12 Types of Business Emails and Their Uses

Business emails serve many business needs, from converting leads into customers, advertising new products or communicating with business partners. Email marketing is a powerful tool, but certain email types can have a greater effect than others. By diversifying your business emails, you can appeal to a wider audience and invoke stronger calls to action in your marketing efforts. In this article, we show you the importance of using different types of business emails and review a list of twelve types of business emails.

Why is it important to use different types of business emails?

It's important to use a variety of business emails because they allow you to appeal to different audiences with different messages. Diversifying your content helps ensure you can persuade more people to engage with your service or buy your product. It's also a great way to convert new leads into paying customers. A promotional email may be what customer needs in order to support your brand.

Read more: Q&A: What Is Email Marketing?

12 types of business emails

There are many varieties of business emails to use depending on your industry, products and marketing approach. Here is a list of twelve of the most common types of business emails for your next marketing campaign:

1. Referral email

Referrals are suggestions customers give their families and friends about your business. Asking for a referral from a customer can increase the chances that the lead they send to you moves through the sales funnel and becomes a paying customer because the lead already trusts the person providing the referral. Sending a referral email to current customers politely asks them to refer your business to someone they care about.

Referrals typically include some kind of incentive for the referring customer, such as a bonus for both the referring customer and the new lead when they make a purchase. You can pair your referral emails with customer feedback emails to achieve both goals with one email.

2. Cart abandonment email

Cart abandonment is when a customer visits an e-commerce store and adds items to their cart but doesn't continue with the purchase. It's important to reach out to leads and customers after they abandon their cart to remind them of the items they wanted. By addressing cart abandonment, you may increase the number of successful sales your site processes. A reminder email may prompt the customer to return and complete the purchase.

Related: 7 Ways To Market a Small Business

3. Promotional email

Promotional emails are sales emails that offer some kind of promotion for your business's products or services. This might be a price reduction announcement or new product announcement. Promotional emails help convert leads, increase brand awareness and encourage current customers to make another purchase. Emails of this type are short, concise and often include a graphic with a link to the sale.

It's important to create urgency with promotional emails to encourage customers and leads to act quickly or risk missing the promotion. For example, you can use phrases like "act now," "limited time offer" or "one-time deal" to reinforce the sense of urgency.

4. Welcome email

When a customer signs up for your newsletter or makes their first purchase, sending a welcome email can help them feel more valued by the business. A welcome email typically contains information about the business, thank the customer for their purchase or subscription and can sometimes offer a discount or special offer. This helps establish communication and lets customers know that you're looking forward to serving them in the future.

Read more: How To Write an Effective Sales Email

5. Newsletter email

A newsletter email is a regular form of communication you send to the customer. A newsletter allows you to provide creative, informative updates where customers can learn additional information about your products or services. Newsletters typically have to do with company activity or the industry. For example, if you manufacture and sell bicycles, you can create a newsletter about cycling activities and how your company participates in or provides products for these activities.

6. Announcement email

Newsletters can be tools for making announcements, but if the announcement is something significant, it could warrant its own email. For example, if a business is moving to a new location or debuting an updated website, an announcement email ensures that customers receive that news outside of any other company correspondence. This can increase the chances that they read and remember the information. It can also help reinforce the trust between you and your customers by making the communication feel more personal.

7. Transactional email

Transactional emails allow customers to complete transactions via email links. You can pair transactional emails with promotional emails or newsletters to help maximize the chances a customer follows the link and completes a purchase. You can leverage a similar technique as you would with promotional emails, using phrases to encourage action and reinforce the sense of urgency.

8. Blog post emails

Blog emails can include entire blog posts or links to the company blog. A blog is a great way to increase your site's web traffic and connect to your customers on a more personal level. Blogs provide informative or entertaining written content, and you can optimize your content for specific keywords to maximize exposure on the web. Consider creating a blog about the industry you work in or the company's progress. For example, an online retailer may create a blog with articles about shopping deals, fashion trends or other information that's exciting to their customers.

Related: How To Create a Business Email Signature with 10 Examples

9. Client case study email

A client case study is an email about a specific client's success story with the business. This highlights the human aspect of the company by focusing on a story about a person rather than the brand. Telling the story from a client perspective helps the reader connect to the narrator who has had a positive experience with your company. Customers may be more likely to trust and remain loyal to a brand that includes this type of personalization in their email content.

10. Testimonial email

Testimonial emails are emails that contain customer testimony about the brand's products or services. These differ from client case studies because they're short and focus solely on the customer's testimony rather than entire success story. You can include flattering customer feedback to highlight some of the business's best assets or features. This can help leads and current customers feel more comfortable buying your products since they can see that other people trust the brand.

11. Milestone email

Company milestones can be exciting for customers as well as employees and managers. Sending an email announcing a milestone and the company's path for the future can help a customer feel more involved with the business. After describing the milestone, let customers know you're grateful for their help in reaching the milestone, and consider offering a special discount or promotion to mark the milestone.

12. Lead-nurturing emails

Lead-nurturing emails are specifically for leads moving through the sales funnel. A lead-nurturing email focuses on the lead's specific needs and breaks the sales process into more manageable pieces. Lead-nurturing emails typically start with highlighting the customer's needs, then showing the customer the value your business has to offer and why becoming a customer can benefit them.