New

Transform Your B2B Website: Unleash the Power of Conversion with Our Ultimate CRO Checklist!

13 Lead Nurturing Email Examples That Drive Action

Lead nurturing emails help you engage leads who are not ready to buy YET.

Say, a visitor transforms into a lead and enters your sales funnel. What unfolds next? Are you flooding their inbox with product pitches, only to land in spam folders? Or bombarding them with sales calls, risking rejection or being blocked?

This shouldn't be the case, yet the statistics paint a different picture. Currently, 65% of marketers have not embraced lead nurturing, and only 47% believe in the reliability of email marketing as a lead nurturing tactic.

Without an email nurturing sequence, your leads could drift to competitors with clearer communication. You can gain an edge by deploying diverse lead nurturing email sequences tailored to your audience's interests.

Here’s a list of 13 lead nurturing email examples to help you create campaigns that shine in cramped-up inboxes and drive action.

13 Lead Nurturing Email Examples to Inspire You

Email nurturing campaigns consist of various emails designed to guide leads through the sales funnel. The key is to craft a journey using these emails that gradually move leads to the next stage. To create impactful lead journeys with effective email nurturing sequences, let's explore the different types of emails you can use.

1. Welcome Emails

Welcome emails are crucial for establishing a personal connection with new leads. They confirm the correct email address, introduce your brand, and set expectations. Use this opportunity to highlight the value of your emails and encourage engagement from the start.

Charity: Water, an NGO, welcomes newsletter subscribers with a clear mission statement and a call to action to join the movement. For those not ready to donate, they share impact stories and provide a secondary CTA to nurture interest.

On the other hand, Hemingway, a SaaS tool, welcomes new trial users with clear trial details and feature access. It offers two CTAs: one to access the tool and another to visit the help center for queries.

Hemingway welcome trial email example.webp

Key Aspects of Welcome Emails:

Clear Introduction: Briefly introduce your brand or service.
Mission Statement or Value Proposition: Explain the purpose or benefits of engaging with your brand.
Confirmation: Ensure the recipient that they have successfully signed up or started a trial.
Detailed Information: Provide essential details such as trial duration, features, or what to expect from future communications.
Engaging Call to Action (CTA): Include primary and secondary CTAs to guide recipients toward the next steps, such as using your product or learning more.

2. Offers and Discounts Emails

Want to excite a new lead? Offer a relevant discount or special deal. New leads are already interested in your product or service, and a timely discount provides the perfect incentive to try your brand. This approach can also convert hesitant leads due to budget constraints and re-engage leads who have been in your funnel for a long time.

GRIND and Grammarly excel at showcasing their discount offers right when you open their emails. GRIND highlights the discounted product and its unique selling point, while Grammarly includes a brief paragraph explaining the tool's benefits and demonstrates the SaaS in action. Both are excellent examples of effective discount emails worth following.

BestSelf Co. employs a discount in their welcome email, a savvy strategy to captivate new leads' attention.

Key Aspects of Discount Emails:

Clear Presentation: Ensure the discount or offer is prominently displayed and easy to understand.

Relevance: Tailor the discount or offer to the recipient's interests or previous interactions with your brand.
Value Proposition: Communicate the benefits of the product or service being discounted.
Additional Information: Provide any necessary details or terms and conditions related to the discount or offer.

3. Announcing New Products Email

Launching new products requires meticulous planning. One of the most effective ways to gauge their reception is by reaching out to your email list of leads who have demonstrated interest in your brand and its offerings.

GRIND introduces its new collaboration with the help of two emails shared on consecutive days. Both of them are visually appealing and create the right kind of buzz around the new product.

Sometimes, it's new features rather than a new product that you want to communicate to your leads. Emails are the best way to do this. Here’s how Lucid shared its product updates via email.

Lucid shared its product updates via email

Key Aspects of New Products Emails:

Exclusive Offers: Provide special offers or discounts for early adopters to incentivize immediate action.
Launch Date: Clearly state the launch date or availability of the new product.
Call to Action (CTA): Include a strong and clear CTA, encouraging recipients to learn more, pre-order, or purchase the new product.

4. Re-engagement Emails

Cart abandonment doesn't always mean people have left products in their cart; it can also refer to users who haven't engaged with your SaaS or website for a while. Abandonment emails act as gentle reminders, prompting leads to revisiting what they're missing out on and encouraging re-engagement.

If you stop using Grammarly for over a week, their re-engagement emails kick in, showcasing the statistics you've missed and motivating you to start using the tool again. CopyPress takes it a step further with its re-engagement email, including a CTA for a free content marketing analysis tool

Key Aspects of Re-Engagement Emails:

Timely Triggers: Emails are sent after a specific period of inactivity.
Added Incentives: Offer additional value, such as free tools or exclusive content.
Encouraging Tone: Use a friendly and motivating tone to invite users back without sounding pushy.

5. Educational Email

Email nurturing isn't just about promoting paid services; it's about building trust with your leads. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by sharing genuinely helpful and relevant tips tailored to your leads’ interests.

This approach not only encourages them to engage with your brand's content but also fosters a strong, trust-based relationship. By providing valuable insights, you demonstrate your expertise and commitment to their success, ultimately leading to a more loyal and engaged audience.

Trello and CoSchedule send out exceptional emails filled with tips and links to articles that are incredibly useful for marketers. These emails are highly relevant and also offer recipients the option to choose from a variety of content links, catering to diverse interests and needs.

Key Aspects of Educational Emails:

Relevance: The content should be highly relevant to the recipient's interests and needs.
Choice: Offering a variety of content links, allowing leads to choose what interests them most.
Expertise: Demonstrating your expertise and commitment to the recipients' success through the quality of the shared information.
Trust-Building: Fostering a trust-based relationship by consistently delivering valuable and relevant content.

6. Special Occasion Email

Special discounts are especially meaningful during special occasions, making it crucial to extend festive greetings to your leads on holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Halloween. Ensure you send these emails in advance, as people may not check their inboxes on the actual holiday.

For example, GrowthHackers offers exclusive documents on Black Friday, while Freepik shares Christmas-themed assets with their subscribers.

Key Aspects of Special Occasion Emails:

Exclusive Offers: Highlighting special deals or exclusive content tailored to the occasion, such as GrowthHackers' Black Friday documents.
Seasonal Themes: Incorporating themed elements related to the occasion, like Freepik's Christmas-themed assets.
Timely Engagement: Ensuring the content is relevant to the specific holiday or event.
Subscriber Perks: Offering unique benefits or resources specifically for subscribers.

7. Social Proof Email

Inboxes are the perfect place to share stories, especially client success stories. Rather than immediately encouraging purchases, share how you've helped others achieve success. This approach builds trust through real-life proof and fosters long-term relationships with your potential clients.

SEMrush employs a unique approach to sharing social proof through email by using an interview format. In these emails, a user explains how they utilize SEMrush tools to enhance their SEO strategies. This method effectively demonstrates the tools' value across various industries, providing relatable and credible endorsements.

Key Aspects of Social Proof Emails:

User Testimonials: Featuring real-life experiences and success stories from actual users.
Relatability: Showcasing examples from diverse industries to ensure broad relevance.
Engaging Content: Presenting the information in an engaging and compelling format that captures the reader's interest.

8. FOMO Email

FOMO emails strategically leverage the fear of missing out to prompt leads to take immediate action. By offering limited-time deals or exclusive offers, these emails compel recipients to act swiftly. They are particularly effective for engaging leads who have been contemplating trying the product for some time, nudging them toward a purchasing decision before the opportunity passes.

Grammarly effectively communicates its limited-time deal by prominently featuring a reminder at the top of its email. It ensures that the urgency of the offer is immediately apparent to recipients. Additionally, they may include countdown timers or highlight the scarcity of the deal to further emphasize the need for swift action.

Key Aspects of FOMO Emails:

Urgency: Creating a sense of urgency through limited-time offers or exclusive deals.
Prominent Reminders: Clearly highlighting the time-sensitive nature of the offer, often at the top of the email.
Engaging Subject Lines: Using attention-grabbing subject lines to ensure the email is opened and the urgency is communicated effectively.

9. Workshop/ Event Email

Hosting workshops and events provides a valuable opportunity for leads to learn something new while offering insights into your audience. It's a win-win scenario that adds value for participants and helps you better understand your target demographic. Your email lists can effectively help you reach out to the right audience for your workshops and events, ensuring maximum attendance and engagement.

GrowthHackers and Hotjar each have emails ready to promote their respective upcoming workshop and event. What sets both emails apart is their clear communication of essential details such as date, time, venue, and other pertinent information regarding the workshop or event.

Key Aspects of Workshop/ Event Emails:

Clear Communication: Clearly communicating essential details such as date, time, venue, and other pertinent information.
Call-to-Action: Including a clear and prominent call-to-action that prompts readers to register or RSVP.
Mobile Optimization: Ensuring that the email is optimized for mobile devices to reach recipients on various platforms.

10. Reward Emails

Incorporating rewards into your email strategy is an effective way to encourage continued engagement with your leads.

These reward emails should undoubtedly be a key component of your lead nurturing efforts, as they communicate appreciation to the lead and provide them with special incentives for staying connected with your brand. Loom follows the same strategy for its new users of free trial.

Key Aspects of Reward Emails:

Encouraging Engagement: Rewards serve as incentives to encourage further engagement with your brand.
Expressing Appreciation: Communicating gratitude and appreciation to the lead for their connection with your brand.
Special Treatment: Providing the lead with a sense of exclusivity and special treatment through the rewards offered.

11. Latest Update Email

It's essential to promptly communicate policy changes and brand updates to leads in your pipeline to inform them about your brand's developments. This practice fosters greater trust, as informing leads promptly demonstrates your commitment to transparency and customer service.

When leads are kept abreast of changes promptly, it enhances their confidence in your brand's reliability and customer support.

I suggest keeping it simple like Google, communicating only the crucial information with the readers.

Key Aspects of Latest Update Emails:

Timeliness: Ensuring that updates are communicated promptly to keep recipients informed in real time.
Clarity: Clearly articulating the changes or updates being implemented without ambiguity.
Relevance: Tailoring the update's content to the reader’s interests and needs.
Transparency: Demonstrating openness and honesty about the reasons behind the changes and their implications.
Impact: Share how the updates will affect users and what actions, if any, they need to take.

12. Free Trial Email

Free trial emails should be promptly shared with leads to ensure they can fully utilize the trial period. These emails should clearly outline the features and benefits of the free trial, showcasing how it can address their specific needs or pain points.

Just like SEMrush ensures that new users are well-informed about the details of their free trial offer.

free trial offer email example from Semrush

You need to also ensure to inform users, once their free trial has ended.

Key Aspects of Free Trial Emails:

Actionable: Providing clear instructions or next steps for users to take advantage of the free trial.
Follow-Up: Informing users once their free trial has ended, indicating the next steps or options available to them.
Customer Support: Offering assistance or support for users who may have questions or need further guidance.

13. Inspiration Email

As a brand, you have the opportunity to inspire leads to explore the full potential of your products. Often, leads may not be aware of all how your tools can benefit them, so it's essential to take the initiative and demonstrate the diverse applications of your offerings.

By showcasing different use cases and creative possibilities, you can encourage leads to maximize the utility of your tools.

For instance, Canva consistently presents its users with various design challenges, encouraging them to unleash their creativity and craft something innovative.

How Do Lead Nurturing Email Examples Work?

The way email nurturing sequences are implemented differs from industry to industry. The tone, triggers, and content vary for B2B and B2C brands. Understanding how email sequences are executed through lead nurturing email examples is essential. Below I have taken examples from three different industries and tried to explain their patterns.

1. SaaS: ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is a SaaS company that helps small-to-mid-sized companies automate their customer experience. The SaaS offers a complete package of automation features for email, marketing, CRM, sales, etc. To make things easier for prospects, they offer a 14-day free trial.

Prospects signing up for the free trial trigger a welcome campaign by ActiveCampaign.

ActiveCampaign’s Welcome Campaign

Trigger: Signing up for a free trial
The campaign has three emails sent on the same day.

The first email includes a quickstart guide and offers to help prospects get familiar with the tool. The second email contains info about how the prospect has been automatically enrolled for an onboarding course about how businesses can utilize ActiveCampaign for higher ROI. The third email is a registration confirmation for the onboarding course.

In observation, the primary goal of ActiveCampaign’s welcome email sequence is to showcase the SaaS’s value and how a prospect can utilize it.

The follow-up emails revolve around reminders to join the course and confirm our registration email. As I never attended the LIVE course, ActiveCampaign shared a recorded session, which is great for connecting with prospects who could not make it, thus continuing to provide value and nurturing prospects in the awareness stage.

After 14 days, my trial period ended, and so did the welcome campaign.

Does that mean ActiveCampaign stopped sending me emails altogether?

The answer is no.

After 10-12 days, a new email nurturing series begins, which is a re-engagement workflow. Due to my inactivity to the many welcome campaign emails, I became a cold lead. ActiveCampaign initiated a re-engagement workflow to avoid once-interested prospects becoming lost leads.

ActiveCampaign’s Re-Engagement Campaign

Trigger: No response to the welcome campaign
The re-engagement email nurturing sequence is focused on educating the prospect about the features and benefits of the product. With the help of short case studies, educational content, and emails about the latest SaaS updates, ActiveCampaign keeps the leads in a loop.

And when does this email campaign end? Probably when the prospect finally shows activity on their CTAs. But if the prospect's response is still low, the re-engagement campaign might continue for a long time.

2. Marketing Agency: Orbit Media

Orbit Media is a web design and development company spearheaded by Andy Crestodina, an expert creative content marketer. The company has an active blogging page on their website, sharing amazing research and personal expertise on various web topics. To engage interested prospects and clients, they also have newsletters, for which one can sign up by visiting their website.

This is where their educational lead nurturing campaign starts. Let’s take a look at it:

Orbit Media’s Newsletter/ Educational Campaign

Trigger: Signing up for the newsletter

In the newsletter signing-up section, there is a clear mention of what the newsletter will be about: web marketing tips. It is crucial to briefly point out such information as it showcases transparency and attracts potential leads.

The art of newsletter campaigning is not to rush in. As it is an educational email nurturing sequence, it should be limited in words but contain effective information. The rule is well-followed by Orbit media.

After signing up, a welcome email is received. It suggests a blog post for a quick read and encourages one to reply if they have any queries. The welcome email makes the reader feel comfortable and showcases the brand as open to suggestions and queries.

The follow-up emails include a sneak peek into Orbit Media’s latest blog posts, which contain some highlights of the post and encourage readers to read the full article. Another thing to notice is the plug-in of a webinar at the end of the email. It is a great way to spread the word about the latest offers, announcements, and anything new a brand wants to share with its prospects.

Orbit Media's newsletter email frequency, on average, is three emails a month. It is good as it allows the agency to create good-quality email newsletters, and the readers get the time to absorb the info without feeling overwhelmed. Such educational campaigns go on for a long time and do not have a fixed end period, with the goal being spreading brand awareness.

Surveys are a powerful tool for understanding user behavior in real time. Orbit Media utilizes its newsletter email list by organizing surveys. It helps generate research-based content quickly with inputs from an active audience.

Informational Email

Providing relevant and valuable information to your target audience through informative emails is essential to email marketing strategies. These emails provide educational content, engage your subscribers, and encourage conversions. Take a look at the email below –

3. Ecommerce: Grind

Grind s a coffee company based in the UK with a chain of cafes that offers coffee pods for Nespresso machines. Most e-commerce stores use a lead nurturing email series when a prospect signs up on their app or purchases something. But Grind breaks the norm by having its own newsletter.

Tigger: Signing up for the newsletter
On signing up, a welcome email was shared by Grind. Notice the difference between Orbit Media’s newsletter welcome email and Grind’s welcome email.

Orbit Media encourages prospects to read more blog posts by them to establish themselves as experts. Whereas Grind’s welcome email encourages leads to shop directly from them and focuses on selling. This is how the lead nurturing email sequences differ in the B2B and B2C sectors.

But, we can notice, there is no clear mention of what the newsletter will be about anywhere on Grind’s official website or in the welcome email, which is not a good practice. Here, a prospect might get confused and unsubscribe.

The follow-up emails by Grind include info about the latest offers and what’s new in their products.

4. Social Proof Email

Authority Perception Campaigns

It is possible that prospects might wander off to competitor sites for comparisons. To avoid such cases, an authority perception campaign shares prominent social proof about a company to raise brand credibility. These campaigns must also include what differentiates a brand from its competitors with the help of comparison tables.

This example from Drift makes a full comparison with their competitors. Intercom vs Drift leveraged the power of social proof and relatable customer stories as the face of their competitive nurture campaign. It leverages social proof, copy, and design to make its case and very well succeeds in it.

5. Offer email

Offer/ Discount Campaigns

Some prospects might budge from making the final decision because of the price. By identifying and offering discounts to such prospects, brands can capture their attention and motivate leads to become a paying-client. Such campaigns work wonders when timed correctly.

To get the prospects on board, a business can offer free trials, special discounts, etc.. It is also crucial to keep a close eye on the online behavior of the targeted prospects and not lose them to competitors.

This discount campaign example is from Canva.

By offering a 30-day free trial, they encourage free users to dive deep into their full-featured product. The campaign further goes on to demonstrate the benefits of upgrading.

Important Suggestion: Download the PDF resource from the webpage, it has a lot of helpful lead nurturing ideas. These ideas can help marketers and entrepreneurs understand and create their first lead nurturing campaigns with clear goals.

Lead Nurturing Email Examples For Better Campaigning

Lead nurturing is a topic many marketers still struggle with. By researching and reading through lead nurturing email examples, brands can understand how to get started with their email nurturing program. Whether you have a B2B brand like ActiveCampaign or a B2C brand like Grind, by studying their email nurturing series, it becomes easier to make one of your own.

The writing style, fonts, messaging, etc., are crucial to getting high email CTR. Marketers can use real-time lead nurturing email examples to determine what type of email to add to their future campaigns.

I will keep updating this blog post with more examples I discover in my email, so be sure to bookmark this page.

If you ever feel doubtful about your email nurturing series, you can also always A/B test it. Here’s a blog post about how to do it effectively:
A/B Testing Emails: Best Practices to Follow

If you want to know more about lead nurturing, then check out this guide:
B2B Lead Nurturing: The Ultimate Guide
‍