Announcement emails serve the purpose of letting your subscribers know what’s new in your world. These are di fferent from a generic update about your o ffice, in that they work to build up the hype surrounding a new product you’re selling or service you’re o ffering. Though a word of caution: depending upon what you’re announcing, consider whether or not your copy should be “focused on helping people solve their problem versus pitching a product.”
Regardless of how you frame your announcement, these emails should be direct and concise in nature, which inspires people to want to buy or try out whatever you’re off ering. Sometimes it’s even best to let the graphics do the talking; if what you’re off ering is well-designed, minimalistic, sleek, or beautiful, a picture is often capable of demonstrating this on its own. Other times, including testimonials from users can be useful.
3 Best Practices
- Make it clear what your announcement is all about. Nothing is worse than receiving a vague and cryptic email. To avoid this, let your readers know what the big news is, either in the subject line or the first sentence of the email.
- Share the specifics. If your announcement is about a new product, let recipients know what it does and what makes it cool. If it’s about about a service, let recipients know what the features are. You don’t have to include all the details, but the most interesting or relevant ones should be prominent.
- Include a CTA that inspires people. Your main goal is to get people excited so that they download, buy, share, or otherwise act upon something. Use direct wording that communicates this urgency
10 Subject Lines
When you’ve got something important to say, express your brand personality in the subject line. Maybe you’d like to be comical or funny; if so, check out these great examples from VerticalResponse. Whatever the tone you need to express, jot down your important adjectives and emotion words first, and then use the subject line templates below to shape a great announcement email:
- Introducing the new [product name here]
- Discover what we’re up to
- Take a peek inside our offi ce
- Our app has arrived!
- See what’s new
- The countdown has begun
- We have a big announcement!
- Check out these essentials
- New and improved
- Exclusive! Take a look
5 Calls to Action
A bit of advice from the experts at Vero is to o ffer high value at low cost in your CTAs. They say phrases like “View Details” have a higher conversion rate than a more aggressive approach like “Shop Now.” When you’re announcing something new, engagement in your first email campaigns is an important early KPI. Use inviting phrasing to get those click-throughs:
- Learn More
- Keep Reading
- Check It Out
- One-Click Download
- Try It for Free
Dynamic Content Suggestions
The announcement you’re making should take center stage, but what happens if a customer isn’t interested in that? Include AVARI dynamic personalized product recommendations, and you may still get a sale. You can also ask people to send in posts to a hashtag and add that social feed to your email to show how excited others are. Here’s how that might look:
- If you're an online store, take advantage of cross-sell opportunities. Add product recommendations for similar or complementary items a recipient might be interested in.
- Demonstrate social proof by showcasing users who have already gotten their hands on your new product or are excited about your announcement. Add a dynamic block filtered by pulling in a specific hashtag that you’ve encouraged subscribers and fans to use.
