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At one point or another, we all need inspiration to do our jobs better. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a marketing veteran who has navigated through years of changing technology or a newbie fresh out of college — we all need examples of outstanding content. It helps us get through creative ruts, make the case to our boss for experimentation, and improve our own marketing.

Most of the time, inspiration is easy to find because most marketing content is publicly available. You can scour the internet or go on your favorite social network to see what your connections are talking about.

But there’s one marketing channel that is really, really hard to find good examples of unless you’re already in the know: email. There’s nothing casual about it — you usually need to be subscribed to an email list to find great examples of emails. And even if you’re subscribed to good emails, they are often bombarding you day after day, so it’s hard to notice the gems.

Because it’s so difficult to find good email marketing examples, we decided to do the scouring and compiling for you. Read on to discover some great emails and get the lowdown on what makes them great — or just keep on scrolling to get a general feel for each. However you like to be inspired is fine by us!

15 Examples of Effective Email Marketing

1) charity: water

When people talk about email marketing, lots of them forget to mention transactional emails. These are the automated emails you get in your inbox after taking a certain action on a website. This could be anything from filling out a form to purchasing a product to updating you on the progress of your order. Often, these are plain text emails that email marketers set and forget.

Well, charity: water took an alternate route. Once someone donates to a charity: water projects, their money takes a long journey. Most charities don’t tell you about that journey at all — charity: water uses automated emails to show donors how their money is making an impact over time. With the project timeline and accompanying table, you don’t even really need to read the email — you know immediately where you are in the whole process so you can move on to other things in your inbox.

2) BuzzFeed

I already have a soft spot for BuzzFeed content (21 Puppies so Cute You Will Literally Gasp and Then Probably Cry, anyone?), but that isn’t the only reason I fell in love with its emails.

First of all, BuzzFeed has awesome subject lines and preview text. They are always short and punchy — which fits in perfectly with the rest of BuzzFeed’s content. I especially love how the preview text will accompany the subject line. For example, if the subject line is a question, the preview text is the answer. Or if the subject line is a command (like the one below), the preview text seems like the next logical thought right after it:

Once you open up an email from them, the copy is equally awesome. Just take a look at that glorious alt text action happening where the images should be. The email still conveys what it is supposed to convey — and looks great — whether you use an image or not. That’s definitely something to admire.

Without images:

With images:

3) Uber

The beauty of Uber‘s emails is in their simplicity. They let their email subscribers know about deals and promotions by sending an email like the one you see below. We love how brief the initial description is, paired with a very clear call-to-action — which is perfect for subscribers who are quickly skimming the email. For the people who want to learn more, these are followed by a more detailed (but still pleasingly simple), step-by-step explanation of how the deal works.

We also love how consistent the design of their emails is with their brand. Like their app, website, social media photos, and other parts of their visual brand, their emails are represented by bright colors and geometric patterns. All of their communications and marketing assets tell their brand’s story — and brand consistency is one tactic Uber’s nailed in order to gain brand loyalty.

4) TheSkimm

We’ve written about TheSkimm’s daily newsletter before — especially its clean design and its short, punchy paragraphs. But newsletters aren’t TheSkimm’s only strength when it comes to email. Check out their subscriber engagement email below, which rewarded my colleague Ginny Mineo for being subscribed for two years.

Emails triggered by milestones like anniversary emails and birthday emails are fun to get — who doesn’t like to celebrate a special occasion? The beauty of anniversary emails in particular is that they don’t require subscribers to input any extra data, and they can work for a variety of senders and the timeframe can be modified based on the business model.

Here, the folks at TheSkimm took it a step further by asking her if she’d like to earn the title of brand ambassador as a loyal subscriber — which would require her to share the link with ten friends, of course.

5) Mom and Dad Money

Think you know all about the people who are reading your marketing emails? How much of what you “know” about them is based on assumptions? The strongest buyer personas are based on insights you gather from your actual readership, through surveys, interviews, and so on, in addition to the market research. That’s exactly what Matt Becker of Mom and Dad Money does — and he does it very, very well.

Here’s an example of an email I got in my inbox a few weeks ago. Design-wise, it’s nothing special — but that’s the point. It reads just like an email from a friend or colleague asking for a quick favor.

Not only was this initial email great, but his response to my answers was even better: Within a few days of responding to the questionnaire, I received a long and detailed personal email from Matt thanking me for filling out the questionnaire and offering a ton of helpful advice and links to resources specifically catered to my answers. I was very impressed by his business acumen, communication skills, and obvious dedication to his readers.

6) Poncho

Some of the best emails out there pair super simple design with brief, clever copy. When it comes down to it, my daily emails from Poncho, which sends me customizable weather forecasts each morning, takes the cake. They’re colorful, use delightful images and GIFs, and very easy to scan. The copy is brief but clever — some great puns in there — and aligns perfectly with the brand. Check out the copy near the bottom asking to “hang out outside of email.” Hats off to Poncho for using design to better communicate its message.

7) Birchbox

The subject line of this email from beauty product subscription service Birchbox got my colleague Pam Vaughan clicking. It read: “We Forgot Something in Your February Box!” Of course, if you read the email copy below, they didn’t actually forget to put that discount code in her box — but it was certainly a clever way to get her attention.

And the discount code for Rent the Runway, a dress rental company that likely fits the interest profile of most Birchbox customers, certainly didn’t disappoint. That’s a great co-marketing partnership right there.

8) Postmates

I’ve gotta say, I’m a sucker for GIFs. They’re easy to consume, they catch your eye, and they have an emotional impact — like the fun GIF in one of Postmates‘ emails that’s not only delightful to watch, but also makes you crave some delicious Chipotle.

You too can use animated GIFs in your marketing to show a fun header, to draw people’s eye to a certain part of the email, or to display your products and services in action. Here are the best places to find GIFs on the internet, and here’s an easy Photoshop tutorial for making your own.

9) Dropbox

You might think it’d be hard to love an email from a company whose product you haven’t been using. But Dropbox found a way to make their “come back to us!” email cute and funny, thanks to a pair of whimsical cartoons and an emoticon.

Plus, they kept the email short and sweet to emphasize the message that they don’t want to intrude, they just want to remind the recipient that they exist and why they could be helpful. When sending these types of email, you might include an incentive for recipients to come back to using your service, like a limited-time coupon.

10) InVision App

Every week, the folks at InVision send a roundup of their best blog content, their favorite design links from the week, and a new opportunity to win a free t-shirt. (Seriously. They give away a new design every week.) They also sometimes have fun survey questions where they crowdsource for their blog. This week’s, for example, asked subscribers what they would do if the internet didn’t exist.

Not only is their newsletter a great mix of content, but I also love the nice balance between images and text, making it really easy to read and mobile-friendly — which is especially important because their newsletters are so long. (Below is just an excerpt, but you can read through the full email here.) We like the clever copy on their call-to-action buttons, too.

11) Warby Parker

What goes better with a new prescription than a new pair of glasses? The folks at Warby Parker made that connection very clear in their email to a friend of mine back in 2014. It’s an older email, but it’s such a good example of personalized email marketing that I had to include it in here.

The subject line was: “Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring.” What a clever email trigger. And you’ve gotta love ’em for reminding you your prescription needs updating.

Speaking of which … check out the clever co-marketing at the bottom of the email: If you don’t know where to go to renew your subscription, the information for an optometrist is right in the email. Now there’s no excuse not to shop for new glasses!

12) Cook Smarts

I’ve been a huge fan of Cook Smarts‘ “Weekly Eats” newsletter for a while. The company sends yummy recipes in meal plan form to my inbox every week. But I didn’t just include it because of its delicious recipes … I’m truly a fan of its emails. I love the layout: Each email features three distinct sections (one for the menu, one for kitchen how-to’s, and one for the tips). This means you don’t have to go hunting to find the most interesting part of its blog posts — you know exactly where to look after an email or two.

I also love Cook Smarts’ “Forward to a Friend” call-to-action in the top-right of the email. Emails are super shareable on — you guessed it — email, so you should also think about reminding your subscribers to forward your emails to friends, coworkers, or heck, even family.

13) HireVue

“Saying goodbye is never easy to do… So, we thought we’d give you a chance to rethink things”. That was the subject of this automated unsubscribe email from HireVue. We love the simple, guilt-free messaging here, from the funny header images to the great call-to-action button copy.

Not only are the design and copy here top-notch, but we applaud the folks at HireVue for sending automated unsubscribe emails in the first place. It’s smart to purge your subscriber lists of folks who aren’t opening your email lists because low open rates can seriously hurt email deliverability. We sent out a similar email in December 2015 when we automatically unsubscribed people once they became unengaged, which you can read about here.

14) Paperless Post

When you think of “holiday email marketing,” your mind might jump straight to Christmas, but there are other holidays sprinkled throughout the rest of the year that you can create campaigns around.

Take the email below from Paperless Post, for example. I love the header of this email: It provides a clear call-to-action that includes a sense of urgency. Then, the subheader asks a question that forces recipients to think to themselves, “Wait, when is Mother’s Day again? Did I buy Mom a card?” Below this copy, the simple grid design is both easy to scan and is quite visually appealing. Each card picture is a CTA in and of itself — click on any one of them and you will be taken to a purchase page.

15) Stitcher

Humans crave personalized experiences. It’s science. When emails appear to be created especially for you, you feel special — you’re not just getting what everyone else is getting. You might even feel like the company sending you the email knows you in some way, and that they care about your preferences and making you happy.

That’s why I love on-demand podcast/radio show app Stitcher‘s “Recommended For You” email. I tend to listen to episodes from the same podcast instead of branching out to new ones. But Stitcher wants me to discover (and subscribe to) all the other awesome content they have — and I probably wouldn’t without their encouragement.

I think this email is also quite a brilliant use of responsive design. The colors are bright, and it’s not too hard to scroll and click — notice the CTAs are large enough for me to hit with my thumbs. Also, the mobile email actually has features that make sense for recipients who are on their mobile device. Check out the CTA at the bottom of the email, for example: The “Open Stitcher Radio” button prompts the app to open on your phone.

These are just some of our favorite emails. Don’t just follow best practice when it comes to your marketing emails. Every email you send from your work email address also can be optimised to convert. Try out our free email signature generator now. Check out some more of our favorite HubSpot marketing email examples.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has since been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

 

The holy grail of content marketing and SEO is to be ranked in the top 10 on Google for a high volume search term.

If you accomplish that, your site will enjoy long-lasting, inexpensive organic traffic — which is an absolutely wonderful thing. That said, SEO is very much a rich get richer game.

So what happens if you are the poor in this scenario? How can you break into the top 10?

Unfortunately, great content isn’t always enough. In most cases, you need links from authoritative sites pointing to your content. But how can you build these initial links to help boost your content into the top 10 if no one knows who you are?

Over the past several months, I’ve been experimenting with building links from educational (.edu) resources. Using this approach, I’ve been able to push my blog into the top 10 on Google for several competitive and high volume search terms.

Want to know exactly how I did this? Keep reading.

The EDU Resource Link-Building Framework

In July of 2015, my company started prioritizing content marketing and blogging.

Through the first five months, we blogged a lot, but we were really only targeting low-competition, long-tail keywords with very little search volume. Not too surprisingly, despite our aggressive blogging, we were getting very few visitors from organic search.

In January 2016, we published a post: “100+ Job Boards For Job Seekers and Recruiters.” With this post, we tried something new: We targeted the keyword “job boards” — which gets 10,000 searches a month and has high-authority sites like ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Monster ranking in the top positions.

Despite the competition, after applying the EDU resource link-building framework, over the next several months the number of referring domains and backlinks shot up.

Because of this, we moved into the top 10 results for the search terms “job boards,” “top job boards,” and “best job boards.”

And our organic traffic to this post grew 85% over April and May. 

So, what is this technique and how can you do this for your site?

How does it work?

Almost every university, college, and community college has a collection of websites with resources available for faculty, staff and students. These are usually simple pages with lots of links that a department or staff member has created.

For example, check out the site below created by Dr. Mark Gellis and hosted by Kettering University:

This page perhaps looks a little old fashioned, but it’s chock-full of helpful links and is actively updated. Best of all, the domain has a domain authority (DA) of 59.

And there are tons of pages like this. 

The EDU resource link-building framework is a step-by-step process for finding resource pages like this and for getting links from them.

In what follows, I will show you exactly how to do this.

How to Build Valuable EDU Links in 4 Steps

Before I break down the details for each of these steps, here’s an overview of the framework:

• Step 1: Create a spreadsheet to keep track of your resources.
• Step 2: Find matching EDU resources.
• Step 3: Evaluate links and collect emails.
• Step 4: Reach out and get your links.

There you have it. Looks simple enough. Let’s get into how to execute each of these steps.

Step 1: Create a spreadsheet to keep track of your resources.

Before we get into finding and collecting matching EDU resources, we need a place to store all the backlink gold we are going to collect in Step #3 of the framework.

Using Google Docs, create a spreadsheet with the following fields:

• URL – This will be the URL for each resource page we collect.
• Contact Method – This will be either an email or perhaps the URL to a contact form.
• Name – The name of the best contact.
• Contact Date 1 – This will be the date that we contact the owner of the resource.
• Response? – For keeping track of whether you heard back from this resource contact.
• Contact Date 2 – This will be the date of our follow up email to the resource owner.
• Notes – Here we will keep track of anything that may be important regarding our conversation with the resource owner.

Step 2: Finding matching EDU resources.

Now that we have our data collection spreadsheet setup, we need to go find some resources. 

We are going to use Google to find potential matching resources. To do so, use a combination of the following queries to identify potential matches:

• “keyword” intitle:resources
• “keyword” intitle:resources intitle:submit
• site:*.edu “keyword” resources

Your keyword does not have to perfectly match the article you are trying to get links to. If your content is really specific, you may want to move up the topic hierarchy and use something a little more general. For example, let’s say you wrote an article about HMO versus PPO health insurance, then you will probably get better results searching for a more general term like “health care.”

However, it is important that the EDU resources you find here are relevant to your article. Relevancy is one of the most important characteristics for quality backlinks.

Step 3: Evaluate links and collect emails.

This is the most labor-intensive part of this framework, and unfortunately there’s not really a better method than brute force.

Evaluating Links

You will need to open each search result and check to see if it’s a resource page that is a likely fit for a link to your site. If the page looks like it has potential, then add the site to your spreadsheet, filling in the URL column.

One thing to note here: The number of outbound links from the EDU page does impact the quality of a potential backlink. Fewer links is better, so prioritize those resources.

Collecting Emails

Next, you need to figure out who to contact.

Sometimes, you’ll get lucky, and the owner of the page will have an email available directly on that resource page. If you do not see an email readily available, then the next thing to look for is a “Contact” or “Contact Us” link. This will usually be available in the top navigation bar, side navigation or bottom navigation menu.

Sometimes this will take you to a contact form instead of an email. This is fine, just add the URL of the form into the spreadsheet under the “Contact Method” column.

If you are still not able to find a way to contact the EDU, then also take a look for links to things like About Us, Staff, or Directory listings. These will often lead you to an email contact or contact form. Make sure you also keep track of the contact name if you find one — although it’s not strictly necessary.

You can try using a tool like BuzzMarker to speed up this process. It’s a Chrome plugin that will crawl a page you are on looking for emails. However, I find in comparison to a human eye, BuzzMarker is going to miss a lot of link building opportunities.

Step 4: Reach out and get your links.

In this final step, we are going to go back to our spreadsheet and go through each contact and reach out to them. This is the tricky part, as you want to be sure that your outreach and intent is very clear. No one wants to help out a scam artist looking to build shady links, so be sure to highlight the fact that you’ve done your homework, and that the suggestion you’re providing is both relevant and valuable. 

To help you understand what that type of outreach looks like, check out the templates I use below:

1st Email:

Subject: Your Resource Page

Hi NAME,

I stumbled across your site URL while doing some research on TOPIC.

I wanted to give you a heads up about an article I recently published: YOUR PAGE

I think it could be a good resource for your page. If you are still updating this site, I wanted to see if you’d be willing to consider adding my article as a resource?

Either way, keep up the awesome work!

Cheers,

YOUR NAME

If I do not receive a response within two days, then I send a follow-up email, which will be a response to my original email. The second email is essential. I always get a better response rate on this email because people feel guilty about ignoring my first email.

2nd Email:

Subject: RE: Your Resource Page

Hi NAME,

I just wanted to send a quick follow up and see if you had an opportunity to look at that post I sent you. If not, no problem.

If you do a get a few minutes, I’d love to hear whether you think it might be an appropriate resource for your career resources.

Details here: YOUR PAGE

All the best,

YOUR NAME

Note the language I used here: Phrases like “If not, no problem” and “whether you think it might be an appropriate resource” help to demonstrate that you’re just trying to help them, not spam them. 

You can use my exact templates or craft your own, but here are a couple of best practices for EDU outreach to keep in mind:

• Keep your email short and to the point.
• Resource pages are created for outbound utility links. As long as your page is a good fit, the author of the page should appreciate your suggested link. Don’t be too shy about asking for a link but don’t be too pushy.
• Make sure you keep track of your responses because a lot of the time you may receive a soft commitment to reviewing your post or linking to you.
• Follow up and re-open the conversation with any soft commitments a month or two later. I did this recently, and was able to score a couple more links.

Using the exact templates above for the outreach I did for “100+ Job Boards For Job Seekers and Recruiters,” I received a 17% response rate, built 8 EDU backlinks, and got social media shares to the students of two different universities.

Why Does This Work?

There are a few different reasons why this is so effective …

• High Domain Authority: Most of these EDU sites have been around for many years and as a result have great domain authority. This is important because since the quality of the sites from Google’s eyes is good, it doesn’t take that many links to have a major impact on your search rankings.
• Low Friction: Often these pages are controlled by a single person, so once you get them to agree to add your link, the turnaround is quite fast.
• Easy Ask: The resource pages you are collecting with this framework are setup for outgoing links. Provided you are giving the owner something that will be of value to their audience, they will be happy to link to you because you are making their page better.

Time to Test It Out

You may be thinking that this seems like a lot of work to score a handful of backlinks, but the reality is, it is a lot of work if you want to rank in the top 10 on Google.

It doesn’t happen by magic. It takes consistent, proactive effort. And if you want to build long-lasting search value with the content you produce, you have to focus on content promotion.

I believe that EDU resource link building is one of the most effective means to do this. Within a few months of using this framework, we have increased our organic traffic by a factor of 10 with a handful of blog posts. And now you can do the same.

I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions, so share them in the comments below or reach out via Twitter: @seanfalconer.

It’s a priority for almost every agency to scale up and attract larger and more prestigious clients, as well as the best talent.

And change is inevitable as you grow, and it should be embraced, but how do you make sure you remain agile while scaling from a small to a medium-size agency, or from medium to a large one?

How to Grow and Still Keep Your Agency Agile

Learn to Work Collaboratively

Connectivity and innovation in technology are changing the way agencies work — for the better — and you’ll need to embrace this movement as you grow your team and number of clients. 

To start with, you should be using a project management tool to make every project visible to your team and where applicable, clients as well. Luckily, there are a lot of options available, such as Basecamp, Active Collab, and many more. Implementing a system like this means that your team and clients can keep track of what tasks are on deck as well as delivery dates.

In addition, collaborating on documents is something that can save time and reduce the back and forth that occurs when working separately on the same documents. I am a big advocate for Google Docs, but there are other alternatives. It’s particularly useful when there are several team members working on a pitch or proposal document.

Remain Transparent

Transparency may not be the first thing that comes to mind when talking about remaining agile; however, it‘s important from both a team and client perspective. As you grow, people begin to feel more disconnected from leadership and clients and from knowing what’s really going on in the company. 

Implementing collaborative project management is a good first step torward being transparent as it allows complete visibility into a project and gives clarity on everyone’s responsibility for each element of a project or campaign. 

Now, what level of transparency you put on the table is completely up to you, but I believe in putting as much transparency on the table as you can. Introducing something such Slack into your workflows means you can make internal communication visible to anyone in the company, and if it’s the right fit for your agency, you can even do the same thing with your clients.

Creating a private channel in Slack for each client will allow the operational team and the client to get a full view of all conversations about their account. This can be scary, but it’s equally empowering. If you want to give it a try, roll it out slowly. Test it with one client you have a strong relationship at first. You might be surprised at the results!

Define Your Culture

Building a great culture is tough — really tough. But if you can get it right, you’ll reap the benefits. This is especially true during high growth periods where the agency team can feel the stress as the limits of the company are tested. 

It’s easy to lose sight of your digital agency‘s culture as you grow and become busier, focusing on delivering more work for clients. But you should make culture a priority, remembering to adhere to your core values. 

That’s why it’s so important to define your culture from the start. As you scale, these values, ideas, and attitudes will be imparted on new hires and used during hiring to vet candidates. This is what allows you to remain agile, helping new employees to immediately understand what the agency stands for, how people interact internally and with clients, and what the ultimate goal they are working toward is. 

Focus on the Business Over Financials

People do their best work when they are in an environment they feel inspired and comfortable in. If you want to build an agency that continues to produce amazing results for clients, focus on the business, not the financials.

I am not saying that you should ignore cash flow. Cash is oxygen for an agency looking to scale. However, the focus should be on building a great agency, not just bringing in revenue. This type of financial pressure can create a toxic environment. Happier staff who truly enjoy working with your clients will do more for bringing in more new business than anything else. 

This can be a tricky one to keep on top of because more revenue and more new business is alluring, especially if your goal is growth. But remember that you want to scale while also staying true to your values and delivering great results for clients. By focusing on this, you can both retain your culture and grow the agency.

Don’t Build Walls

As your staff number increases, it can be easy for barriers to be erected between teams, which often results in a lack of communication between departments. This causes duplicate efforts and can result in mixed messages to clients as teams work on the same accounts but without communicating with one another. 

This is a difficult thing to fix once it’s in place, so watch for signs of problems and try to implement fixes before it becomes ingrained in how people work.

The responsibility for this often rests with the leadership on each team — make sure they are communicating with one another and are working to instill the company culture in their team members. And create processes that make it easy yet encourage different departments to work together and rely on each other.