Email campaigns are ideal for converting event-driven shoppers, mobile-first users, price-sensitive consumers, and individuals making frequent purchases.

​Indian businesses consider email marketing as a highly effective marketing tool. As per HubSpot, the average email open rate for the retail sector is around 38 percent worldwide. According to Shopify, the ROI for email marketing is $36 for every dollar invested. And this return on investment figure is better than what’s achieved via social media marketing campaigns. 

​Let’s look at five brands and their email strategies that actually manage to convert. 

​Swiggy 

Swiggy has ‘the best in the industry’ email open rates. And thus, the list has to begin with the food delivery platform.

​Sajid Khan’s films have superb locations, dialogues, a bit of suspense, great performances, and catchy music. In short, these films are a perfect entertainment package. Similarly, Swiggy emails have an interesting subject line, beautiful and rich visuals, a great copy, and an offer that the user would surely think about redeeming. 

Themes feature some lesser-known, yet beautiful male and female models to keep you glued to the email. These are vital ingredients in an email designed to convert. 

​Besides special occasion offers, Swiggy highlights both neighborhood favorites and new cuisines. Swiggy also often sends an email with details about what the customer ordered three years ago, five years ago, and so on. And this helps strengthen the bond, leading to increased customer loyalty. 

Swiggy’s curiosity-driven subject lines have a crucial role to play in achieving a superb click-through rate in most campaigns. And of course, discount coupons and prompts are vital in increasing the app traffic coming via emails.  

Airtel 

​Airtel does not share the click-through rate or other statistics associated with its email campaigns. But then, why should Airtel feature in this list? 

There are many aspects to justify. Since the last three years, the company’s emails have been a direct communication from CEO, Gopal Vittal. This gives both an authoritative and personal touch to emails.  ​From the launch of 5G services in 2022 to showcasing fraud detection, expansion of Wi‑Fi services, offering free access to Perplexity AI premium, and more. Customers receive crucial updates via email in the form of the CEO’s message. 

​Aspects like the design, text, language, and tone of these emails are clean and brand consistent. Busy readers can easily scan through the message quickly. Messages are about how the brand works on issues that matter to its users the most. Thus, the campaign helps in reinforcing loyalty. And this is crucial in the telecom sector. 

Most users consider Airtel’s emails to be excessive, despite activating DND. Yet, the messaging  adapted over the last three years will help change customer sentiments toward Airtel’s email campaigns. 

Still not convinced if Airtel deserves to be in the list? Well, films like Swades, Andaz Apna Apna, and Rocket Singh Sales Man of the Year did not have numbers. But, they were appreciated, weren’t they? There is a small percentage of users who love Airtel’s new way of conveying the message. 

Big Basket 

Big Basket’s IPL-themed email marketing campaign, as well as the post-pandemic course-correction campaign, are case studies. The latter became a success story due to their apology emails sent to customers after the coronavirus lockdown. Emails explained what went wrong with order processing during the lockdown and how the company has improved since then. Customers appreciated these emails and created a buzz on social media. Thus, India’s leading online grocery platform has made it to the list with ease. 

​Big Basket has achieved enormous sales growth, retention, and customer engagement with its IPL-themed email marketing campaign.  As per data released by Big Basket’s marketing partner Netcore, the online grocery seller managed to touch a 157% click-through rate at one point. Big Basket’s email marketing partner, Mailmodo, also has a story. It suggests the company has increased email engagement four times since integrating quizzes and polls to make emails interactive. 

Further, backstories and myths about fruits and vegetables make the communication interesting.  It goes without saying that Big Basket offers festive deals, exclusive discounts, and product recommendations based on purchase history. And this has helped the firm to re-engage its dormant users. 

Oh, and btw, Big Basket has Shah Rukh Khan, Ratna Pathak Shah, Kareena, and Karisma Kapoor as brand ambassadors. 

Zomato 

​There is less data when it comes to comparing the success ratio of Zomato’s campaigns with Swiggy’s stats. However, public sentiment about Zomato’s email is positive due to their witty, hyper-personalized tone. Exactly like their in-app notifications. 

Besides festival deals, milestone rewards, and promoting Gold subscriptions, Zomato also loads emails with quizzes. 

​Zomato uses emails with exclusive discounts and free delivery offers to lure back inactive customers. If you have not ordered from Zomato for a while, you may receive an email with a segmented list of dishes based on your previous order. 

​Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal spent a day as his company’s delivery executive in October last year. The initiative was an attempt to connect emotionally with people, unlike Swiggy. The human touch is visible in their email campaigns as well. And this helps the brand in maintaining a point of difference with Swiggy’s campaign. Such emotional storytelling helps build empathy besides strengthening brand trust.

Flipkart 

​Flipkart’s email marketing focuses more on limited-time exclusive offers, early access to limited products, and flash sales. Special category-based discount emails are sent during Indian festivals. This creates a sense of urgency, or FOMO, in customers, leading to purchases. 

That’s not it. As a part of its personalization strategy, Flipkart offers easy payment options and extended return policies as part of email marketing. The e-commerce giant also uses the old-school cart item reminder emails. 

​Personalization and festive promotions drive the click-through rate. And the percentage is estimated to be considerably more than the industry norm. Plus, Flipkart’s average email open rate is said to be near the worldwide industry norm of 25 to 30 percent. Overall, email marketing contributes to Flipkart’s traffic uplift during special events, including Big Billion Days.

Bonus: Six Email Marketing Success Mantras 

1. Your marketing email must consist of sections like “Recommended for you” and “You may also like.” 

2. Providing exclusive free shipping, new product previews, and exclusive discounts via email has helped brands. 

3. Your business should use a reputable platform like Mailchimp, HubSpot, Netcore, Brevo, or a reliable option to manage your campaign. 

4. Just think. Can ChatGPT write better songs than Javed Akhtar wrote for Dil Chahta Hai? No. Therefore, don’t rely on AI for content. Brands like Big Basket, Zomato, and Swiggy have the best of the best copywriters working with them, leading to success.

5. Lastly, don’t ever push emails to customers who have opted out of promotional communications. 

To Conclude: 

​Email marketing is an affordable way to reach customers and say what you want to. Emails allow your brand to retain customers, form deeper relationships, and ultimately, grow your business. 

By: Nitten Gokhaley

Need fresh content to engage your audience? Let Nitten help you with 100 percent human-written blog posts, articles, and press releases on a variety of topics at highly affordable rates. Don’t have a big budget for content? No worries, Nitten can still help! He can assist you with story ideas and getting the best content from AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Co-Pilot, etc. Feel free to get in touch: nittengokhaley24@gmail.com