How can you create emails that your readers will want to open?
And not only open but also click the links and skim the content?
First, you need to know your customers–who they are, what they care about, and what problems they’re trying to solve. Then you start feeding them value. Useful information, relevant advice, testimonials from happy customers, maintenance tips, and promotions can all bring value to your customers.
Green Ridge Acres–Land of the Organic
Take Green Ridge Acres, an organic market and cafe run by David and Ruthie Lapp. Every two weeks, they partner with Rosewood to send out an email to their growing email list. Like a letter from an interesting friend, this email informs and educates. . . with savory tidbits thrown in.
Open an email from Green Ridge, and you can find anything from a list of news items to a friendly “letter from the farmer [owner]” to an article about one of their products to a current promotion to one of Ruthie’s recipes. Helpful links to relevant pages on their website are sprinkled throughout the email. It’s chockful of value.
Green Ridge Acres sells organic fruits and vegetables; grass-fed beef and poultry; bulk foods; and raw, organic dairy products. They source their vegetables and meats from local farms, including their own farm. “The demand for what we sell is so high right now,” David reports. “People are searching for it. The number of email subscribers has jumped in the last few months.”
The Lapps care deeply about how food is raised and where it comes from. You can feel that passion in their marketing. “Green Ridge products are inherently healthier, resulting in the best flavor, nutrition, and eating satisfaction,” their website says. “Be assured we wouldn’t feed your family anything that we wouldn’t feed ours.”
Sample a Green Ridge Acres email
Each email begins with “News Items This Week.” Here’s an example of a June 2023 email, compiled by Chad Brenneman, a copywriter at Rosewood.
Buttons beneath this take you to an updated list of fruits and vegetables. Or you can opt to call or email to place an order.
Then comes a recipe from Ruthie for egg custard. Yum!
Following the recipe is an educational article about the meaning of “raw,” “organic,” and “100% grass-fed.”
The email ends with links to Swiss Villa’s Raw Milk, an announcement about their soon-to-be-opened Cup of Joy Tea & Coffee Bar, a link to Kauffman Orchards, a meat bundles promotion, and another link to their produce page and website. At the end is the menu feature of the week–soups.
How It All Comes Together
The newsletter gets sent out every two weeks. Once a month, the email contains a “letter from the farmer” with down-to-earth news about his farm or the market. For the other email that month, Chad, a Rosewood copywriter, writes an article about a pertinent seasonal topic.
At the beginning of the marketing year, a copywriter creates a schedule for the email campaign, basing the article’s subject on the time of year. For example, December’s article will discuss citrus, February’s article will feature chocolate for Valentine’s Day, and May’s article will discuss grass-fed beef for beef month.
David says, “On Friday of the week before the scheduled send, Chad lets me know what he’s planning to include and what he needs from me. I try to respond by Tuesday, and then Chad organizes everything and sends it back to me for approval.”
Juicy Emails Full of Value = More Engagement
David says, “Six months ago we were hanging around at a 30-32% open rate. Now it’s jumped up to 40-42%.” One recent email boasted a 48.2% open rate. That means almost half of the people who received the email opened it.
A highlight of this project for Chad is the increase in open rates and click rates, a clear sign of customer engagement. “Some of the increased engagement comes from Green Ridge’s recent move to a new location,” Chad says.
But some of the increased engagement may be from tweaks Chad made to the emails. Studying the email reports, he identified the links people clicked on most often.
For example, a link to Green Ridge Acres’ current fruits and vegetables list was popular. So Chad moved that link near the top of the email, where it began receiving even more attention.
Why work with Rosewood?
With the opening of their new location, the folks at Green Ridge Acres are paddling hard to keep up. David appreciates the accountability that Rosewood brings with consistent reminders and monthly meetings.
“What I like most about working with Rosewood is their organization. For example, I can’t believe how much it has helped me to have an email plan a year in advance,” David says. “We feel that Rosewood’s marketing guide program has helped us a lot.”
Would you like a marketing partner that helps you create inviting marketing materials, like the Green Ridge Acres email newsletters? Learn more about the Marketing Guide Path™ here.
Would you like to receive biweekly newsletters from Green Ridge Acres? If so, sign up here. You’ll enjoy tidbits like the benefits of grass-fed beef or raw honey, interesting recipes for things like grape kvass, a list of what’s on sale, and more.