5 Inspiring Creative Email Campaigns Examples

With the Internet constantly evolving and growing, one is certain - Email is the best marketing tool. According to statistics, 59% of respondents say that marketing emails influence their purchases. The same percentage of marketers say that email is their biggest source of ROI. Those numbers are big. Based on them, it’s definitely worth investing in a good email campaign. But with the number of emails one person receives daily, sending successful email campaigns can be a daunting task to fulfill.  And looking at the saturation of the market, you might think that standing out in the crowd is almost impossible. 

Table of contents

• 5 creative email marketing examples
• Conclusion

Well, there are a lot of inspiring campaigns that you can use to your advantage. I’ve selected five creative email campaign examples that are very impressive and can show you how to stand out in the sea of incoming emails.

5 creative email marketing examples

Charity: water - show the process

I try to do my fair share of good in the world. Every year I donate a certain amount of money to a non-profit organization that seems interesting and has a good reputation. However, usually when you usually donate, it’s a one-time thing and you generally have no clue what happens when the campaign is over. Charity: water did something else. They set up a campaign where once you donate, you will receive a follow-up email with information where your funds are going. They showcase the progress bar, location of the work and even more information related to your donations.

Lesson learned: Engaging customers is a foolproof way to keep customers. Showing transparency and progress instead of only the final result will make a customer feel like they’re part of something greater and that they are appreciated more. Those emails will be more likely noticed and opened in their inbox. After all, everybody wants to know where exactly their money is going. 

Creating a similar email campaign is relatively simple. By creating automated actions, you can trigger an email message each time there is a major update on the progress map. It’s also a nice touch to add to such emails something specific for the customer you are sending it to, their name, details of their donation or purchase, etc. 

Masterclass - minimalistic hook

The skill-sharing industry is booming, with their online classes, easy 24 access, and fun, bite-sized videos. In this field, one company created a very intriguing email campaign that made them stand out from the rest. Masterclass sent minimalistic emails with text condensed only to two sentences capturing the essence of the product they offer. There is not much besides that, other than a simple, clean design and a button forwarding to their page. But that is enough.

Lesson learned: Flashy is not always good. Sometimes a simple idea can go a long way. In this case, the company showed its customers exactly what was expected of them - easy, fast and to the point courses. Using one or two lines from the course itself showcased its essence and got their recipients hooked. Similarly, you can introduce this concept to your business by simplifying your campaign and finding that creative one-line hook that will make your customers intrigued. Please note though, that in order for this to work, you do need to set targeted messages based on data like customer interests and their clicks.

Spotify - show a story

Let’s be real - everybody listens to music. It helps us concentrate, shift our mood and occasionally make us jam while sitting at our desk at work. And with Spotify delivering a most personalized experience on the market, their email campaign lives up to the app. They send their users a monthly summary of their Spotify account. The design of the email is unique and most importantly, it delivers a fully personalized story for the customer. And as the story is for the customer themselves, it’s already more interesting than something that isn't directly related to them.

Lesson learned: This campaign is great for three reasons. First, it caters to already existing users who have enough data collected from them to create this email. Second, it makes the recipient feel special and catered towards. Last, campaigns like this are highly shareable on social media, and that generates more traffic. So to sum things up, you have a client who actively uses your product, and who feels acknowledged. That makes him or her more likely to return to your brand or try other things from your business since they’ll be under the impression that they will be treated with similar thoughts in the future. 

Herbivore - support the cause

Our society is getting more interested in modern struggle. Thus, we are more keen to support brands that aid with those issues. Herbivore is a plant-based cosmetic company that knows how to stay relevant within their community. They created a campaign supporting Women for Women International - a charity for women in conflict-affected countries. They pledged 30% of their sales for support. Not only that, in their email campaign they featured the artwork of a different company that also supports the cause.

Lesson learned: Keep up not just with celebrations like Black Friday, Christmas or Halloween, but also with current issues all over the world. This will build your brand awareness. People will be more likely to buy your products if they know that you stand behind good things. Furthermore, by building relationships with other companies and supporting them, your traffic will increase. It’s a simple promotional exchange that will spike interest about you with their customers as well. 

Cicada 3301/Pizza Express - make it interactive

So, this is not exactly an email campaign example, but definitely worth mentioning. Cicada 3301 is an alleged organization that posted a set of puzzles all over the Internet. They did this three times to supposedly recruit bright minds from the public. The mystery of this challenge was never truly solved. It was, however, a great inspiration for Project Architeuthis and similar programs. For example, there was a mysterious email sent from the company Pizza Express. It contained a logo, hashtag and a vague sentence with CTA “Join the hunt”. Turns out it was a hide-and-seek challenge for their 50th birthday, where 50 vouchers for $1,000 were hidden all over the UK.

Lesson learned: Creating an interactive challenge for your customers can increase your traffic. By using various social media and sharing options, there is a huge potential of the campaign spreading further than the initial recipient’s list. So not only you can receive new subscribers but you are able to rekindle the interest of the old ones. Adequately difficult tasks will get people talking and participating in order to resolve it - giving you more clicks and contacts. Too easy or too difficult, a campaign can flop - so remember to plan this carefully. 

Conclusion

Although all mentioned the most successful email campaign examples are different, they have a few common things that are the basis of any successful operation. Remember that email personalization is the key to sending such emails. Using generic rules will not get you noticed in the inbox. It can also be harder for you to push your ideas through. Furthermore, all of those campaigns are following certain trends. Without knowing the current market tendencies, even the most creative campaign can go unnoticed. The above examples could give you an idea of how can you adapt those techniques in your campaigns to stay on top of your email marketing game.

Anna Wybieralska