Writing the Perfect Business Email (With Examples)

According to email statistics reports by Radicati, the average office worker receives around 125 business emails daily. This figure continues to rise every year. By the end of 2023, Radicati estimates that 347.3 billion business and consumer emails will be sent and received per day. But while billions of emails are sent daily, this doesn’t mean they are effective.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to write a business email, see how it can benefit your marketing strategy, and use business email examples to set you in the right direction.

Newsletter email

Newsletter emails are a very popular method of communication used in business marketing. They can deliver various company news and announcements to your subscriber list while building brand authority and nurturing consumer relationships. Ideally, newsletters are a type of business email that shouldn’t be too promotional. They should instead focus on insightful and timely information.

How frequently you send a newsletter email is a longstanding debate. However, the frequency you send them must suit your business and marketing goals. For example, a weekly newsletter may work best if the services or information you provide are time-sensitive. However, sending daily newsletters out to subscribers will overwhelm and annoy them if you offer an expensive one-off service.

Either way, it’s important to send out newsletters consistently and stick to your promises. Customers who sign up for a monthly newsletter expect to receive the newsletter once a month, not every other month.

Newsletter email example

Newsletter emails are incredibly diverse, from their format to selling points. This makes them hard to epitomize with a single business email example. However, you can find a simple B2C business newsletter template below that we can pick apart:

While simple, this newsletter email succeeds on several levels:

• It uses a clear and concise subject line – a lengthy subject line may be cut off in your subscribers‘ inboxes. It’s best to keep them short, simple, and to the point. You should also limit punctuation and be careful how you use emojis. Numerous tactics can be employed in the subject line. For example, it can be framed as a question or be purposefully enigmatic. Testing a few variations and tracking the results is a good idea.

• It builds a sense of urgency – using time-sensitive phrases like ‚fast‘, ‚over soon‘, ‚quick‘ and ‚limited‘ will give readers the sense they’ll miss out if they don’t act quickly.

• It has a clear goal in mind (drive blog engagement).

• It knows its audience (gardeners/people who own a garden).

• It doesn’t hide the unsubscribe button – hiding the unsubscribe button will frustrate customers. It may even result in your newsletter landing in a spam folder. It also breaches privacy rules as set out in GDRP (General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679).

• It has an option to view in a browser – the ‚view in browser‘ feature ensures that the newsletter is visible regardless of setup or device. Ensure your newsletter is responsive and optimized for mobile, desktop, and tablet.

Knowing your audience and business goals, as well as giving your message a defined purpose, are vital to creating an effective newsletter email.

These factors help establish:

• The look of the newsletter

• The style of the subject line

• The overall contents and tone of voice

Another important tip is to use email marketing tracking software to monitor the results (subscribers gained, unsubscribe rate, open rate, etc.). You should also think about A/B testing different aspects of the newsletter. This will let you gauge what works best and ensure you drive as much engagement as possible.

Welcome email

A welcome email is the first business email you send to new subscribers. It is a vital first step in forming a B2C or B2B relationship. Welcome emails allow new subscribers to become acquainted with the brand and build their trust.

A successful welcome email can lead to increased engagement further down the line. They must also comply with email marketing laws and legislation, particularly GDPR.

According to a study by GetResponse, the open rate for welcome emails is a surprisingly high 82%. This is much higher than other types of formal business emails.

Welcome emails are a type of ‚transactional email‘ – an automated business email example delivered to subscribers who follow a particular action. Examples could be:

• Signing up to a newsletter

• Downloading an app

• Setting up an account

• Registering for an event

Welcome email example

Our business email example below covers nearly all grounds and can be tailored to fit your situation, organization, and goals:

A subject line with a touch of personalization works nicely for welcome emails. This can be achieved quite easily by mentioning the name of the recipient. Other ideas for welcome email subject lines include posing a question, highlighting a special offer, or steering subscribers to a particular goal:

Personalized – Welcome to [COMPANY], [NAME]!

Question – You’re in! Ready to get started?

Offer – Welcome, [NAME]! Your 20% discount code awaits

Direction – Account confirmed! Here are the next steps

Welcome business email examples vary, but it can be helpful to think of them in five basic parts:

1. Thanks/greeting – greet the subscriber and thank them for signing up, downloading the app, creating an account, etc.

2. Business goals/values – briefly outline your business mission/values.

3. What the customer can expect – provide information about the content they can expect from you, the services, and offers that are now available to them, etc.

4. What the customer should do next – this can be anything from waiting for a follow-up email, completing their customer profile, navigating to valuable resources, etc.

5. Friendly goodbye – encourage customer feedback, share important contact information, and link to your social media channels.

While our business email example is straightforward, it effectively covers each of these points. Some welcome emails may rely more heavily on design. Some may direct users to resources and information. Others may center around gifts and coupons.

Think carefully about which business email style suits your company’s needs. Most importantly, ensure your business email establishes your brand personality and leaves a lasting impression.

Promotional email

Promotional emails are commonly seen in business email marketing campaigns. While email newsletters typically spread educational content, promotional business emails raise awareness about a particular product or service.

Some examples include:

• Product sale

• Product launch

• Special offers/discounts

• Giveaways/competitions

• Seasonal gifts

• Upgrading to a plan

• Business event

Promotional emails are effective at generating conversions, helping with the buying process, increasing awareness, and quickly delivering targeted messages. As with other business email examples, they should use persuasive ploys, have attention-grabbing subject lines, and be crafted to suit your brand. Done right, they can be a valuable revenue driver.

Promotional emails can range from being quite minimalist to more information heavy. This depends on the product/service you are marketing. However, remember that subscribers don’t want to hang around all day to read your email.

Promotional email example

Below you can find a promotional email template showcasing a good business email example that raises awareness of a sale. However, be aware that using messaging that is TOO promotional in subject lines can cause emails to be flagged as spam:

We have spent a lot of time analyzing many promotional email examples. Nearly all of them are composed of six main parts to varying degrees:

1. Company branding/header – clear company branding with an eye-catching header/design.

2. Call to action title – the main goal of the promotional email reflected in a call-to-action title, e.g., ‚Upgrade your account!‘, ‚Save up to 50% this winter!‘, ‚Subscribe today and save 50%!‘.

3. Description of product/service – information about the product or service.

4. Call to action button – the button or link subscribers must click on to convert. Some examples of CTA text include ‚apply now‘, ‚register here‘, ‚upgrade now‘ and ‚browse our collection‘.

5. Product/service image with information – an image of the product or service in question. This could be a product on sale, a magazine’s front cover/contents, a picture of the venue, etc.

6. Footer with social links/clear unsubscribe button – social media links, important contact information, important sale information, and a clear unsubscribe button should be featured in the footer.

It’s important to get creative with your promotional emails and tailor them to your strategy. Do you think the product speaks for itself? Then make product images the selling point of the email and reduce descriptive copy.

Think carefully about what your subscribers will value the most in your promotional email and how to deliver this to them.

Our promotional email example above represents an example of segmentation. There is no email marketing strategy where subscribers aren’t divided into groups based on set criteria, e.g., demographic information. Our example targets shoppers who have purchased certain types of lipstick in the past.

If segmentation is a feasible strategy for your business, it will allow you to create relevant campaigns for your subscribers. Personalization goes a long way. According to a report by Epsilon, 80% of customers are more likely to convert if business emails are personalized.

Summary

We hope this guide has provided a sound basis for creating your own business email examples. Feel free to use any of the content in the templates when writing your emails.

Keen on more? Check out our guide on email signature marketing – a vital marketing strategy for businesses that primarily deal with plain-text emails.