Commercial email was expected to drive $63.1 billion in sales last year according to the Power of Direct Marketing study. 

So, if you are looking for a cost effective way to acquire more customers, promote your business, and sell more products – email is definitely for you.

A good product email (or series of emails) can go a long way to helping you reach your targets. It will showcase your products, provide information and help to facilitate sales.

Here is a product email that I recently received from Mimco with a list of elements that make it so effective.

1. Pre-header text: This text often appears as an extension of your subject line in many email clients. The pre-header text is also the very first thing readers see after opening an email so it draws your recipients attention, helps you get more opens and is very important if there is any image blocking.
2. Logo and brand: Brand consistency is essential when creating a product email. Brand recognition generally provokes a certain amount of trust thereby reassuring your audience that the email they have received is legitimate. It is also worth remembering that ‘brand’ is more have just a logo. Ultimately it’s everything in your email including the colours, imagery, language and tone that you use.
3. Weblinks: Weblinks help you to drive traffic to your website or shopping cart. They also provide important sign posts for recipients who may not be interested in your email but would like to visit your website.
4. Urgency: Creating a sense of urgency is a very good technique for helping close a sale. I’m not just talking about the good old CALL IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES ‘shouty’ sense of urgency either. It’s more about reminding recipients when sales end, when stock is running low or sharing the benefit of making a purchase sooner rather than later. Creating a sense of urgency can encourage recipients to act rather than setting the email aside.
5. Calls to purchase: This is the most important (and unfortunately the most over looked) part of any sales email. Make it easy for recipients to purchase your product or service. Don’t make them go hunting for an option to buy. Include buttons that take them straight to a shopping cart. Or if you don’t have a shopping cart, make sure you provide them with a stockist, store locator or an option to buy via mail or phone.
6. Relevant/ tailored content: Make sure you are in-tune with your audience and environment in which you are selling. For example, this email is a seasonal email and it uses a combination of imagery, colours and language to create a theme that is relevant to the recipients. You can also tailor content by using event related news, fashions, trends and your audience’s specific interests and preferences. 
7. Catalogue imagery and information: Like a print catalogue, a product email must showcase your ‘hero’ products and offers. There should be adequate information to prompt a purchase but keep it punchy enough to avoid clutter. Use images, colours and text styles to create an easily scanned structure while remaining conscious of potential image blocking issues.
8. Getting attention with video or animation: A 2010 study by the Web Video Marketing Council found that 73% of marketers say that video-based email marketing is more likely than static content to generate higher conversion and purchase rates. In this email all of the umbrellas open and close so that recipients can see what they look like in both states. Animation and video are very engaging mediums and there are a number of ways you can use them to enhance your emails.
9. Incentives: Providing recipients with free shipping offers, small discounts on future purchases, or the chance to enter a competition can spark their interest and also forms a positive brand connection. I love the way that this Mimco email includes a competition that is really well targeted towards their audience.
10. Social sharing: Use social media to help spread the word about your product. As well as including links for pre-filled tweets and status updates, you could offer an incentive such as a discount in an attempt to encourage your audience to promote you.
11. Relate to your audience: Think about your prospects and customers. What are their tastes and preferences? What are the sorts of things they really care about? Do they have a lot of time to go through a long email or do they just want to know about any sales or specials? Always remain focused on the needs of your audience and let this guide you when designing your product emails.

Over to you. Have we missed anything in this list? Or do you have an example of a product email you’d like to share? Let us know using the comments section below.

Posted by:
Kristin Huddleston
Marketing Coordinator

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We will soon be launching some new features and sprucing up some existing ones. Here is a preview of what is to come over the next month.

Grow your email list on Facebook

Social updating brought you the ability to post to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts when you send your emails. The system dashboard social widget allows you to view your news feeds and post status updates directly from your Vision6 account.

Introducing the missing ingredient, soon you will be able to place your forms into any Facebook Page that you are an administrator of. In just a few clicks you will be able to start growing your subscriber list via your facebook page.

We have also created a special web form template (designed to the optimal size for Facebook) so that your web form doesn’t look out of place when added to Facebook.

More flexibility with your social updates

We will be improving Facebook social updates to allow you to select the image and text that is displayed.

All the help you need when you want it

We are introducing a new widget to your dashboard that will display a range of on-demand training videos. So you can do in-system training whenever it is convenient for you. You can even do training on the couch in your pyjamas!

The Knowledge Centre is also undergoing a makeover.

Web Form Editor… it’s getting better all the time

You will soon be able to easily copy any component or field. We’ve also added new font colours and size options for a Field Description.

Uploading contacts and managing fields made even easier

We have made more improvements to the uploading contacts process. When mapping fields to your list you can easily edit field names by clicking on the new edit icon to the right of the field. There is now no need to go to the Web Form Editor to do this.

We are always working on new features and improvements so subscribe to the blog to be first to find out.

Enjoy!
The Team @Vision6

It’s that time again, the deadline for your upcoming email newsletter is looming and you just can’t find the energy or inspiration to even start.

In fact, you find yourself staring at the screen with eyes slightly out of focus and fingers itching to type ‘w-w-w-dot-f-a-c-e-b-o-o…’ into your web browser.

Sound familiar? Well help is at hand. Instead of procrastinating, shake off the cobwebs by going for a walk (depending on the neighbourhood), bouncing ideas around with a colleague, or drawing a mind map to organise your thoughts.

If that doesn’t work, check out the list of ideas below.

Make some friends

1. Invite other staff members to contribute stories to the newsletter.

2. Find that person who’s always taking photos of team activities and projects and ask if they’ve got anything you can use.

3. See that grad student sitting and staring out the window or that guy whose project has just finished? Go and have a chat and ask them if they would like to help brainstorm or have a go at writing an article.

4. Make friends in high places. Many company directors and team leaders often have messages or news they would like to share with clients but they just don’t have the time. So help them out and ask them if there is anything important they would like you to write about.

5. Introduce the new guy or girl in a staff profile or interview. Or re-introduce an existing team member that your audience really needs to know (or know better).

6. Check in with your friendly local industry association. Nearly every industry from Engineering to Hospitality to Advertising has an industry association so find out if they would like to contribute to your newsletter.

Think like a journalist and sniff out a story

7. Find out the news for your industry. Browse industry publications and websites and see what are the latest innovations, trends or scandals. 

8. What’s on the radar? What are people talking about around the water cooler? Yes I’m sure there is quite a lot of talk about the latest Biggest Loser episode but what are people really getting passionate about? Ask 3-5 people this question and see if a pattern emerges. ‘What do you think is the most important thing going on at [company name] at the moment?’

9. Interview someone in the company who is considered (internally at least) an expert on a topic.

10. Talk to clients or other team members who talk to clients. See if you can answer a common question, spot a trend or write a ‘top 5′ list.

11. Know what your clients like? Whether it’s sneakers or coffees, write a review or invite someone else to.

If there’s no news then make some

12. Hold a competition. It could be a staff competition that you take photos of and write an article about or it could be a competition for your readers.

13. Include a survey or poll in your newsletter and use the results in the next one.

14. Write a case study. One of the best ways to demonstrate how great your company is without boasting is to let your successes speak for themselves.

15. Hold an event. Celebrate successes such as when your company wins a new client, completes a project, or organises a team bonding activity. This is not only great for your team culture, but sharing these events with your clients helps them to feel like they know you.

16. Share the love. Clients are the ‘life blood’ of companies and an easy way to make them really happy is to give them a bit of free advertising. Especially if they have something of interest to offer your recipients.

17. Investigate some social media and see if there is something you can get started on. Start by searching for what other people are saying about your company and products and then branch out to other topics relating to your audience.

Be yourself and have some fun with it

18. Tell a personal story or share some company news. Depending on your industry some clients may like to get the ‘inside scoop.’ Knowing what is going on at a company beyond the products and offerings can help your customers get to know and understand you better.

19. Do a bit of research and write an article on the company’s history. All companies have a story. Maybe it was an idea two friends had on holidays or the owner saw a fantastic opportunity?

20. Get creative and instead of writing an article show or teach your recipients something using a presentation, webinar, infographic, photo album or video.

Good luck with your next newsletter! If you have any more great content ideas please share them by commenting below.

Posted by:
Kristin Huddleston
Marketing Coordinator