10 Unique Email Marketing Strategies to Boost Engagement & their Effectiveness

Discovering innovative strategies to captivate your audience via email is key, so we’ve compiled insights from email marketing executives to founders. From employing playful intrigue to incorporating videos, explore the top ten unique approaches that have proven to boost engagement in email marketing campaigns.

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Employ Playful Intrigue Boosts Email Metrics

In one recent A/B test, I experimented with creating a hook through playful intrigue. Subject lines like ‘P.S. We messed up’ sparked curiosity, but the email body revealed a delightful surprise instead of an actual error. It could be early access to a new product or an unexpected discount! 

This playful approach, combined with the element of surprise, significantly boosted our open rates from 14% to 30% and click-through rates from 0.5% to 5%. It proved to be a unique and effective way to grab attention and leave a positive, lasting impression.

Daniel Lego, Email Marketing Executive

Blur Content to Skyrocket CTR

Here’s a super-simple one: Blur your content. Launched a new product? Launching a new sale? Blur the image. It’ll drive people nuts, and CTR will skyrocket. Pair that with a killer headline, and boom—engagement rates will skyrocket.

Casey Jones, Founder, Head of Marketing, CJ&CO

Gamify Emails for Higher Engagement

One unique approach I’ve implemented to increase engagement in email marketing campaigns is gamification. I incorporated interactive elements like quizzes, polls, or contests into the emails.

For example, I created a quiz related to our product and offered a discount code for those who completed it. This not only provided value to the subscribers but also encouraged them to interact with the email and learn more about our offerings.

The result? The open and click-through rates significantly increased compared to our regular emails. Subscribers spent more time reading the email and interacting with the content. Also, the use of a discount code as a reward boosted conversions.

Gamification can make your emails stand out and resonate more with subscribers, leading to higher engagement. But remember, the game or interactive element should be relevant to your audience and align with your brand and product.

Alka Gupta, Content Marketing Lead, Smartlead.ai

Encourage with Interactive Polls 

One unique approach we’ve implemented to increase engagement in email marketing campaigns involved the use of interactive elements within the emails themselves. Specifically, we incorporated interactive polls and surveys directly into our email content, inviting recipients to engage on the spot without needing to navigate away from the email. This tactic was designed to make the email experience more engaging and participatory, rather than passive.

The interactive elements allowed recipients to voice their opinions, preferences, and feedback in real time. For instance, we asked customers to vote on their favorite product designs for an upcoming launch or to share their preferences for newsletter topics. This not only increased the engagement rates by making the emails more interactive and fun but also provided us with valuable insights into our audience’s preferences and behaviors.

The effectiveness of this strategy was evident in the significantly higher click-through rates and engagement metrics compared to our traditional email campaigns. Furthermore, the feedback collected through these interactive elements informed our product development and content strategy, making our offerings more aligned with customer interests. This approach reinforced the importance of two-way communication in marketing and the potential of interactive content to create more meaningful and engaging customer experiences.

Bruno Gavino, Founder, CEO, CodeDesign

Include Educational Touchpoints 

I’ve found that adding touchpoints in our emails, where prospects can further educate themselves or speak to our team, drives quicker conversion lifecycles. We add links to blogs or other educational materials in the text of the email to drive more traffic to our site and help our prospective buyers feel more at peace with their decision to purchase. We include no more than one to two so they don’t distract from the main CTA. An example would be something written like ‘Our customers say,’ where we add a link to a customer review page in that text so they can explore on their own. 

For a high-trust product, humans still want to talk to humans (well, most of them). If our team is able to speak to a prospect over the phone after they’ve engaged with an email, they are 30% more likely to enroll with us. To drive more call-ins, we add our phone number to the top of almost every email with short messages like, ‘Questions? Call us today.’ Tiny moments of added trust and humanization can build a better connection between you and your prospective customer.

Jenny Budwig, Head of Marketing, AlphaCord

Combine A/B Testing and Interactive Elements 

One approach that I have implemented to increase engagement in our email marketing campaigns is A/B testing. By creating multiple versions of an email with slight variations in subject lines, copy, or call-to-action buttons, I am able to test which version performs better with our audience. This allows me to continuously improve our email marketing strategy based on data-driven insights.

In addition to A/B testing, incorporating interactive elements into our emails has led to increased email engagement. We have seen higher click-through rates when we include polls and surveys in our emails. Not only does this make the email more engaging, but it also provides us with valuable insights and feedback from our audience.

Tristan Harris, Demand Generation Senior Marketing Manager, Thrive Digital Marketing Agency

Try Message-Market Fit to Elevate Email Interaction

One approach that’s really turned the tables for us in email marketing is putting a laser-focus on message-market fit before anything else. 

It sounds simple, but the magic happens when you dive deep into understanding not just who your audience is, but also where they’re at mentally and emotionally when they encounter your emails.

We started segmenting our email lists not just by demographic data, but by behavior and engagement levels, and then tailored our messaging to match these segments. For instance, for those who frequently open but don’t click, we experimented with different calls to action and value propositions to find what resonates. For the less engaged, we crafted messages designed to rekindle interest, using more compelling subject lines or offering insights rather than straight sales pitches.

This strategy hinges on the belief that when your message resonates deeply with your market, engagement naturally follows. And the results speak for themselves. We saw open rates and click-through rates climb significantly. More importantly, the quality of engagement improved, with more meaningful interactions taking place, leading to higher conversion rates.

The effectiveness of this approach reinforced a crucial lesson: before you can win their business, you need to win their attention and trust, and that starts with ensuring your message hits home. Getting the message-market fit right isn’t just a step in the process; it’s the foundation upon which successful email marketing campaigns are built.

Kellen Casebeer, Founder, The Deal Lab

Personalize Content Based on User Interaction

A unique approach to increasing engagement in email marketing is to create personalized content based on your recipients’ last interaction with the company. Beyond just using their name, add in their past purchases, browsing history, or previous engagements with emails, and tailor your content to their preferences. 

A common example is sending targeted product recommendations based on what they have previously purchased and suggesting content based on what topics they seem to be interested in. This is highly effective in improving engagement rates, as the consumers feel understood and valued. If your emails are relevant to their needs, you’ll receive higher click-through rates, open rates, and, ideally, conversions on your website.

Bill Rudman, Artistic Director of The Musical Theater Project, The Musical Theater Project

Humanize Sender Names to Improve Open Rates

Using a real person’s name to personalize the sender, instead of just the department or company name, is a novel way that we implemented to increase engagement in email marketing efforts. The recipient is more likely to open and interact with the email by humanizing the communication and creating a sense of connection. 

Personalized sender names foster a sense of trust and authenticity, and studies have shown that they can dramatically enhance open and click-through rates. The sender’s name must correspond with the email’s content and context to preserve credibility and relevance. This approach was very effective in increasing engagement in email marketing campaigns.

Fahad Khan, Digital Marketing Manager, Ubuy India

Incorporate Videos to Showcase Services

Add a video! By sharing clips of our top reels, clients who missed out can catch our services in action. They’ll see firsthand the awesome benefits our services bring!

Diane Howard, RN and Founder, Esthetic Finesse

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