- beehiiv Blog
- Posts
- The Comprehensive Guide to Email Blasts
The Comprehensive Guide to Email Blasts
How Email Blasts Can Boost Your Sales if You Use Them Correctly
Jacob Bear
January 23rd, 2024
Table of Contents
Your favorite store is offering a 25% holiday discount!
You eagerly open the email and drool over photos of new merchandise that's now on sale.
It doesn't feel like you just received an email blast, does it? But that's exactly what happened.
Email blasts are among the most misunderstood and maligned of all email marketing tactics. When done right, they're not spam.
But creating an email blast is different from the regular, reliable email newsletters that businesses send out through service providers like beehiiv.
If you do any kind of digital marketing, there are times when it’s good to add email blasts to your toolkit.
We’re going to teach you everything you ever wanted to know about email blasts, from how to create an email blast to sending it.
You’ll learn how to do an email blast that follows best practices. Along the way, we’ll show you email blast examples and explain why they work.
But first, let’s start with a definition.
What Is an Email Blast?
Want to know a dirty little secret?
“Email blast” is just a fancy name for a marketing campaign.
It’s just a standalone message meant to reach as many people as possible for a broad impact.
If the term “email blast” makes you think of those spammy messages that promise to enhance your anatomy, or the prince from a faraway land who offers to wire millions of dollars into your bank account, then you're missing the true value and purpose of an email blast.
An email blast is meant to go to your carefully cultivated list. The last thing you want to do is drive away your subscribers with a message that smells so fishy it makes them seasick.
Instead, an email blast is designed to quickly communicate a short message to everyone on your list.
Types of Email Blasts
A common type of email blast is designed to notify your readers of a critical update, a change in service, or other timely and important news.
Email blasts are also useful in situations when the reputation of your business is on the line.
This could happen when misinformation goes viral, or when a widely viewed news story represents you in a bad light.
But while you might do an email blast for damage control, emergency news, or updates, we’re going to talk about the most common type of email blast.
Email blasts are mostly used for general marketing messages. They can introduce a new product, announce a sale, or promote any kind of one-time offer.
From the point of email marketing, if you follow the best practices we outline below, an email blast should have a high open and conversion rate.
This is another part of the email marketing toolkit that contributes to the fabled 36 to 1 ROI.
Examples of Different Types of Email Blasts
Here’s an example of a non-marketing email blast. The company, Pacific Power, is simply collecting data about its customers with a survey:
While this is a common type of email blast, we’re going to focus on email blasts related to marketing.
What Does an Email Blast Look Like?
Here’s a typical example of a marketing email blast:
This type of email announces a time-sensitive sale. A more focused email marketing campaign might have included photos of specific products.
However, in the interest of speed and broad appeal, this email blast just announces the 40% Black Friday sale and invites the reader to “shop now.”
This is a good example because many consumers are already aware of Black Friday, and eager to buy stuff.
Carhartt simply needs to leverage the existing enthusiasm, and their campaign is likely going to be a success.
We’ll show you additional email blast examples as we go forward.
The Importance of Email Blasts in Marketing
Email blasts are like bacon for your overall marketing strategy.
They’re crisp and tasty, and many people find them irresistible.
Like bacon, an occasional email blast can add essential energy and variety to your marketing diet.
And just like bacon, email blasts have two serious limitations:
1) They are taboo to many people
2) Too much will kill you
For most businesses, you’re better off maintaining a strong relationship with your customers through steady, personalized, value-driven email.
This strategy builds trust, loyalty, and goodwill.
It also gives you better results on the rare occasions when you do choose to send a blast.
But our job today is to fry up some bacon…er…show you how to do an email blast.
So, let's look at some of those rare occasions when an email blast makes sense.
Benefits of Email Blasts
Let's face it, value-driven email campaigns are hard.
It takes time and effort to write something fun and engaging. It takes research to provide information that's actionable and valuable to your readers.
Selling your product takes the back seat in these types of campaigns.
And if you've been sending regular, value-based emails for a while, you’ve set expectations for your readers.
So why would you ever want to jeopardize all that hard work with an email blast?
Well, sometimes you have timely information that applies to all your readers. Look at this example email from Etsy:
The subject line said, “New Picks Just Dropped.”
This is simply an announcement of new products, which appear all the time on Etsy.
Still, if you send this to a past customer, they're likely to look for something interesting they may want to buy.
With this kind of email blast, you’re essentially creating news that is potentially relevant to everyone on your list. In the same breath, you're enticing them to make more purchases.
As mentioned above, you should use marketing email blasts sparingly. But if you find you need to goose your sales quickly, an email blast announcing new products can be an effective way to do that.
Now let's look at how to do an email blast.
How To Create an Effective Email Blast
People often ask, “How do you write an email blast?”
It’s not as complicated as you may think. Blast emails have several things in common with targeted email campaigns.
When you create email campaigns, you should always begin with the end in mind. It’s the same with creating email blasts.
What is your Call To Action (CTA)? In other words, what do you want the reader to do after they open your email marketing blast?
Steps To Create an Email Blast
Your answer to the questions above should inform all the other steps as you create an email blast.
Choosing a Service for Sending Email Blasts
If you’re already familiar with effective email marketing, then you probably already know how important it is to have a good email service provider.
If you haven’t yet chosen one, here’s a recent review of the top services. When choosing an email service, a few key things to look for include deliverability, analytics, and how well their toolkit fits your particular needs.
Make Sure Your Data Is Clean
Sending email blasts could easily hurt your reputation and impair the deliverability of any promotional email you send in the future.
You protect yourself from these consequences by only sending your email campaign to readers who are likely to open and engage with your email.
Otherwise, the sheer volume and breadth of your email blast is more likely to trigger red flags for spam.
This is why it’s important to regularly scrub your email list to remove recipients who frequently bounce or are unengaged.
A good email service platform will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, but it’s important to be aware of this issue when creating email blasts.
Decide on Your CTA
Assuming the reader opens your email blast, all you want them to do is respond to your Call to Action (CTA). Make it clear and compelling, and your email marketing blast will be a success.
Here are some CTA examples to help you get started.
Designing the Email Blast
Once you’ve taken care of any delivery or data issues, and you’re clear on the CTA, it’s time to design your email blast.
Write a Compelling Subject Line
A lot has been said about subject lines. They are one of the most important parts of any email campaign.
When creating email blasts, keep it simple. The subject line should tell the reader exactly what the email is for.
If they are interested in 40% off, your company’s new website, or a liquidation sale, they will open the email.
Importance of Visuals in Email Blasts
When you look at practically every email marketing example we’re including in this article, you’ll see images.
The human brain processes images up to 60,000 times faster than text. By making images a central part of your email blast, you can amplify the impact.
Creating Engaging Content for Email Blasts
Notice how National Geographic integrates its well-known gold border branding, a special product (a kid’s version of the magazine), and a breathtaking photo of a family observing the night sky:
You’ll see the specific details are presented simply and concisely right underneath, followed by a call to action.
If you want engaging content for email blasts, start with eye-grabbing visuals and short, informative text.
If a reader is on the fence about buying Nat Geo Kids for their family, this strong design is likely to keep them scrolling to find out more.
Content for Email Blasts
The content for the above example is tailored to do one thing: Convince the reader to give their children a subscription to Nat Geo Kids.
Email blasts are usually a one-off. You won’t get a second chance, so design every detail of your content to compel your reader to take action.
In the National Geographic example above, the designer started with an image that was likely to appeal to parents, along with the price and details.
But they took the time to ask, “What might stop someone from taking the desired action?”
They anticipated a few possible objections:
The kid’s version might not be kid-friendly
There may not be enough content to justify the price
My children may not enjoy it
The rest of the email visually answers these objections by following the same design pattern as the top. They start with a strong graphic, followed by details in text.
Email Blast Examples and Templates
Here are a few more email blast examples and the reasons they work.
This email blast from Read AI breaks the rules a little bit. It opens with text and features a graphic that isn’t visually appealing.
Read also violates a well-known marketing tenet by talking about features instead of benefits.
Why It Works:
The individuals who see this email might benefit in several ways, such as saved time, reduced cognitive load, streamlined workflow, less reliance on virtual assistants, etc.
Rather than detailing all of these, or being forced to choose just one, the Read team chose to embrace the broad appeal by putting one feature front and center.
Readers can imagine the relevant benefits on their own. And the picture helps them do this by showing the feature in action.
This email from the Credit Union of Southern California is an example of using an email blast to announce company news: In this case, the winners of a contest.
There’s a subtle but compelling plug for the email’s CTA: To download the Credit Union’s mobile app.
Why It Works:
News is a powerful attention-grabber. The recipients of this email blast are likely to open it, especially if they entered the contest.
Seeing real people win can make the contest seem more realistic. It also creates Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
Many readers are likely to download the app or follow the organization on social media so they won’t miss the next contest.
This email blast example, from the Iron Hub Winery, also takes advantage of news.
In this case, they are promoting an event, which is one of the best use cases for an effective email blast.
Why It Works:
As a reader and a subscriber, you probably already like the sender and their products. A special event will probably please you, as well.
After all, who can resist a promotional email that opens with a mouthwatering photo of delicious food?
Add some wine and the chance to learn an entertaining craft, and this email marketing blast is a no-brainer!
An event email blast is powerful whenever you want to announce something fun, pleasurable, or that aligns with your reader’s passions.
Why Trust Us? All beehiiv writers are carefully vetted for their knowledge and experience. Jacob Bear has worked on email marketing campaigns for nearly a decade and was recently named a Top Copywriting Voice on LinkedIn.
Popular Email Blast Templates
Every email blast template starts with two things.
First, you need to have a CTA. We’ve discussed this already.
Next, you need to choose the one thing that’s going to make your email blast compelling. For example:
(Insert Holiday/Season) Sale!
40% off
Specific event or news
One feature or benefit
Your one thing should be simple enough to state in a single sentence, at most. If you can reduce it to a few words or numbers, that’s even better.
A typical email blast template would look something like this:
Subject Line: Your one thing
<Compelling image/graphic that illustrates the One Thing>
<Call to Action (Button, link, phone number, or embedded form)>
<Supporting details (Additional information to answer questions or objections the reader may have)>
<Call to Action>
<Signature/Footer (de-emphasize any links that are normally here)>
How to Choose the Right Email Blast Template
Based on what we've shown you in the template above, there are a number of different email blast templates that you could choose from. It depends on the nature and purpose of your email blast.
For example:
Company news
A seasonal sale
A new product
An important update
An invitation to an event
Tips To Choose the Right Email Blast Template
If you're clear on the purpose of your email blast and the reason you are sending it, then choosing the right email blast template becomes almost automatic.
We recommend two things.
First, think carefully about the audience that will receive your email blast.
Are they likely to respond to humor, or do they prefer serious information? Are there certain images that are likely to have a broad appeal to your readers?
Consider the age and other demographics of your subscribers, as well as the role they are playing when they open your email. Are they parents, CEOs, HR directors, or enthusiasts?
Once you've worked out the details above, we recommend creating several of your own email blast templates for different situations.
Then you'll be able to choose the right email blast template every time you need to send something in the future.
How Do I Send a Mass Email Blast?
Sending email blasts should be pretty straightforward.
Make sure your images, subject line, and one thing are a good fit for your audience.
Then, before you send, be sure you have scrubbed your data. This increases deliverability and helps avoid spam reports.
Tools To Send Email Blasts
There are many tools to send an email blast.
If you're just starting out and have no budget, it’s possible to send an email blast through a free service such as Gmail.
However, there are steep limits to what you can do with these services, and there can be serious consequences if your message gets labeled as spam.
On the other hand, there are many inexpensive tools to send email blasts. Just about any email service platform will help you send more easily, get better delivery, and evaluate the results.
We mentioned some of the top tools earlier in this article. Here's the list again.
Evaluating the Success of Your Email Blast
If you get a lot of sales, inquiries, replies, or other positive responses, then you can say with confidence that your email blast was a success.
If you had a specific goal or benchmark and you hit it, then you know you did well.
At the most simple level, evaluating the success of your email blast is a matter of setting goals ahead of time and then checking to see if you’ve reached those goals.
Post-Send Evaluation
Of course, if you want to dive deeper into evaluating the success of your email blast, you'll need to use some analytical tools.
Analytics such as those provided by beehiiv and similar platforms are a useful way to drill down into the metrics behind an effective email campaign.
Metrics To Measure Email Blast Success
When it comes to any kind of email marketing, data is your best friend.
Data-driven marketing is the key to higher open rates, clicks, and conversions.
Key Metrics for Email Blast Success
Depending on the goals of your email marketing blast, you will want to look at different metrics.
For example, open rates will tell you how effective your subject line and your one thing turned out to be.
The response to your CTA, whether it’s a matter of clickthrough rates or conversions, can give you insight into the overall quality of your CTA and the content of your promotional email.
Don’t forget to pay attention to negative metrics, as well.
If you get a low open rate, it could indicate you’re better off sending more segmented, focused emails. In this situation, you may want to consider alternatives before creating email blasts in the future.
Likewise, if you see bounces, unsubscribes, or spam reports after you send an email blast, it’s an important warning sign. You may need to work on the overall health of your email list.
And this brings us to the most important, overlooked factor in how to do an email blast.
Extend the Power of Your Email Blast
If anything, the health of your data and the level of engagement of your readers becomes twice as important when you're sending an email blast.
If readers are already familiar with your content, and they're happy to receive it, then they are more likely to open and respond to an email blast. At the very least, they're not going to resent it.
How do you build this positive relationship with subscribers on your list?
It's a marathon, not a sprint. Your email blast can do things that a steady flow of quality content will not.
But that steady flow of quality is what gets readers to know, like, and trust your brand.
One of the best things you can do for your business is get an email service platform that will support email blasts as well as a steady email marketing newsletter.
And we've got just the tool for you.
If you want to make every type of email marketing easy and effective, the beehiiv platform has you covered.
Our no-code templates are completely customizable from header to footer. All it takes are a few clicks for your email to look exactly the way you want it to.
We have several built-in features to enhance the deliverability of your email. This will help you engage your audience and make sending the occasional email blast more effective and easy.
We built several beehiiv tools and features to help you engage your readers and even monetize your email list long before you send out a marketing email blast.
No matter what your goals are, when it comes to effective email marketing, you can give your business a huge boost by starting a beehiiv newsletter.
Reply