Writing compelling emails is complicated. There are a lot of steps that need to happen in order to create an email (or a sequence of emails) that generates results, from research to design, scheduling, and more.
It gets even more complex if there are interdisciplinary professionals involved. In the process of building an email campaign, a big company usually involves a researcher, a copywriter, a marketer, a designer, and (most likely) a legal team whose job is to avoid getting into unnecessary lawsuits.
The email marketing brief is a document that smoothes out this process by collecting and centralizing all the project’s information in one place, from market research to strategy, who the stakeholders are, the deliverables, milestones, and more. In other words, it’s a tool that puts everyone on the same page and contains all the necessary information for the successful completion of the email campaign.
If it sounds important it’s because it is. After working with dozens of email marketing agencies and freelancers, we’ve realized that teams that include briefs in their processes are considerably more successful and effective with their email campaigns. So, don’t miss out on this great tool and start implementing it right now!
You may have got a glimpse into how relevant implementing a brief into your email marketing process is, now it’s time to dive deeper into the specific benefits of doing so:
After going through the benefits of including a brief into your email marketing efforts, you are most likely excited to get started. In this section, you’ll discover how to write one from scratch and which sections are a must-have.
The other option is to use our customizable email brief template in HolaBrief. Go create an account for free and try it for yourself!
First and foremost, a good email brief should start with an overview of the project. If you are an agency and it’s your first time working with a client, it’s a good idea to include in this section the company’s background and history to get familiar with their business and what they stand for.
Some questions you can include are:
Every email campaign is built and sent with a goal in mind, so why not write it down? Knowing what you expect from your efforts gives you a benchmark to compare the results to and tells you if you are on the right track or need to change the approach.
Are you trying to increase your e-commerce sales? By how much? Or are you trying to raise awareness of your brand? Perhaps you want to implement an upsell email campaign after a purchase is made. Be clear on your objective and attach a metric to it, you won’t regret it.
No matter if you are working on an email marketing or cold outreach campaign, someone will receive it. So, in order for your emails to be effective, they need to speak in the language of the client or prospect; the message must resonate with them.
The best way to accomplish this is to define the target audience and write down their details. How old are they? Where do they live? What are their interests, needs, fears, and desires? What do they value? What keeps them up at night? All of these questions will help you get a clear picture of them, keep it in mind when writing and designing your content.
Did you know that you can use our interactive customer persona exercise in your briefs? Check it out here!
If you check your inbox, not every email sounds the same. Some try to be funny, others inspiring and some of them (most often unintentionally) boring. What does your client what their emails to sound like? Give them the opportunity to write down their ideal tone of voice and style in this section.
Also, every email that is sent should try to communicate one single message. Don’t confuse customers with different value propositions, benefits, and features. Try to single out one per email and see which ones resonate the most.
Finally, this section contains all the technical requirements that the copywriter, designer, and marketer need to take into account when building the campaign. It includes but it’s not limited to:
An effective email marketing and design brief example should contain, at least, the 5 sections described above. Anything less puts you in danger of creating an email campaign strategy that will not solve neither your client’s business needs nor their customers’ problems.
Create a HolaBrief account and utilize our template for free to look at a solid email brief sample that you can modify to your needs and specifications. Here is an illustration of what you will receive:
It takes a lot of work to create an email creative brief from scratch, and we know it perfectly well. There is also a chance that you might fail to add something crucial, which could affect how well your project performs.
We developed HolaBrief and generated tried-and-true templates for you to use and adapt particularly for this purpose. Simply pick one, edit it by adding or removing exercises, and email it to your client for completion. Create your account for free now!
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