When used correctly, broadcast email campaigns can help you reach customers at scale. Furthermore, if segmented, they can help you reach specific subsets of potential customers with engaging content.
And yet, broadcast emails often feel impersonal and poorly targeted. Marketers are aware that personalizing visual email content is critical to success, but many shy away from that idea beyond basic audience segmentation.
User-generated content (UGC) can add that personal touch missing from your broadcast email campaigns — allowing email subscribers to see and interact with relevant photos and videos of your brand and its products. A study by Pixlee has shown that displaying user-generated content on marketing channels can increase online conversions two to four times. The power of customer-created photos and videos can also be brought to different broadcast email campaigns.
In this post, we’re going to explore three types of broadcast emails that can be enhanced with user-generated content to increase click-through rates and conversions.
1. Digests and Newsletters
Newsletters are the most versatile of broadcast email campaigns. Many companies send email newsletters or digests to their subscribers on a regular basis. Whether you’re sharing about upcoming events or highlighting a social media contest or campaign, user-generated content can be incorporated to enhance email engagement and social campaign participation.
2. Product Releases
Is your company opening a new brick-and-mortar store or launching a new product? Chances are that a broadcast email campaign is a part of your release plan. To create buzz for your new offering, consider highlighting content from your pre-access customers or from your social influencer community. Displaying user-generated content in product release emails can help to educate customers about your new product and communicate its value.
3. Promotional Emails and Sales Blasts
When it comes to sales and promotional emails, the messaging itself doesn’t need to be extensive. However, including eye-catching visuals of products on sale is essential for encouraging click-throughs. Inspire purchase by celebrating real customer content that highlights sale items.
4. Shoppable Instagram
Increasingly, brands are sending out broadcast emails featuring a shoppable Instagram feed. These interactive Instagram email campaigns can help to increase sell-through on products, allowing marketers to push through merchandise in a timely fashion. It also encourages social engagement and helps to build your brand’s social audience.
Conclusion
Broadcast emails are a powerful way to reach large subsets of email subscribers. To improve your broadcast email campaign engagement and increase your click-through rates, go beyond audience segmentation and consider your visual content. Does it contextualize your products in an authentic way? Does it encourage engagement and help to celebrate your customers? If the answer is no, consider using real customer photos and videos to enhance your email engagement and to encourage website revisits.
Modern Marketers know the unique challenge of delivering their content to email inboxes successfully. It’s important to consider not just the basics like segmentation and dynamics, but the more nuanced points like cultural differences from country to country. To become more equipped to master email deliverability, download the Email Deliverability Guide today!
