10 Small Businesses & Nonprofits with Great-Looking Email Templates that Drive Action

Did you know that more than half of Americans now own smartphones and 88% are using those smartphones to access email?

And, in the U.K., the figures are similar: almost 40% of adults are using smartphones and over half use their smartphones to access their email.

Of course, this means that small businesses and organizations using email marketing now have to consider this smartphone usage when creating their email communications.

If you want people to engage with your emails from their smartphones, it’s important to keep your messages short, focused, and visual.

Over the last few months at Constant Contact, we’ve been rolling out batches of beautiful-looking, modern email templates.  The best part is that they can be used for any industry and matched to any brand – and many of them also look great on mobile.

Find out how other small businesses and nonprofits use email marketing and get email marketing ideas of your own from these 10 examples:

1. The Pajama Program

The Pajama Program is an organization that raises money for pajamas and books for children in need.

Template: Nonprofit Volunteer

Results: Raises about $1,000 per email by staying short & focused

Location: New York, NY

Email marketing is great, because it doesn’t have to take a lot of effort to have a big effect.” – Terri Jasen, National Program Director

2. Bicycle Adventures

Bicycle Adventures isn’t your typical bike touring company—when cyclists aren’t touring anywhere from New Zealand to California, they’re staying at five-star hotels and lodging…combining adventure with comfort!

Template: Spa & Salon Promotion

Results: President Todd Starnes says that whenever an email is sent out, the website traffic for Bicycle Adventures doubles, jumping from 700 to 1,400 unique visitors.

Location: Issaquah, WA

“We get really good feedback from the newsletters and the new templates have been working great for us, we’re getting a lot of opens.”  – Todd Starnes, President

3. Bisque Imports

Bisque Imports supplies studios and artists with imported bisque and glazed items, from traditional pottery to sprinklers.

Template: Restaurant Family-Friendly

Results: Emails are the biggest drivers of web traffic

Location: Belmont, NC

“We’ve found that by not overcrowding our emails with text but instead linking to more information, we’ve gotten a much better response from our readers.” – Kelci DeFrancesco, Director of Marketing

4. La Provence

Organization: La Provence provides customers with authentic French goods, from soaps to table linens, and email helps promote the latest sales.

Template: Spa & Salon Promotion

Results: 1-3 sales per email

Location: Rockport, MA

“Email definitely works. We see people clicking through to our website and we have people coming into the shop telling us that they saw our newsletter.” – Dawn Noble, Owner

5. Reelworks Teen Filmmaking

Reelworks is a nonprofit that works to give teens the chance to tell their story through film. Email is a valuable way to showcase the latest videos to mentors, students, and families.

Template: Nonprofit Newsletter

Results: Saves $18,000 a year from switching from direct mail to email marketing

Location: Brooklyn, NY

“At first, we thought emails had to mimic newsletters, but considering the way people consume media and information on the internet, we decided it’s more about grabbing their attention.” – Mari Irizarry, Director of Communications

6.  Vicky’s of Santa Fe

Vicky’s of Santa Fe is a restaurant with a unique menu and a very unique atmosphere—seven days a week, there are jazz artists performing. That means there’s a lot of information to share about upcoming shows, and Manager Marc Lodovico uses email marketing to do it.

Template: Nonprofit Volunteer

Results: 5-10 phone calls after each email is sent

Location: Indian Wells, CA

“Constant Contact is very cost-effective for our marketing, because I can do all of it and I don’t have to hire a designer or someone coming up with content for us.” – Marc Lodovico, Manager

7. Wine Station

The Wine Station is a wine shop that doesn’t sell anything online. That means that it’s important to bring customers into the store with email marketing, both for events and sales.

Template: Restaurant Family-Friendly

Results: A single email drove 400 customers to the store for an event on a day that usually sees about 40 customers

Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

“People don’t have the time to read a lot of text. We make sure our emails are informative but also quick and easy to read.” – Julie Ananny, Owner

8. Basil Tree Catering

Basil Tree Catering is an eco-friendly catering company that primarily offers meals to businesses, universities, and nonprofits on-location. In fact, Basil Tree is so dedicated to being green that the company offers a service to pick up guest’s used platters and recyclables…and employees combine different orders to minimize the amount of driving to different events whenever possible.

Template: Nonprofit Volunteer

Results: Saving dozens of hours in keeping track of registered customers, building relationships

Location: Cambridge, MA

“Before Constant Contact, we were manually keeping track of everyone we had reached out to—it was crazy, the amount of time it took. Now, I can send out an email to about 300 people in less than five minutes.” – Ruth Weening, Catering Manager

9. The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce

The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce represents Indiana businesses and shows off the latest resources, events, and initiatives via email marketing.

Template: Nonprofit Volunteer

Results: Won Indiana Chamber of the Year in 2011 and Chamber of the Year in 2012, in part for digital outreach initiatives

Location: Bloomington, IN

“Email helped us go from reaching one or two employees in a business to reaching dozens.” – Christine Gillenwater, President

10. Build It Green! NYC

Build It Green! NYC is a nonprofit that specializes in salvaging materials that would otherwise be tossed into landfills. The organization accepts and collects materials like doors, windows, furniture, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, and reclaimed lumber to resells them in reuse centers for 40-80% off retail prices.

Template: Nonprofit Volunteer

Results: 20 phone calls from supporters and customers per email

Location: Queens, New York

“Email marketing is such a great way to remind people about the items we have, especially since Astoria is so out of the way,” she explains. “Compelling pictures and graphics can make a big difference.” – Jaclyn Jablkowski

Making a clear call-to-action

The underlying trend for all of these emails is that they’re concise and they have a clear call-to-action. Someone who’s just glancing through their inbox on their phone can still get the message and easily take action.

Keeping emails short and visual is going to be increasingly important, especially as smartphones become the norm among both your customers and supporters.  So it may be time to start thinking about how you can design your own emails in a way that makes them fun, engaging, and compelling on screens both big and small.

Ready to start sending great-looking emails? Log into Constant Contact and check out our new templates under Type > New.

Not a Constant Contact customer? Start your free 60-day trial today!

Source: http://blogs.constantcontact.com/

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