Is email marketing still relevant?
Short answer: yes.

Email marketing is one of the very first means of digital communication, and we’ve had many communication channels come up and gain popularity considerably fast. However, email marketing remains the most widely used marketing channel. Statista estimates that the number of global email users might grow to 4.73 billion by 2026.
Benefits of email marketing
There are various reasons why marketers choose email marketing over other channels. The major benefits that make email every marketer’s favorite tool are as follows:

1. Budget-friendly marketing channel
Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective digital marketing channels. You might be sending free marketing emails The availability of low-cost and free tools for various aspects of email marketing contributes to maintaining the low cost of running email marketing campaigns.

2. Increased brand awareness
Sending emails to your customers and prospects regularly helps reinforce your brand identity amongst your audience. It also builds a strong relationship between your brand and the audience. The low cost of running email marketing campaigns helps run more campaigns to build better brand awareness.

3. Targeted communication
Email marketing is a marketing channel that allows you to target the right section of the audience. You can also segment your email marketing list based on various criteria such as demographics, behavior, interests, and purchase history. Audience segmentation allows you to send email marketing campaigns to a segment to which the content is most relevant, leading to a better customer experience.

4. Direct communication
Other marketing channels technically rely on creating campaigns and putting them in a network so potential customers would find them. However, email marketing is a direct marketing channel, meaning that the marketing efforts are directed toward individual prospects. Emails land directly in your email subscribers’ inboxes, providing a direct line of communication with your audience.

5. Automation and scalability
Email marketing tools allow you to automate various aspects of your email marketing campaigns, like list segmentation subscribers and setting up trigger emails and drip campaigns. Email automation makes it easier to scale your marketing efforts and reach a larger audience with significantly less manual work.

6. Higher customer engagement
Email marketing is highly effective in engaging and retaining your customers and improving customer loyalty. Brands use emails to send regular product updates, newsletters, informative blog posts, and exclusive offers to keep them informed and engaged. AMP-powered interactive emails even allow the recipients to interact with the different elements of the emails, further increasing engagement.

7. Collect feedback
Unlike other marketing channels, which are one-way communication, email marketing allows businesses to gather responses from their audience. This is handy when brands want to collect customer feedback to improve their campaigns and marketing efforts.

8. Measurability
Email marketing allows for detailed email analytics, allowing you to track the success of your marketing efforts in the form of metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, open rates, and more. This data helps measure the effectiveness of individual email marketing campaigns and improve future ones, making more data-driven decisions.

9. Your email audience can be retained
When you make an email account, it becomes your property. Unlike many other social handles whose real control is with the provider, emails have the security where no one can cease or delete your content unless it’s spam or illegal. Also, the email list you build can easily be downloaded and used with any other customer relationship management system (CRM) to continue your marketing efforts.

If you’re new to email marketing and want to learn more about it, a great way to expand your knowledge is to take an online course on email marketing. For instance, you can check out the 90-minute email marketing course called Email Masterclass by Mailmodo.

Marketing emails typically target groups of individuals, aiming to nurture recipients and persuade them to take specific actions, such as making a purchase, signing up for an event, or engaging with a business in other ways. They usually contain promotional content, like discounts and special offers. Transactional emails, quite the opposite, are initiated by a particular recipient’s action that a company should address with highly relevant content.

A common marketing email example is a flash sale campaign. Companies send these emails in batches to all recipients, including limited-time promotions or discounts, to drive sales through straight-to-the-point CTA buttons.
Another significant difference lies in email regulations. Transactional emails can be sent to customers regardless of their subscription status, whereas marketing emails should only be sent to subscribed customers who consent to receive the company’s communications. Unlike traditional marketing campaigns, transactional emails do not require an unsubscribe link.

Transactional email best practices
To ensure effective delivery of your transactional emails to customers, it is essential to keep certain points in mind. Consider implementing the following transactional email best practices:

Use a dedicated email address. Differentiate transactional emails from marketing emails by sending them from an exclusive email address and domain reserved solely for transactional messages. This approach reduces deliverability issues.
Enable immediate delivery. Send transactional emails promptly after customers take action to capture their attention while they are engaged with your brand.
Consider responsive design. Given that many subscribers read emails on mobile devices, ensure your emails are mobile-friendly and adapt well to various screen sizes.
Craft concise subject lines. Create straightforward subject lines that summarize your email content. Also, ensure that the subject line of your transactional email is brief and can be fully read.
Prioritize information. Avoid lengthy introductions and present crucial content at the beginning of your transactional emails. For instance, if you send a tracking number, ensure it is prominently visible and clickable.
Enable replies. Avoid using “no reply” email addresses. Some customers may have questions or concerns, so ensure their responses are answered. Alternatively, provide other contact options, such as a phone number or chatbot.
These are general guidelines for creating transactional emails. More specific approaches may apply when crafting different types of transactional emails.
Various types of transactional emails
Transactional emails can vary depending on the specific situation. Nevertheless, there are several standard types that businesses can utilize in various everyday scenarios. Let’s explore them along with some transactional email examples.

Order confirmations
Order confirmation emails are automated messages sent to customers immediately after they complete a purchase on an eCommerce website. These emails should be concise, assuring customers of a successful transaction. Typically, they include the order summary, shipping information, and customer contact details. Some companies also incorporate additional information, such as estimated shipping times and order status links.

Last chance emails can make your customers pay attention to your sale or any other short-lived deal, which may otherwise go unnoticed. These are special emails — they allow you to use a bit more direct and sensational language and spice it up with the most eye-catching images and emoji. Let’s see how you can use your customers’ FOMO to your advantage!

What is a last chance email?
A last chance email is an email you send to your audience when you want to motivate them to act on your expiring offer. It could be anything — a last day sale, a limited series of products, or a one-time promo code that they can apply. The fact is, your offer is limited in time, it’s about to come to an end, and you want to make sure your subscribers won’t miss it.
So far, so good. But how do you actually motivate them to seize the opportunity? You need your email copy and design to be synergistic to make that happen. The secret is to convey a sense of urgency without turning it into clickbait. In other words, your email shouldn’t be deceiving in any way — don’t set a countdown timer for 24 hours if your sale lasts for a week.
It’s always better to personalize your last chance emails and notify users when their favorite items are on sale. Let your email trigger a chain reaction:

Your subscribers learn that you have a limited-time offer.
They check out your featured products and recognize an item they were looking at long ago but couldn’t afford.
They realize that now is the best time to buy it because the price will never be this low again.
This is a simplified timeline, but, at the core, all last chance campaigns or sale extended emails are similar. They tap into the buyer’s fear of missing out on a great deal and regretting it later. It’s not even manipulation — you just get one step ahead of them and help your audience discover your products on their most favorable terms.

Look at some of the psychological marketing tricks you can use to make your emails more effective.
Design and copy recommendations for last chance emails
It’s no secret that our attention span is decreasing, although it hasn’t dropped to 8 seconds yet, despite what some marketing resources say. However, users do have very little patience and desire to read every single promotional email from top to bottom — there are just too many of them.
But they still enjoy staying on top of things. With the right email design and copy, you can help them achieve exactly that.

Cut to the chase. Don’t talk about your brand or your team — use other types of emails for that. Instead, focus on the “here and now” and explain in a few words how little time there is left to grab your special offer.
Use the boldest headlines you can think of. Your last chance emails should be loud and reflect the scale and importance of your offer. Don’t shy away from a more informal, maybe even cheeky tone to unapologetically grab all the attention.
Put emphasis on scarcity. Add a countdown timer or just mention when exactly your offer expires and how many items are left. After reading your email, your customers should be left with the impression that there will never be another sale like that and they can’t let this lucky opportunity slip through their fingers.
Oversimplify it. Use ultrashort and concise sentences. If you give a promo code, make it easy to copy and don’t hide it under the fold. The same with a CTA button — it should be even more noticeable than usual because you can’t risk it being missed.
Add social proof. It will fuel your users’ FOMO because they will see all those happy customers who have already acted on your offer. Although last day promotion emails aren’t for lengthy testimonials, you can insert short emotional reviews or just show how many purchases have been made in the last 24 hours.
Put your subscribers in a buying mood. Tie your offer to the change of seasons, upcoming holidays, a big event, an emerging trend, or any other cultural or social occasion, and support that connection with images. You’ll create an emotional response and give your users another reason to consider purchasing from you.
Tell them why. Why should they buy your product right now? Why can’t they just think about it and come back later? Show them the price difference or any other benefit that really makes your current offer stand out. Maybe, it’s the last batch, and you won’t be producing it anymore? Mention that too!
Does it sound too abstract? No worries, we’ll give you more examples in just a moment. But first, let’s talk about last chance email subject lines.

Subject lines for last chance emails
Your subject line is the first thing your subscribers see, so it should be practically screaming about your short-lived sale. Use it as a visual hook to catch your users’ eyes. Emoji like or are encouraged — you want to trigger an emotional reaction so you need to sound excited as well.

Your last chance email subject lines need to intrigue and give a hint rather than reveal your whole offer because you want your users to open your email and take a good look at your products. Just emphasize the fleeting nature of your offer by saying how long it will last.

Using all caps in email subject lines isn’t usually recommended, but it may be useful for your last chance emails. People react to all caps automatically. Upper case usually means something important, and that’s the effect we are aiming for. It’s sort of a harmless psychological trick because we are used to seeing all caps being reserved only for urgent messages.