13 Non-Promotional Emails to Send to your Newsletter List

When sending emails to your subscribers, you can (and should) send two types of emails:

• Promotional (asking the reader for something, i.e. to buy)
• Non-promotional (offering the reader something, i.e. valuable information)

Your newsletter needs a healthy balance of promotional and non-promotional emails so your subscribers feel they’re getting value and aren’t simply being asked to buy something each week.

Remember, a newsletter is a marketing tool; not a sales channel.

Most of the time it should be used to:

• Stay in touch with your subscribers/fans/customers
• Build trust
• Keep your business top of mind
• Market your business/products/brand

Non-promotional emails may still mention and link to your products, but the main purpose is to offer something of value to subscribers.

Non-promotional emails will help increase your open, click and conversion rates.

Here are a variety of ideas for your promotional emails:

1 – Welcome Emails

Every new subscriber should receive a welcome email from you. They have high open rates because they’re sent immediately after subscribing, so people are online. Most post signup messages also prompt new subscribers to “go check their inbox”, which helps with open rates.

If you use a double opt-in (a subscriber must click a link in an email to confirm their subscription before they’re added to your list) you can place a welcome message within the confirmation email.

In your welcome email you may want to include:

• Thank you – let them know you appreciate them sharing their email address and becoming a subscriber
• Frequency – how often they can expect to see an email from you
• Content – what type of topics and emails they can expect to receive as a subscriber
• Call to action – you may ask them to share your business with a friend or add your email address to their contact list so your messages don’t end up in the spam folder.
• Connection – show them you’re a real person and open the doors for communication. You may suggest they hit reply and introduce themselves or ask them to share something specific (e.g. “Hit reply and tell me what your biggest skincare concern is” or “let me know what you’d love to see in my product offering”).
• Discount – If you offer a discount code to new subscribers as an opt-in offer, you can share that discount code in the welcome email.

There are many possibilities for your welcome email but don’t overwhelm new subscribers with too much information. Include what you think is important for them to know and what might entice them to open your emails.

Try to stay away from hard sales tactics in the first email. Your subscribers are getting to know your business and you don’t want them thinking your emails are going to be purely promotional.

2 – Gift Guide Emails

Gift guide emails may be promotional or non-promotional, depending on whether or not you include your products as gift suggestions.

You can create gift guides that don’t mention your products at all, and are just a list of your favorite items.

These types of emails may be valuable to your readers and keep them engaged.

For example, a business that knits winter accessories may not have items to sell during the summer. But they could stay in contact with their subscribers by putting together a Mother’s Day gift guide, Father’s Day gift guide, etc. If they’re helpful resources, subscribers will look forward to receiving them and will pay attention when the Christmas gift guide comes out and includes winter accessories.

You can also use the gift guides as marketing tools if you include products from other small businesses. Let them know you’ve included one of their items in your gift guide and provide them with the tools they need to share the guide with their audience.

You may get new subscribers, followers, or customers out of that share.

3  – Follow-Up Emails

Repeat customers are an essential part of every successful business. The best way for you to stay in touch with existing customers is through email.

You don’t want your first contact after they buy to be asking them to buy again. A more effective tactic is to show new customers that your amazing customer service continues after they’ve given you their money.

Check in after a purchase to be sure everything is satisfactory. Did their item arrive on time? Did it arrive in great condition? Is it what they were expecting based on the online photos and description?

A follow-up email (or email series) can also include helpful information such as care instructions, how to get the best use out of their product, FAQ’s or an invitation to email you with any questions or feedback.

4 – Best Uses

If your customers don’t use your products, they’re not going to buy again or recommend your product to others.

Emails explaining the different ways to use your products can remind customers about your products and inspire subscribers to get more use out of them.

Give subscribers ideas on how to wear, display, consume, or use your products and/or explain the benefits they provide.

 

5 – How it’s Made Emails

If there’s a unique or interesting process involved in creating your products, you may want to share a behind the scenes peek. This type of email can help show the person behind the products and build a connection or increase the value consumers place on your products.

You may communicate why a process or material you use is important to the consumer.

For example, telling subscribers you apply two coats of a matte acrylic polymer varnish to all your paintings won’t mean much to them unless you explain how they benefit from it. Explaining that the varnish helps protect their painting from dust, dirt, smoke, etc. and the particular method and material you use ensures the colors stay vibrant and the varnish won’t yellow over time, so the painting holds its value.

You don’t need to give away company secrets, but showing how many steps it takes to complete an item, the expertise required, or your attention to detail can help shoppers understand your prices and value your products.

6 – Testimonial Emails

Feel free to brag a little when you get a great piece of feedback or a raving review. People can miss a five-star review shared online, but you can copy and paste that review into an email and get more miles out of it.

You could even share an interesting story about how a customer has used/worn/displayed your product to show subscribers how much use they can get out of it.

Testimonials and reviews help build trust between your business and potential customers and provides them with proof that purchasing from you is a good decision.

They don’t have to take your word for it; other people have purchased your products, received them as promised, and find them just as great as you’ve claimed they are.

Although riskier, you may even share a negative review you’ve received to show subscribers how you make things right with less-than-happy customers.

7 – Educational Emails

Teach your readers something about the topic they’re interested in that connects them to your products.

For example, someone selling toxin-free bath & body products is targeting people interested in toxin-free/clean living. They can educate their subscribers on harmful and beneficial ingredients found in soaps.

A business selling items knitted with cruelty-free wool may explain where regular wool comes from and why they should invest in products made with cruelty-free wool.

An artist may teach people what makes a piece of art work or not work in a space.

Help your readers become an expert so they can impress others with their newfound knowledge.

8 – Tip Emails

Share quick tips that teach subscribers how to complete a task or improve upon something.

Think about “how to” topics you can cover.

For example:

• How to create a gallery wall with perfect spacing
• How to keep plated jewelry from tarnishing
• How to properly wash your face (and why you’ve been doing it wrong)

Or try a top 3/5/10 list that shares your best tips.

For example:

• The best 3 tips for hanging art
• 5 home remedies for cleaning your jewelry
• 10 things you’re doing wrong when washing your face

Keep them short, simple and to the point.

9 – Trend Emails

Every industry is constantly evolving so no matter what you sell, you should be able to find a new trend.

It may be new ingredients being infused into skincare products or new scent combinations, popular new styles of accessories or clothing, upcoming trends in home décor, new holidays/occasions people are celebrating (and should send a card or gift for), etc.

Stay on top of your industry’s trends by subscribing to related blog feeds, following social media accounts, or getting a subscription to a magazine.

Your readers will appreciate the work you do to research upcoming trends and keeping them in the loop.

10 – Question/Survey Emails

These can be fun questions your subscribers want to share their opinion on and may also be interested in the results.

For example, a business selling hair products may send a survey asking readers how much they tip their hairdressers. People are always curious to know if they’re in line the majorities and will open a follow up email sharing poll results.

You can also use questionnaires to improve your business and let subscribers know their opinion is valued by you.

Ask specific questions regarding your products, customer service or even your newsletter.

For example:

• What type of skincare product do you wish existed?
• What do you like least about X product?
• What would you like to see covered in my newsletter?

11 – Printables/Downloads

You can create visually pleasing checklists, calendars or forms using tools like Canva.

For example, a business selling cleaning products may offer a free printable cleaning checklist to their subscribers.

If graphic design isn’t your area of expertise, you may consider applying your writing skills and creating a mini-ebook or guide subscribers can download.

Someone selling accessories may put together a downloadable fashion trend guide for the current season and year, explaining what’s hot and how to work it into a wardrobe.

You could also offer your advice or a free consultation. You may want to limit your offer to the first 5, 10 or 20 people who reply so you aren’t swamped with requests.

A soap maker may offer a consultation for a personalized skincare routine, while an artist may offer advice on which pieces will work best in a potential client’s home.

Although this type of offer will require more of your time, you’ll gain a better understanding of your audience’s needs, problems, passions, etc. and get an opportunity to sell your products.

Whether you offer a printable, free download or consultation, be sure it ties back to your products and is likely to give you a return on investment.

12 – Company News Emails

You can share information about new retailers carrying your product, announcements about hiring, or how your company plans to change/grow over the next year.

Use this type of email sparingly as it’s not generally as interesting of a topic to subscribers. I love Apple but I’m not interested in opening an email each month to find out about new employees they’ve hired or conferences their staff are attending.

Think about why company news might matter to your subscribers and if it really affects them.

13 – Re-Engagement Emails

Sometimes subscribers stop opening your emails; these subscribers are often called “cold” or “inactive” subscribers. It’s important to identify these people on your list so you can either send them an email encouraging them to engage or remove them from your list.

A re-engagement email is simply to check in and make sure a subscriber marked as “inactive” or “cold” is still interested in receiving your newsletter. In this type of email you can:

• Ask for confirmation – you can simply ask inactive subscribers to click a link to confirm they’re still interested in receiving your emails.
• Ask for feedback – find out if there’s content or topics they’d be more interested in receiving. Be specific and offer options, or even create a poll that allows them to vote for the type of content they’d like to see.
• Offer a discount – offering a discount may also pique their interest and get them to visit your website again to see what’s new.

Be sure you have a compelling subject line that stands out from what you typically send. Depending on your brand you can be as professional or cheeky as you like.

You may try a subject that reads “That’s it, I’m removing you from my list!” or something a little more professional such as “Checking in with you”.

 

 

Those are a variety of non-promotional email ideas. You also want to promote your business, brand, and products to encourage more sales.

Here are promotional email ideas: 12 Types of Promotional Emails to Send to your Newsletter List