#46 - Really Smart Emails (1)

Welcome to a new series we’re coining ‘Really Smart Emails’.

I realized we’ve been incredibly technical over the past 3 - 4 weeks, and wanted to mix it up a little.

In this series, we’ll be mainly sharing about emails we find cool, and strategies we all can model after.

Let’s get started.

Rare Beauty

It’s creator economy now, with influencers cashing in on their decades of content and converting goodwill into products (Mr Beast with Lunchly, Marques with his wallpaper app 🤦).

There seems to be an even bigger shift, with products mattering less, and ‘people buying from people they know, like and trust’ amplifying.

Rare Beauty is a beauty (duh) brand founded and owned by singer Selena Gomez, with a solid amount of estimated monthly visits of over 800k.

One thing I dig is how they handle their welcome email.

The first thing you get upon subscription is a full sized headshot by Selena Gomez (on the first fold), welcoming you to Rare Beauty.

No CTAs, products.etc, with the only goal to get you to scroll to the next fold.

I’m assuming they understand their target audience incredibly well, with most prospects/consumers likely coming due to Selena (likewise, your above the fold for your first welcome email is your first impression, and you need to nail why they’re coming for).

The next fold is a little short blurb from Selena on why she created Rare Beauty, where she threw rocks at a common enemy (challenging unrealistic standards of perfection), made her readers feel good (owning what makes you rare), and subtly touted the benefits of her products (makeup made to feel good in, without hiding what makes you unique).

Finally, she ends it off with her signature (if you have any influencers or celebrities behind your brand, do not underestimate this. it’s an incredibly powerful personal touch, and endears readers to your brand almost immediately).

And then comes the products.

With over a bazillion on their site, it’s easy for consumers to get overwhelmed and bounce.

So they shortcut that process by showcasing ‘what would Selena want’, and the best thing is that they’re all below $30, which make for incredibly easy impulse purchases.

Then comes my ABSOLUTELY favorite bit.

Notice how there’s no discount so far? This is atypical for most welcome flows, and can only be really pulled off if you have something amazing to offer, or someone as big as Selena backing your products.

We see a 10% discount, only if consumers opt in via text, arguably the most direct form of contact you can have with your consumers. And they make it easy with a keyword opt-in as well.

It’s normal to see a huge drop-off from going from email to an SMS ask. However, I love the way they do it. Not only is it incredibly intuitive, it doesn’t require much thought from the consumer (the whole time I felt like I was on system 1 thinking), and I’m sure they have higher than ‘normal’ opt-in rates for SMS.

Finally, they sprinkle in some guarantees for anyone still on the fence, with free shipping on orders over $50 (bump AOV), and free returns (answering the ‘what if I don’t like it qn’).

Overall a fantastically put together email, one I’m sure a lot of thought went into.

And that’s a wrap!

A little different from what you’ve been seeing from us so far, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on this format.

Dig it? Hate it?

Feel free to hit reply and let me know. We’re constantly on the look out for emails from yall, so we can keep things interesting and impactful, as we put out emails from week to week.

Thanks in advance, and have a great weekend :)