We all want to send fun emails that get opened, read, and clicked. After all, that’s the name of the game.

(I recently did a training on it in collaboration with MailModo. Hit me up if you want the recording – or want me to teach a more detailed one with examples and Q&A at the end?)

But as copywriters and marketers at heart, we want to our email copy to be creative and fun. The trouble is… creative and fun emails are incredibly hard to create. We all remember the CD Baby email right? 

(Don’t see the email? That’s probably cuz you’ve got your images turned off. Hit “Display Images” to see the email.)

How many versions of this email have cropped up since? Even if you didn’t know where this style of email originated from, reading it would make you feel like you’ve read some version of this email by at least half a dozen brands.

We recognize this style of creative copy the second we see it and roll our eyes.

This post-purchase email was very likely the first viral email on the internet. Folks flocked to online forums, chat rooms, and personal blogs to talk about it. CD Baby got thousands of backlinks, gained tons of free publicity and to quote CD Baby’s founder, Derek Sivers, “thousands of customers.”

Here’s why this email worked for CD Baby so well.

1. It was 1998 so an email like this was a novelty.
2. People were still opening every.single.email
3. CD Baby’s company mission was “putting a smile on people’s faces.”

Unfortunately, it’s no longer 1998, email’s no longer a novelty, and people are ignoring more emails than they’re opening.

What is still relevant though? 

Brand voice.

CD Baby’s email worked so well because their post-purchase email was on-brand for them. 

Why most brands writing “creative” emails fail

If there’s one thing I teach, preach, and practice in email, it’s “clear over clever 100% of the time.”. Clear emails sell and clever emails confuse. Most brands experimenting with “creative” or personality driven email copy fail to make an impact because they don’t consider whether that tone and voice is even on-brand for them.

Imagine Shinesty (NSFW) sending emails like Boardroom Socks 😱. Their sales will TANK. On the other hand, imagine a brand like Boardroom Socks that sells socks folks in straight-laced professions (lawyers, judges, professors, CEO’s…) a suggestive email like Shinesty on Valentine’s…🤢. Not only will their sales tank, they’ll end up permanently losing customers.

Does that mean creative copy never converts?

It does. Rarely. For creative email copy to convert, you need to meet one very important criterion: It need to match the brand’s personality. Last week, a DTC marketer shared an email that they dubbed as “the best email they’d ever seen.”. As someone who picks email fights as a profession, I consider those fighting words 😆

The email in question? Take a look below 👇🏽

As someone with a morbid sense of humor, I found this email funny. (I mean, I live in an apartment next to a graveyard. If I wasn’t cool with death, I wouldn’t be living in a luxurious apartment that just happens to have a graveyard next to it 🤷🏽‍♀️)

As a copywriter, I found this email a little too on the nose.

As a marketer, the first question I asked myself was, “Is this onbrand for this brand?”

Turns out, it was. When I shared this email in the eCommerce Email Bootcamp Alumni Slack group, campers were quick to point out that this email was extremely on-brand for this company.

For me, all speculation stopped there. As long as it’s on brand, creative email copy will convert. Finally, as an email marketer, I consider this email a success. It’s polarizing, it galvanizes the reader into action, and it make you want to claim your spot in the world and tell them “No! I’m not dead!”

As a re-engagement email, it hits the sweet spot of making unenagaged email subscribers sit up and take notice – which is the entire purpose of a re-engagement email.

As for the creative copy, it only works because the tone of voice is on brand for this brand.

Stay alive, %FIRSTNAME%

– Samar

I want to talk about Alt Text today. It’s the most underrated ecommerce email tip in my arsenal. When it comes to Alt Text, make sure you:

1. Have them
2. Make them descriptive.

That’s it. That’s my tip. Underwhelmed? Please allow me to blow your mind. Take a look at the black and white boxes below.

Now before I reveal which brand this email is from, let’s count the ways this email is missing the mark.

We have no idea:

• Who they are 
• What they sell
• What they want us to do

All we know is that they offer free shipping over $45. That’s a crap ton of money to give to a brand whose name, products, and offer we can’t even see. So, what do you do when you get an email like this? A big fat NOTHING. Now, wanna guess which brand this is? (You can’t because there’s literally no clue in the image above). It’s everyone’s favorite Belgian Chocolatier – Godiva! Their entire email was designed as a graphic-only email with all the copy on it!

Here’s what the email actually looks like:

Now THAT’S an email I would have bought from! Too bad I didn’t see it. Godiva isn’t the only brand that ignores their Alt Text. 

Most ecommerce emails are image-heavy. Often, they're image-ONLY. I mean… it could be the world's most beautifully designed and brilliantly written email but if the subscriber has their images turned off, then all they'll see are blank squares with no copy. Their message is lost forever and as an ecommerce business, they’ve lost customers without even realizing it..

So, what’s the solution? Ideally, it’s creating emails with copy that goes in the email instead of on the images. But changing a brand's email design process isn’t practical because it’s a time-consuming affair. An easy fix to the blank square problem is to add Alt Text to the image. Even if the subscriber has their images turned off by default, Alt Text enables them to read what the email/image is about. 

Here’s an example of Alt Text done right. 

Even though I don't have my images turned on, I know exactly what this email is about and what their offer is. If I'm interested, I'll hit “Display Images”. 

Even if I don't, I can click on the Alt Text and go to the offer this email is promoting. As email strategists and copywriters, we don’t usually have control over how our clients create their emails but this… this is something we can easily do.

In a nutshell, if you want to improve your email conversions, make your Alt Text descriptive.

Cheers,

Samar

One of the unsung heroes of the email world are transactional emails. Everyone’s so enamored with onboarding, welcome, abandoned cart, and retention-focused emails that transactional emails… get forgotten.

After all, they’re the one emails you don’t have to worry about. They come pre-made and they just work right out of the box. And so you focus all your attention on making sure your onboarding or welcome flow is top notch.

But here’s the thing… Transactional emails are some of the most opened emails. They’re also some of the most neglected. Do them right, and you have the potential to not only delight a customer but also keep them from panicking.

This morning, I got an email from Stripe telling me that someone who’d signed up for the eCommerce Email Bootcamp had disputed a payment they’d made as fraudulent. Even though I’ve been running the Bootcamp for 3 years and have trained over 60 email marketers and copywriters, this is the first time it’s happened.

I got an email from my bank that I’d been charged by Stripe. Then I got an email from Stripe that a payment had been marked as fraudulent. Now this is where I’d have started panicking. 

Firstly, because that word feels like someone’s attacking my integrity. As someone who goes out of her way to turn away people the Bootcamp isn’t a good fit for, I find that word personally offensive.

Secondly because we’re still within the refund policy timeframe. So for someone to dispute their payment as fraudulent instead of just emailing me to say they wanted out felt disrespectful and unnecessary. But that email from Stripe? It took care of everything and stopped me from panicking. It reminded me that this is just business. That they knew how to deal with this. And that I had options.

Below is a breakdown of all the ways their email stopped me from panicking.

1. They told me there may be a way to recover my funds

Loss of money is a shock no matter what the amount. Stripe immediately set me at ease by telling that I may be able to recover my funds and that they could help me respond through the Stripe dashboard.

I now had a place to go to start sorting this out.

2. They recognized that this might be the first time this has happened.

Stripe recognized that I may not even fully understand what a disputed payment is and gave me an explanation. It also told me what the cardholder did (contact their bank), what the bank did (return the payment), and what else happened (an additional $15 deducted from my account).

3. They explained why payments are sometimes marked as fraudulent

Reading this stopped me from getting personally offended and give this person the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they really didn’t recognize the descriptor. After all, it does say Emails Done Right instead of eCommerce Email Bootcamp. 

It’s a slim chance but it could happen.

4. They explained their role in this situation

When things like this happen, it’s easy to blame the company that bears the bad news. They make it clear that they have no control over this and they’re just the party that’s notified (and is in turn responsible for notifying me. Now this is where Stripe could have dropped the ball.

They could have said, we’re just the bearer of bad news – this is out of our hands. But they decide to stick by their customer (in this case, me.)

5. They tell me what my next step can potentially be

Because this is a dispute, it’s up to me to accept or fight it. But they also recognize that sometimes people decide to resolve the dispute for whatever reason. If that’s what I wanted to do, they told me what I needed to do next.

And finally…

6. They addressed the one question that was on my mind – how do I avoid this from happening again.

By telling me they had a fraud prevention system, it made me hopeful that this might not happen again. Upon digging further, I noticed that Stripe had blocked their first attempt to sign up for the Bootcamp. Then they used another email address (from the same domain) and it passed through. This means that at the very least, I can get in touch with Stripe and ask them how to block new payment/signup attempts from this domain.

And just as I was thinking this… their email offered me the most reassuring option yet.

7. They asked me to hit reply if I needed assistance.

They were empathetic and acknowledged that this was a tough situation and they if I needed more help or had any questions, I could just reply to their email. Now, I don’t know about you but this email is *chef’s kiss*. Transactional emails aren’t just order, shipping, and/or delivery confirmation emails. They’re also the bearer of bad news sometimes.

And when they are, an email written that wants to help (instead of just delivering the bad news) will go a long way in creating a loyal customer. As for the dispute, I decided to accept it. The way I see it, I got saved from a much bigger headache down the line. And were within the refund policy timeframe so I’m more than happy to let them go.

Moral of the story: Be like Stripe. Create better transactional emails.

It doesn’t take much.

All they did was share information with me but it was enough for me to deal with this unfamiliar and challenging situation.

Samar

I’m reviewing a brand I immediately fell in love with for a multitude of reasons. 

1. It’s a tea brand (I’m a tea snob. Traveling with my own tea and creamer kind of snob.)
2. The founder is a South Asian who proudly celebrates her heritage.
3. Their website is a masterclass in how to engage website visitors. 

Brand name: One Stripe Chai

Now before I go off about how there’s no such thing as “Chai Tea” or “Chai Latte”, let me show all the reasons why I’m crushing on this brand so hard. 

1. Their opt-in offer

No discount! 😀

I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to see a small brand offer something other than a discount. Their opt-in offer invites you to join their chai club and offers free shipping. The opt-in copy says, “Sign up for your newsletter to get recipes, learn about chai, and get deals.”

Also, that GIF is *chef’s kiss* 

You can bet your ass I immediately subscribed. From a business perspective, offering free shipping is such a smart move because it allows you to protect your profit margin. One Stripe offers you free shipping on your first order and then it’s free shipping on orders over $100. 

Chai lovers are extremely loyal. If they like your chai, they buy in bulk and often for the entire month. Orders can easily cross the $100 mark. Now before I get into their welcome email, there are other things on their website that deserve a shout-out. 

2. Headline and CTA

“Everyone deserves good chai.” is such a short but inclusive statement. Chai lovers are going to feel seen and those new to the chai scene are going to feel welcomed. The call-to-action “Shop Good Chai” is also a no-brainer. Of course, we want to shop for good chai. No one wants bad chai after all.

Side note: The imagery is so well done!

3. Social Proof

Immediately below the header, they’ve placed their media social proof. They’ve been featured in Epicurious, Bon Appetit, Thrillist, Kitchn, and Bustle, and they’re proudly showcasing it. It even links to the review articles! And while you could argue that doing so is taking visitors away from the website, I’d counter-argue that it’s doing the job of building brand authority. 

All those links lead to articles raving about One Stripe Chai’s amazing tea blends. 

4. They feature UGC (user-generated content) on their homepage

And clicking on it doesn’t take you away from the website. Instead, the TikTok video opens on the website as an overlay with the product highlighted on the right for you to add to cart.

And they do it in more than one place!

The same goes for their Instagram. 

They give their Insta feed a prominent spot on their homepage but clicking on the images doesn’t take you away from the website. The images load as an overlay again. (It’s also why I think the decision to link to articles in the “As Seen In” section is deliberate.)

Not to mention, their meme game is spot-on!

There’s more to cover but this blog’s getting too long and I’ve still got the welcome email to review.

Did the welcome email match the incredible website experience?

I’m going to have to say… no. Not because the email wasn’t good. But because it’s breaking a few email rules. The good news is, they can be easily fixed.

You can take a look at the email in detail here.

Here’s what’s working in this email:

1. The copy is nice
2. The design is great
3. The free shipping code is prominently displayed

Here’s where the email’s missing the mark.

1. There’s no “Shop Good Chai” CTA button
2. It’s got a navigation bar at the top which is great for clicks but bad for email sales
3. It needs a higher line space, a bigger font size, and more white space.

To be fair, it’s not a bad email at all. It’s got the same brand tone and voice as the website. It delivers on the promise made in the opt-in form (free shipping), and it makes the subscriber feel welcomed and included – just like you’d want to feel when you join a club.

When brands reach out to me, I often say my focus is on improving customer experience – email’s just my weapon of choice. Going through One Stripe Chai’s website reminded me why customer experience is so important. It’s your one chance to engage with your audience and turn them into customers or subscribers.

For brands – especially newer ones – customer experience starts at their website. For them, the priority is to get the visitor engaging with their brand. And when you think about it, subscribing to a newsletter is brand engagement.

It’s a level above website browsing and a level below buying.

It’s telling a brand, “Hey, you seem interesting. I want to know more.”

It’s giving the brand permission to sell to them.

And that’s HUGE.

– Samar