’ll always show up.

In this email newsletter, Robinhood Snacks uses small green tabs of text to categorize each story. “Tappy” and “Aww” denote must-read and adorable content:

These colorful tabs are small and unobtrusive. But they still do a good job of segmenting the stories and giving readers a bit of extra information.

3. GO ALL IN ON A COLOR SCHEME

Complement the photos in your email by reflecting their colors in your headers and CTA buttons. This is a great technique for product emails. The approach unifies the aesthetic of the email and offers a cohesive, contemporary look. You can even match the exact HTML color from an image or graphic by using a quick web tool like HTML color codes. Here’s an example from Draper James:

The product that’s being showcased is a dress in vibrant tones of lilac, lavender, marigold and fuschia. The text below the image is written in the same colors as the dress, helping tie the email together.

4. ADD COLOR BLOCKS TO YOUR PHOTO COLLAGE

Mix up your email’s photo gallery by adding text blocks with flat HTML background colors. The approach breaks up images and adds a sense of cohesion to photos, like in this example from Michael’s.

Make sure the color blocks are plain text with background colors (not images) to improve your text-to-image ratio. And don’t forget to make it responsive!
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5. DIVIDE CONTENT WITH COLOR

A lot of emails have a white background. Often, this makes the content feel a little lighter, cleaner and less cluttered. It also makes high-contrasting black text easier to read.

But all that white space leaves plenty of room to get playful with color in email when it comes to separating and organizing your content. We often see this approach when modules of an email have different background colors to visually separate them, like in this email from Melissa & Doug.

It’s clear where the first section of this email ends and the second one starts. The visual separation can help your readers navigate the content.

6. GET CLEVER WITH COLOR IN TEXT

There’s no rule that says the plain text in your email needs to be black. As long as it contrasts enough against your background color, it’s okay to leave the black font behind and play with color. Fusion uses an on-brand aqua-and-purple color scheme to liven up their listicle emails. It’s a nice break from the black font we often see, and it also serves to organize the email. The consistent use of aqua for headers and purple for sub-headers allows the reader to skim this email more easily.

The New Yorker takes a more subtle approach when it comes to color in email by adding red text above each headline. The text categorizes each article and pops just enough to catch the eye.

7. CREATE CONTRASTING COLOR CTA BUTTONS

One of the most powerful ways to use color in email is in your call-to-action buttons. CTA buttons should visually pop out from the rest of your email — a reader scanning your message should be able to instantly identify where the CTA is. And color is a great way to do that! But it’s all about balance. Your button should also be on brand and simply styled.

Most brands choose a color that’s within their brand color palette and matches the aesthetic of the particular email. Often, the button echoes the header design in color. Here’s how Cratejoy uses the same blue color of its logo for many of its CTA buttons:

It’s so easy to spot, and it’s bulletproof — a must!

Another way to use color to make a CTA button stand out is to make the module that contains it a distinct color, like in this example from Can’t Clutch This.

If you’re scrolling through this email, two of the CTA sections immediately stand out because of the pale pink background color compared to the mostly white email.

8. USE A COLOR OTHER THAN BLUE FOR LINKS

Readers don’t need the classic bright blue text to know text is linked. Get playful with color in email. Capitalize on branding your email by using an on-brand color for links. Here’s another Robinhood Snacks email that adds a few green keywords here and there to easily call out links to readers.

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Similarly, the Mic Check newsletter uses their brand turquoise color in both headers and for links. Against the otherwise all black-and-white email, the links easily stand out.

In this newsletter, Tech Crunch does the same thing. Against the otherwise all black-and-white email, the links easily stand out.

9. USE BACKGROUND COLOR FOR HEADERS, FOOTERS, AND ADS

HTML colors are a great tool for content organization in email: They render across all inboxes (unlike images), they take up less than one line of code and they’re easy to implement. By assigning different background colors to different modules of your email, you organize content and provide a seamless reading experience for subscribers. Using an HTML background color as your header is an excellent alternative to using an image (which may not render). Here, the New Yorker uses a tan background color to distinguish a paid post from the rest of the email.

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10. GO COLORLESS

One final tip on how to use color? Don’t use it, especially if it’s a regular part of your email design aesthetic. Instead, try an all black-and-white email. Without color to help you call attention to links and CTAs and to help you organize content, you might be forced to simplify, streamline and improve your design in ways you wouldn’t otherwise think. Here’s a B&W email from Converse that we love:

WRAP-UP: GET CREATIVE WITH COLOR

Get creative with color in email by using the BEE email editor. Our drag-and-drop editor is the perfect way to play with background colors, headers, CTA buttons and more, cycling through a rainbow of options before you hit send. Use the BEE editor for free today to create beautiful emails for your subscribers!

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You can only improve what you can measure. That’s why analytics play such an integral role in digital marketing. And that’s why, in order to be effective, you need to consider data such as your email campaign ROI (return on investment).But what actually is ROI? Which metrics should you consider? And what do you do with your ROI once you have it? Today we’re going to break down all of these questions, diving into how you can improve your email campaign ROI and just why it’s so important.

You can only improve what you can measure. That’s why you need to consider data such as your email campaign ROI.

What is email ROI?

ROI stands for “return on investment.” It’s a metric you can use to calculate how effective a certain investment — such as an email campaign — has been. Tracking your ROI can help you figure out what's working and ultimately improve your impact.To calculate your email campaign ROI, subtract the money you earned from the money you spent. Then divide your result by the amount of money you spent and express your final answer as a percentage. Here’s what ROI looks like in formula form:

(Money gained - money spent) / Money spent x 100 = ROI (as a percentage)

If you don’t want to do the work yourself, you can also use a free online email ROI calculator to get a detailed response in seconds. Sleeknote’s ROI calculator walks you through each metric that’s required to provide a detailed breakdown of your basic ROI. (You can also track ROI by looking at more specific metrics — we’ll get to that in a minute.)

Why is email ROI important?

If you want to succeed with email marketing, you can’t overlook your ROI. Calculating the return on investment of an email campaign is essential because it helps you identify changes you can make to earn more revenue.It’s also important to know that email marketing generally produces a very high ROI. Statistics show that when it comes to ROI, email marketing far surpasses the ROI of other channels such as keyword ads or SEO. Businesses earn an average of $40 for every one dollar spent on email marketing! This is because millions of people around the world use email every day.When you know your email campaign ROI, you’re able to make informed decisions for future email campaigns. And that will result in greater brand awareness and more revenue.Here are a few specific email campaign metrics you can track to see how successful you’ve been in various marketing goals.

Email metrics to track

Brand awareness

Measuring brand awareness can be tricky. It's difficult to track because it’s not a hard-and-fast metric — it’s more ambiguous. We suggest measuring brand awareness in one of two ways: by looking at website traffic or link building. We’ll talk about website traffic next, but for now let’s focus on link building.For this email marketing measurement metric, use Google Analytics to track where your external links are coming from. Then you can measure how many of those links are coming from people on your email list. Link building ROI is a good way to get a feel for where your brand awareness is and how you can help it improve.

Website traffic

Website traffic is an important metric to track for email ROI in 2020. After all, your website is where all the important things happen — like customers clicking “purchase!” Your ESP can most likely help you track what percentage of your website traffic comes from your email campaigns. Boost your web traffic by creating strong CTAs.

Open rate

To find your open rate (the percentage of your total subscribers that opened an email from you), use the following formula:

(Number of emails opened / number of emails sent) x 100 = Open rate (as a percentage)

What’s a “good” email open rate? The answer to that question will vary by industry, audience and other factors. Tracking your open rate over time can help you figure out a good open rate for you. Help your open rate improve by writing snazzy subject lines that entice your readers to click.

Click-through rate

Your click-through rate is the percentage of people who clicked on a link in your email. Here’s how to find it:

(Number of total people who clicked / number of delivered emails) x 100 = CTR (as a percentage)

Your total click-through rate refers to the number of total clicks that a given email receives. Unique click-through rate tells you the number of unique clicks — if the same person opens the same link twice, only one of those clicks will count.Boost your click-through rate by personalizing emails and making sure they’re mobile-friendly, like this message from Skillshare:.Subject line: Kelly, raise happy plants, illustrate patterns, and more! 

Conversion rate

Your conversion rate is the percentage of total subscribers who convert and become a customer by making a purchase through an email (or who become a lead, based on your goal). This is the formula to find conversion rate:

(Number of conversions / number of delivered emails) x 100 = Conversion rate (as a percentage)

Follow email design best practices to help your conversion rate and your ROI improve. We love this simple yet effective email from HelloFresh. It’s colorful without being too complicated and draws your eye to the CTA.Subject line: Fav fall flavors are here (hint: squash, cranberries & walnuts!)

How to use ROI

Figuring out your email marketing goals can guide you as you start tracking your ROI and help you understand what constitutes success for a certain email campaign. For instance, in this campaign from Land’s End, it looks like the company’s goal is to promote its 50% off sale. So conversion rate might be a good metric to track.Subject line: Ends tomorrow! Up to 50% off corduroys and more

Once you know your ROI, you’ll be able to judge how successful your email campaigns have been. Your email campaign ROI will also help you make informed decisions about future marketing strategies. When you look at how your ROI changes from one campaign to the next, you’ll be able to see what approaches are most effective. Your ROI can also prove that marketing is a valuable investment for your company and can help you invest wisely in specific types of marketing.

Wrap-up: Improve your email ROI

Create emails that convert using our responsive HTML email templates. Each template is created by a professional designer, making email design easy — and providing a boost to your email marketing ROI. Check out our template catalog to find the best message for your campaign!

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The annual Litmus Live conference is a can't-miss event for many email marketers — and for good reason. In 2020, virtual attendees from some 70 countries enjoyed 35+ hours of email marketing-focused content. If you missed #LitmusLiveWeek, don’t worry! We’ve rounded up the top 10 email design tips shared at Litmus Live that will keep you in the know.

We’ve rounded up the top 10 email design tips shared at #LitmusLiveWeek that you need to know!

Tip #1: Focus on brand personality.

This quote from Ann Handley, head of content at Marketing Profs, provides a lot of food for thought. If your customer was reading one of your emails but couldn’t see who had sent it, would they still think the email was from you?https://twitter.com/litmusapp/status/1305546778125664256It’s essential for you to cultivate a brand voice and personality that’s strong enough to be recognized out of context. And Handley followed this up with one more helpful piece of advice: Lose the “marketing voice” and focus on finding your brand’s unique and individual voice instead.https://twitter.com/IAmElliot/status/1305546081732829184

Tip #2: Diversity needs to be specific.

“No more purple people!” tweeted a #LitmusLive attendee. In a session on email design tips for equity and inclusion, one presenter discussed how representation matters in illustration, too. Using people without faces or non-human colors is not enough.https://twitter.com/lauren_kickbox/status/1305895215731863552Another takeaway from #LitmusLiveWeek? It’s not enough to just avoid making people mad. Your brand needs to intentionally engage subscribers, whatever that looks like for you.https://twitter.com/neftalirr/status/1306968886877859845

Tip #3: Build relationships, not lists.

The next piece of email marketing advice from #LitmusLiveWeek came from Really Good Emails:https://twitter.com/litmusapp/status/1306599146489552896Email newsletters are a key piece of the relationship-building process. They can help you establish trust with your clients or customers — especially now.https://twitter.com/litmusapp/status/1305540341945323525

Tip #4: Create customer-first abandoned cart emails.

It’s easy for abandoned cart emails to come across as creepy. Get around potential pitfalls with these abandoned cart email best practices shared by presenter Samar Owais:https://twitter.com/samarowais/status/1306257896024481795Use a personalized, customer-first approach for best results.

Tip #5: Be personal, but not too personal.

If you want your prospect to respond when you reach out, personalization is absolutely essential.https://twitter.com/DirectAssoc/status/1305921768713056258However, some brands can cross the line into too personal — and consumers aren’t fans.https://twitter.com/cynthiahprice/status/1305534862040993793How personal is too personal? Make sure all of your email’s personalized elements have a purpose behind them, and don’t personalize things just because you can. You're not trying to prove how many details you know about your customer's life. When you’re personal with a goal in mind, your marketing emails should be good to go.

Tip #6: Accessibility is about everyone.

Major email design tip here: Make sure everybody can read your email, no matter what device or technology they’re using.https://twitter.com/myrnacreates/status/1305886055699111936For actionable tips on accessible email design, check out this list of must-dos:https://twitter.com/litmusapp/status/1305891961379999746

Tip #7: Use empathetic humor.

Humor is a fun way to inject a little personality into your marketing emails, but if your joke ends up offending somebody, that idea can backfire fast. This helpful chart shows high- and low-empathy methods of humor. Try laughing at yourself, or laughing with somebody else for best results.https://twitter.com/chadswhite/status/1306652820431679488

Tip #8: Ask your subscribers what they want.

Not sure what your subscribers want? Ask them! This can help you figure out what’s missing, what’s working and what’s annoying.https://twitter.com/pompeii79/status/1306599675110264832

Tip #9: Create accessible and relatable designs.

Inclusion is an action. And when you take action to make all of your customers feel like they’re included, they’ll feel a sense of belonging — which can only do good things for your business.https://twitter.com/TaxiforEmail/status/1305891353675608065

Tip #10: Don’t nag, nudge.

There’s a fine line between nagging your customers and nudging them. Create marketing emails that nudge, giving readers a gentle push in the direction you want them to go.https://twitter.com/Paul_Airy/status/1306603270677377024

Wrap-up: Email marketing design tips from #LitmusLive

Implement these email newsletter design tips from #LitmusLiveWeek 2020 as you create emails using the BEE editor. And don’t forget to mark your calendar for the next Litmus Live in September 2021!https://twitter.com/litmusapp/status/1307014657765502976

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Do you send birthday emails to your customers? Birthdays offer a great opportunity for engagement. Readers love to know you’re thinking of them. And they’re always on the lookout for good deals, especially when it's their special day!According to Experian, birthday emails are high-performing email campaigns:

• Birthday emails have a 481% higher transaction rate than promotional emails.
• Birthday emails generate 342% higher revenue per email than promotional emails.
• Birthday emails have 179% higher unique click rates than promotional emails.

Seize the opportunity to associate people’s feel-good moments with your brand. Here are our top 7 tips for designing a memorable birthday email.

Birthdays offer a great opportunity for engagement. Seize the opportunity to associate people's feel-good moments with your brand.

Tip #1: Update your calendar

First things first: If you don’t know your subscribers’ birthdays, you need to figure that out. Send a quick email to your customers asking for their birthday so you can send them a special gift. People like free stuff, so most readers will be motivated to open this email and check it out. We like this bright red example from Shiseido advertising a birthday bonus:

Or take your cue from this cheerful Origins Online email promising a free treat.

However you collect your subscribers’ birthdays, do it in a way that’s festive and fun. And when their birthday comes around, deliver what you promised you would.

Tip #2: Do something different (with color)

Birthdays are an opportunity to do something out of the ordinary with your email design. But "out of the ordinary" doesn't have to mean complex or costly. Changing the color scheme of the email, for example, is a simple way to show the reader that the day (and the email) is special.Rent the Runway typically uses minimalistic, pastel colors in its emails, something like this:

This birthday email from Rent the Runway is similar, but just different enough to make you look twice. The colors are still understated. But they manage to be a little more festive at the same time.

Brands often rely on product images and graphics to make a statement in emails, but color is a simple way to liven up a message—without throwing off your image-to-text ratio or increasing your email size. Plus, HTML colors render across all inboxes (unlike images), take up less than one line of code, and are easy to set up. (To learn more, check out our workshop tutorial to learn more on how to use HTML colors alongside images in email.)

Tip #3: Address your reader by first name

Birthday emails should be personal. After all, it's the recipient's special day. One way to connect with birthday recipients is by using their name in the email. Here's an example from Columbia:

Not only is the recipient's name included, but it stands out. When the email is opened, the reader's eyes are likely to land on her name, which will make her more inclined to continue reading.

Tip #4: Make your promotion super easy to read

Many brands offer readers a birthday promotion—a gift that encourages them to continue shopping the brand. But don't make readers hunt to find the deal! If one is being offered, put it front and center. This birthday email from Steak 'n Shake does just that.

Thanks to the giant image of a delicious milkshake that takes up almost the entire email, it’s pretty clear what you’re being offered. Plus, the text at the bottom is large, which makes reading a breeze.

Tip #5: Choose the best CTA button color

Okay, there's isn't always a "best" CTA button color — but if we had to choose, it might be blue. An analysis from Really Good Emails showed that more emails had a blue CTA button than any other color. One reason may be because blue is popular as a favorite color among men and women, according to research by Joe Hallock. Help Scout visualizes those stats:

When we saw this email from Curology, not too much stood out in terms of design. But our eyes were immediately drawn to the blue CTA.

Blue is the brand's color, but it also stands out really well against the white background. And the CTA button is a nice tap-friendly size.

Tip #6: Send more than one email

One way to help increase engagement for your birthday email is to send more than one. A single email can get lost—especially because people tend to be busy on their birthdays. Creating a simple email stream increases your opportunity to connect. Chili’s did just that. A week prior to the recipient’s birthday, they sent a simple email inviting the reader to “Celebrate with us!” Then, on the actual birthday, they sent this email — with the same image, same CTA button and slightly modified text:

These two emails show that birthdays are a perfect opportunity to set up a drip campaign — a marketing strategy that uses a series of automated emails to stay connected with subscribers. Sending an email a week or month before a reader's birthday could be a clever tactic to grab attention instead of only sending birthday emails on the actual day.

Tip #7: Automate your birthday emails 

Automation is an essential tool for any email marketer’s toolbox. And when it comes to birthday content, automation is even more important. Unlike other holidays, birthdays are scattered over the entire year. While you might be emailing all of your customers on Christmas Day, keeping track of hundreds or thousands of birthdays is just about impossible.Get around this time-sucking problem by automating your birthday emails. Email service providers (ESPs) like MailChimp and Constant Contact offer automation options that are perfect for customer birthdays. And when you use the BEE email editor, you can design HTML emails using our templates and then push those messages over to an ESP with just one click. What’s not to love?

Wrap up: Birthday email templates

Design birthday emails for your customers with BEE’s drag-and-drop HTML email editor. Then automate your birthday email content so it sends without a second thought. Get started with our free email templates today!

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Millions of Americans celebrate Halloween, spending approximately $86.27 apiece! But this year, Halloween is going to look different for most families, since trick-or-treating and big parties aren’t smart ideas during a global pandemic — and brands need to be sensitive to audience's feelings about this transformation. With that in mind, here are some Halloween email marketing ideas that can help you promote your e-commerce business the right way: by evoking the spirit of the season without dwelling on aspects of the holiday that, at least in 2020, may be out of reach.

This year, Halloween is going to look different for most families. And brands need to be sensitive to how their audiences are feeling.

Halloween email subject lines

Before we dive into specific emails from brands, let’s take a look at some of the subject lines in our inbox. Surprisingly, emojis aren’t as common as you might expect — but brands are going all out with puns and wordplay. A few examples:

• It’s Halloween time!
• unBOOlievable ? FREE 5-piece kit
• Shop Last-Minute Halloween Tricks & Treats!
• Don’t Miss Out! ?
• Introducing the New Halloween Makeup Look

Your Halloween email subject lines should bring a smile to peoples’ faces. Think of a creative pun that relates to your products, and aim to create a sense of excitement with your subject line!Now that you’re prepped to create some solid Halloween email subject lines, here are some of our favorite Halloween emails from brands.

Carter’s

This message from Carter’s showcased “spooky steals on Halloween,” advertising discounts on Halloween costumes. The simple white background helps the full-color product photos pop. We also love that this email features Halloween pajamas — an appropriate touch for Halloween 2020, when so many people will be staying in for the evening.Subject line: Things are getting spooooooky… ??

St. Jude

Nonprofits can design Halloween emails, too! St. Jude drew on the power of storytelling in this message, sharing a patient story and an adorable Halloween-themed photo. The email also includes a link where readers can learn about Halloween traditions at St. Jude, sharing how for years families there have been making their own out-of-the-ordinary Halloweens extraordinarily special.Subject line: Bee, your weekly update and patient story

Dior

Dior goes bold and beautiful with this full-size, blood red product photo. This is a great example of creative product photography that gives a nod toward Halloween — the shadow cast by the lipstick is just the right amount of spooky, making you think of a movie villain. We also love the four separate CTAs that help viewers navigate straight to the products that most interest them. And the “Dior.com Benefits” graphic at the bottom is a helpful visual for customers, too.Subject line: Cast a spell with Rouge Dior

Lumosity

“Open this email at your own risk,” reads the preview text of this Happy Halloween email from Lumosity. Lumosity also went with a purple color scheme, creating a simple email with one main image. A few lines of text encourage you to treat yourself by accepting a treat (a 35% discount) that’s too sweet to refuse.Subject line: Do big discounts scare you?

OPI

This Halloween email from OPI Nail Polish is an excellent example of how to give your products a spooky spin. A creative GIF shows OPI polish coming up out of three tombstones. Then OPI walks you through four different product categories, each with a separate CTA: pumpkin vibes, villain vibes, goddess vibes and unicorn vibes. The email even wraps up with some user-generated content showing how you can use the nail polish. In a contest of Halloween email marketing ideas, we think OPI would win the prize!Subject line: Your ultimate Halloween inspo ?

Kopari Beauty

How can your product help customers on Halloween? For Kopari, the answer was easy: Use this beauty company’s products to remove your makeup when the festivities are over. In this Halloween email, Kopari walked readers through a simple three-step process explaining how.Subject line: Leave the spooky looks in October!

PetCo

While orange is widely regarded as the color for Halloween, you don’t have to stop there. Branch out and use other colors in your Halloween email marketing. PetCo’s Halloween email starts with black bats on a purple background. Then the purple is incorporated as an accent color in the rest of the message.Subject line: Don’t bat an eye at 20% off $60

Wrap-up: Halloween email templates

Create your own spooky good emails with the BEE email editor, a free tool for marketers. You can either start from scratch or use one of our customizable Halloween email templates. We recommend the Halloween Virtual Party! email template created by Navid Nosrati:

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Or go with the classic Halloween Party template by designer Andrea Dall’Ara.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Use these email templates to get your Halloween email marketing ideas flowing!

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Labor Day is an important time for e-commerce brands to up their marketing game. The average American spends $150 over the long weekend, purchasing school supplies, clothes, electronics and other products. And if you can get your brand in front of them, there’s a good chance they’ll make those purchases from you. Check out these Labor Day emails to promote your discounts and sales.

The average American spends $150 over Labor Day weekend. And if you can get your brand in front of them, there’s a good chance they’ll make those purchases from you.

Leesa

Yellow and orange take center stage in this ombre Labor Day email from Leesa, fading into dark blue to create a more solid background for text about product details. The wavy lines separating each section of the email are reminiscent of the ocean and help create a summer-y feel. Labor Day is generally regarded as the end of summer, and making your design choices accordingly can help you go out with a splash.Subject line: One more weekend of Labor Day deals ?

MealPal

Bold colors and strong fonts help MealPal’s Labor Day email stand out. The orange CTA button sticks out from the rest of the email, encouraging you to click and take advantage of this Labor Day deal. And small touches make a big difference: The illustrations at the bottom add a unique, whimsical touch to this email.Subject line: LAST CALL: 50% off for Labor Day ??

Milk Makeup

When it comes to email marketing (or any type of marketing), it’s important to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and think about how they’re feeling. Milk Makeup hits the nail on the head with this Labor Day email sent on Monday morning: They knew their customers would probably be feeling disappointed that the long weekend was already almost over and it was time to go back to work. So Milk sweetened the pot with this psychedelic email offering a free gift with every $35+ purchase.Subject line: HAPPY LABOR DAY

Pact

In this message, Pact does an excellent job of describing its deal. From the subject line to the message, there’s no question about what’s happening. The benefits of the sale are clearly laid out, and the second half of the email explains why Pact’s products are great, too.Subject line: FINAL HOURS // Labor Day sale!

I Dew Care

Skincare brand I Dew Care created this colorful email to advertise its Labor Day sales. All of the important information is included above the fold so readers will immediately understand the offer. Then I Dew Care added a flashy GIF before moving on to individual product CTAs.The brand also sent this email the week before Labor Day, which is a smart move. Giving your customers plenty of notice about any upcoming sales means they’ll have ample time to browse your site.Subject line: Happy Labor Day weekend! ✨ FREE shipping + GWP ✨

PupBox

This Labor Day email example from PupBox is a hit largely because of the clever copy. The “Bark2School” code is easy to remember. The CTA button pops out with a cute “Paw here, Charlie” instruction. And up at the top near the logo, PupBox reminds customers that it loves your puppy. The color and font choices in this message also create a playful feel, which is perfect for PupBox’s audience of dog owners.Subject line: ? Labor Yayyy - $4 dolla holla

La Colombe Coffee Roasters

Labor Day is the perfect time to put your summer products on sale. Your customers will appreciate the discount, and you’ll get a chance to clear out old merchandise and make room for fall products!La Colombe Coffee Roasters created this colorful email advertising a sale on its cold brew. We love the bright-yet-muted color scheme and how the underlined CTAs pop, coordinating with the borders around the photos.We’re also seeing a trend with Labor Day email subject lines: Using all caps is a popular choice. Try it out this year and you may get more conversions from your Labor Day emails.Subject line: LABOR DAY WEEKEND SALE

Brew Dr. Kombucha

Half email newsletter and half promotional message, Brew Dr. Kombucha packs a lot into this Labor Day email campaign. The company starts out by wishing its customers a happy Labor Day and offering them a coupon. Then it includes a customer testimonial and reminds readers about a giveaway that’s going on. The color scheme of the message feels summer-y, but sophisticated, too — appropriate for the Brew Dr. Kombucha brand.Subject line: Celebrate Labor Day with this coupon just for you!

Wrap-up: Labor Day email template

Get started with your own Labor Day email campaign by using the BEE email editor to create your messages. Our template catalog has several Labor Day email templates ready to go, including this Labor Day Savings email template designed by Derek Brumby.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

… and the Pet Shop Labor Day Offer email template by designer Yuliana Pandelieva.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Use these HTML email templates to help you get more conversions with your Labor Day emails this year!

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Your call to action is probably the whole reason you send marketing emails: You want your readers to actually do something. Whether signing up for an event, downloading an ebook or purchasing a product, the action you have in mind is probably the driving force behind your whole email campaign. So it's critical that your CTA button really brings it home. Messing up your CTA is like putting a mouth-watering steak in front of readers but failing to give them a fork.How can you optimize your call to action button design and boost your conversions? Let's walk through some call to action examples so you can create your own stellar CTA.

Messing up your CTA is like putting a mouth-watering steak in front of readers but failing to give them a fork. So it's critical that your CTA button really brings it home.

Choose a call to action button or link

Both links and buttons have benefits when it comes to CTAs. Links are better used to take readers somewhere — like your website, an article you've referenced or a customer support center. Compared to buttons, links are often less important, urgent and specific.Call to action buttons get your reader to act. Buttons stand out — they take up significant space in an email, helping them get attention. They stand alone as their own component of an email. Even if readers just skim or skip your body copy, they'll still notice that big, bright, shiny button. Buttons are used for the primary action you want readers to take.If your email is well-focused with a key objective or purpose (like getting webinar signups or increasing product sales), the action that will lead to that result is best presented in a well-designed, standout button.

Craft strong call to action button text

Good call to action button design will showcase the email's value proposition in a way that's clear, specific and concise — so readers understand exactly what they're getting by clicking. Here's a good example from Wilton Icing:

The button makes it clear what will happen if you click — you'll be able to view a guide. The text on your CTA button shouldn't be too short or too long. Three to four words is a good rule of thumb. Think "Download your free ebook" instead of "Click to register for our special ebook deal today." Here's a good example from Lunya:

Good CTAs are customized, unique, and they reflect the tone of the brand. "Click here," "Register," "Learn more" and "Sign up" are overused and generic; stay away from those if you can. Instead, use personal pronouns like “my” and “your” to set a friendly tone and make a CTA engaging and approachable. Charity:water, a nonprofit bringing clean drinking water to people in developing countries, uses a unique CTA that reflects their brand voice and mission:

Here are some others to try:

• Reserve my spot
• Redeem my coupon now
• Get my free ticket
• Pre-order yours
• Claim your seat
• Get the full scoop

Now that we’ve covered what your email marketing call to action should say, let’s talk about what it should look like.

Tips for call to action button design

Buttons come in all shapes and sizes — some more effective than others. Here's what you need to keep in mind when designing the perfect CTA button.

Remember to make it bulletproof

CTA buttons in email are generally designed one of two ways: with HTML code or with an image. Your buttons should always be written in HTML. Buttons written in HTML — also known as bulletproof buttons — will render across all inboxes, ensuring that all of your customers can see them. You can either make a standard CTA button bulletproof by adding a few lines of HTML code or check that the email editor that you’re using generates bulletproof buttons (and that those buttons are not simply images).The problem with image buttons is that you have much less control of how the image looks across devices (and if it will show up at all). For subscribers who have images disabled, your button won’t show up at all. And no button means no clicks.Here's the Wilton Icing email we looked at above, but with image-viewing disabled. Their bulletproof button still shows up:

In another email from Lord & Taylor, their "Shop shoes" and "Shop handbag" buttons look great with images on...

...but check out how those same buttons evaporate when we aren't viewing images:

Avoid this kind of situation by making sure your CTA buttons are completely bulletproof.

Pick your call to action button size

How big should your CTA button be? You might be tempted to go big to make it visible — but bigger isn’t always better. Readers shouldn't feel like you’re shoving a demand in their faces. Strike a balance by making your button wide if it’s not too tall, or by making it a little taller if it’s not too wide.Check out how REI’s CTA button appears in this email. It feels balanced, with the width of the image, the width of the text and the width of the button creating an inverted triangle effect.

Alternatively, this one from the Getty Museum is a bit over-the-top. The height of the button is in balance with the header (the word "SHOP" is quite tall), but having two lines of text for the button makes it unwieldy, and with a quick scan, it's hard to tell if the button is a button at all.

It's also important to remember that readers on mobile devices or tablets should be able to easily tap a button with a fingertip, so best practice is to allow ample white space around your button. Here's an example of effective use of whitespace in a message from Melissa & Doug:

Including whitespace makes it easy for people to tap.

Choose the best call to action button color

Color is a key way to make your button stand out. Most brands choose a button color that's on-brand and lines up with the design of the email. Often, the button echoes the header design in color (if not also in width or tone). Here's how Zoe’s Kitchen uses the same bright orange color of its logo for an email call to action button:

Other brands rely on a button's border for definition, like this example from Partake Cookies:

Keep things simple with your color gradients. The best choice is often an on-brand background color or border that helps your CTA button stand out in a good way.

Decide on a shape

From a design perspective, rectangular elements generally connote a sense of traditionalism, practicality and balance. Circular elements can be perceived as soft and calming. Like color, the shape of your button should align with your brand style as well as the design of your email. An email with square and rectangular images or design elements would probably do better with a button that mirrors that style, like this example from The North Face:

And here's how Quip, a toothbrush company, softens the edges of its button to match the circles pictured in the product photo above:

These are a few call to action button best practices that can help your button be as effective as possible.

Consider your call to action button placement

Many of the emails in this post follow the best practice of communicating a clear, single message that leads to a clear, single call to action. Research has shown that placing a CTA button below the fold actually increases clicks by 304%! The important thing is to let readers know what they’re signing up for first — with great copy and visuals — and then invite them to act.We’re also seeing a lot of emails in our inbox with multiple CTA buttons. Many of these emails, like the example from Lucky Brand below, have their main CTA halfway through the email. Then they list several specific products, adding a separate CTA button for each one.

If you’re sending browse or cart abandonment emails, it can be helpful to give customers a specific CTA button for each product they’ve previously considered.

Your call to action button design checklist 

There are as many button styles out there as there are emails. Take note of how the brands you admire are designing their CTAs and test the effectiveness of different button styles to see what works best with your audience. Remember these rules of thumb for your call to action button design:

• Write action-oriented, compelling and unique copy for your button
• Keep the copy direct and clear, making sure readers know exactly why they're clicking
• Make sure your button is bulletproof (written in HTML so it always renders)
• Check that your button "pops" (stands out visually)
• Consider your visual brand identity and the style of your email when choosing a button's color and shape
• Place your button in an easy-to-find spot that fits organically in the story of your email (probably below the fold)

Wrap-up: Create an email call to action with BEE 

If you build your CTA button in theBEE email editor, your button will always be bulletproof and totally customizable (color, shape, size, border, padding and more). Give the free BEE editor a try as you create strong call to action buttons for your brand!

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Fall isn’t just the season of pumpkins and scarves and nostalgic leaf piles. It’s also a fantastic time to engage with your audience via email and to turn that engagement into revenue. For one, fall is packed with holidays and special occasions, and those holidays are stellar marketing opportunities because they make it easier for you to predict where your customers’ minds are and meet them there. Second, many of the fall holidays involve shopping or are leading up to the shopping season for winter holidays, so engaging with customers during this time will land your business on their shopping lists. When it’s done well, a fall newsletter can set you up for great profits.How do you make the best use of your fall email campaigns? We’ve got you. Check out these fall newsletter ideas and best practices to make your seasonal emails count this year.

Holiday and Event-Specific Fall Newsletter Ideas

As we noted, holidays are excellent marketing opportunities. One of the largest challenges in marketing is relating to your customers by sending them communications that resonate with their mindset at the time. When there’s a holiday or event coming up, you know that it’s on top of many of your customers’ minds, so it’s much easier to connect with them. Let’s take a look at some fall newsletter ideas for the top autumn events and holidays.

Back to School

The back-to-school season is a huge event for families with school-aged kids. Not only does it represent a major change to families’ daily routines but it also involves shopping for school supplies, new clothes, and so on. A back-to-school fall newsletter can connect with parents and also offer ways your business can help, like school supplies you offer or a back-to-school sale. Check out this fall email from Good Housekeeping, for example:

The publication knows its readers have back-to-school on the brain so the top article in its e-blast touts the top back-to-school deals on Amazon - an excellent way to reach customers and get clicks.

Labor Day

September kicks off with Labor Day on the first Monday of the month. This U.S. holiday is widely viewed as the end of summer, so save the warm orange tones for later in the month and stick with summer shades for your Labor Day newsletters. We love this example from Taco Bell, encouraging customers to kick back and take advantage of their discount.Subject line: Labor Day to-do list

Sports seasons

Fall sports are a major part of the season for many of your customers. Fans of football, soccer, volleyball, and other fall sports look forward to the start of the season every year, and for parents of kids who play fall sports, the season is packed with games matches and practices. A fall email that capitalizes on this, like this one from YouTube TV, can bring you fantastic engagement:

Halloween

Halloween has a way of bringing out everyone’s spooky side (in a fun way). Get in the spirit and play with the holiday to engage customers and show your fun side. This could take the form of a themed fall newsletter, exclusive seasonal merchandise, or even just some fun Halloween puns. Take a look at this fall email from Bumble and Bumble:

Subject line: A treat so good it’s scary.

Incorporating Halloween-specific imagery and playful festive language make it easy to relate to customers’ love of the spooky season. Our main takeaways? When it comes to Halloween emails, keep things simple. And for fall email subject lines promising good deals, a play on the word “scary” might help get more conversions.

Veteran’s Day

Sandwiched between Halloween and Thanksgiving,Veteran’s Day(on November 11) is an important opportunity to connect with your audience. This Keurig fall email is a great example of how to give back: The company partnered with a nonprofit that helps support disabled vets, giving that nonprofit more visibility in addition to the monetary support.Subject line: REVV Coffee is honoring veterans all month long

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a family-centered and heartwarming holiday for many, and it’s often associated with warmth and togetherness. A Thanksgiving-themed fall newsletter can connect with customers by appealing to that sentimentality while also appealing to the tasks and traditions people associate with Thanksgiving, like traveling to be with family or cooking a Thanksgiving feast.

This Sur la Table fall email does this well by advertising a cookware sale that features a juicy Thanksgiving turkey in its main product photo.

Subject line: Take charge of Thanksgiving with All-Clad

Black Friday

Before the turkey is gone (or even prepared), many consumers are already dreaming about what they’ll buy on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Many brands start advertising their Black Friday deals as early as the end of October — so don’t be afraid to put yours out too soon!

The Black Friday emails in our inbox have one thing in common: urgency. Ideally, your customers will want to buy now before the products and the good deals are gone. Infuse your fall newsletter subject lines with a sense of urgency to rush readers into a purchase. Here’s an example of a fall newsletter from Outerknown, telling customers to hurry before the good deals are gone.

Subject line: BLACK FRIDAY ENDS TONIGHT!

The “last call” and “coming to a close” language encourages customers to take advantage of these fantastic sales while they still can, prompting them to click through and buy.

Fall-Themed Newsletter Ideas

While fall holidays offer excellent opportunities for email marketing, they aren’t the only way you can capitalize on this cozy season. There are other ways to focus your fall newsletters on the season at hand to engage with your customers. Check out these innovative fall newsletter ideas to inspire your campaign development.

Promote autumn-appropriate products

Think about what your customers will most use and enjoy during the fall and market those products or services in your fall newsletter. This could include items and services like:

• Cozy mugs
• Hot drinks
• Sweaters
• Blankets
• Boots
• Warming foods like soup, bread, or curry

Not only do they use fall imagery but they market warm, cozy apparel that’s perfect for a brisk fall day.

Introduce a fall collection

Who doesn’t love fun fall colors and imagery? In your fall newsletter, you can showcase merchandise or services that are catered to the season, allowing your customers to be festive in their fashion, decor, or activities. You could showcase items and services like:

• Fall movies
• Fall fashions or accessories
• Home decor items with fall colors or aesthetic themes
• Seasonal music
• Cozy massages that feature fall scents

As an example, check out this email from ColorStreet:

ColorStreet advertises their fall collection which features nail decals with fall-appropriate colors and details - perfect for customers who want seasonally festive nails.

Fall sales

Fall is an excellent season for special sales. Customers can get a jump on the shopping season for winter holiday gifts while also stocking up on fall essentials and simply enjoying a relaxing way to spend a cozy fall evening on the couch: online shopping. No matter what products or services you offer, you can create a fall sale and advertise it in your fall newsletter. Take a look at this example from Adore Me:

Not only does Adore Me offer a fall sale but they give it a creative twist with a fall freebie game: giving customers a surprise freebie with every purchase. It’s an excellent way to encourage customers to stock up for the fall season.

Best Practices for Fall Email Newsletters

The fall newsletter ideas above can inspire your campaign design and help you get started, but how do you make sure each email is as strong and effective as it can be? Following some simple best practices can help you boost your engagement. Put these tips to work in your fall email campaigns:

• Personalize your emails: Making emails more relatable and personalized will make them more eye-catching and, in the case of personalized product recommendations, will likely lead to more sales.
• Go multimedia: Incorporating not only images but video or GIFs will make your content more engaging, reeling in customers who would otherwise just scroll through.
• Use social confirmation: Encourage readers to subscribe to your newsletter, make a purchase, or otherwise engage with your brand by showing them how many others are doing the same. You could highlight your number of social media followers or the number of people who have bought a particular product.
• Make the next step easy: Whatever it is that you want customers to do after reading your email, make it easy to find and easy to do. That usually comes in the form of an eye-catching CTA button to shop or subscribe.

These best practices can draw in your customers so they both enjoy your emails more and are more likely to make a purchase or engage with your brand.

Get Started with Fall Newsletter Templates

Ready to create engaging fall emails? Our template catalog here at BeeFree includes templates for every fall theme, includingThanksgiving email templatesandBlack Friday email templates. Create aHalloween email newsletterwith this free template by designerMatteo della Chiesa:

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Or give thanks using this beautiful fall email background created by Andrea Dall’Ara:

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

All of our email templates are compatible with 12 email service provider connectors, so you can design your message in the Beefree editor and then push it over to your email sender of choice. Use our email templates to get more conversions this fall!

Editor’s Note: This post was updated on September 2023 to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

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Email funnels are powerful tools for businesses. They can help you increase brand awareness, boost revenue and grow your overall brand. And once you’re familiar with the basic stages of a marketing funnel, all you need to create email marketing funnels is a little creativity.Today, we’re talking about all things email funnels — what they are, why you need them and what should go into an email funnel strategy. Let’s get started exploring this helpful marketing tool!

Email funnels are powerful tools for businesses. They can help you increase brand awareness, boost revenue and grow your overall brand.

What is an email funnel?

Email funnels are a type of marketing funnel. They help convince people to become customers of your business. The question of whether you should create email funnels is a no-brainer. A good sales funnel will lead to increased growth for your business, so if more revenue and brand awareness is your goal, email funnels are a must.Depending on who you ask, marketing funnels can look a little different — but most take customers through the following basic stages:

• Awareness. A lead starts getting to know your brand.
• Consideration. Subscribers begin to think seriously about making a purchase.
• Conversion. This is the stage where a lead converts and becomes a customer.
• Loyalty. Now, you need to go above and beyond to make sure your customer sticks around.
• Advocacy. Your customer likes your brand so much that they recommend you to their friends.

At the awareness stage, you’re throwing a wide net. You want to reach as many people as possible through marketing campaigns and other outreach tactics so they’ll begin to recognize and trust your brand. As those leads begin to move down through your funnel, you want to turn as many of them into customers as you can.Leads in the consideration stage will receive more targeted content and product information. As they get into the buyer intent phase, your emails should become more overtly salesy, trying to prove why they need your product instead of your competitor’s. And after a lead converts and makes a purchase, you’ll still need to nurture that relationship, ensuring that the customer returns to you again and again — ideally with a friend in tow.Wondering what the best email funnels look like? Let’s walk through each stage of the email funnel and look at some examples that do a great job.

Awareness

Your email funnel starts when a lead discovers your business and opts in to receive communications from you. Try capturing leads via a lead magnet, like a form on your website. Then you can send your leads something that’s relevant and valuable to them and allows them to get to know your brand. Send these awareness emails as soon as your lead opts in. Here, 1Canoe2 sent email subscribers a free digital calendar to download.Subject line: {free download} Happy August!

Consideration

During the consideration stage, customers are familiar with your brand but are still deciding whether to make a purchase. Help them along with personalized emails showcasing products they might like. Of course, this will take a little behind-the-scenes work on your part. Track what products they’ve viewed or even left in their cart on your website — then remind them about those same products in an email.Subject line: Bee, your new leggings in size M are here!

Conversion

As your customer continues to move through the funnel and become more interested in your brand, it’s time to turn up the heat. Send emails with strong CTAs that urge people to buy now. In this email funnel example, Thrive Causemetics uses several phrases designed to spur subscribers into a purchase:

• Final few

• Don’t wait

• Shop now

• Must-haves

Subject line: FYI: These are selling quickly 

Run some A/B tests to find which CTA phrases work best for your brand. Then encourage your customers that it’s time to buy.

Loyalty

Your customer has officially made a purchase. What happens next? Now it’s your job to continue providing high-quality content so the customer doesn’t go anywhere: Continue nurturing your customers so they’ll become even more loyal to your brand. Byrdie sent this roundup of beauty blog posts to its subscribers, sharing relevant content and adding in a few product recommendations at the bottom of the message. The best email marketing funnels don’t stop when a customer converts. Instead, they keep going, increasing customer satisfaction.Subject line: 49 life-changing beauty products you need to try ASAP

Advocacy

At this stage of the email funnel, your focus should be on expansion. Since you know your customers are satisfied, try asking them to recommend your business to their friends. For example, Naja offers a loyalty program with a monetary incentive. The points-based system outlined in this email rewards customers who share about Naja on social media or directly refer a friend. It’s a smart way for Naja to get a little extra marketing (nearly) free of charge. Get your customers hooked and then get them to spread the word.Subject line: ? Earn points, get free stuff! 

Wrap-up: Create email marketing funnels

Have you planned out your email marketing funnels? If not, start now! For best results, lay out your sales funnel email sequence long before you make contact with your first lead. This ensures you’ll be well-prepared to attract, convert and delight those customers when the time comes.BEE’s email templates can help with your funnels. Our template catalog has hundreds of professionally designed HTML email templates that you can easily customize and use for your business. Search through the catalog to find emails that are right for every stage of your email marketing funnels!

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Dark mode is becoming more and more popular. Many consumers view their texting conversations, social media feeds and email inboxes in dark mode to save their battery life and make it easier on their eyes. Are you mindful of this trend as you design marketing emails? Getting on board with dark mode email design can make a big difference in your email marketing. Optimizing your emails for dark mode ensures that everyone can properly view your messages. Here are a few key tips to help.

Optimizing your emails for dark mode ensures that everyone can properly view your messages.

What is dark mode?

Many people now use dark mode, or dark theme, on their mobile or desktop devices. Several apps (including Slack, Twitter and Facebook Messenger) support this setting. With dark mode, you see light-colored text on a dark background instead of the other way around. This setting has a few core benefits: It makes the text easier to read and isn’t hard on your eyes. Dark mode can also extend your battery life because the screen isn’t as bright.In the following images from Counter Culture Coffee, you can see how the same email looks when viewed in both dark and light mode. (The images used in this email could use a little tweaking to optimize the message for dark mode, but we’ll get to that in a minute!)Subject line: Decaf is for lovers ?Optimizing your emails to be read with dark mode can go a long way in helping your email marketing succeed. Here are some things to keep in mind.

1) Consider different email clients

Several email clients have started offering dark mode as an option for users. For example, Apple Mail and Outlook 2019 allow you to enable dark mode on desktop. You can also make the switch with the Gmail and Outlook apps for Android and iOS.Keep in mind, however, that each email client will render emails a little differently. Some email clients will show an email the exact same way regardless of whether the inbox is set on light or dark mode. Others recognize an email with a light background and automatically switch around the color scheme so the background is dark instead. Still others will actually take emails that were made for dark mode and make them become light!All of these caveats can certainly make dark mode email design confusing. Here's how each email client works:

• Fully inverted: Gmail iOS app; Outlook 2019 for Windows
• Partially inverted: Gmail Android app, Outlook Android app, Outlook iOS app, Outlook 2019 for MacOS, Outlook.com
• Unchanged: iOS Mail, Apple Mail

2) Use transparent images

For dark mode email design, your images should be transparent. That way, when the background color changes from white to black, the email will still look natural. If an image’s empty space is filled with white, it won’t matter in light mode — but in dark mode, this will stick out like a sore thumb. For example, take a look at this Seasons 52 message. In light mode the email looks good:Subject line: Fireworks are great, but have you tried this red?

But when viewed in dark mode, it’s clear that the image backgrounds are not transparent. See how the logo doesn’t blend in with the rest of the message?

If your image isn’t transparent, use a simple online editor to tweak the image before dropping it into the BEE editor. Or if your images do have solid backgrounds, add extra padding so the transition from the image color to the background color isn’t as jarring.

3) Outline black text in white

If there’s any black text in your message, it won’t show up when the email is viewed in dark mode. To get around this, highlight the text in white so it will still show up when the background becomes black. In this Land’s End email, the brand’s navy-colored logo doesn’t show up well in dark mode. This could have been avoided by highlighting the text in a lighter color.Subject line: You half to see these dresses: 50% off tonight only!

4) Test your dark mode emails

When you’re finished designing your dark mode email, remember to test it in both dark and light mode to see what the message will look like on each. You can test emails with the BEE editor by clicking “Actions,” “Send test” and then entering the email address(es) where you want to send the message. If you have a Gmail account and an Android device, for example, you can send the email to yourself and view it in both dark and light mode to make sure you don’t need to make any changes. You can also send the email to a tool such as Litmus to conduct further testing from there.

5) Go with plain text

Finally, you can play it safe and go with plain text. Since plain text emails only include, well, plain text, you don’t have to worry about design elements rendering incorrectly. Plain text emails are black on white, so they easily invert. And these emails have lots of other benefits, too — they’re appropriate for serious or important situations and can bypass spam filters more easily than HTML messages.Subject line: Make your reservation 

Wrap-up: Dark mode email design

Does dark mode email marketing still feel overwhelming? Don’t worry! With free tools like the BEE email editor, you can get your dark mode email design off the ground. Use the BEE editor to add metadata, create transparent background images, test your messages and more. Check out the professionally designed HTML email templates in our template catalog to get started with dark mode email design.

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July 17th is World Emoji Day! In honor of this all-important holiday, we’re digging into the age-old question of how to use emojis in emails. Emojis engage readers and can add playfulness and visual excitement into your email marketing. It is also easier than ever to implement emojis into your emails with the use of tools like Quicktools.Let's take a look at how some brands are upping their emoji game.

Emojis engage readers and can add playfulness and visual excitement into your email marketing.

Why use emojis in email marketing?

Believe it or not, emojis in professional emails have a lot of benefits. Here are a few key things emojis can do to help your marketing efforts.

Clarify your tone

If a text message is all words and no emojis, it can be interpreted in many different ways. Was the sender angry, happy or somewhere in-between? Without emojis, it can be hard to tell. And the same principle applies when it comes to marketing emails. We’re used to adding emojis to our daily written communication to convey tone. Use emojis effectively in your email marketing and you can make sure your message sounds the right way in your reader's head.

Engage readers emotionally

Just as emojis can help convey your tone, they can also elicit an emotional response. There's no better way to forge a real connection with your audience than through emotional engagement. Not to mention, emojis are just plain fun!

Boost engagement

Still not sold on the power of emojis in emails? Take a look at these stats. More than 50% of brands saw an increase in email opens when subject lines included emojis. 63% of people think positive emoji use makes you more credible. And in one study, emojis increased click-through rate by 93%. Those kinds of results speak for themselves!Before we dive into some emoji marketing examples, let’s take a look at some general emoji best practices for email marketing.

Emoji best practices for email marketing

Follow these do’s and don’ts to use emojis as effectively as possible for your brand.

Don’t replace words with emojis

While images are a great way to communicate, don’t use them to replace specific words. Let emojis come at the end of a sentence to help solidify your tone rather than making your customers read only hieroglyphics.

Don’t use emojis in serious emails

Serious emails, such as messages about current events or company updates, generally aren’t the time or place for emojis. Save emojis for lighthearted messages — such as seasonal promotion emails, event reminders or discounts and promotions.

Don’t use too many emojis

While emojis are fun, don’t overdo it! Stuffing your email with emojis can look unprofessional and distract readers from the point of the message. Instead, select a few carefully-chosen emojis to strategically place throughout your email. That’s what Black Girl Sunscreen does here, ending its welcome email with a cheerful sunshine emoji to establish its brand personality. There’s only one emoji in the body of the email, but that’s enough!Subject line: Welcome to Black Girl Sunscreen ☀️?

Do be aware of double meanings

Many emojis have double meanings. The last thing you want is to be unintentionally inappropriate in your brand’s marketing emails. If you aren’t sure about the emojis you’re planning to use, run a quick Google search for “emoji double meanings” to make sure your email stays G-rated.

Do test emoji emails

Emojis render differently depending on the email client and device your reader is using. Gmail always displays emojis, but things can get dicey with other operating systems. Test your emails before sending to figure out how the emojis will show up.

Do use relevant emojis

Don’t throw in any emoji you can think of just because you can — make sure you’re only selecting emojis that are actually relevant to your business and what you’re saying in that particular email. You might also try choosing one or two emojis that are a perfect fit for your brand and using those emojis in all of your brand communications across different social media channels. For Partake Cookies, what could be better than the chocolate chip cookie emoji used in this email’s subject line?Subject line: Welcome to Partake ?

So how can you start sprinkling in emojis while staying on-brand and avoiding going overboard? Let's take a look at some examples!

Email subject lines with emojis

Emoji subject lines stand out better in an inbox and encourage the reader to click. Compare the difference here between subject lines with emojis…

… and subject lines without.

Which ones would you rather click on? We agree! The emails that include emojis are far more eye-catching. And emails with emoji subject lines do more than simply draw the eye: These subject lines also add extra personality to your brand voice and save you valuable space.

Emojis in email anchor text

Anchor text is the highlighted text readers click on to navigate a long email. It can also be a great place for emojis in your email marketing. In this AJ&Smart email, anchor link emojis draw the eye and make the hyperlinks easily clickable:

Emojis in email footer

This Hubspot emoji email example got our heart-eyes going. By using emojis to gain reader feedback — a footer survey email of sorts — they invite reader participation and directly prompt readers to emotionally engage. Without these emojis, this feedback area would have likely gone unnoticed.

Emojis within email content

In emails that are text-heavy, emojis are an excellent tool to break up the text and make the email more readable. This email newsletter from Finimize uses emojis to make the content more scannable. Each section starts with an emoji, such as a book for “What we’re reading” and a heart for “Share with a friend.” You’ll also see emojis scattered throughout the body text denoting places to ask a question and join the conversation. And this message wraps up with a cute winking emoji in the footer, too!

Wrap-up: Emoji email templates

No matter how or why you're incorporating emojis into your email, the BEE email editor has you covered! Add emojis into any one of hundreds of responsive HTML email templates using the BEE editor, or get creative and easily build an email from scratch.We also have a few specific templates created for World Emoji Day — like this Happy Emoji Day Sale message created by Yuliana Pandelieva. Use these emoji email templates to celebrate World Emoji Day in style!

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

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