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A product launch is the culmination of months or years of intensive work by multiple departments and teams, and making that product successful is a challenge. In fact, about 95% of new products released will fail. Your product launch email campaign can play a big role in whether your launch sinks or swims.How do you make every new product email count? You learn from the experts. We’re highlighting some particularly effective product launch emails and sharing key insights about why they work (and how you can use that wisdom in your campaign).

How Email Marketing Can Support a Successful Product Launch

Email marketing can be a critical component of your product launch marketing campaign because it reaches people who are already engaged with your brand. After all, they’ve already given you their email address. Through the use of strategically timed email sequences of various types of product launch emails like feature announcement emails, pre-order emails, and launch event invitations, you can generate interest in an upcoming product and prompt customers to buy as soon as the product launches.An effective product launch email should include several key elements:

• The product’s name so customers know that this is a brand-new product
• A brief “pitch” that tells customers what’s unique and amazing about this new product
• Attention-grabbing images to give customers a sneak peek into the new product
• A prominent call-to-action like a “buy now” button that takes customers directly to the product page, making it easy for you to capitalize on quick decisions and in-the-moment excitement for the product

The Difference Between New Product Announcements and Product Launches

A new product announcement is one of the first ways you’ll market an upcoming new product. It’s all about generating interest and letting customers know that there’s an amazing new product coming their way. Just like movies have trailers months before they’re released, product announcement emails are the “trailers” of the product world.A new product launch email, on the other hand, is the email you send out when the product is officially released to prompt customers to follow through and make a purchase. If the product announcement email is the trailer, the product launch email is the email that allows people to buy tickets to the movie. This email is all about driving sales.While product announcement and product launch emails each have their own purposes in a product introduction email campaign, each one makes the other more successful. They’re part of a cohesive campaign to hype customers and get a flurry of launch-day orders.

How to Get Product Launch Emails to Convert

What does conversion look like for a product launch email? It depends on where this particular email falls in your launch campaign. Depending on where you are in your product launch, a successful conversion could be:

• Buying the new product
• Pre-ordering the new product
• Signing up for product updates
• Signing up for a giveaway of the new product

How you reel in those conversions, on the other hand, is more complex. It’s a matter of factors like your subject line, the email’s timing, understanding what appeals to your audience, writing compelling content in the email, using images to direct recipients’ attention and showcase the product, making it convenient to make a purchase or convert, and more. A well-constructed, conversion-minded product launch email needs to bring all these strategies together.

1. Encouraging Continued Engagement with Opt-In Emails

Opt-in emails are emails that allow and encourage readers to sign up for specific mailing lists or notifications. In the case of a product launch, for example, you could invite people to opt-in for updates about the new product.In order to support a product launch, you want as many people as possible to be in the know. A few weeks before the launch, offer an opt-in deal. If your product or service has a premium option, encourage your readers to sign up for it. Explain that this is how they can stay up-to-date on all the exciting stuff you’re doing, helping them stay in the know before the general public — and then make good on that promise by providing a sneak peek at your new product. Alternatively, you can offer an opt-in just for details on the launch rather than as part of a premium service, as Ruggable did here.Subject line: Something a-DOOR-able is coming… 

Ruggable product teaser email

2. Sparking Conversation with Mysterious Product Emails

When it comes to information about an upcoming product, sometimes less is more. In fact, it’s strategic. When you have a product launch coming up, consider sending mysterious product emails - teaser emails that tell customers that something big is coming but don’t tell them what it is.Using our email editor to craft a cryptic email, teasing that something big is in the works (i.e. your new product) but not yet divulged, is a great way to draw interest.If you’re planning to send more emails in your product launch email series, send this mysterious email a couple of weeks prior to launch. Otherwise, you can send this email whenever you want. Huda Beauty kept things puzzling with this product launch email showing a blurred-out version of its new product.This tactic can be valuable when you want to start generating interest, but your product still has some details to work out. It serves a double purpose in that case: beginning to build interest without making any commitments you may not be able to keep. It’s also beneficial if you’re in a highly competitive market and you don’t want your competitors to know what you’re working on until it’s released.Even if it isn’t a priority to be secretive about your new product, the mysterious aspect can generate serious buzz. It’s especially helpful if you have a sizable following because people will be chatting with each other about what the announcement could be.Subject line: Something NEW is coming

Huda Beauty "Mysterious" product launch email

3. Preorder Emails Capture Sales from Early Birds

A preorder email is an email that allows customers to pre-purchase the new product before it is launched. This allows customers to ensure that they’ll get a product from the first release in case the product sells out, and it allows you to capture sales in advance and gauge interest in the product.About a week out from launch day, consider sending a preorder or early-bird-access email so your loyal customers can get a jump start on their shopping. Of course, sending a preorder email means you’ll need to announce what your new product is before launch day — and that’s completely fine, as long as you save some of the juicy details to create more hype (for now, go with “we’re making a better alarm clock” instead of “we’re making an alarm clock with a radio, nightlight, and water feature”).What does a good preorder email look like? A preorder email should generate excitement about your new product, using sensational language to explain the product’s features and benefits. Testimonials help, too — like Food52 added here.Make sure to be clear about the terms of the preorder too, such as whether customers are paying the full amount now or whether their credit card will be charged when the product ships. You also need to make it clear and easy for customers to make their purchases, such as with a prominent “preorder now” button that takes them to the preorder purchase page.Subject line: Our Five Two wooden spoons are nearly here — preorder now. 

4. Taking Advantage of the Big Day with Day-of Product Launch Emails

It’s launch day, and that means it’s time to send a great product launch email! If you send a preorder email, your product launch message will be similar; again, the goal is to generate a sense of excitement around the product and prompt customers to purchase.Remember when you kept a lid on some of the details in your pre-order email? Now is the time to pull out all the stops and really explain what makes your product shine: How is it different (and better) than comparable products? Include high-quality photos, too, at the top of the email and in the body copy.Want to give your product launch email the best chance to drive conversions? Follow these tips:

• Lead with an attention-grabbing subject line, like “It’s here!  has dropped, and YOU can get one!”
• Put the key information above the fold (meaning that people don’t have to scroll down to see the most valuable details
• Create a visually prominent, easy-to-find call to action, like a button that says “order now.”
• If you have this data available, include the recipient’s name in the subject line or body copy to personalize it and grab their attention.

Subject line: A few new things to feel good about… 

J.Crew product launch email

5. Build and Grow the Customer Relationship with Follow-Up Emails

Follow-up emails after your product launch are an important part of your launch campaign. Sent a few days after your product launch, these emails keep the conversation going and can keep the orders coming in too.You have several options here: You can ask happy customers to leave reviews on your website or a third-party platform. You could solicit user-generated content, asking for photos of people using the product. Or you can find a fresh angle to explain how great your product is. Even after launch, keep riding the excitement your campaign has generated to stay on the top of readers’ minds.

Try BEE Pro's Product Launch Email Templates

Your product launch isn't just about creating conversions. Use your product launch email series as a starting point to cultivate a sustained conversation that you can continue long after your launch is over. By thoughtfully crafting your series of emails, you'll be able to communicate your brand value.Ready to create your own product launch email sequence? BEE's easy HTML email editor offers a simple way to create beautiful and responsive on-brand emails. BEE’s set of product launch email templates is tailor-made for announcing new products, and each one can be edited in a few clicks to feature your brand visuals and make your new product shine!

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

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Just when you thought you had Millennials figured out, here comes Gen Z. Being that Gen Z's current age ranges from 11-26, it's safe to say that they are now the majority of college attendees. This makes them your target demographic when it comes to thinking about your student retention strategies. The good news is that email is still the most effective way to communicate with this audience. According to a Campaign Monitor survey, 81% of Gen Z check their email daily and prefer it over other forms of communication.

Strategy #1: Personalize Emails to Students

One benefit email has over other marketing channels is the ability to personalize content for the recipient.

We talk about this one a lot, but it is one of the most effective ways to get students to engage. Email automation platforms have tools that allow customization of messaging from subject lines to whole paragraphs and even images. This personalization allows you to make students feel special and build personable connections build on their own unique college experiences.

Here are some ways to use personalization to improve your email student retention strategies 

• Subject lines - Use their first name as a greeting to improve open rates.
• Graduation dates - Let them know you are following their success.
• Field of study - Show interest in topics they may be interested in.
• Birthdate - Wish them well on their special day.

Read: How to Drive Student Engagement Using Personalization in Email

Strategy #2: Use Visuals

Gen Z is a very visual group, with studies showing high weekly engagement on visual social media: 89% use YouTube, 74% are on Instagram, and 68% use Snapchat. That's why including visuals is a great way to boost engagement and retention in communications with your Gen Z students.

When choosing visuals, use high-quality images of the campus, events, or student life that get students excited for the next event or classes. It’s important when using visuals to consider best practices for diversity and inclusion to make sure everyone feels represented in your university. As always, keep in mind accessibility guidelines by including alt text and optimizing your images for email.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDQmWRJBFg0

Strategy #3: Be Mobile-Friendly

Gen Z has been around technology their entire lives. Their expectations for tech-savvy communication are high, meaning emails and online forms should always be optimized for mobile use. By ignoring mobile design standards, your emails could end up in the virtual trashcan.

Tips for mobile-friendly email design

• Use a responsive email design that adjusts to screen sizes. BEE Pro offers a mobile design mode to help you quickly optimize emails for mobile devices by hiding and stacking elements.
• Highlight important information near the top of the email, and help the students avoid long-scrolling actions.
• Use clear branding with your logo and colors for fast recognition.
• Use large fonts and clear calls to action that are easy to read and select.

Examples of Best Practices for Mobile-Friendly Email Design

A great example of an optimized mobile experience is this email from Disney. The headline is engaging and immediately tells you what the email is about. The image is high quality, and there is a clear call to action. And, of course, the email is on brand throughout its entirety.

Who says email communication has to be boring? Especially with Gen Z, a great way to get them to open an email is by using pop culture references or humor. This example from Topgolf uses humor in the subject line to pull in the reader. To add an additional human touch, the email has a testimonial for a customer. Incorporate this into your student retention email by asking for testimonials after campus events.

Strategy #4: Use Social Proof

Gen Z’s affinity to social media and digital channels has influenced the level of value they place on social proof and the emotion they feel when they miss out. Share stories about activities, events, recognitions, etc., to leverage this generation’s FOMO (fear of missing out) and increase student participation.

How to incorporate social proof into emails

• Use testimonials or quotes from current students, alums, or faculty
• Feature awards or recognitions other students have received
• Include videos of activities recorded by current or former students

Strategy #5: Provide Interactive Content

This goes beyond images and video content. Interactive content, such as surveys, quizzes, or polls, is a way to gather valuable information to improve your student retention strategies.

Examples of interactive content for emails

• Generate a quiz to help students uncover their learning styles or career interests
• Ask students to complete a survey for feedback on a recent program or event
• Poll students on their opinions about current trends or issues

And don't forget to take action! These surveys or polls are a great way to identify the changes and improvements your students desire and work toward improving student engagement and retention.

For instance, if you learn they would like more cereal options in the cafeteria, then provide more variety so students will be more likely to gather and socialize during meals. Taking action on feedback is a good way to engage students in a process and earn trust.

Strategy #6: Provide Valuable Content

To keep students engaged in reading email content, ensure the content you send provides value. Go beyond on-campus activities and position yourself as a trusted source for students to be able to excel beyond their college years.

Examples of valuable content for students

• Career advice
• Study tips
• Personal development topics
• Job/internship opportunities

Consider using segmentation to tailor content toward certain student groups, such as by field of study, activities, or geography if you have multiple campus locations. This option can increase the relevancy and value of the content being provided.

Strategy #7: Use Email Automation

To maintain consistent communication with students, email automation is a helpful tool. Automation can ensure messages are delivered timely. You can create a cadence of alerts and reminders for important events, such as semester registration, to alert students of upcoming responsibilities and deadlines. 

Examples of automated emails for higher education

• Welcome email series introducing students to campus and resources
• Schedule follow-ups for important reminders and announcements
• Event or class reminders

By providing reminders and timely information to students, you will help them to stay engaged and participate, with fewer opportunities to forget.

BONUS STRATEGY: Use AI 

An effective way to optimize your student retention strategies is to incorporate new and innovative tools that allow you to do your best work, fast. That's why we recommend AI.

While AI is still new, it's no secret that it is a great tool to help optimize your email content and improve overall performance, all while saving you time and effort.Join us on May 3rd to learn how you can harness the power of AI and BEE Pro for A/B testing, language translations, and overall just creating more effective, engaging, and impactful emails and landing pages. Register HERE!

There are various ways that your university can leave a lasting first impression on incoming students. A great example is orientation day/week. This event typically starts a few weeks before the academic year begins. It is an effective way to get students to meet their classmates and teachers, tour the campus, and experience a small glimpse of the next four years. Undoubtedly, this is an important step in getting students excited and engaged. But what if there was a way to emulate this excitement far before orientation?

The onboarding process for a student is crucial in how they will feel coming into your university. How you handle the onboarding process determines how safe and secure a student feels about their decision and their willingness to engage in university activities such as clubs, volunteering, and even their classes.

Most universities miss that student onboarding begins the moment they decide to attend their institution. So, how can you create a student onboarding experience that gets them excited from Decision Day and beyond? 

Student Onboarding Emails

An affordable and effective way to create an impactful student onboarding experience is through emails. 

An impactful onboarding email is a great way to welcome students to college and communicate important information that prepares them for success and excites them about the journey ahead. Frequent and resourceful communication allows students to feel sure about their decision, which supports student retention and engagement rates.

Beefree makes creating on-brand email sequences easier for higher education marketers by providing optimized and mobile-friendly email templates.

But, before digging into your email’s design, let’s discuss the best way to get started with a student onboarding college newsletter.

Before designing, establish your goal.

The first step to creating email communication is to identify who the audience is and what information they need. Next, consider your goals for communication in the example of a college student onboarding email. When thinking about goals, also think about the types of content that would help you achieve them.

• Student Orientation - provide helpful campus information like facility hours, building policies, and available student resources.
• Engagement - build community by sharing information about upcoming activities or social events.
• Retention - ensure students have a great start to the year by sharing tips for success in the classroom and how to make new connections.

What goals does your email marketing team have? Strategizing them and listing them out can keep everyone on track for building a successful student onboarding college newsletter.

Let’s get to design. 

Start from scratch or use an email template. 

Beefree makes email communications a breeze for higher education email marketers. 

Choose an existing template or create a new one from scratch. There are pros to both!

Beefree templates are professionally designed with your audience in mind and optimized for conversion. By starting with an existing template, you don’t have to worry about identifying which sections your audience needs, which layout, or where to add images and personalization. Simply drag and drop your unique content into the template and change style guidelines to ensure you stay cohesive with your university’s brand identity.

If you’re going the template route, start here: Higher Education Template Collection.

By “starting from scratch,” the possibilities are endless. Beefree gives you the unlimited design freedom to create fully customized email experiences by adding brand images, campaign videos, gifs, and more.

Email Design Best Practices for Using Beefree  

Beefree allows anyone to design emails with ease, regardless of experience. Our intuitive builder is easy-to-use and requires minimal time to get the hang of it. Here are a few features that will allow you to get the most out of Beefree.

• Style settings - Whether you’re starting from scratch or using a template, start by setting your style guidelines into Beefree. Add your universities color palette, font systems, buttons, icons, and even select your desired width for emails and pages to get an easy start to design. 
• Image library: Upload and keep your universities campus, faculty, and event images in one place so that everyone can access them easily when creating future emails or landing pages.
• Saved rows: Once you’ve built your repetitive content blocks, such as footers and headers, save them and reuse them for next time!
• Synced rows: Great for saved rows that need to be regularly updated, such as menu bars, social links, and terms and conditions. All changes made to a “synced row” will auto-populate in all other templates where that row lives, saving you time and minimizing errors. 

Double Check Everything on Mobile Design Mode

Okay! So you’ve customized your email or template to your liking and saved your rows for next time. Now it’s time to test it on mobile. 

85% of people open emails using their smartphones; therefore, it’s crucial that all emails are built with mobile in mind.

Beefree offers Mobile Design Mode to help you visualize exactly how your content will be shown on mobile.

A PRO tip is to toggle between desktop and mobile while designing to save time and make changes as you go

With Beefree, any changes to the below elements will only be applied to mobile mode for an optimized mobile experience:

• Alignments
• Button widths
• Paddings
• Spacer heights
• Text sizes
• Reconfiguring of elements
• Hiding elements  

The best part about using Beefree for designing mobile-friendly emails is that there is absolutely no coding required. 

Read: Email Design for Mobile: Best Practices to Take Your Email Marketing Up a Level

Collaborate with your team.

You’ve completed your email. Now it’s time to get feedback from your team. Simply begin the review process using our “Request for Approval” feature. The flow will then guide you and your team toward a fully on-brand and approved student onboarding newsletter.

This feature is available for Enterprise customers only, but Free and Team plans can still enjoy seamless collaboration by:

• Using “Send Test” to send your email designs to team members and request feedback.
• Provide comments within the email builder.
• Customize user and permission settings to let team members edit content (or not).

Engaging your whole marketing team to create a memorable student onboarding experience has never been easier.

From an Email to a Landing Page, Easy.

Once you have your email designs done and approved, it’s time to create additional assets that allow you to create a cohesive onboarding experience. Landing pages are a great way to expand the information included in your emails and further create an impactful onboarding experience for incoming students.

With Beefree, you can convert any email into a one-page landing page with just one click. From there, you can easily adjust the layout, content, and CTAs.

Start Designing Your Student Onboarding Emails With Beefree

The best part? It's free to get started.Create student onboarding email sequences, orientation day invitations, course reminders, and so much more. Sign up now! 

Today’s incoming higher education students are part of Generation Z. Meaning that when it comes to choosing the right university for them, they are likely to turn to online sources.When searching for the right university online, Gen Z looks for disruptors and organizations that reflect their personalities and values.Gen Z’s knowledge of technology and familiarity with social media makes them more likely to research their options online versus past generations. Nearly half of Gen Zers are online “almost constantly.”Because of this, your goal as institutional marketers should be to ramp up digital communications. Email is a great way to spur interest in your university and show them why you’re the right fit for them.Now you may be wondering…

Is Email Marketing Effective in Higher Education?

Email marketing remains a popular channel for communicating with Generation Z. Not only does it have a strong ROI with an average return of $44 for every $1 spent, but 85% of Gen Z prefers email over other forms of communication.With 58% saying they check their inboxes multiple times daily, there is ample opportunity to engage incoming students via email to get them excited about choosing your university.A well-written and designed welcome message is the perfect way to start a new relationship. It can help the student feel connected, encouraged, and your educational institution.So, how do you design an inspiring welcome message for students?Continue reading for some of our best practices in email marketing for higher education.

Crafting an Inspirational Welcome Message for Students

A welcome message is a meaningful way to set the tone for an engaging and successful long-term connection. For the best result, make sure your emails have a nice balance between valuable and inspiring content.For instance, when sharing information like campus resources, sprinkle in a hopeful message reminding them of their bright future.Welcome emails are emails with the highest open rates –86% higher, in fact. It’s the first impression, so make it count.To deliver a high-performing welcome message, it’s best to segment your content based on where the student is in their onboarding journey.For instance, a student majoring in science may require a lab coat and safety goggles, while a math major needs an advanced calculator. Understanding the student’s needs will help you to provide the most relevant and valuable information.

Best Practices for Designing a Welcome Message

There are many best practices to consider when designing an impactful welcome message for students.

1. Personalization

Create an instant connection with incoming students by personalizing messages for them. For instance, personalized subject lines make recipients 26% more likely to open your email.Our PRO tip?Go beyond the subject line. Include relevant information about the student, such as their current school, a potential field of study, or graduation date, using dynamic content to help establish relevance and personalized experience.

2. Clear and Concise Messaging

Research shows you have about eight seconds to capture the attention of Gen Z. This means emails need to be focused and easy to understand. Use bullet points, short paragraphs, graphics, and callouts to create interest in your email content.

3. Attention-Grabbing Email Design

Similar to keeping the messages clear and concise, images should be visually appealing and layouts easy to navigate. Remember that many Gen Z’ers will most likely check their email on a smartphone, so ensuring images and layouts are optimized for mobile is very important to engagement.If you’re not a professional email designer or need a little inspiration, check out the template catalog available on our website for a variety of easy-to-use and visually appealing email layouts.

4. Highlight Key Benefits and Opportunities

When writing email content, including the “what’s in it for me” angle.This would include the key benefits and opportunities the student will have by engaging with your educational institution. You can showcase the unique resources, extracurricular activities, or academic programs your university offers that set you apart.

Examples of Successful Welcome Messages You Can Copy ;)

Many businesses and organizations use welcome messages to engage prospects or new subscribers. It’s important to start new relationships off on the right foot. Here are some examples of welcome emails we like.This email by Sephora uses white space and a fun font to capture attention. It’s well branded using Sephora’s signature black and white designs but has a few splashes of red for a pop of color that guides the eye downwards. The content does a great job of expressing the benefits of shopping at Sephora from a "whats in it for me" angle.

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/123145371052121884/In this welcome email from Munchery, they use big, colorful images and a clear call-to-action. The CTA is a bright orange color that dramatically stands out.The content is short and sweet not to overwhelm the reader, and there is a good amount of whitespace.Universities can follow a similar idea by using engaging images to pull the reader in, while not overwhelming them with too much content within the email. Consider how images could be used to inspire feelings, like how Munchery makes us hungry!

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/6966574414809343/

Optimizing Your Email Marketing Strategy

Once you’ve drafted your welcome message, remember the work has just begun. Now it’s time to test and refine the message over time to improve student engagement and action.Consider these additional ways to optimize your welcome email:

• Build a segmented list to incorporate more personalized messages
• Incorporate A/B testing to continually improve your message
• Analyze post-send data to refine messages and targeting strategies
• Improve the efficiency of your marketing program with tools and resources like marketing automation software or BEE Pro that can help streamline email design efforts. 

Get Started with BEE Pro to Design Welcome Messages for Students that Inspire

There is no question that email marketing is alive and well with the upcoming generation of students. Ensure you build inspirational and captivating email campaigns, starting with strong welcome messages, to grow long-lasting and successful relationships.Design beautiful emails using best practices and mobile optimization quickly and stress-free with BEE Pro!

In 2021, U.S. colleges and universities raised an impressive $52.9 billion toward their fundraising goals. Alumni donations accounted for 23% of that total, showing just how important strong alumni engagement is for a university's success.So, how do universities use the money donated by alumni?

• Maintain operations
• Offer scholarships
• Improve/update technology
• Support specialty programs, such as study abroad and athletics
• Revitalize campus facilities
• Fund research programs

Higher education institutions rely on donations to support their everyday operations and to be able to give back to the students through events, tools, resources, and courses. Coupled with the changes in the workforce and mostly digital society, funds acquired help universities provide students the latest software and technology, setting them up for success.

5 Tips to Increase Alumni Engagement Using Email

Statista projects businesses will send more than 375 billion emails daily by 2025. This means that any email communication you send to alumni must command (and keep) their attention.

We Know You Hear This A Lot, But Write Compelling Subject Lines!

The subject line is truly the most important line of copy in an email. Why? Because it helps alumni decide whether they want to open the email or not.A great subject line evokes an emotion, elicits curiosity, and at times, makes them laugh. But most importantly, emails for alumni serve as reminders of why they love their Alma Mater.Here are some tips for writing an attention-grabbing subject line.

• Keep it short: you should grab their attention with as little as 40-50 characters.
• Don’t sound spammy: even though you may want to give away a free item in exchange for a donation, don’t use “free” in the subject line, or your message could go to spam.
• Ask a question: use a question to remind them of a college memory, like cramming for a test in the library.
• Create a sense of urgency: remind them students need their support now for the upcoming year 

Besides keeping it short and clear, here are some additional elements (with examples you can steal) to create a subject line that gets alumni to open:

• Draw curiosity: – trust us, you don’t want to miss out on this
• Urgency: One day left to make a difference!
• Belonging: We couldn’t have done it without you
• Personalized: , your help is needed

Use Personalization to Connect with Alumni

As we mentioned before, email inboxes are busy places. Personalization is an excellent way to get alumni to engage. When scrolling through the list of unread emails, readers are more likely to click on an email that calls them out personally.In fact, research shows personalized content engages readers. It improves open rates by 11% and clicks by 27%.When using personalization, consider what you know about your audience to generate successful email campaigns. Some personalized fields include:

• Name
• Last gift amount
• Donation history
• Graduation class
• College field of study

Use this information to interest readers beyond a simple “Hello, John.” We recommend weaving personalized details throughout the message to strengthen the idea you’re trying to communicate.Here are some ways to integrate personalization into a fundraising message:

• Thank you for your gift of [$10,000] last year.
• We appreciate the generous donations coming from the .
• Your support is helping to keep the department thriving.

Web is Dead: Optimize Email Content for Mobile Devices

Up to 41% of emails are opened on a mobile device, surpassing desktop (39%). While that might not seem like much of a difference, we will continue to see a spike favoring mobile in the coming years.This means that if your email is not optimized for mobile, you could be delivering less-than-stellar experiences for alumni. Always make sure that it is easy for alumni to complete the desired action.Here are some essential items to consider when optimizing your messages for mobile.

• Make the design feel app-like: use short amounts of copy and big buttons to take action.
• Use small file sizes: attention spans are short, and readers won’t wait for images to load.
• Use a large font size: no one wants to squint at their phone!

Don’t be Shy! Ask for a Donation.

When it comes to email marketing, beating around the bush won’t get you very far.A call-to-action is a direct statement leading the reader to take a desired step.Calls-to-action should be displayed as a large button or a highlighted link that the reader can easily click on.And if you’re too shy, we get it - there are various ways to ask for money without saying “Give Now” or “Donate Now.”After all, if every email you send says “Give Us Money Now,” alumni will eventually stop opening them. It’s good to change things up now and then to maintain engagement.Here are some options for inspiring call-to-action phrases.

• Make a Difference
• Donate Online
• See the Impact
• Support Students
• Leave a Legacy
• Join Us!

Remember, the alum audience is already invested in your university and wants to help in whichever way they can. A clear call to action makes it clear to the reader exactly how they can help.

Design Matters!

Inspire action in your university’s alums with engaging and strategic email design. Some ways to use design to level up your fundraising emails are:

• Send branded emails with university colors and logos to improve the legitimacy
• Incorporate images and videos in emails to evoke past college memories
• Use a layout that’s easy to navigate and write short copy
• Use an attractive and attention-grabbing color for call-to-action buttons

Great email design delights the reader and sparks memories of the fun they had in college. Feeling reminiscent of positive experiences can contribute to a larger sense of camaraderie with today’s students.One way to do this is to show them how their contributions are supporting current students in creating memorable, community-building experiences.Include photos or videos of life on campus, events, scholarship recipients saying “thank you,” or new equipment being used in class to relay feelings of gratitude and inspire future giving.

Increase Alumni Engagement With BEE Pro

Designing engaging alumni fundraising communications and newsletters has never been easier using BEE Pro. Our easy-to-use, mobile-responsive, drag-and-drop editor will help you follow email best practices to drive donations and alumni engagement.Start designing your university fundraising efforts using one of our free higher education templates made with conversion in mind.

If you look close enough, you'll find that most places serve you with a personalized experience. Like how Starbucks asks for your name when ordering, and Amazon recommends similar products you may like based on previous purchases. In recent years, even personalization in email has entered the marketing world with the development of dynamic email content and emojis.

Without even noticing it, personalization has become another thing we've grown accustomed to, making it harder for businesses to stand out. While digital needs have developed over time for many of us, Gen Z is different.

Gen Z spends more than eight hours a day and grew up with these "personalized experiences." They expect digital delivery in everything—education, communication, and marketing. And not just digital communications but engaging, thought-provoking, human, and well… personalized-to-them, digital communications.

So the question is, how can universities use personalization in email by leveraging what they know about them to increase student engagement?

Universities need students to be engaged. Students support universities in every stage of the recruitment process. Students are the best marketing tool. Incoming students look at factors like student retention rates, job placement, and academic achievement, all of which suffer if students become disengaged. 

The future of the university relies on engaged students. 

Understanding Personalization in Email

Today's consumers expect personalized email content, and 76% get frustrated if expectations aren't met. Consumers know that their time is valuable and that you need them more than they need you. When content is not personalized for what suits their needs or anticipates their desires, they'll probably feel disappointed or annoyed if they even open your email. The same can be said for students. 

Email personalization is essential for communicating with Gen Z and the college population because they are looking for convenience and ease above all. They want to have all the information they need at their fingertips.

Beyond that, they want to feel taken care of. It's important to students that their university provides them with precisely what they need to succeed. And, of course, because not every student is the same — this is where personalization in email comes in.More than 80% of Gen z say they're more likely to choose a brand that personalizes content. The same can be said for whether or not they engage with their university.

Here are some ways your university can benefit from increased online student engagement with personalization:

• Improved open rates and response rates
• Boosted enrollment
• Streamlined online processes
• Enhanced emotional connections with students
• Better referrals and future giving

Knowing Your Audience for Effective Email Personalization

Segmenting an extensive email list into smaller groups is a best practice among email marketers that higher education professionals can easily apply to their marketing efforts. 

Segmentation enables you to provide a more customized message that will resonate better with each smaller group of students. 

In fact, brands that rely on email segmentation and personalization have seen revenue increase by up to 760%.

Now the question is, how can colleges collect this information?

A simple common practice is asking for it on your website's basic interest form or sending an automated survey once students accept the university. Some examples of segments could be: 

• Areas of study: Each area of study could receive personalized emails on networking opportunities, jobs, and internships. 
• Special interests/activities: You could share upcoming events or clubs depending on the student's interest.
• Dorm: You wouldn't want to send information about Dorm F to Students in Dorm A. Segmenting this group ensures that all the information you share applies to each student. 
• Year in school: This helps deliver specific information about graduation, orientation, new-student activities, etc. 

Email Personalization Inspiration

We’re big fans of showing, not telling. Here are a few ways brands use personalization to inspire your next student body email.

In this email from United, they use personalization to remind travelers about their upcoming vacation. Along with providing a clear CTA to book their next vacation. This email helps travelers keep United top of mind next time they think about a vacation. 

You can follow a similar strategy in your higher education emails to inform students about specific classes or activities a student participated in or remind them to register for next semester’s classes. This email could provide all the details, like due dates, and links to the next steps. Like United, you want students to keep this email in mind when registering for events/classes.

In this email from PetSmart, they use personalization by including information about this specific customer. For instance, the use of their email in the top right corner. Couples with the display of how many points they have until their next reward and information about their "pet family." They even take it one step further by asking for more information about the customer's pets. Perhaps to even further segment their list and therefore create more personalized emails. 

A fun way to incorporate this into your higher education emails is by reminding students of how many credits they need until graduation and personalizing information about classes they’ve taken or professors they’ve had.

Crafting Personalized Subject Lines and Greetings

The subject line is the most crucial part of the email—it persuades the reader to open it, so don't forget to use personalization in the subject line when possible. Consider writing email communications as if you're writing to a close friend. This comfort level will help the recipient feel more closely connected with your school.Here are some ways to personalize a subject line to maximize email engagement:

• Lead with their name: , we hope to see you at orientation!
• Connect with their interests: 3 ways our rock
• Notice their graduation date: Only days left until graduation!

Using Dynamic Content to Personalize Emails

Rely on your marketing automation platform or CRM to deliver fully personalized email experiences using dynamic content. Systems offer a variety of ways to personalize email content. With these functions, you can replace entire paragraphs of text, images, etc., based on information stored in a recipient's profile.The email example above from PetSmart featured two dog icons with the names and birthdays of the pet family. Through dynamic content and segmentation, PetSmart creates a personalized email experience for this customer.Some technology-savvy schools have taken dynamic content further, includingpersonalized videosin emails! Personalization puts the reader into the story—helping them to envision themselves at the university. Gen Z is a high consumer of video content, making them the perfect target demographic for this type of effort.

Personalizing Calls-to-Action for Increased Student Engagement

Another way to increase student engagement in communications is to personalize the call-to-action (CTA). The CTA is your invitation to the reader to take the next step, whether applying, contacting you to schedule a visit, or completing a survey.To create a compelling, personalized CTA, keep the reader in mind. How can you connect with them emotionally using the information you have collected about them? A great example if to use "I" or "My" in the copy to make the button more intuitive for the reader.Here are some examples of personalized CTAs.

• Start now,
• Apply for
• I want to join!
• Yes, I'll share my insights.

BEE Pro Email Templates for Higher Education

Connecting with the students of Gen Z requires new, engaging means of communication. Email personalization provides them with an experience tailored to their unique needs and interests and allows them to feel cared for and connected with their university.BEE Pro allows higher education professionals to design on-brand, customized emails quickly and easily. A great example of BEE Pro in action, Dwayne Rice, Senior Associate Director of CRM Engagement and Digital Marketing from USC Marshall School of Business.Rice uses BEE Pro to create personalized emails for his 11 graduate programs to communicate with potential and current students and alumni.Start from scratch or use one of our ready-to-useHigher Education templates. Either way,get started for freeand happy designing!

The higher education industry encounters numerous challenges in the process of designing a great college newsletter. Challenges such as, struggling to keep up with the rapidly advancing technology in email marketing, contenting to limited resources, and ensuring that the campaigns are both relevant and engaging for their wide range of target audiences.The truth is, emails have evolved from simply being a form of communication to a tool for universities to establish connections with students, potential recruits, alumni, and their own internal teams.It's no longer enough to send simple text-based emails; now, the higher education industryhave to strive to ensure their messages are read and opened amidst increasing competition.Keep reading for email design ideas from professionals across different industry that you can implement today to design a great college newsletter.

1. Include Upcoming Events

"Make sure to include upcoming events on the college campus. When people read newsletters, it's nice for them to feel like they have things to look forward to. It also makes them feel like they're in an environment where there's always something fun or interesting going on. This lets them continue to look forward to receiving your newsletter."Maegan Griffin, Founder, CEO, Nurse Practitioner , Skin Pharm

2. Incorporate Images and Videos into Your Emails 

"Incorporate images and videos into your college newsletter to make it visually appealing and engaging for readers. Images and videos break up text blocks and add interest to your newsletter, so it’s more likely readers will read all the way through. Additionally, images and videos illustrate your point or visually tell a story, so your audience better understands your messaging.When using images and videos in your newsletter, use only high-quality images that are relevant to your topic. Otherwise, you wind up distracting readers from the messaging rather than help them comprehend it."Matthew Ramirez, CEO, Rephrasely

3. Include Topics Readers Enjoy

"Newsletters usually suffer from low open rates because they fail to address the needs of their audience.This often happens with college newsletters because faculty assume students are solely interested in scholastic topics. College newsletters rely as much on marketing psychology as any business email campaign does.Your first step should be sending out surveys to collect data on students' interests. Then, infuse these topics into your newsletter in the form of content pillars. By weaving in the student body’s ongoing interests—clubs, campus events, or sponsored job opportunities—you'll instantly see an uptick in your open and click through rates."Brian Nagele, CEO, Restaurant Clicks

4. Try Black and White Design

"One tip for designing a great college newsletter is to consider using black and white design elements. Black and white visuals can provide a clean, modern look that will draw readers in and help make your content more readable. This way you can draw readers’ focus toward the content, rather than eye-catching color or images.It’s also important to make sure the layout is organized, with a hierarchy of headings and subheadings that naturally guide readers through the content.Try using a grid-based design to ensure that all elements and texts are in the appropriate place on the newsletter. This breaks up the monotony of a black and white composition, making it more engaging for readers."Shaun Connell, Founder, WritingTips.org

5. Make the Layout Easy to Navigate

"One great tip for designing a college newsletter is to make sure that the layout is easy to navigate. When it comes to layout, simplicity is key. Use easy-to-read fonts and spacing, and limit the number of different typefaces you use.Breaking your content down into digestible chunks and using headings and subheadings will help your readers quickly scan through the information. Add images and graphs that’ll break up the text and add interest, but make sure they’re relevant to your topic. You also want to be careful about how much information you include—newsletters can quickly become overwhelming if you try to pack in too much information."Kate Wojewoda-Celinska, Marketing Manager, Spacelift

6. Ensure Your Emails Are Accessible

I would ensure that your newsletter is accessible to individuals with disabilities across all devices.Responsive design is when a website or email newsletter is correctly rendered on a variety of platforms, including desktop, mobile, and tablet. Making responsive newsletters is essential as more people read their emails on mobile devices.Thankfully, there are several email marketing platforms available that make it really simple to create flexible newsletter designs.Alice Hall, Co-Founder & Creative Director, Rowen Homes

Design a Great College Newsletter using BEE Pro

The higher education sector is facing increasing difficulties in creating impactful and engaging email campaigns. With the evolution of technology and shifting design trends, higher education institutions must work harder to achieve their goals through email marketing.To address these challenges, it is crucial for these institutions to look to other industries for inspiration and stay current with the latest design trends.BEE Pro, a collaborative email builder, provides a solution to these difficulties. With access to the most recent design trends and over 1,500 templates designed for conversion, higher education institutions can easily create emails for various audiences, such asstudents, recruits, or alumni’s. BEE Pro's latest feature, "synced row", takes email creation to the next level. This feature allows for effortless and seamless updating of your design systems such as -- headers, footers, social links, and menu bars across all templates.Simply make changes to a row in one template, and those changes will automatically "sync" in all other areas where the row is used. This helps keep designs consistent, accurate, and on brand. To learn more about the "Synced Row" feature, watch the video below.https://youtu.be/aQAbfcxkqTg?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=6-tips-for-designing-a-great-college-newsletter

With 2022 coming to a fast close, now is the time to start planning and creating end-of-year email campaigns to thank your stakeholders and stay top of mind when they begin considering who to continue supporting.These campaigns are specially important because they set the tone for what's to come in the new year from yourinitiatives, goals, and ongoing efforts to support your communities.We know the importance of this season for nonprofit organizations. That’s why to help nonprofits craft successful end-of-the-year email campaigns, we asked CEOs and marketing professionals this question for their best tips. From leaning into “gifting” language to not being shy to make ‘the ask,’ there are several tips to help you launch memorable and engaging end-of-the-year email campaigns that leave members and donors excited for the year to come.Here are 10 tips for creating successful end-of-the-year email campaigns for nonprofits:

• Lean into "Gifting" Language

• Use Visuals/Infographics for Impact

• Include a Video Recap of the Year

• Tell Your Organization’s Story

• Segment Your Emails

• Reach Out to Avid Donors Through a Soft Launch

• Avoid Repeating the Same Subject Line

• Thanking Your Donors

• Don’t Forget to Follow Up

• Don’t Be Shy to Make the Ask

Lean Into "Gifting" Language

" The end of the year coincides with the holidays when most folks are in a mindset of goodwill and giving. Nonprofits can capitalize on this connection to humanity and frame engagement as a natural extension of the holidays. For example, a subject line might read, "There's a gift you're forgetting!" These occasions often remind people how blessed they are, plus they are conditioned to give gifts. By crafting messaging around gift-giving versus donation, you can leverage seasonal generosity and drive one final fundraising push for the year." Michael Alexis, CEO, TeamBuilding

Use Visuals/Infographics for Impact

“Visuals are super-effective when it comes to making your messages effective. They grab attention and evoke emotions. You need that to successfully launch end-of-the-year email campaigns. Use relevant images; you can capture your own or use stock images. Or, use infographics to spread awareness about your cause. For instance, if your nonprofit is working on improving the lives of homeless communities, include relevant stats in your infographics. In short, visuals grab interest faster than text. At this time of the year, when every brand and charity organization is launching campaigns, there’s a high chance yours might get blended into the noise. Unique imagery and infographics can help you stand out from the crowd.”Daniel Foley, Director of Marketing, SEO Stack

PRO Tip: With the rate of emails consistently increasing, make sure all images and visuals and optimized for mobile viewing.

Include a Video Recap of the Year

“Include an inspirational video that serves as a recap of all that the non-profit was able to accomplish over the past year. Express gratitude to your donors and supporters in this video as well. Then you can make the ask for further donations to keep the non-profit's initiatives going. A well-done video montage with moving music can be an extremely powerful way to convey a message. Showing rather than telling can make people feel more connected to your non-profit and, thus, more willing to support it.”Miles Beckett, Co-Founder & CEO, Flossy

Tell Your Organization’s Story

“Create a compelling, cohesive email campaign that tells your organization’s story. Create a series of content-rich emails that include compelling text and images, and new appeal information. After that, you can even follow up with current donors. Create an email template for your campaigns with aspects like date, time, text, and image links. With these features in place, you’re ready to engage donors with a new offer.”Ilija Sekulov, Marketing & SEO, Mailbutler

Segment Your End-Of-Year Email Campaigns

“Since the end of the year is always busy, many other non-profits will be reaching out, too. Make sure you send at least 6-7 emails up until December to stay top-of-mind for your supporters. Also, segment your emails to nurture your leads, and don't become repetitive to the supporters who have already donated.”Brenton Thomas, CEO, Twibi Digital Marketing Agency

Reach Out to Avid Donors Through a Soft Launch

“Gain some early momentum for your campaign by doing a soft launch to a select group of your loyal supporters two weeks before you send it out to the general public. Craft an email introducing your campaign by emphasizing the value they bring to your cause, motivating them to help jumpstart your fundraising effort. Write a compelling subject line that's time and personalized but also has a sense of urgency: "The best gift you can give those in need this holiday season." Include a concise description of your campaign and its goals in the body of the email. And mention their previous involvement with your nonprofit and the impact their gifts have made. You may also want to offer special incentives that only your most avid supporters will receive. Be sure to thank them and then sign it with your name above your organization's name. Closing your email with a personal touch shows supporters how much you value them.”Maria Shriver, Cofounder & CEO, MOSH

Avoid Repeating the Same Subject Line

“It's not unusual to get no response from your prospects on the initial part of your email campaign. If that happens, avoid repeating the same subject line in your follow-up emails. The reason is that it only increases your chance of getting rejected again or, worse, being treated as spam. Make the subject line more personal and approachable instead of letting it sound generic and transactional. That will give your recipients the idea that the message comes from a real person and is not just automatically generated by the system.”Sam Tabak, Board Member, RMBH Charities

Thanking Your Donors

“It’s never enough to thank your donors; after all, it’s all because of them that you’re successfully running a non-profit, and more importantly, the right people are being helped. Craft unique, warm, beautiful, and heartfelt thank you emails beforehand to thank your donors the moment they donate. You can even take a step further by delivering the physical hand-written thank you cards to their doorstep. The goal is to appreciate their valuable input in helping you accomplish your nonprofit’s mission. Make sure you’re doing that; in your emails, on social media, on your website, and on your donation page.”Zephyr Chan, Founder & growth marketer, Better Marketer

Don’t Forget to Follow Up

“Bashing out the first batch of your emails and then waiting for donations to skyrocket is not what you should be doing. Chances are your donors are busy, they missed your emails, or they read your emails but forgot to process the donation. Constantly remind your donors with follow-up emails. Send at least 5 follow-up emails with different relevant subject lines and body copy — while keeping the same goal and narrative.You can even take this further by segmenting the less active donors and targeting them with exclusive emails with the goal of re-engaging and, possibly, donating. The year-end campaign at least lasts one month or so. Throughout this period, keep monitoring the performance, and keep following up individually with your most important donors.”Adam Fard, Founder, and CEO, Adam Fard UX Agency

Don’t Be Shy to Make the Ask

“Call to Action in email marketing is super important. In your year-end fundraising campaign, ensure you’re focusing enough on crafting CTAs that are compelling, bold, and make the ask. People need to feel the stir when reading those calls to action.“Donate Now,” “Support The Campaign,” or “Raise Funds” — these calls to action are vague, common, and don’t inspire the action as much. Ensure your call to action are personalized and hyper-focused on your organization, campaign, goal, and your target audience. For instance, “Name, Save a Child’s Life by Just Donating $5. Please Donate by Clicking Her. Or, “Name, Someone In Africa is Waiting for Your $5 Donation to Get The Meals for a Day. Please Donate Here”. Take these examples as inspirations only; craft unique CTAs according to your end goal and mission of your nonprofit.”Tia Campbell, Director of Marketing, Practice Reasoning Tests

Start Creating beautiful, on-brand, and effective End-Of-Year Email Campaigns with BEE Pro

Whether you want to start sharing new initiatives, fundraising, or sending a simple “Thank you” note to your stakeholders, BEE Pro has got you covered. Stakeholders want to see the initiatives their donations have supported, and you want to ensure that you’re staying top of mind in the new year, that’s why a well-crafted email campaign matters. Not only does it communicate the impact that your organization has had over the year, but it also lets your audience know what to look forward to, keeping them excited to continue to support you.Regardless, here at BEE, we know that email plays a crucial role in nonprofits year-round. That’s why we are happy and proud to help nonprofits by providing them with free or heavily discounted plans.Depending on the size of your organization, we will apply a discount of 100% off to your Team plan or a 50% off discount on our Enterprise plan.This program is for 501(C3) organizations based in the U.S. and international charitable organizations everywhere. To get started, fill out your application here! Happy Designing!

According to Gallup's findings, "only 12% of employees feel like their companies did a good job of onboarding." Not many employers realize that onboarding is much more than directing new hires to their office and assigning tasks right away. But instead, it's about finding ways to ensure and improve employee engagement from the first point of contact.While everyone within an organization is responsible for infusing company culture into everything they do, Human Resources helps manage and ensure that new employees feel safe and adapt to said culture.While onboarding emails are great at first, improving employee engagement is an ongoing effort. These efforts are especially important for remote workers who don't get to bond or experience the culture in person. Keep reading ifyou're wondering how emails can help onboard new hires and improve employee engagement.

8 Types of Email Templates to Improve Employee Engagement

Onboarding is an entire process that requires a series of several emails. We'll categorize those messages and give you simpleemail design tips to follow!

1. Thank you for your application email! 

Although this is a pre-boarding email, it's a huge part of the onboarding experience. It is the first time a potential candidate receives communication from your brand and gets to experience the company culture firsthand.A simple "thank you for your application email" goes a long way. Not only does it offer reassurance for potential candidates, but also it lets them know the next steps. This simple step is a great way to be clear and transparent while letting candidates know their time is valued and appreciated.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

2. Offer Email

The job offer email helps to translate the company's culture. It should communicate essential details regarding the position, benefits, salary, and work schedule. However, it should also include that extra "something" (team spirit) that will drive the candidate towards this position before considering another offer.Here's a sample of an offer email that captures the team's culture in a light tone:"Dear Catherine, Over the last week, we enjoyed getting to know you. We loved learning about your interest in (personalized for them), and we're impressed with your energy, skills, and experience, which would make you the perfect person to join us. The entire team and I would like to formally offer you a position as a marketing manager. Congrats!We can offer you a salary of $ annually, plus bonuses and 20 days of vacation per year. I'd love to discuss the details in our offices on Monday, 9 AM. Please contact me with any questions or comments. We are excited to hear back from you. "Often interviews can be draining, and candidates can feel like just a number by the end. By adding a personal and human touch to your offer emails, you can let them know that their time is valuable and that you paid attention to who they are as a person beyond what they can bring to the team.

3. Welcome Email

Now that the person is officially part of your team, you can add more fun elements to the design and message. This email should make the candidate feel excited to have joined the team and offer an opportunity to learn more about the company, the culture, and their co-workers.Here are a few contents and design tips to keep in mind:

• Include information about their direct team members and any other members they will be collaborating with.
• You can use an online collage maker to quickly build photo collages. Include photos of team-building events and your team's day-to-day atmosphere.
• Include a section with useful links and resources. These may be how-to tutorials, library resources, and even food delivery services that your team usually relies on.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

4. Announcing a New Hire Email

Whenever someone joins the team, everyone should be made aware of them. This allows other employees the opportunity to get to know new team members that they'll be collaborating with and congratulate them personally. This is also great to helps avoid the need to introduce themselves over and over again.While this email is to introduce someone in a new position, it should also be about the human - beyond what they are bringing to the team.These are some details you should include in this message:

• A photo of the new hire
• Details about their position and responsibilities, so everyone will know how this new hire will be included in their own workflow.   
• Previous experience,
• Any hobbies, skills, and passions. 

You can also include new hires announcements in the company's HR newsletter to remind the team about last month's newcomers and share their stories.

5. Corporate Training Email

Training emails are especially important. They provide employees with knowledge on how to do their job effectively and efficiently and how they can meet personal and organizational goals. Trainings should be sent to teams on a quarterly basis and should include:

• Main details about the topic of the training.
• Text or video instructions about the organization's values, vision, and security rules. 
• How-to videos on how to complete technical tasks. This is a crucial element of these emails, as it helps a new hire to understand how to use the corporate hardware and software. For example, explaining how they can uninstall programs on Mac and install the ones that are needed is easy to do via email. 

Training emails should also be sent out every time a new tool, policy, and/or procedure is implemented in the organization.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

6. Anniversary or Birthday Email

It's great when the HR team reminds the entire team of birthdays and anniversaries.These emails allow employees to feel like they are part of a community and cared for. This is the right moment to add a dose of fun to the message. Here's an example of the text you can include:It's October 7; an important date! Our colleague Michelle is celebrating her birthday. Everyone is invited to a small party in the meeting room on October 7 at 4 PM. The drinks (and cake!) are on us.  Here is an email collection by BEE Pro to help you celebrate your team's next birthday.If you're writing an email about the first anniversary of someone's hiring, do it in the same light tone. This time, you can include important achievements for this person over the last year.

7. Collecting Feedback Email

According to People Managing People "63% of knowledge workers in the USA are open to looking for a new job within the next year." It's been an unsaid rule that the first 90 days are used as a "trial" period to see how new employees adapt to a new work environment. Now, employees are looking at organizations from that same lens during their first 30 days.Providing new employees with a safe space to give feedback during their first 30,60,90 days of employment is essential for employee retention. And using that feedback survey to make the necessary changes to the company culture. Here are some questions you can ask:

• What did you like on your first day at work?
• Would you have any suggestions on how we can improve the organization?
• What do you think about the company so far?
• Would you like to share any job-related problems you've faced during your time with us?
• How are you adapting to the work environment and your team? 

Providing employees the opportunity to provide feedback during their first 90 days allows them to feel empowered over their success. It also sets a precedent and expectation that feedback is encouraged, creating a safe space and a strong company culture.

8. Performance Review Email

Similar to the email above, this is intended to collect feedback on how the new employee is adapting to the work. Within the first month or 90-days you can ask for feedback on how they believe they've been doing and toestablish specific goals for the upcoming period. This is also a great way to see how you can improve your onboarding and training process in the future.This message shouldn’t sound too formal. Here’s an example:"Hi Marissa, We’ve been thrilled to have you working with us for the past month. We’re happy with the progress you’ve made so far, and we sincerely hope we made you feel welcome in our organization. Allow us to announce your first-ever performance review. Don’t worry; it’s not scary at all! It’s your opportunity to have an important talk with your managers, share how things have been going from your point of view, and get a few suggestions on how to get better at what you do. Hopefully, we’ll be able to set tangible goals for the future. A performance review should go both ways. Provide team members with a self-evaluation form to give them an opportunity to discuss how they have been doing and adapting to the work and workload."

Improve Employee Engagement with BEE Pro

Sign up for a free BEE Pro account today and get access to 1,500+ email and landing pages, including The BEE Recruitment Templates Collection. This collection was made with HR teams in mind to quickly onboard new team members and nurture a strong company culture from the start.

If your B2B company isn’t already heavily focused on email marketing, now is the time to start. More than 30% of B2B marketers say that email is the channel with the biggest impact on their revenue — making it clear that a strong B2B email marketing strategy is essential.A B2B strategy is going to look different from a B2C email marketing strategy. If your target audience is other businesses, you’ll need to plan your email marketing with their needs in mind. Focusing your efforts on the needs of your audience can boost your customer acquisition significantly.Ready to get started? Take a look at this top-to-bottom guide to help inform your B2B email marketing strategy and drum up more business for your brand.

Start with lead gen

Your B2B email marketing strategy should start at the very beginning: with lead generation. All of your lead gen should be done with your B2B audience in mind. Chances are, that audience is hanging out on platforms like LinkedIn. Stats back this up, showing that 65% of B2B companies succeeded with lead generation from LinkedIn. Strategic landing pages, blogs and SEO are also helpful in acquiring more B2B leads.

Segment and customize

As your email list starts to grow, segment that list into different categories so you can send personalized emails to each one. You can segment a B2B email list the same way you’d split up any list, using determinants such as geographic location, activity and purchase history to divide your customers. Add additional segments by sending out a survey email that asks questions relevant to your business. Then create segments based on the responses.(Pictured: Discover Your Users by designer Hector Titus Ruiz.)

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Send relevant content

One of the best B2B email marketing tips is to focus on sending helpful pieces of content (as Userlike does below). B2B email marketing relies more heavily on educational content than B2C does: 90% of top-performing B2B content marketers put their audiences’ informational needs first. When you send high-quality content, you’re sending what your B2B readers want to hear. Over time, you’ll establish your credibility by helping them solve their business problems. When you do go for the hard sell, they’ll be more likely to listen.Subject line: 6 tips for transparency in business ?

Target millennials

Your audience is other companies. But who exactly are you speaking to? Put a face to your audience by looking at helpful B2B email marketing statistics. For example, 46% of all B2B researchers and buyers are millennials. This means that you can boost conversions by shaping your tone of voice, references and other elements of your marketing emails to appeal to millennials.

Create emails that are mobile responsive

More and more B2B employees are using smartphones. Over 50% of B2B searches take place on smartphones, with mobile driving or influencing an average of 40% of revenue in leading B2B organizations. That’s why it’s essential that your B2B email marketing templates are mobile responsive. Pick email templates that perform equally as well on desktop and mobile, easily adapting to the device where they’re being read so your B2B customers can take in the information at a glance.

Share company updates

Any time you have company news, share it! Research has shown that many B2B email subscribers sign up because they want to stay updated on company news. News items you could share include:

• New employees joining the team
• Winning an award
• Introducing new products or pricing

(Pictured: Something Good Is Coming by designer Yorbi Barriento.)

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

Promote a webinar or event

If you have a webinar or event coming up, promote it to your B2B email list. You have an audience that wants to continue to learn and grow. So as long as the topic of your event is tailored to them, your event promotion emails are likely to get a lot of opens.In this B2B email marketing example, digital product design platform InVision shared a brief list of information an upcoming webinar would include. InVision also acknowledged that its customers had busy schedules and promised a recording after the event.Subject line: Will you be joining us? “How Animation Brings Products to Life” webinar

Wrap-up: Rinse and repeat these B2B email marketing tips

Now you’re ready to launch your B2B email marketing strategy — from the first step in the lead generation process, all the way to your signature for business email. Make things easier on yourself by using B2B email marketing templates to create your emails. BEE templates are mobile responsive, visually attractive and easy to customize. Use our templates to give these B2B email marketing tips a try and help your email strategy get off the ground!

Human resource departments are an essential part of any growing business. Their number one goal is to ensure that employee engagement remains high. This helps HR teams foster strong company culture and ensure employee retention. It’s simple: the happier employees are, the more willing they are to stay at their job. But also the more inclined they are to be productive, engaged, and proud of their work.Managers and HR departments are in constant communication and collaboration to ensure employee engagement efforts are successful. Some of these efforts are regular surveying of employees, in-person check-ins, and continuous communication of company-wide updates. These tasks are often time-consuming and repetitive and keep human resource professionals from working on more significant tasks. Because of that, these teams are reliant on smooth systems and tools that help them conduct these tasks faster and more efficiently.

Here enter email design systems:

A design system is a set of guidelines and principles that outline the components and patterns that make up your brand. When it comes to creating email newsletters, email design systems ensure that communications across the organization remain on-brand. Human resources teams often face challenges when creating engaging email content. For one, they believe that they have to build designs from scratch every time. Secondly, they over-rely on designers to maintain the visual identity of outgoing emails. These challenges take time and result in a loss of productivity and deadlines. Design systems help tackle these challenges by providing guidelines and assets to quickly and easily create professional and on-brand newsletters and landing pages.

How to Use Email Design Systems in HR

In today’s era of remote work, email has become the most effective way of communicating. According to a DMR report, the average office employees receive 121 emails per day. For this reason, each email sent out by a company needs to be on-brand and engaging. If not, they might be ignored or worse, sent to spam.Many HR teams see email marketing as essential but time-consuming. Implementing email design systems helps reduce time spent on employee newsletters, announcements, and updates.An effective email design system includes:

• Brand colors and brand guidelines: font size and usage, logo usage, icons, etc.
• Reusable content blocks: headers, footers, call to action buttons, social links. Reusable content blocks are an example of modular design. 
• Email templates: templates for job opportunities, onboarding, offboarding, or employee satisfaction surveys.

BEE Pro has over 1,400+ professionally designed email templates for any occasion.While there are many other email design systems HR teams can implement, these are the three most essential. Not only do these systems help save time in the email creation process, but empower HR teams to stop overlying on designers.The next step is to find the right tool.

Finding the right design tool to implement email design systems.

Enrica Lipari from our People & Culture team shared that finding the right tool should “enable us to do our work efficiently and effectively.” Many design tools take some time to learn, adding to an already busy HR schedule. They are also not user-friendly and can be complex for non-designers. When it comes to finding the right tool to implement email design systems, there are three things HR teams should look for:

Collaborative Features

HR teams often collaborate with designers and copywriters to ensure all outgoing communication is consistent and cohesive. A design tool that offers collaborative features helps cut down the time spent emailing back and forth. As well as, ensuring everyone is working together to achieve a common goal.Collaborative features include anything from co-editing, the ability to leave comments on the platform, to user roles and management control.BEE Pro is a free no-code design tool that makes it easy for everyone to design, collaborate, and send emails all in one platform. The multi-user support allows teams to easily design, review content, and leave comments, speeding the email creation process.

Time-Saving Features and Ease of Use 

As previously mentioned, most of the tasks done by HR teams are repetitive and time-consuming. The right design tool should help HR teams save time at every step of the process, as well as,be intuitive enough for everyone to use regardless of skill level. The BEE Template Cataloghelps you do both. With over 1,500+ free customizable templates and the global setting options, you can easily customize any template and make it your own. For instance, Enrica and the rest of the People & Culture team use email templates within BEE Pro to quickly onboard employees and send out company updateThe saved row feature allows HR teams to build design systems and reusable content blocks to reuse across emails and landing pages. Synced rowstakes it one step further and helps keep design systems updated, error-free, and on brand. With synced rows, changing the contents of a row in one templates automatically "syncs" said changes in all area where that row takes place.This is especially useful for headers, footers, social links, and menu bars that need to be updated regularly.

Ready to get started? 

Sign up for a free BEE Pro account today and get access to 1,400+ email and landing pages, including The BEE Recruitment Templates Collection. This collection was made with HR teams in mind. Quickly onboard new team members, share company-wide updates, and post job opportunities.

Use this template in Beefree!

Use this template in Beefree!

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

While there is no way to predict the future of remote work, one thing is for sure - remote collaboration is here to stay. Even if some businesses keep offices, nearly 50% of U.S. employees won’t return to jobs that don’t offer some type of remote work. For the design and marketing community, this makes remote design feedback a must.There are several challenges that come with remote collaboration. Vague feedback, lack of context for projects, and sharp learning curves for new tools make it difficult for teams to work on assets together.Nearly everyone needs to communicate these days: HR teams creating company newsletters. Growth teams designing a new onboarding email. Content marketers crafting landing pages for the latest campaign. And these teams always have a mix of skills. Designers, copywriters, marketers and more. Designing together is a must.This article will help make sure your feedback is constructive, as well as recommend tools that allow for remote design collaboration and comments.

How to give useful design feedback on a remote team

Whether your team has implemented formal design reviews or simply shares feedback on the fly, it’s pivotal to establish standards for feedback that leave individuals feeling empowered to do their best work.

Know your onboarding processes

Chaotic onboarding makes for difficult collaboration. Everyone wants to move forward quickly and with confidence, and leveraging design tool features is pivotal for this process.Before onboarding a new team member or client, know the following:

• Which design tool best suits the need of your business
• The collaboration features for communicating within the design tool and how collaborators will be notified (notification centers, tagging, emails, etc) 
• How subscriptions work and the price per team member or user 

Embrace radical candor

“Radical candor”, coined by author Kim Scott, refers to the practice of giving straightforward feedback while maintaining a positive relationship with your team. Scott ranks types of feedback on a scale that has Caring Personally on one axis and Challenging Directly on the other.She posits that there are four main types of feedback:

• Ruinous Empathy. AKA avoiding giving feedback to spare someone’s feelings. 
• Manipulative Insincerity. Giving vague or lazy feedback to assert power over someone. 
• Obnoxious Aggression. Giving accurate feedback in an unkind way. 
• Radical Candor. Being honest about feedback while showing that you care about the person’s growth and success. 

Radical candor is healthy in any work environment, but it’s especially useful when communicating online. Your team can't rely on body language and context. So it’s vital that you show empathy intentionally, while also being specific with the feedback that you’re giving.

Give feedback regularly and predictably 

It’s natural for team members to want to know how to improve their work, but no one wants to be micromanaged. Set a regular cadence for feedback so they know when to expect critiques on their designs.It’s also best practice to have an agreed-upon rubric or standard for work, so that creatives feel that they are being evaluated equally and know what they are working towards.Beyond establishing the when, also establish the how. Which tools are you using to give feedback? How will you know when the feedback has been incorporated? What happens when one design has multiple collaborators?

Work with creatives to set goals 

Every person is different and will best receive feedback in different ways. One way to ensure that your feedback is useful to the designers and copywriters you’re working with is to set mutual goals.For example, maybe you know that this designer is working on improving their mobile designs. In this case, you can tilt your feedback towards developing this skill set. This helps frame feedback as an act of mentorship, rather than a critique.

Address specific elements to move fast and prevent mistakes 

When it comes to design feedback, specificity is king. It’s the difference between quickly addressing issues and getting things done versus becoming stuck in a slew of comments and never-ending back-and-forth.Highlighting specific elements using tools that have comment features is the best way to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Tools to give design feedback 

It’s challenging to be specific about feedback when working on complex digital assets.For example, how do you provide feedback on one call-to-action button when there might be four of them in an email? Or how do you give feedback on different versions of the same asset (like a desktop vs mobile-designed landing page)? Things get messy, fast.Depending on the digital asset you are working on, there are several tools to help you and your team collect design feedback quickly and accurately. Here are our favorites.

1. BEE Pro: BEE Pro gives creatives the power to create response designs without any coding knowledge. Design emails and landing pages with your team using a drag and drop interface and always-expanding collaboration features.    
2. Figma: Loved by designers to create user interfaces of all kinds, Figma includes many collaboration tools, including real-time multi-user editing. 
3. Canva: Adopted by millions of users around the world, Canva helps teams collaborate on creating graphics for social media campaigns, presentations, videos and more. 
4. InVision: One of the pioneers in bringing collaboration to design tools, InVision continues to innovate and their Freehand product aims at merging a whiteboard with a digital design suite. 
5. Adobe XD: Adobe XD brings real-time collaboration to teams that are used to working with Adobe products. It also puts the accent on helping create design systems collaboratively.

Streamlining the design review process with Viewer role

Emails and landing pages are often cross-functional digital assets. On top of that, different stakeholders come in and out of the process as a campaign develops. A member from another department may “check in” on the asset, or sometimes an outside partner or client needs to give approval before something goes live.When people are popping in and out of the workflow, it’s hard to keep track of feedback and changes. Especially when they don’t have a subscription to your design tool.We recently addressed this challenge, by introducing the new Viewer role in BEE Pro. It allows you to invite anyone (in or outside of your organization) to review the email or page you’re working on and provide feedback, without having to pay for another BEE Pro account.

A Viewer can comment directly in the visual builder, but they cannot edit the design or the copy.They can create new comment threads or respond to existing ones, so feedback is accurate and content-specific. But since they cannot edit, they don’t need to worry about accidentally breaking something - and you don’t have to worry about unwanted changes.BEE Pro helps businesses quickly design high-performing digital campaigns. With the new Viewer role, collaboration becomes even easier and faster. Available now on the Team plan and above.If you’re new to BEE Pro, contact us or get started with a free trial.