Email Marketing Types: Long, Short, Creative and More

Do you want to revamp your writing skills and gain crucial knowledge to help you boost your copywriting career?
First, you must master email marketing.

Businesses and organizations use email marketing campaigns because interacting with customers and potential buyers is a fantastic sales strategy.

If you can write fantastic email copy that helps your client’s business thrive, you will have success as a marketing copywriter.
​
Here is a guide to the basics of email marketing types. You will learn about long-form versus short-form email content, as well as many creative email marketing strategies to help you get started!

Short or Long?

First, you must determine whether you’re writing a short-form email or a long-form email.

​The copywriting and advertising strategies you use to write an email vary depending on its length.

Your clients use a combination of short and long email marketing types to engage with as many potential customers as possible. You must excel at both types of email copywriting!

Here are some email marketing tips designed to help you understand the basics of writing short and long-form emails.

Short Email Basics

Writing shorter emails means keeping sentences short and ideas concise. They tend to catch the reader’s eye to draw them in.

Shorter emails help your clients because their customers don’t have to invest much time reading through the email. They’re straight to the point and often call the reader to take specific and direct action.

Luckily for you, this means writing less content.

​On the other hand, you only have a small number of words at your disposal to make a big impact and compel your client’s customer to make a purchase or visit their website.

Long Email Basics

Writing long emails is more like writing a conversational and persuasive blog post. They will be more information-rich and are best for building long-lasting, trusting relationships between a business and its customers.

Longer content is often used in autoresponder email sequences. These are pre-written emails that automatically send to your client’s email list.

Autoresponder emails get sent out when a customer engages in a specific activity that calls for direct action on your client’s website.

Your clients use autoresponder sequences because they are a fantastic tool for gaining customers. They help generate leads with prospective clients and get more people on your client’s email list.

For example, an automotive repair shop can offer a free guide that teaches you how to change your tires.

Once the website viewer types in her email address, she will receive an automated email from the shop with her helpful how-to guide.

​At the same time, the automotive repair shop gains another subscriber to its email list.

Creative Email Marketing Types

While it’s important to learn the difference between long and short-form emails, it’s just as important to learn the basics of crafting different email marketing types.

Your client must take a creative approach to their email marketing campaign in order to encourage readers to become customers. 

These are the specific forms of your email content that provide a unique technique to help your client’s business.

There are so many examples of creative marketing types that work: newsletters, promotional emails, birthday emails, surveys, and more!
​
Each creative approach requires you to use different skills and strategies to generate sales.

Promotional Email Copy

Your email is probably cluttered with many of these, and that’s for good reason. Promotional email copy provides a huge incentive for the reader to go to your client’s website because everyone loves a good deal!

Otherwise known as special offer emails, promotional email copywriting is used to let a customer know about your client’s upcoming sales, promotions, or savings events.

These emails should be short and sweet. You don’t need to focus quite as much on directing potential customers through a sales funnel for this type because an excellent savings event in itself is enough to interest a potential customer.

Special offer emails typically use pictures and flashy images to grab a reader’s attention.

Your job is to communicate the terms of the special offer in a clear, concise manner that fits the tone of your client.

If the reader doesn’t know that the sale ends after one day, that’s a problem.

​She may feel lied to and lose trust in your client. Letting potential customers know these details can actually promote more sales because it gives a sense of urgency to invest in a product or service now.

Abandoned Cart Reminders

If your client in an online retailer or marketplace, they may be able to track when a potential customer fills up their cart but walks away without placing their order.

Access to that data, along with the customer’s email address, allows your client to reach out with a gentle reminder to hit the Checkout button.

That’s called an abandoned cart email. They remind the reader of what she added to her cart, and that she forgot to follow through with the purchase.

If your language is too pushy, the reader will feel unwanted pressure to buy your client’s products. That’s not good. The potential customer’s reaction should be thankful at best, and neutral at worst.

One way to accomplish this is by sympathizing with the customer. Discuss potential reasons why it makes sense that they abandoned their cart.

Let them know that your client understands what a busy schedule they have, or that perhaps they were having second thoughts.
​
Gently remind the customer of what they will miss if they don’t buy your client’s product.

Order Confirmations

Another short email copywriting strategy is to implement order confirmation emails after a customer buys an item or signs up for a service.

Most businesses use an automated order confirmation email to simplify the process. However, you need to use tools to personalize the email. Include the customer’s name, the products or services they purchased, and the shipping information.

These emails subtly promote sales. A customer gains a lot of trust in a company when she knows for sure that the store confirmed the transaction.
​
You can add some of your client’s current promotions, sales, or upcoming events to heighten the potential to gain a repeat customer.

Send Them a Survey

Marketing experts know that sending survey emails to previous customers can give businesses the insight they need to fulfill their target customers’ wants and needs.

When you’re assigned to this type of email copywriting, be encouraging. Let the customer know that her feedback is important to your client.
​
Give the reader a time estimate for the survey. When a customer is aware of the time commitment involved, she’ll be more likely to give your client feedback.

Newsletters

Newsletters give the reader insight into what your client offers on a weekly basis.

Newsletters can include anything from news stories, to satisfied customer reviews, to recent awards. They share positive media about a business or organization.

There will often be many links to articles, podcasts, blogs, and sales pages scattered throughout the newsletter to encourage the reader to check out your client’s site. They may also share current promotions and sales events.

When you write newsletters, you have the opportunity to give customers a clear idea of your client’s branding and tone.
​
Make sure to conduct extensive research on your client’s target consumers, and what language intrigues a reader and persuades her to buy a product or invest in a service.

Happy Birthday!

It’s important for businesses to connect with dedicated, returning customers. That’s why sending over a brief happy birthday message can be a game-changer.

Make the customer feel cared for. If your client is willing to provide special birthday offers, that’s even better. Make sure the reader knows that on her birthday, she gets a discount or some freebies when she buys something.

If you master the art of writing happy birthday emails, the customer may not even notice that this is advertising!
​
You can have fun with this one. Be friendly, fun, and celebratory. Just don’t forget to mention what your client has to offer.

Get Your Copywriting Certificate Today

If you learn how to write compelling copy for each of these marketing types, you’re sure to build up your client base and gain a stellar reputation for your email marketing skills.

Do you want to become an expert copywriter and gain your copywriting certificate? We can help you achieve your copywriting dreams at our ad school.
​
Start today by enrolling in our free ten-step Copywriting to Go Course!

FREE COURSE