Top 20 lead nurturing emails in eCommerce

As per HubSpot’s research, 74% of businesses consider email lead nurturing to be their top priority.

Getting leads is the first step in your eCommerce conversion funnel. Nurturing those leads takes creativity—and a strong email marketing strategy. 

Most customers have too many emails in their inboxes. You need something compelling for them to open it and take the next course of action. 

The lead nurturing email examples from these 20 brands will inspire you to craft your own high-converting ones. 

1. Framebridge

Ideal to be sent during the initial lead nurturing phase.  

USP: Educational content

Why it works: 

• Educational content helps empower customers and solves their problems—increasing brand trust and awareness. 
• Answering all customer questions can help turn your brand into thought leaders. 
• Keeps the tone of the copy helpful but not condescending. Using only 1 CTA in bold contrast helps customers focus and take action distraction-free. 
  

2. Casper

Ideal for a targeted, segmented audience such as those who travel frequently. It can also be sent to customers who may not have bought for a while or existing loyal customers who would like to buy a new product from the brand. 

USP: Customer segmentation

Why it works: 

• Contextual copy that sells benefits, not just features are more relatable to customers
• Offers cross-selling options with other accessories
• Keeps an exit plan ready in case it’s not something the customer wants right away—offers a referral option. This is a great way to target new customers. 
  

3. Sephora

Ideal to be sent as a follow-up or promotional email or general engagement email. It’s a great way to be in touch with your customers.

USP: Video content

Why it works: 

• Video content easily engages customers
• The email also works as educational content but in a fun way
• The email copy notifies customers of a product launch and also offers a CTA within videos to help them take action
  

4. Uncommon Goods‍

Ideal for new customers looking to browse products or offering purchase ideas to existing customers. It can also act as a well-designed catalog. 

USP: Product catalog

Why it works: 

• It’s mobile-friendly
• It employs a well-designed aesthetic that doesn’t look too promotional
• There are individual CTAs for each section that ensures no conversion opportunity is missed
  

5. Chubbies

Ideal for creating brand awareness and engagement and putting the brand’s social face forward. 

USP: Building a social presence

Why it works: 

• The use of memes, copy, and images show off brand personality 
• The email helps promote Chubbies’ social media presence to build more engagement
• It smartly slides in product promotion with context without making it too pushy
  

6. Airbnb

Ideal for your existing and/or dormant customers. 

USP: Customer retention by celebrating milestones

Why it works:

• Helps rekindle the relationship with your customers by celebrating milestones
• Makes the customer feel special because of the personalized message
• Keeps the message simple, offers inspiring content, and 1 CTA to drive action
  

7. Thrive

Ideal to be sent as a promotional email to nudge new or existing customers to purchase. 

USP: Limited offer + discount

Why it works:

• Helps product recall by using images of the products and brands
• Offers an attractive discount to encourage customers to purchase 
• Adds in urgency to drive the desired action faster
  

8. Zooplus

Ideal for starting the customer journey after signup. 

USP: Discount offer to nudge first purchase

Why it works:

• Keeps the email copy on brand and gets to the point without wasting time
• Rewards confirmation and leads the customer to the next step with a reward
• Keeps the option to unsubscribe highlighted. This helps offer transparency and builds trust
  

9. Gap

Ideal for introducing customers to a loyalty program to boost the customer lifetime value 

USP: Valuable incentive to join a loyalty program

Why it works:

• Explains benefits briefly in the sign-up form itself so that customers don’t need to migrate to get the info
• Adds incentive—Join for free— to encourage customers to sign-up. 
• It makes signing up simple by asking for very few details—just the essential ones. The form is not too long, hence not tedious to fill.  
  

10. Quip

Ideal for abandoning customers. 

USP: Discount offer to overcome cart abandonment

Why it works:

• Sticks to brand personality with both copy and design.
• The email copy is both humorous and educational. 
• It contains both incentives—$ 10 off—as well as social proof—in the form of reviews—to encourage customers towards taking the next step
  

11. Drizly

Ideal to engage customers during festive occasions. 

USP: Seasonal content

Why it works:

• Nails the copy and design with topical context
• Introduces cross-selling with relevant product recommendations
• Experiments with CTA—Summon Spirits—but also keeps the traditional one—Shop Now. This is great for testing and gathering data
  

12. Briogeo

Ideal for customers who’ve run out of products. 

USP: All-round restocking support

Why it works:

• It acts as a personalized email that sends restocking reminders. The copy also reads contextual with lines such as I stepped into the shower and realized I ran out everything. It also plays on the psychology of fear.
• Offers relevant recommendations too with lines such as I know you’ll love these too. 
• Offers an incentive of 10% when the product is restocked by the customer. Also offers other benefits—free samples and shipping—on top.
• Helps save customers’ time and plan ahead by offering them a solution—subscribe and save. A great way to boost repeat purchases. 
  

13. Lumosity

Not typically an eCommerce brand but worth checking out for inspiration

Ideal to re-engage customers who haven’t purchased in a while. 

USP: Creative content in different formats such as GIF

Why it works:

• Nails the format with interactive email content that reads like a conversation 
• The on-brand tone seems friendly and not pushy
• Offers incentives to motivate customers to come back
  

14. Polaroid

Ideal to keep people who have already ordered aware of their order status. 

USP: Customer service + savings benefits

Why it works:

• Provides all the right information to the customer. Offers assurances with regards to delays and delivery time build trust. Also shares email id to help customers reach out
• Adding the discount amount separately helps highlight savings
• Summarizes all information and offers lots of negative space to help avoid distraction

15. Columbia

Ideal for customers who didn’t complete their purchase or browse abandoned. 

USP: price drop alert

Why it works:

• Informs the customer of price drop encouraging them to complete their purchase
• Cross-sells other products whose prices have dropped
• Takes advantage of seasonal discounts by adding a Black Friday deal
  

16. Yelp

Ideal to nudge customers with FOMO. 

USP: Build social proof

Why it works: 

• Fires up customers’ FOMO by showing where other customers are eating
• Helps build social proof by adding reviews and ratings
• Offers update on safety measures to assure customers

17. BarkBox

Ideal to get customer data to personalize their shopping experience, get feedback, or review products. 

USP: Brand character

Why it works:

• Makes the survey fun by adding brand character
• Informs how much time it’ll take to avoid customers dropping off
• Makes room for errors. Offers an alternative to paste a link in case it doesn’t work. This helps improve the customer experience. 
  

18. GrubHub

Ideal to update customers about changes and offer something new. 

USP: Building brand excitement

Why it works:

• Leverages its unique brand voice through the copy
• Explains how it benefits customers without going into technical details
• Also keeps space to take feedback and engage customers
  

19. Puma

Ideal for nudging dormant customers with discounts. 

USP: Purchase incentives

Why it works:

• Offers an attractive incentive for customers to purchase again
• Makes availing the discount easy by offering the code in the email itself
• Adds a bit of urgency by including a end-date for the offer

20. Loeffler Randall

Ideal for closing end-of-year emails. 

USP: Saying thank you

Why it works:

• Makes customers feel special by saying thank you
• Offers incentive + highlights free shipping benefits
• Hints at loyalty with reward points
  

Over to you. Which lead nurturing email examples did you find inspiring?