Promotional Email
Use promotional emails to promote sign-ups and conversions for your product, service, or event.
What is a Promotional Email?
A promotional email is sent out to a user to encourage them to sign up for a product, service, or event. The major purpose of a promotional email is to promote a product, service, subscription, discount, or event through an eye-catching, enticing email.
Who uses Promotional Emails?
Promotional emails may be used by any organization that promotes a product, service, or event. Marketers in roles such as demand generation, product marketing, or email marketing may send promotional emails.
What to include in a Promotional Email?
There are a lot of factors to consider when building a promotional-up email. Here are some of the email elements to consider.
| Email Design Element | Best Practices |
|---|---|
| Send Time | Send the email at a time when your target audience is most likely to be checking their email (account for recipient’s timezone). |
| Sender | Use a recognizable and trustworthy sender name and email address. |
| Subject Line | Use action-oriented language to convey the benefit of signing up. Include a sense of urgency or exclusivity to encourage recipients to act quickly. |
| Preview Text | Add intrigue to the email by highlighting the key benefit of the product, service, or event. |
| Body Content | Brief introduction to the offer and its benefits. Clear instructions on how to sign-up and take advantage of the offer. |
| Call-to-action (CTA) | Use clear and specific language for the CTA (e.g. "Sign-Up Now" or "Get Your Free Trial"). |
| Personalization | Use the recipient's name. |
| Branding | Use the brand logo in recommended resolution; use brand fonts and colour scheme. |
| Footer | Standard branded footer with email, telephone, and full address. Provide clear contact information in case the user needs assistance with their interaction. |
Anatomy of a Promotional Email
Let’s look at an example from Hootsuite.
Why marketing teams love Knak
95%better, faster campaigns = more success
22 minutesto create an email*
5x lessthan the cost of a developer
50x lessthan the cost of an agency**
* On average, for enterprise customers
** Knak base price
Promotional Email Examples
Fitbit - Nationwide step challenge
Fitbit challenges America to move together with a national step challenge.
What works well:
- Beautiful illustration
- CTA is clear
- Next steps highlighted
Vimeo - Sign-up for Vimeo Create
Vimeo shares its mobile video maker, Vimeo Create.
What works well:
- Good use of graphics
- Visual design blocks key sections
- Steps highlight product setup
Hootsuite - Extended free trial offer
Hootsuite uses a promotional email to share an exclusive, extended free trial with potential users.
What works well:
- Cultivates sense of exclusivity
- CTA is clear
- Benefits of offer highlighted
Wistia - Sign up for a 14-day free trial
Wistia promotes its 14-day trial for video creators.
What works well:
- Brand elements on point
- Benefits highlight with easy-to-read bullets
- CTA is specific and action-oriented
Packhelp - Black Friday offer
Packhelp reminds customers to get ahead of the Black Friday rush and order packaging ASAP.
What works well:
- Sense of urgency
- CTA button design
- Copy is specific and direct
Lending Tree - Following Up With New Users
This follow-up email from Lending Tree uses personalization, clean design, and strong branding to get potential customers to re-engage with them.
What works well:
- Personalized follow-up encourages engagement
- Value proposition is strongly reinforced
- Multiple CTAs allow recipients to easily find what they’re looking for
Musicbed - Promote Sign-Up
Musicbed makes a compelling case to sign up for its enterprise plan with clean design, on-brand imagery, and benefit-driven copy that gets to the point.
What works well:
- High-contrast branding and clean design
- CTA is prominently displayed
- Benefits are short and concise
Itaki - Find Your Ideal Teacher
Itaki invites a potential customer to find the perfect teacher for learning a new language.
What works well:
- Effective use of testimonials
- Concise and on-brand copy
- CTAs at beginning and end of email
Skillshare - 30-Day Free Trial
Skillshare offers a 30-day free trial to their platform.
What works well:
- Clear CTA
- Unique value propositions are outlined
- Color choices increase readability
Create emails - like this one - in less than 22 minutes*
*on average for Enterprise customers
Promotional Email FAQ
A promotional email is a type of marketing email sent to inform viewers about promotions, discounts, new products, or special events. Its purpose is to boost engagement and sales by directing customers towards a clear CTA.
To make a promotional email, you should start by defining your objectives and understanding your target audience. You’ll want content that is concise, enticing, and relevant, highlighting the feature promotion(s). Most importantly, you’ll want your email to direct towards a singular and prominent CTA.
To write an effective promotional email, ensure you’re speaking in your specific brand voice. The language should be clear, direct, and most importantly, concise. Viewers should be able to scan the email and identify the purpose and potential benefit. In addition, the promotion / offering should be distinctly highlighted, with a visible CTA for easy conversions.
A promotional email should be brief and to the point, ideally less than 200 words. Promotional emails with a word count between 50-125 have the highest clickthrough rates.
Typically, the best days to send promotional emails are midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), However, this varies within every audience and industry. You should test different days and times to determine what works best for you and your target audience.
Sending too many emails can lead to rising unsubscribe rates and low engagement. Although it is different for every industry and audience, you generally shouldn’t send anymore than a few emails per week. It’s essential to test different email volumes to monitor the impact on metrics like open rates, engagement rates, unsubscribe rates, and more.
Want to learn more?
There are even more email example categories to explore.
