6 No-Brainer Ways to Create Highly Clickable Email Blasts

Email blasts might remind you of the heady early days of email marketing. You know, when everyone and their dog had a newsletter crammed with bright colors and the dreaded Comic Sans. 

Thankfully things have changed a lot since the early 2000s. 

But, despite many marketers dropping email blasts in favor of automated email campaigns, they are still effective in many different contexts. 

If you want to know: 

• What exactly an email blast consists of
• Why they are still doing the rounds
• How to implement them in the right way 

We’ve got you covered in this handy guide.

What Is An Email Blast? 

An email blast is an email sent to many subscribers at once. 

It can refer to emails sent en masse to large, targeted segments of your audience, but the gist is that everyone receives the same message at the same time. 

They are not as intricate as personalized, automated sequences that are triggered by subscriber behavior and interests. Instead, they are a quick way to promote a new product, give a brand update, or make a one-off announcement. 

And How Do Email Blasts Work? 

There are no complex sequences, funnels, or triggers involved in an email blast. You simply set it up, schedule it (or send it straight away), and voila! You reach a large number of customers at once. 

The only things you need to consider are: 

• The content of your email blast, including visuals
• Who you will send the email blast to
• When you will send the email blast
• What you want to achieve with the email blast

Email blasts are sent ad hoc and are an addition to your existing email marketing campaigns. 

Most commonly, they’re used to send regular company newsletters, share a company-wide announcement, or update customers on something. 

You probably received a lot of email blasts during the pandemic, where the brands you follow regularly shared updates on their policies and processes.  

What Makes a Good Email Blast? 

You want your email blasts to pack a punch – especially if you’re reaching out to a large number of customers at once. 

Advertising emails have been proven to influence the buying decisions of 50.7% of customers and increase loyalty at the same time. 

With so much riding on a simple email, you want to get it right. 

Here are the key elements that take an email blast from meh to magnetic, marvellous, and magical.

1. An Attractive and Memorable Email Blast Design 

Subscribers should instantly recognize that an email is from your brand. When the average person receives more than 100 emails a day, it’s a no-brainer that your email has to stand out. 

How do you do this? 

By making sure your email blasts are branded with your colors, strategically dotted with eye-catching visuals, and quite simply a joy to look at (basically, the complete opposite of the Comic Sans, flashing banners, and glittering text of yesteryear’s newsletters). 

The recipient should know the email is from you the moment they click into it. 

Trello’s email blast includes the brand’s logo and memorable Kanban card design for easy recognition. 

2. An Achievable Goal (or At Least a Purpose)

Just let it sink in again how many emails people receive a day. 

The last thing you want to do is clutter up their inbox with fluff. Don’t feel like you have to send an email blast for the sake of it or because everyone else does it. Instead, be strategic. 

Think about: 

• What is the goal of your email blast?
• Where do you want to direct subscribers to?
• What action do you want them to take?
• What’s the main message you want to get across?

Stick to one goal to avoid confusing subscribers. This way, you’ll drive focused action, and you’ll be able to better track the results from each email blast. 

This email blast from InVision aims to get subscribers to try their latest tool. 

3. A Magnetic Subject Line

Your email blast subject line is the first thing subscribers will see. 

Fail to get it right, and you run the risk of your email getting ignored or, worse yet, relegated to the dreaded Spam folder (47% of recipients open an email based on the subject line alone, while a staggering 69% report an email as spam based solely on the subject line). 

The best subject lines for email blasts are clear, concise, and spark curiosity. 

They hint at what’s inside the email without giving too much away. 

They complement your brand. 

They use numbers, emojis, and personalization to attract subject line scanners. 

Skillshare uses my name to catch my attention. 

Salesforce piques my interest by declaring I’m invited to something. Obviously, I immediately want to know what I’m invited to. 

Recart uses my name, a number, and an emoji to grab my attention. 

4. Short and Sweet

Consumers today don’t have a lot of time on their hands. Respect this by keeping your email blasts short and to-the-point. 

The best email blasts don’t ramble on for thousands of words; they get to the meat early on.

According to research, the ideal email length falls somewhere between 50 and 125 words. 

Doesn’t seem like a lot, does it? However, emails with 25-50 words typically result in response rates of over 50%.

Dosh’s email clocks in at less than 100 words – still effective, though. 

5. Copy That Converts

A good email blast gets the attention of subscribers with its subject line, but it follows through with its copy. 

Speaking to your subscribers like you’re speaking to them in person helps establish a connection and feels less like an advertising email and more like a message from a friend. 

You can weave in some psychological copy tactics, too. Think about using:

• Urgency: put a time limit on an offer or mention it’s the last chance to access an event.
• Scarcity: limit the number of products available or mention how many customers have already signed up.
• Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO): make subscribers feel like they’re missing out on being a part of something.
• Social Proof: share reviews and testimonials, link to case studies, or mention the number of people who have already signed up.

Email Blast Examples: What Can You Send? 

Like we mentioned before, email blasts are an addition to your established email marketing campaigns.

Not sure what to send or don’t know when email blasts are useful? Here’s some inspiration. 

Product Launch 

Share your latest product line, announce a new service, or remind subscribers of your new course coming out later this month. 

Webflow announces its new UI kit in a launch email blast. 

Brand Announcement

Call out your latest accomplishment, provide a company update, or share some news you think subscribers would find interesting. 

G2 thanks its subscribers for getting the brand to more than one million reviews. 

Newsletter 

Send a weekly round-up of blog posts, share a letter from your CEO, or link out to a selection of your bestsellers.

Later’s newsletter shares a number of blog posts, a downloadable guide, and their upcoming free workshop. 

Share Blog Content 

Send out your just-published blog post, your latest YouTube video, or the ebook you’ve been working on for the last month. 

Divvy shares a time-relevant guide for its subscribers. 

Sales and Limited Time Offers

Got a sale on the horizon? Clue in your subscribers with an email blast. Make like Grammarly and put the discount front and center to catch the attention of interested subscribers. 

How To Do Email Blasts The Right Way 

Now you know how to send email blasts, what kind of content you can send, and the best practices for getting them opened, here’s how you can make them stand out and work harder for you. 

1. Segment Your Subscriber List

Send email blasts based on subscriber interests and needs. You can segment based on industry, location, job role, past purchases, or previous interactions with the brand.

For example, you can send an email blast about the launch of your latest B2B product for managers to just the managers on your list. 

This email from Yieldify is geared towards marketers in the ecommerce arena. 

2. Work On Your Open Rate

Research by Smart Insights shows that most industries have an average open rate of 20-30%. The more people that open your email blasts, the better. 

Test and tweak different word choices, different subject line elements, and personalization. Things to think about here include:

• How engaging your subject line is
• Who your email provider says the email is from
• Whether to personalize your subject lines (subject lines that include the recipient’s name have a 4.97% higher open rate) 
• A/B testing different subject lines to see what works best 

3. Include a Powerful Call-to-Action (CTA) 

Make sure your CTAs are action-focused and clear. Something like “Watch Now” is more compelling than “click over here to watch this video we’ve made.” 

In fact, the sweet spot for a CTA is between two and five words. It’s enough to drive your point home without confusing the purpose of your email blast. 

Use a button instead of hyperlinked text, too. Research shows that CTA buttons increase click-through rates by more than 25%. 

Trello’s CTA “Get Inspired” is short, sweet, and sparks curiosity. 

4. Get the Timing Right 

The best times to send email blasts will depend on your audience and the industry you’re serving. 23% of emails are opened within the first 60 minutes, but you’ll still get some stragglers opening up hours or even days later. 

Research shows that Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are the best days to send email blasts as this avoids the Friday slump and the Monday rush. 

Time-wise, afternoons seem to get the best results but experiment with different time slots to see what works best with your audience. 

5. Provide Value

Always think about your recipients. 

What will they get out of your email blast? What will the key takeaways be? How will they feel when they read your copy? 

Every email blast should provide value, whether it’s first dibs on an upcoming sale, a useful blog post, or an announcement that will benefit your customers. 

HubSpot invites subscribers to “take back control of their website”, showing the immediate value-add of the email. 

6. Measure Your Success

Improve your email blasts over time by tracking their performance. Keep an eye on metrics like: 

• Open rates (how many people are opening your emails)
• Click-through rates (how many people are clicking through from your emails)
• Hard bounces (how many people your emails don’t or can’t reach)
• Unsubscribe rates (how many people choose to opt-out of your email blasts) 

Understanding and tracking these figures regularly will give you an insight into your subscribers’ preferences. And, the more you tweak and experiment, the more you will know about what works and what doesn’t. 

Make Email Blasts a Part of Your Wider Email Marketing Campaigns

Sure, we’re no longer about the flashy newsletters of the 2000s, but that doesn’t mean email blasts can’t be a valuable part of your email marketing efforts. 

Start by understanding what makes a good email blast before deciding what kind of content you want to send en masse. 

Then, experiment with subject lines, CTAs, and content to determine what your subscribers want to receive from you. Most importantly, don’t forget to track your efforts. Measure your open rates, CTRs, and unsubscribes to create email blasts that get results every single time. 

Regularly cleaning out your subscriber list will make sure only the recipients that want to hear from you will. Use our free Email Verifier tool to clean up your list and focus on contacts you care about.