How To Add More Creativity To Your Emails

Hey it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

Today I want to share why your emails NEED more creativity to stand out in your subscribers’ inboxes.

Because if you do this right, you can turn your emails into the one brand your list actually looks forward to opening…

Let’s get into it!

Breaking Out Of The Boring Email Formats

As you send out emails for a living, you tend to receive and study A LOT of emails... and over time, you tend to notice a very specific pattern across most of them that shows up in the inbox.

And what’s the pattern you ask?

Boring emails.

And when I say boring, I don’t mean the design or the copy is bad. I mean predictable formats that your list has seen a thousand times at this point.

The reason this is a problem is because when every email follows the exact same format, your subscribers eventually just skim and scroll past every send without actually opening them.

Which leads to lower engagement, dropping open rates, and fewer sales coming through email as a whole.

On top of that, AI slop has completely flooded inboxes over the last year, so earning your subscribers’ trust actually matters more than ever before…

The way to actually break out of this is by regularly mixing in super creative, completely different campaign concepts alongside your standard sends.

Take a look at this example:

This brand ran a product launch email that framed the drop like an actual airdrop notification, almost like a tech company pushing out a new app update.

It’s genius because it instantly feels fresh, exclusive, and completely different than every other “new product drop” email most brands send.

Or check out this one:

This brand ran an email that was literally formatted as a Notes app screenshot, pushing their product as part of a Friday get-together checklist… That’s what I’m talking about!

These feel completely different from every other sender in the inbox and give subscribers an actual reason to engage.

You send enough of these and your subscribers start opening every email you drop just to see what you’re going to try next.

Now, at the same time, you shouldn’t solely lean on creative campaigns.

Standard sends are still the backbone of your email revenue, so you still want those running consistently...

The sweet spot I recommend for is around 15-25% of your sends being creative pattern-interrupt campaigns, with the other 75-85% being your standard sends.

Where To Find Your next Creative Campaigns

Finding inspiration for these creative campaigns is actually the easy part if you know where to look.

1. Subscribe to a bunch of brands and save their emails into a swipe file

Build out a dedicated Figma file (or Google Drive folder) where you save every creative email you come across in your inbox. Over time you’ll build a bank of hundreds of creative concepts you can pull from whenever you need an idea for your next campaign.

2. Study what makes these emails actually work

Don’t just save the emails… Actually break down why each one works. Is it the format? The design? The copy angle? The hook? Reverse-engineering why a creative email landed is what helps you apply the same principles to your own sends later.

3. Borrow concepts from outside of email entirely

Social media, product packaging, viral tweets, pop culture moments, movie references, meme formats. Some of the best creative emails pull their concept from somewhere outside of email entirely and reframe it as an inbox-friendly send.

4. Reframe your normal message in a completely unexpected format

Take whatever your next send was going to be (new product launch, restock, sale announcement) and ask what the most unexpected way to deliver that same message would be. The Notes app example above is a perfect case of this.

Build a few of them into your calendar and watch what it does to your engagement.

Email Inspiration Of The Day

Brand:
Hard Jewelry

Email Design:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/119HNDuGd-V7PqpvrfiCPa16UhyNRdCMO/view?usp=drive_link

Notes:
Fun copy on this email coming from the founder himself! Gives you two options to either Doordash a $9 burrito that turns into $32 or buy from the brand…

Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max Sturtevant

P.S
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