How to Use Email Marketing for Fashion Brands (30+ Email Ideas)

Why should fashion brands use email marketing?

If social media platforms are such a powerful way to show your fashion items off, why should you even try email marketing at all? After all, there are endless other ways to market a clothing brand.

To answer this question, let’s consider some of the most important marketing metrics: engagement rate, reach, and ROI.

Email has a higher engagement rate than social media

On average, how many people do you think engage with your posts on social media?

Not that many.

For instance, Instagram gets an average 4.20% engagement rate, according to Social Insider. Meta only gets 1.90%.

When you publish on social media, only a small fraction of your followers will engage with your posts.

That’s not the case with email.

Retail brands like fashion stores have an industry average open rate of 18.39% and an average click rate of 2.25% for their marketing emails, according to Mailchimp.

99% of subscribers will see your newsletter in their inbox

When it comes to reach, email still wins. Nearly 99.9% of your emails will reach the inbox, unless you’re landing in the spam folder.

On social media, reach is much lower. For example, the average reach rate on Instagram is 9.34%; on Meta, it’s only 4.32%.

Even if you have a smaller email list compared to your social media following, you’ll still get a bigger share of your audience to see your promotions and other content.

Email is more affordable than other marketing channels

Next, consider how cheap it is to use email marketing regularly. Once you’ve got someone’s email address, sending an email is virtually free.

You’ll need to pay for your email service provider, and you’ll need to pay if you want to outsource email marketing to someone else. But that’s it.

There’s a reason the average return on investment for email marketing is $36 for every dollar. It’s simple yet so effective.

Email will help you gain repeat customers

Finally, email marketing is one of the easiest ways to gain repeat customers. Once someone purchases from you at least once and opts in to receive your emails, you can make sure you stay in touch with that person.

You won’t get “lost in the algorithm” or fade away from that customer’s memory forever.

Every day is a new chance to remind your customers of the amazing fashion items you sell.

4 Types of marketing emails for fashion brands

While there are dozens of different email types you could send your subscribers, let’s cover the main four types you’ll come across.

1. Welcome email for non-buyers

Some people will join your email list when they buy; others will join when they opt in through a pop-up email form like this one:

If there are several opt-in forms on your website, you should craft a welcome email for every form or opt-in category you have.

Use your welcome email to thank people for subscribing, introduce them to your brand’s world, and remind them to use their lead magnet.

For instance, take a look at Gymshark’s welcome email:

The email copy feels warm and welcoming. New subscribers are made to feel part of the Gymshark family when they receive this in their inbox.

2. Welcome email for buyers / post-purchase emails

How should you welcome your subscribers when they become buyers? Welcome emails for buyers are also called post-purchase emails.

You should send shipping confirmations and receipts, but there are other types of emails you can send after someone purchases from you. For example, Knix waits a few days after delivery to ask buyers for a review:

You can also send informational emails that help your subscribers style their purchases or care for them in the right way. Additionally, you can send a welcome email sequence that explains the story of your brand and what values drive you.

3. Abandoned cart emails

Did you know that 84.27% of online orders get abandoned in the cart?

It happens for a variety of reasons. While some of your customers may be taken aback by your shipping prices or the total in their cart, some of them may just get distracted by random life events.

When that happens, you can send them abandoned cart email sequences to remind them about what they’re missing.

Abandoned carts emails are automated, dynamic emails that remind customers about items they left in their cart. If your subscribers are shopping while logged into their account, you can even send them emails about items they looked at, just like PANGAIA does below:

It’s normal that life gets in the way. That’s why you should send emails to remind your subscribers about what they’re missing.

4. Promotional emails

Most types of emails for fashion brands fall under this category. A promotional email is any email you send that has one or more of the following purposes:

• Let subscribers know about an upcoming or ongoing promotion
• Warn subscribers about an item that’s going out of stock
• Announce a new product or collection
• Provide valuable content that leads people to check out a product
• Announce restocks of existing products

We could probably write a whole book on promotional email types alone! But for the purpose of this guide, let’s say all fashion emails that aren’t welcome emails or abandoned cart emails fall into this category. And don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of examples of these if you keep reading.

How often should I send marketing emails?

Is there such a thing as too few or too many emails? And what type of emails should you send throughout the month?

Timing with email marketing is a careful balance.

If you send too few emails, your subscribers will forget about your brand and may not open your emails as much. Send too much, and they’ll unsubscribe.

To help you get started, I’ve prepared sample schedules for four separate scenarios.

Sample schedule for a welcome drip sequence

• Day 1: Welcome email with the coupon enclosed
• Day 2: About the brand and why that should matter to your subscriber
• Day 3: Reminder to use the coupon before it expires: countdown timer + link to bestsellers
• Day 4: Customer reviews for your bestselling products + reminder to use the coupon
• Day 5: Last call to use the coupon + remind your subscriber of the benefits of buying from your collection(s)

Sample schedule for an abandoned cart sequence

• 1 hour after abandonment: Dynamic email with the forgotten items inside + a limited-time deal on these items
• 1 day after abandonment: Reminder to use the limited-time deal + customer reviews
• 2 days after abandonment: Final reminder to use the limited-time deal + make them imagine what it would be like to own the item

Sample schedule for a post-purchase sequence

• Immediately after purchase: ‘Thank you’ email with information about what to expect for delivery
• 1 day before delivery: Hype email to get customers excited about receiving their item
• 1 day after delivery: Ask for a review
• 1 week after delivery, if a customer didn’t click on the previous email: Reminder to leave a review

Sample schedule for a month’s worth of marketing emails

• Day 1: Announce a restock of a popular product
• Day 2: Feature images from your customers and link to the products they’re wearing
• Day 3: Break down a popular feature of a collection or item
• Day 4: Remind customers of your shipping specials (free shipping over a specific order value, 2-day shipping on every order, etc.)
• Day 5: Explain your brand’s mission
• Day 6: Flash sale announcement for the weekend
• Day 7: Flash sale reminder
• Day 8: Final countdown for flash sale
• Day 9: Announce an item that’s nearly sold out
• Day 10: Share a team member’s favorite item
• Day 11: Give a fashion tip and link to a relevant item from your store
• Day 12: Share a testimonial or review from other customers for a specific product
• Day 13: Use one or more of the five senses to discuss one of your latest collections
• Day 14: Run a daily promotional deal
• Day 15: Share information about little-known accessories in your store
• Day 16: Promote a specific look and link to every item in the look (or a landing page with every item)
• Day 17: Educate customers about your loyalty program or something similar
• Day 18: Announce a giveaway
• Day 19: Remind people of the giveaway
• Day 20: Final reminder for the giveaway
• Day 21: Announce giveaway winners
• Day 22: Share a unique way to style a customer favorite
• Day 23: Give customers FOMO by using your email to make them imagine what it would be like to own a specific piece of your collection
• Day 24: Start hinting at an upcoming launch for a new collection. Link to this season’s favorites in the meantime
• Day 25: Give a small teaser for the upcoming launch
• Day 26: Launch announcement: give an overview of your new collection and special limited-time launch price
• Day 27: Go over additional features and benefits of the new collection
• Day 28: Showcase favorites from the launch and remind people to buy before the sale ends
• Day 29: Tomorrow is the last day to get the special price on the new collection launch
• Day 30: Last call for launch promotion

19 Fashion brand email examples to inspire your next campaign

If you’re struggling to come up with emails on your own, here are 19 promotional email examples pulled from real fashion brands.

1. You asked – we delivered restock

It’s important to let your subscribers know when one of their favorite clothing items is back in stock — and Everlane’s approach is a powerful way to do it.

The brand adds a touch of scarcity to the email copy by saying:

“Get it before it sells out again. And trust us — it will.”

But they also create a feeling of community by telling subscribers they’ve delivered what people had been asking for.

2. Shop the look

What better way to promote your products than to showcase a unique look in your emails? Instead of selling individual items, consider selling a specific outfit or look, just like Gymshark did below:

Letting subscribers shop a specific look provides a similar experience to what they’d get in a brick-and-mortar store. But instead of browsing through fashion looks on mannequins, they get to see their favorite influencers wear the look.

3. Mission-driven

Not every email has to be all about making sales. If you have an issue that’s important to you and your brand, make sure to bring it into focus from time to time.

PANGAIA collective uses their email list to bring attention to the effects of forest fires:

In addition to talking about the issue, PANGAIA reminds their subscribers why it’s important. And they tie it back to how every purchase can make a difference.

4. Nearly sold out

Is one of your bestsellers almost out of stock? That’s a good reason to send an email!

In this email, Cools Club reminds subscribers not to miss out on this specific colorway for one of their shorts.

While this email is simple, it shares the message effectively and succinctly. They also specify this is a bestselling product — just in case subscribers don’t know what they’re missing.

5. The FOMO look

Tap into your subscribers’ fear of missing out by giving them a preview of what their next order could look like.

That’s exactly what Gymshark does with a simple sentence of email copy:

“Your next Gymshark order looks great”

Gymshark completes the email by adding a touch of humor: “We aren’t able to do your reps for you, but we’ll make sure your training support, inspiration and style stay on top form.”

Both of these sentences make ordering from Gymshark tempting!

6. Buy today, love forever

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to launch sales promotions throughout the year — for example, whenever there’s a long weekend or special holiday. And when you do, the discount itself is an interesting offer.

But Everlane spices it up with super simple copy:

This email lets Everlane’s customers know that foundational staples are a great investment, since they last more than one season. That’s why they’ll “buy today and love forever.”

7. Educational content

What do your subscribers care about other than fashion? You can educate your audience on these topics in your emails, just like PANGAIA collective and the equinox:

The brand provides some interesting facts about the seasons in this email. They also explain their stance on the climate crisis so subscribers can understand where their values are.

8. Focus on the accessories

You’ve got plenty of clothing items in stock, but you can switch it up by placing the focus on accessories instead.

Below, you can see how Gymshark gives a unique name to their accessories:

They also make a fun comparison to “lifting without weights”, making accessories a no-nonsense purchase for their loyal customers.

9. Announcements with benefits

Whenever you’re restocking customer favorites or launching a new collection, you can use your emails to focus on the benefits customers can get from purchasing.

Watch how Everlane breaks down the benefits of their Alpaca sweaters:

First, they let subscribers know these feel like luxury products without having the luxury price tag. But each of the two sweaters also gets its own benefit-driven description, such as:

“All the warmth of a cozy winter knit with a plush, airy feel.”

10. Fall in love

If you have a new collection and you want customers to purchase several items from it at once, use your emails to make them fall in love with it!

Below, you can see how Encircled describes their new autumn capsule collection:

Their descriptive email makes this collection difficult to resist. Plus, the company added a 10% discount for customers who purchase two or more items.

11. Free shipping announcement

Running a free shipping event? Don’t forget to notify everyone on your email list. Customers love free shipping — for example, 27% of consumers shop in-store to avoid shipping fees. Plus, 66% of online shoppers expect to receive free shipping on every purchase they make online. This type of promotion can help you increase your average order value, too.

And you don’t have to overcomplicate your free shipping email announcements. Look at this Gymshark example below:

The message is clear. There’s free shipping on everything in the store. They use fewer than a dozen words to get the message across.

12. Coming soon announcement

You don’t have to wait until you release a new collection before you make an announcement to your subscribers! Giving sneak peeks to your subscribers can get them excited about upcoming launches.

Notice how this email gives just enough details to keep customers on their toes. Readers know the collection is a limited edition and they know the launch date. PANGAIA collective also describes the upcoming release with copy that’s as descriptive as any image could be.

13. In-depth collection dive

It’s important to vary the style and length of the emails you send. One of the best times to send a longer email is when you launch a new collection.

Below, Everlane takes a deep dive into the benefits of their latest collection:

Subscribers can get a feel for the collection with stunning imagery while the short bits of copy explain why these pieces are good investments.

14. Daily deals

Get your subscribers excited with a series of daily deals! You don’t need to wait until 12 days before Christmas to come up with an email sales sequence that features a variety of your items.

Daily deals work well because they encourage your subscribers to open your emails every day. And when you offer great deals, as Reitmans does above with 60% off select styles, it gives customers a great reason to check every day.

15. The mission behind the new collection

Does your brand have a mission… other than increasing your sales?

If so, you can take advantage of your email list to share this mission, especially if you have a new collection that’s in line with that mission.

Look how Gymshark announces their new legacy collection:

Their new collection acknowledges how far they’ve come. But they use this as an opportunity to remind their customers to acknowledge how far they have come in their own fitness journeys.

16. Team obsessions

One detail to remember is that your subscribers are people. And your brand is made up of people, too.

Your subscribers will relate to your brand on a human level when you give them a glimpse of your human side!

One way to do this is to share what you or your team are obsessed with in your collections. Below, you can read how Everlane promotes some of their bestsellers by showcasing them as their team’s obsession:

To complete the email, they include two quotes from real members of the team. This puts a face on the brand and reminds subscribers that real people drive the business’ choices.

17. A taste of…

You can use non-fashion elements to give an identity to your fashion collections. In your emails, try positioning your collection as a taste of “something.”

For example, PANGAIA collective gives their subscribers “a taste of fall” in this email:

It’s easy for subscribers to imagine themselves snuggling underneath the layers that are part of this collection.

18. The fashion tip

Your emails aren’t just an opportunity to sell your fashion items. You can also educate your subscribers about fashion tips!

In the following email, Everlane lets style expert Stephanie Liu Hjelmeseth take the lead and give fashion advice.

Education your subscribers helps in two ways! First, it nurtures trust with your subscribers, but second, it also encourages people to buy from you to execute the advice you provide.

19. The testimonial deal reminder

Want a convincing method to convince your subscribers to take action on your expiring promotion?

Social proof is a powerful tool to sell more fashion items. And when combined with a ticking clock, you’ve got a recipe for an engaging email.

Below, you can see how Knix uses content directly pulled from their reviews to make their leakproof leggings irresistible:

They also haven’t chosen the review at random. It’s a positive review, but it directly counters the objection subscribers may have about this product: is it actually comfortable?

Deploy a powerful email marketing strategy for your fashion brand

Now you have a sample schedule and email examples to start emailing your subscribers and customers and increase sales for your fashion products.

But first, make sure you optimize your website for email opt-ins using popups. Getsitecontrol makes it easy to create a beautiful popup and a welcome email sequence – even if you have zero experience.