Each type of email, whether it's a promotion, newsletter, or update, plays a unique role in nurturing leads and retaining customers. 

Knowing when and how to use these types can help you create targeted campaigns that resonate with your audience, driving conversions and building lasting customer relationships.

SaaS Email Marketing: 9 Effective Types of Email Marketing Messages

Think of SaaS email marketing as gardening. Just as you carefully select and sow seeds that grow into beautiful plants, email marketing involves crafting and sending targeted emails to your audience.

You plant the seeds of information and offers, hoping they will take root and grow into meaningful engagement or conversions.

The good news is that there’s a wide range of SaaS email marketing messages you can send.

Even better news? For every dollar spent in email marketing, you can confidently expect an ROI of about $36.

So which types of SaaS email marketing messages should you start sending ASAP? Let’s get straight to it.

1. Welcome Emails

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When your email automation is correctly set up, a prospect completing a form on your landing page should trigger a welcome email automatically.

According to GetResponse’s 2023 Email Marketing Benchmarks, welcome emails boast an impressive open rate of 68.59% and a click-through rate of 16.05%.

Despite this positive response, it’s crucial to avoid using aggressive marketing language in your welcome emails.

This initial email is your first contact with the prospect, so it’s best to focus on building a relationship rather than pushing for a sale.

Use the welcome email to lay the groundwork for:

• Gently nurturing the prospect’s trust.
• Building solid relationships.
• Steadily guiding them toward the buying stage.

Creating impressive welcome emails can make your prospect more receptive to other types of emails from your business.

How to Create Impressive Welcome Emails

• Personalize the welcome emails: Create an intimate connection with your new subscribers by addressing them by their names.
• Be concise: Introduce your business briefly, avoid turning the welcome email into a sales pitch.
• State the benefits of being a subscriber. Share benefits that matter to your subscribers, such as exclusive discounts and subscribers-only tips.
• Deliver your promise: If you offered something on your landing page, such as a free-trial, include it in the welcome email. Consider giving a gift to new subscribers, even if no promise was made.

2. Email Newsletters

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Email newsletters are one of the most popular types of email marketing messages. 

Newsletters are not about making sales, but informing, educating, and even entertaining your SaaS customers and prospects.

They help you stay on top of your subscribers’ minds. 

Here are some SaaS email marketing message ideas for your newsletters:

• Product updates: Inform customers about new features with a brief description and a link for more details.
• Brand stories: Share your company’s story, vision, and values to build an emotional bond and loyalty. 
• New content announcement: Notify subscribers of new website content with crisp intriguing descriptions and a link.
• Exclusive tips: Share practical advice or best practices relevant to your niche or products. Address a problem or pain point for your subscribers.   

Easy Tips for Creating Effective Newsletters

• Have a single focus for each newsletter.
• Focus on readability. Make your email content simple, catchy, and straightforward.
• Connect your email content to trending topics and events.
• Have a strict schedule. Subscribers should know when to expect your communication. 

3. Dedicated Emails

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Dedicated emails are also known as stand-alone emails. They are messages that require special attention and a clear, singular focus. 

These emails can contain:

• An important announcement.
• One exclusive or limited time offer for your services. 
• An invitation to an event you’re hosting.
• Information on a new white paper you’ve published.
• A product launch.

With this type of SaaS email marketing campaign, you create a context that introduces a call to action, like ‘Register Now’ or ‘Buy Now.’

The CTA should link to the related landing page.

How to Create Effective Dedicated Emails

• Have a clear objective and ensure your message aligns with it.
• Use clear and actionable language.
• Avoid distracting subscribers with unnecessary details.

4. Lead Nurturing Emails

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These emails aim to convert leads and build long-term customer relationships.

You can use past interactions to put an effective lead nurturing workflow into motion. 

For instance, after a customer has subscribed, you can follow up with:

• A thank-you email for subscribing or taking the offer.
• An exclusive offer on an upsell or cross-sell. 
• Educational content on how to get the most out of the software.

Aim to provide value, build trust, and turn recipients into loyal subscribers and advocates for your SaaS.

5. Transactional Emails

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Transactional emails are triggered by an action a customer takes on your website. 

For instance, if they sign up for a free trial, they get a transactional email to confirm their subscription.

Although customers must engage with transactional emails to complete a transaction, don’t frustrate them with a sloppy email. Use these tips.

How to Make Transactional Emails Engaging

• Make the subject line clear. The customer should easily spot the email in their inbox.
• Be concise. Provide a brief summary of the information the customer is expecting. 
• Include all necessary details depending on the purpose of the email. Make sure this information is presented clearly and is easy to understand.

6. Re-engagement Emails

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If data from your mail management software shows certain customers have been inactive, sending a re-engagement message is one of the SaaS email marketing strategies you can use to re-establish contact.

It brings your business back to their minds. And truth be told, regaining the attention of an inactive subscriber is much cheaper than acquiring a new customer.

If your re-engagement email achieves the opposite effect and your customer unsubscribes, look at the bright side. You’ll have a clean email list and your email engagement rates will soar.

High engagement rates make internet service providers less likely to flag your emails as spam.

How do you get re-engagement emails right?

Pay special attention to your subject line. It should grab their interest. Try using a crazy and personalized offer or ask an intriguing question.

Once the subscriber has opened the email, do this:

• Describe how your company has changed.
• Acknowledge them and remind them why they subscribed.
• Highlight new benefits or value of your product or service.

Pro tip: If you’ve sent a re-engagement email to a customer before and got no response, they may not want to be contacted again. The best action is to remove them from your email list.

7. Video Emails

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According to GetResponse, adding a link to a Vimeo video in your emails can boost open rates by about 14%.

Video emails are excellent build engagement. They add visual appeal to your emails, making them more captivating and dynamic compared to plain text.

Videos also make it easy to convey complex information in an easily understandable format.

Here are some content ideas for your video emails:

• Educate subscribers.
• Invite subscribers to an event.
• Thank customers.
• Show your silly side with humorous content.
• Announce contests.
• Share customer testimonials.

Pro tip: Include the word ‘video’ in your subject lines. It increases your open-rates.

8. Seasonal Campaigns

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A seasonal campaign centers your campaign around a certain holiday, such as Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.

You need to start building excitement around your holiday offers early enough so that your customers know what to expect.

How to Make Your Seasonal Email Campaigns Successful

• Create FOMO with a ticking clock.
• Segment your list by location and track local holidays.
• Be the first in their inbox to beat competitors.
• Match your email theme to the holiday while staying true to your brand.
• Offer generous discounts to match the season’s spirit.

9. The Post-Purchase Drip

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Once the customer has made a purchase, do you stop at that? No. You build brand loyalty with a post-purchase email series.

Not many people use post-purchase emails, but they’re super important. They help subscribers feel good about their purchase and trigger their loyalty.

For crafting this type of SaaS email marketing message, consider these creative ideas:

• Offer customer support resources.
• Send subscription renewal reminders.
• Educate subscribers about integration options and customization features.
• Provide training sessions.
• Share exclusive updates, features, and offers.
• Encourage them to join a user community or forum.

Pro Tip: To succeed with this type of email, always focus on enhancing the subscriber's user experience, not closing a sale.

Start Sending Your Emails Today

There are numerous different types of SaaS email marketing campaigns you can conduct. But their value lies in their relevance to subscribers.

Follow three rules:

• Send relevant emails that maintain interest in your brand.
• Avoid overdoing it to prevent being seen as spam.
• Use different types of emails to guide customers through the sales funnel.

Your focus should be on providing key information each individual subscriber needs to have a better customer experience. And where possible, give it a personal touch.

Get to action!