Engaging email ideas for multi-unit brands

You’re a multi-unit brand, offering brilliant services at reasonable prices and you want people to know about it. Is it enough to simply tell them how great your products and services are?

Not so much.

With the ever-growing volume of emails hitting our inboxes, it’s more important than ever to be more perceptive and sympathetic towards your readers. What are they thinking about at that point in time, and how can you link your offering to whatever is going on in their lives?

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Transport companies are doing this well. Take Virgin’s selfie summer email. Sent on 4 August – peak summer holiday – it captures the vogue for selfies on vacation. Opening with a clear call-to-action, “selfie the sights,” it follows by acknowledging the different types of weekend trip selfie lovers might enjoy.

Without screaming “book a train with us,” Virgin offers its holidaymakers reasons why they might want to travel to Glasgow, London or Manchester (on one of their trains), framed in a bright, fun template.

Likewise, Trainline’s beach-themed email sent on 25 August was well timed to coincide with a late-summer heatwave. The email is clearly laid out, with enticing imagery of seaside resorts, return prices, and a clear call-to-action “book now.” Trainline even gives the predicted temperatures for each seaside resort. In other words, exactly the type of information a day-tripper would be looking for.

Along the same lines, Chiltern Railways’ email sent mid-July, homes in on the growing trend for staycations, taking advantage of the fact that many people are choosing not to go abroad for their holidays.

Customers want the best deal possible and Chiltern knows this full well. So it also presents three pieces of advice for booking the cheapest advance fares, signposted by icons and bold fonts.

Empathy is key

Each rail company has clearly thought about what readers might be searching for and thinking about during the summer months. And, in doing so, based their communications around their consumers. As long as the customer is front of mind when planning email content, engagement will naturally follow.

It’s less telling your readers how great your services are and more about showing that you’re aware of what’s going on in their world. Your subscribers will thank you, not only by opening your emails, but also by sharing them. Building trust is key to encouraging customer loyalty and that happens through empathetic email marketing.

Need more email expertise? Get in touch with our skilled team of experts and watch your open rates flourish.