Yearly Archives: 2023

Like many others, I get dozens of emails a day. 

If the subject line’s irrelevant to my interests, I’m scrolling by and ignoring it. Or, worse, I might click on an email and hit the unsubscribe button after deciding it wasn’t worth my time.

If you’re a marketer, you want to avoid scrolling and unsubscribes at all costs. If your email goes unopened because your messaging missed your target, was the content you created within it even worth it?

To effectively engage and convert potential customers, you need to leverage behavioral targeting tools that enable you to deliver personalized and relevant messaging to your unique audience segments. 

Fortunately, there’s a wide range of tools available that can help you meet your audiences where they are. Below, we’ll explore some of the top behavioral targeting tools that can level up your marketing strategy.

Top Behavioral Targeting Tools

HubSpot Behavioral Targeting

Get started with HubSpot Behavioral Targeting

With HubSpot Behavioral Targeting, you’ll be able to meet prospects where they are by learning about how they engage with your website and content. 

As a content marketer, my team and I use it to create segmented lists based on persona and level of engagement with our brand or site. These lists often help us determine how to personalize site content, tailor our marketing emails, and run automated campaigns.

Beyond this, the tool helps our broader team identify, learn from, and respond to high-intent behaviors like web visits, email interactions, and form submissions.

You can also leverage contact details from your CRM, personalizing messages using contacts’ name, company, and role. Lastly, you can set up custom triggers, like automatically send a follow-up email after a visitor fills out a form. 

Pricing: Part of Marketing Hub, which offers A free version, Starter at $45/month, Professional at $800/month, and Enterprise at $3,600/month. 

Omnisend

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With Omnisend, you can organize your users into groups based on their engagement, interests, and activities. Once you’ve done so, you can monitor how users interact with your promotional campaigns by tracking if they performed actions like clicks or likes. You can also keep tabs on who opens your emails and messages, and implement web tracking on your website.

Omnisend also allows you to segment your contacts based on their shopping behavior. For example, I could use the tool to find out what products they’re buying  from me, or if they’ve bought specific items, types, or quantities of products. Like other tools on this list, you can also segment customers  based on their web activity to understand how they navigate your website – or whether they just viewed or fully-explored its pages or product listings.

Like HubSpot, Omnisend also lets you segment contacts based on custom events that you create or upload. These events can be tailored to your specific needs, covering anything from shoe size to car model, and more.

Pricing: Free version, Standard at $16/month, and Pro at $59/month.

Klaviyo

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Klaviyo allows you to automate and set triggers for personalized messages, including emails, SMS, and social media, based on customer behavior. 

Whether it’s welcome messages, abandoned cart reminders, or cross-sell campaigns, you can customize your messaging based on specific conditions like order history, channel preference, or cart value.

By leveraging customer data such as location proximity and average order value, you can also create segmented experiences that can be used in various marketing initiatives, including flows, campaigns, paid ads, and sign-up forms. 

Additionally, Klaviyo lets you create one-time sends for special events like holidays, product launches, or sales.

Pricing: Free version available. Email starting at $45/month and Email and SMS starting at $60/month.

Segment

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With Segment, a customer data platform, you can deliver personalized messages based on audience, time, channel, and behavior; view real-time customer profiles; and optimize your offers based on how likely someone is to convert.

Pricing: Free version available. Team at $120/month and custom pricing for Business.

Get Started With Behavioral Targeting

As consumers and technology become increasingly sophisticated, we expect personalized experiences. Leveraging behavioral targeting tools is no longer an option but a necessity – especially if you want to catch my eye during an endless email inbox scroll. 

The ability to precisely segment your audience based on their behaviors and interests allows you to deliver targeted messaging that resonates with, engages, and – ultimately – converts individuals.

Get started with Hubspot Behavioral Targeting.

Facebook is home to nearly 2 billion monthly active users, so it’s safe to say that having a compelling Facebook Business Page is essential for any company looking to bolster its online presence. It should be easy enough, right? Just slap together a photo and a couple of posts and expect the leads and customers to roll in, right?

Not quite.

If you’re not creating a Facebook Page with a comprehensive strategy to get noticed, Liked, and engaged, the chances of generating leads and customers from it are slim.

To help you out, we created a helpful guide for creating your Facebook Business Page, and we compiled the tips below to ensure your page takes full advantage of everything Facebook marketing offers.

Listen to an audio summary of this post:

How to Design a Facebook Business Page

1. Create your page.

A Facebook Business Page isn’t a user account like your personal page. It’s an asset you manage from a personal Facebook user account as a Page Administrator.

To create a Facebook Business Page, you need to:

• Choose a personal Facebook account from which you’ll create your Facebook Business Page. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to create one.
  • You may want to create a new Facebook account with your work email address to keep things separate, but this isn’t required.
• Click the See all button on the left sidebar menu and then select Page from the Create menu that appears on the right.

2. Plug in your details.

On the next page, enter some basic information about your business.

• Page name: The name of your business.
• Category: The category that best describes your business. Facebook has hundreds of options, so start typing, and it will auto-populate with your business type/industry.
• Bio: Keep it short and sweet. Enter a sentence or two about who you are, what you do, and what you stand for.

Now, it’s time to make it official. Click Create Page. Congrats! You are the proud owner of a Facebook Business Page.

Next, you’ll need to enter some additional information about your business, such as:

• Website
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• Hours
• Location

Pro tip: Check out your page’s mobile view to ensure everything looks correct when accessing your page via phone.

As of 2023, 98.5% of Facebook users access the site via mobile, and 81.8% exclusively use their phones to browse the social media site. So, it’s safe to say that a mobile-conscious approach is warranted.

3. Add your profile pic and cover photo.

Now’s the time to add some style to your page with high-resolution photos that represent your brand.

• Your profile picture should include some iteration of your logo.
• Your cover photo can be more stylized, but consider using a colorful background that is consistent with your brand style guide.

We recommend using the PNG format for profile pictures and cover photos that include text/logos.

Recommended image sizes:

• Profile picture: At least 170px x 170px
• Cover photo: 851px x 315px

4. Add an action button.

An action button is a custom call-to-action (CTA) that appears below your cover photo. You can set it to direct visitors to a landing page, book an appointment, or contact you directly (and more).

A thoughtfully selected action button can help drive conversion from your Facebook Business Page. Check out the video above or the steps below to learn how to add one:

• From your Page, click the button with a dash, then click Add Page Button.
• Select a button from the list of options, then click Next.
• Follow the instructions on the screen and click Save.

5. Put on the finishing touches.

At this point, you’re almost done creating your business page and ready to start churning out engaging posts. However, there are a few final touches we recommend taking advantage of.

Customize your tabs

• To manage tabs, navigate to your page management dashboard and select More > Manage Sections.
• Choose the most relevant tabs to display on your Facebook page, depending on your industry.
• For example, you can choose to hide or show reviews or hide tabs such as “Music,” “Sports,” and “Check-ins,” which may not be necessary for a business page.

Create a custom URL

• A custom URL will make your Facebook page appear much more legitimate. Your customers would rather see facebook.com/yourbusiness than facebook.com/page18376657 when they visit your page.
• Set your custom URL by navigating to General Page Settings and clicking Edit next to Username.

Pin a Post

• Choose a post you want to remain at the top of your page and pin it. It can be an exclusive offer, a new product announcement, or a welcome message to new visitors.
• Pin a post by clicking the pin icon on the post you want to pin.

If you’ve followed the above steps, you’re ready to hit the ground running and cultivate an engaging Facebook Business Page that resonates with your audience and drives sales.

However, the work doesn’t stop there. You need to keep the ball rolling by posting regularly. If you’re unsure where to start, check out our 41 Facebook Post Ideas for Businesses guide.

15 Tips for an Engaging Facebook Business Page

So you’ve got your Facebook Business Page up and running, but what now? We have some tips to help you get the most out of your page. Check out 15 tips for an engaging Facebook Business Page below.

1. Create engaging graphics.

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Your business page should be clean, stylish, and consistent with your brand style guide. However, that doesn’t mean you need a full-time designer to churn out those assets.

Use tools like Canva to easily create custom graphics for your posts, cover photos, and profile pics using Canva’s templates and free design assets. Canva features templates for every type of social media post you can imagine, so you never have to worry about choosing the correct dimensions.

2. Assign page roles.

It takes a village to manage a Facebook Business Page. That’s what they say, right?

If you work with a team, take advantage of page roles to assign users different access levels to your page so your team can help out without stepping on one another’s toes.

As the page creator, you’ll be the admin, meaning you have full access to everything about your page. As the admin, you can create new admins and users with other access levels. Page roles include:

Admin	Facebook access with full control
Editor	Facebook access with partial control
Moderator	Access to Message Replies, Community Activity, Ads, Insights
Advertiser	Access to Ads and Insights
Analyst	Access to Insights
Community Manager	Access to moderate live chats

3. Integrate your YouTube channel.

People love watching videos on social media, and that includes your customers. If you have a YouTube channel (which we recommend) you can integrate it directly into your Facebook page by following the steps in the video above.

Linking your YouTube to your Facebook page allows you to easily share your YouTube video content with your followers on Facebook for maximal engagement.

4. Post consistently.

Consistency is key when it comes to posting on Facebook (and social media in general). Make the most of your Facebook page by adhering to a consistent posting schedule.

For B2B brands, we recommend 4-6 times a week, while every day is optimal for B2C brands. Consistently posting will improve your standing in the eyes of Facebook’s algorithm, getting your posts in front of more customers for increased engagement.

5. Promote your page.

For a few dollars, you can use Facebook’s advertising tools to run ads on the platform promoting your page and get it in front of new eyeballs.

Click the Promote button on your page, and Facebook will guide you in creating an ad that matches your goals.

Choose your goal, plug in your assets, and you’re off to the races!

6. Go Live.

You can use Facebook Live to engage with your audience in real time by broadcasting live video directly from your Facebook Business Page. When going live from your page, prioritize building an authentic connection with your audience and bolstering your brand story.

You can run a Q&A session, introduce team members, tour your facilities, or run a live giveaway contest. The sky’s the limit! Get creative and go live with a specific goal to enhance your customer engagement.

7. Experiment with different post formats.

Facebook offers a plethora of post formats beyond just photos and videos. You can share polls, stories, live videos, events, links, and questions.

Video is still the dominant post format, but experiment with all post types and see what resonates most with your audience. Facebook will reward you for thoroughly using all its tools by serving your posts to more people.

8. Collaborate with influencers.

Influencer marketing is an essential part of today’s social media landscape.

Of Gen Z and Millennials, 72% follow influencers on social media, so collaborating with word-of-mouth mavens is a safe bet for driving traffic to your Facebook page by introducing your company to a new audience.

When working with influencers, the key is to create relatable content and integrate branding subtly in order to foster an authentic connection with people interacting with your brand.

9. Post when your customers are online.

We know that posting consistently is important, but the time of day you post is also essential. On average, the best times to post on Facebook across industries are in the evening and mid-to-late afternoon, specifically between 6-9 p.m. and 12-3 p.m.

You want to avoid times when customers are less likely to be online, such as early morning and late night hours.

That being said, you should view your Facebook Page Insights to learn valuable information about how people engage with your page.

Using this data, you can make informed decisions on when to post based on when your customers are typically online and engaged with your page.

10. Optimize your videos to play without sound.

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When was the last time you were browsing Facebook and clicked on a video to expand it and hear the audio? Probably not recently, and definitely not when you’re in a public space like the train or waiting in line for lunch.

86% of Facebook videos are viewed without sound, so when creating video content for your page, optimize it for silent playback by using text, subtitles, and strong, descriptive visuals that get the point of your content across without relying on audio.

Check out our guide on optimizing silent videos on Facebook.

11. Incorporate user-generated content.

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When someone tags your page or product in a post, you can send them a request to feature their content on your page. This is referred to as User-Generated Content (UGC).

UGC helps foster a sense of authenticity and social proof. Showing customers that other people are enjoying your business makes them want to enjoy it too.

You don’t just have to sit around and wait for people to post about your product, though. Try incentivizing your customers to generate UGC by offering discounts or running a giveaway, for example.

12. Engage with your audience.

If you want your customers to engage with your Facebook page, encourage them to do so by engaging with them right back. When your customers leave comments on your posts, be sure to reply from your business account and be as friendly and helpful as possible.

Maybe you show gratitude and thank customers for enjoying your product or offer technical support from the comments. In any case, engaging with your customers is key is fostering a sense of loyalty and community on your Facebook Business Page.

13. Analyze Page Insights.

Facebook Insights is an analytics dashboard where you can track user behavior and post performance on your Facebook Business Page.

Take advantage of this dashboard to measure your success and determine areas of your page that need some TLC. If you consistently leverage the data in Page Insights, you can create better content and generate more revenue for your brand.

14. Connect your Instagram.

Only 0.1% of Instagram users are unique to the platform, meaning most Instagram users are on Facebook as well.

If you have an Instagram for your business, we recommend connecting it to your Facebook Business Page so you can crosspost your pics and stories from IG directly to Facebook. Doing so ensures consistent content across your platforms and gives your audience more opportunities to connect with you.

15. Share content related to your industry.

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Your Facebook Business Page isn’t just a place to talk about how amazing your product or service is. Give customers a reason to consistently check on your page by sharing relevant articles, amplifying content from other brands, and starting discussions on events related to your industry.

Make sure the content you share comes from a trusted source, and encourage engagement by asking your customers what they think.

Kickoff Your Facebook Business Page Today

With these steps and tips in hand, you’re well on your way to creating a successful, engaging Facebook Business Page for your brand.

Once you have the foundation laid, don’t forget to keep up with consistent posts and respond to follower comments. Increase your customer engagement today with a compelling presence on Facebook.

I’ve abandoned numerous websites that were crammed with excessive text and bulky images due to their challenging navigation and overly bookish appearance.

Being both a marketer and a customer in one, I naturally lean towards using icons. They are visually appealing, convey information and intent instantly, and make clicking effortless.

But not all businesses use icons to their full potential. So, I scrutinized dozens of websites and apps and talked to industry experts who’ve witnessed the “iconicness” of icons to gather their insights.

Explore how to use marketing and sales icons in the best ways possible. We’ll cover:

• Why use icons in marketing and sales materials?
• 5 Examples of Marketing and Sales Icons
• 7 Best Practices for Using Marketing and Sales Icons
• When Not to Use Icons
• Free Marketing Icons
• Free Sales Icons

Why use icons in marketing and sales materials?

Photography and typography are limited in business communication, and generic stock photos rarely align with the accompanying text. Icons, in turn, make your messaging unique, appealing, and memorable. They facilitate the understanding of ideas and concepts.

Let’s explore icons’ use cases in marketing and sales materials.

1. Icons make stuff easy to understand.

The brain processes graphic symbols much faster than actual words by giving them meaning and turning them into words. When we see an icon, it helps us understand the intended meaning faster — making complex concepts and terms easy to digest.

For instance, a checklist or a chart icon in sales presentations helps visually represent goals achieved and company growth.

Get these icons for free.

2. Icons boost engagement.

Icons encourage and improve engagement. Adding clickable icons on social media, websites, or apps significantly increases users’ interaction with them. Similarly, when you add them to product guides, promotional videos, or sales playbooks, they bring in more responses and encourage readers to interact.

Some icons to use for engagement can be for simply displaying contacts, details, and info icons.

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3. Icons help cut down on text.

Icons save space where text is excessively wordy. For example, if you’re listing the nutritional components of a product on a product guide, using icons for stating categories like 🍗 for protein, 🍞 for carbs, and 🍬 for sugar saves space and gets the point across creatively.

4. Icons support the text.

Icons provide additional context quickly and make the message more engaging and interactive. The “envelope” icon, along with the message “Contact us,” adds an inviting touch to an email or a web page.

Likewise, the “checkmark” icon grabs the target audience’s attention when used in pop-ups — see Semrush’s example.

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5. Icons break up the text.

Nothing makes a sales or marketing report as boring as long, continuous pages of text. Breaking it up with icons adds a visual appeal and conveys your message better than generic stock photos. They’re also easier on the eyes, which makes them an excellent replacement for heavy images.

Learn how to make sales performance reports in Excel interesting with this video.

6. Icons set your brand apart.

Using branded icons across different platforms and streamlining them with your marketing and sales materials helps you differentiate your brand from competitors and makes your material stand out.

Lavender.ai, an AI-powered tool for enhancing your sales emails, chose the “wizard” icon to be recognizable and memorable. Visit Lavender’s website, and the next time you think of an AI writing assistant, Lavender will pop up in your head. It happened to me at the time Lavender was just taking off.

7. Icons are universally understood.

You don’t need to translate an icon into a bunch of languages. They have a universal appeal and are instantly recognizable. Everyone knows a “bulb” icon means a “good idea.” A “star” icon shows certifications, and the ol’ right arrow button prompts you to keep going.

Get 30 customizable image icons for free.

Why are icons important in branding?

Icons become a part of your brand’s identity, set you apart, and facilitate brand recall. They also provide a consistent visual element across different platforms, reinforcing your brand identity and creating a uniform look and feel.

This also works for personal branding or employee advocacy when used on a large scale.

Roman Pikalenko’s LinkedIn page makes for a great example. He uses the flamingo icon in his marketing materials, name, sales deck, posts, and even on his shirt. If you’ve stumbled upon Roman’s page, chances are high you started associating 🦩with him.

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When used on apps and websites, they improve user experience by making navigation and understanding of features and services more intuitive — making your brand user-friendly.

💡Pro Tip: Take the time to design well-structured and high-quality icons. I often associate a company that uses low-quality or poorly designed icons with a lack of authenticity and dedication to quality.

Learn how to design icons for your brand with this video:

5 Examples of Marketing and Sales Icons

Icons are used on websites and apps in a multitude of ways for countless reasons. Explore the prominent five.

1. HubSpot Icons

HubSpot offers a range of free icons for you to use as you please. Use them on websites, apps, and marketing and sales materials for the range of benefits they offer.

The clock icon, for instance, can be used to show time sensitivity on a sale, for scheduling meetings and appointments, for different time zones, or even as a loading icon. The “chat typing” icon is widely used on websites and apps for chat options, comments, feedback, sharing, notifications, and, of course, text messages.

Get these icons for free.

2. Sharing Icons

Be it on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, I find “sharing” icons incredibly convenient. They allow me to effortlessly share enjoyable content (like this post, wink wink 😉).

Add “sharing” icons to your website to allow users to distribute content across their own social networks. Plus, you get valuable data on popular content and platforms where the content is being shared. Use these insights to refine your content strategy.

3. Engagement Icons

These icons are commonly used for signing up, feedback, following, bookmarking, and downloading. They encourage website visitors to express approval, sign up, or ask questions.

For instance, Cognism uses the envelope icon to prompt the newsletter sign-ups.

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4. Under Construction Icons

I particularly appreciate it when companies go the extra mile to include an icon when a page or website is under construction. Instead of feeling disappointed, I look forward to when the page goes up again.

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5. Storytelling

You can tell a story, or you can show it. Many companies now use icons to show processes and their brand story using icons. It sets you apart and looks appealing. But the best part is that icon usage makes your brand more likable and memorable.

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7 Best Practices for Using Marketing and Sales Icons

Regarding branding, communication, navigation, and relatability, icons are used for almost any project from logo designs to CTAs to infographics.

Connor Gillivan, Growth expert and CEO of Trio SEO says, “These seemingly small graphics are communication powerhouses, capable of transcending language barriers and instantly conveying messages in an aesthetically pleasing manner.”

Gillivan notes icons resonate with visual appeal and direct comprehension, making them integral for platforms where brevity and impact are essential.

So, we know icons bring lots of value to your brand, but how do marketing and sales gurus get the best out of them?

Read these tips to find out.

1. Accentuate your services.

Use icons to creatively showcase your services without appearing pushy or overly assertive.

“We utilized marketing icons on our website’s landing page to highlight our core services: AI-Powered Search Marketing, AI-Powered Content Marketing, and AI-Powered CRO. Each icon was designed to resonate with the service it represented,” says Sergey Solonenko, founder and CMO of Algocentric Digital Consultancy.

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The use of icons is also a great solution for apps where space is limited. Uber relies on icons to succinctly convey information about its services and features with minimal text on their app. These icons cover a wide range of services while maintaining a simplistic and elegant look.

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2. Highlight features on ecommerce websites and apps.

Use icons on your ecommerce website and app to make the shopping experience quick and enjoyable. They provide customers with a one-click solution for giving a rating, viewing their cart, or deciding on a payment method.

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eBay uses icons to make their customer shopping experience easy. Customers can add a product to their wishlist or see the available payment options without going anywhere else. 

3. Highlight information and services in emails.

Stuffing your emails with text is the fastest way to ensure unsubscriptions. Use icons for supporting links where you don’t want to use excessive text or in your email signature.

But make sure you add icons the right way. Adeline Knight, SEO Content Manager at Icons8, suggests using a special size.

“Maintain the right size. In email marketing, having undersized icons might lead customers to overlook key offers or information,” Knight says. “For better engagement, use distinct sizes like a 48x48px shopping cart icon. If resizing is essential, always scale in multiples, such as from 24x24px to 48x48px, to ensure visual quality.”

Look at this welcome email from Slack. It seamlessly incorporates these strategies to guide the reader without text.

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4. Simplify your infographics.

Infographics can be hard on the eyes and confusing when stuffed with text and heavy images. Substitute icons for words or legends when labeling chart columns or bars, as well as for numbers and bullet points.

See the example by Insider Intelligence; they’ve managed to get that balance.

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5. Simplify complex concepts.

Icons help you support complex ideas or concepts by linking the outcome (an icon) with supportive text. For example, Fingerprint for Success visualizes their business solutions to facilitate the understanding of each.

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6. Show your commitment to a cause.

Small details account for big impacts. Show your commitment to social causes with relevant icons. Organic skin care cosmetics manufacturer Meow Meow Tweet astonishes with the creative use of icons to highlight their core values.

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7. Provide structure.

Icons give your information a clear hierarchy, save screen space compared to text labels, and make for a responsive design.

Species in Pieces, an educational website dedicated to endangered species, creatively employs icons to inspire exploration and engagement with vital information. Icons make them look sophisticated and minimalistic.

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“Prioritize alignment. Aligning icons evenly and spacing them consistently aids in creating a clean, organized layout that’s visually pleasing, making information more accessible and digestible for customers,” adds Adeline.

When Not to Use Icons

Icons have many benefits, yet there are instances where the use of icons may not be the best option.

• Using icons without clear text labels may hinder accessibility for blind individuals who rely on screen readers.
• In formal documents (like legal contracts or academic research papers), using icons may appear unprofessional or out of place.
• In technical or scientific diagrams (where precision and clarity are a must), use technical symbols (not icons) to avoid confusion.
• Research the cultural context when targeting a diverse audience. Icons that are innocuous in one culture might carry different meanings or connotations in another.
• Icons might come across as insensitive or trivializing when dealing with serious, sensitive, or emotionally charged subjects.

Free Marketing Icons

Designing the perfect marketing and sales icons takes a lot of time and resources; explore free marketing icons from these awesome companies.

Use free marketing icons for websites, social media, email marketing, print materials, apps, presentations, advertising, infographics, product packaging, and marketing collaterals.

1. Icons8
2. Flaticon
3. Smashing Magazine
4. Iconfinder
5. Freepik
6. Iconmonstr
7. Behance
8. Font Awesome
9. Icon Archive
10. Captain Icon
11. Icon Scout
12. Dry Icons

Free Sales Icons

Use free sales icons for presentations, reports, emails, CRM systems, training materials, pitches, invoices and payments, promotions, and sales collaterals.

1. IconArchive
2. Flaticons
3. Noun Project
4. Font Awesome
5. Icons8
6. Iconfinder
7. Icon Packs
8. Pngtree
9. UXwing
10. Icon Archive
11. Icons-Icons
12. Very Icon

Icons Enhance Branding Efforts

Blow away your customers by placing marketing and sales icons strategically and using them to enhance visual appeal, streamline information, and add value to your brand.

Provide a kick-ass user experience and boost engagement with high-quality, creative, and smartly placed icons.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Intent data is an essential part of sales enablement.

Naturally, marketing has a key role to play, too.

But with the volume of content online continuing to increase, how exactly should B2B marketers highlight the right content for sales teams to use at the right time?

5 Steps B2B Marketers Should Take to Sync Up with the Buying Cycle

In this post, we’ll look at the steps B2B marketers should take to align their sales content and assets with buyer activities and where they are in the buying cycle.

Identify the key themes and information needs of in-market buyers at each sales stage 

A good place to start is by pinpointing the key themes and information in-market buyers need at each stage of their journey by analyzing intent data to uncover common trends, pain points, and interests.

This data can come from your own first-party data in your CRM. It can also be acquired through tools such as Intentive or Audience Explorer that show you what buyers are looking for when researching online. 

After that, make sure you ask your sales team. They can tell you, first-hand, what questions buyers are asking and what concerns they are experiencing at each stage of the journey.

They can also supply any first-party interaction data that may be captured—from notes or emails in CRM, live chat records, or sales intelligence tools (e.g., Gong.io) that analyze interactions with buyers.

To better understand buyer needs, marketers can also look at other sources on current needs and challenges of your target market, such as insights from industry trend reports and analyst firms. You can gain insight by examining your competitors’ content as well.

From there, you’ll want to map all of these out on a buyer journey map to identify key decision-making moments and the types of information your buyers are looking for. If necessary, it may be helpful to break these down further by key vertical, segment, or buyer role.

Categorize your existing content in line with these themes and needs

Next, it’s time to take a look at your existing content to tag and categorize it based on the identified themes and buyer needs you mapped out earlier. While this process can be done manually, it certainly doesn’t have to be.

There are digital asset and content management tools on the market that can help.

Audit your existing content library against buyer-intent themes and needs to identify gaps. Having those key themes and information needs already mapped out by buyer stage comes in handy. It allows you to quickly identify where you lack content that your buyers need.

A content matrix can help visualize your content strategy. By creating one, you can map content to specific opportunity sales stages, intent themes, and needs.

Create and curate content to fill in the gaps

Now that the gaps in your content have been identified, you’ll need to fill those gaps by either creating content or curating it. 

When creating new content, it makes sense to be efficient and start filling in the gaps that will deliver the greatest value first. To find out what is likely to be the most important content, take advantage of your engagement data, and don’t be afraid of going back to your sales team and getting their thoughts. 

Creating new content can be time-consuming and use up marketing resources that could be better used elsewhere. So, consider curating some of the content you need to fill the gaps. 

Some ideas and sources include:

• Industry publications and B2B media sites: Follow reputable industry magazines, newspapers, and websites. They’re excellent sources of news, trends, and insights that you can share with your audience. Most will also offer sponsored content options too that can help close any gaps.
• Educational institutions: Look for research papers, case studies, and articles from universities or research institutions. These sources often provide in-depth, cutting-edge information that can elevate your content.
• Trade associations and organizations: Keep an eye on content from trade associations and industry organizations. They often publish valuable resources, including reports, whitepapers, and newsletters—especially in areas such as regulatory change and compliance.
• Market research and analyst firms: Share findings and analysis from market research firms like Gartner, Forrester, and IDC. 

  Their reports and insights can help your audience make informed decisions and stay ahead of the curve. Like B2B media firms, they also offer commercial options such as licensing agreements (such as the Forrester Wave or Gartner Magic Quadrant reports) or undertake research studies.

• Award-winning brands and their practices: Curate content from recognized award winners in your industry and showcase any best practices they demonstrate. This adds credibility to your brand and ensures you’re sharing top-notch content. 
• Influencers and thought leaders: Follow industry influencers and thought leaders on social media and subscribe to their blogs. Share their content, opinions, and insights to engage your audience and spark conversations. 

  For a fee, many will also speak at your events or collaborate with your brand, providing it doesn’t affect either any existing relationships or any editorial position they may have.

• Videos and webinars: Share informative and engaging videos or webinars from industry experts. These visual formats can help explain complex concepts and provide a more interactive learning experience. 
• Podcasts: Curate episodes from popular industry podcasts that discuss relevant topics or interview thought leaders. Podcasts offer a convenient way for your audience to consume content while multitasking. 
• eBooks and whitepapers: Share in-depth resources like eBooks and whitepapers that dive deep into specific topics. This long-form content (much of which can be found on TradePub) can help your audience better understand complex concepts and industry trends.
• Infographics and visual content: Visual content can be a powerful way to convey complex information quickly. Share infographics, charts, or data visualizations that provide valuable insights in an easily digestible format.
• Tools and templates: Curate useful tools, templates, or checklists that help your audience simplify their work processes or solve specific problems.
• Industry events and conferences: Share key takeaways, presentations, or panel discussions from industry events and conferences. This keeps your audience in the loop and provides them with valuable insights from experts.

In fact, curating content for use and sharing by your sales team can be a particularly powerful tool in the context of social selling, which can help sales reps engage with potential customers and showcase their expertise. 

Offer a variety of formats and provide the ability for sales to personalize and distribute this content

It’s important not to limit your content to one or two formats. Buyers seeking to learn more about a solution have varying preferences on the kind of content they want to consume. Some might want to watch a short, succinct video, while others are happy to consume a detailed whitepaper.

Preferences change over time. For instance, findings from NetLine’s 2023 Content Consumption Demand Report show that in 2021, eBook registrations accounted for a little more than two-fifths (43%) of all content consumption, but in 2022, that share dropped to about one-third (33.6%).

There are tools and platforms available that enable sales teams to easily personalize content for their prospects. Starting at the most basic level, these can include email templates stored in a shared folder or documents with stats and insights to quote in conversations.

PowerPoint decks can also be useful, as they can be customized as needed, with a salesperson picking and choosing which slides to share. At an advanced level, sales enablement software, some of which your team might already be using, can help to personalize content as needed.

No matter what content you are using, make sure that there are easy ways through which they can share it on different channels.

Make it available through email, on social, or even on dynamic web pages specific to a buyer and/or the account. After all, just as content format preferences vary, so do the channels where buyers do their research.

Get this content into your sales team’s workflow

Having content that addresses buyers’ needs at every level of their journey is only worthwhile if your sales team takes full advantage of it. There are several ways to get the content into your sales team workflow; here are a few to consider:

• Take a simple approach and tell them where the content is: Circulate and communicate where the content is and how sales can use it. This could be as simple as having folders by theme on SharePoint/Dropbox/Google Drive, or a spreadsheet with hyperlinks to relevant content.
• Inject content recommendations into the sales tech stack: Use data relating to buyer interests and opportunity stage to dynamically recommend content within your CRM or the tool most frequently used by sales (e.g., Drift, Outreach). This is a key reason why categorizing content (as discussed earlier) can be so powerful.
• Offer training and host meetings: Offer training sessions to your sales teams or hold special meetings such as “Lunch and Learn” sessions to bring them up to speed. During these sessions, you can supply resources directly to your sales teams, show how they can use and personalize them, and answer any questions they might have.
• Increase usage by asking for suggestions: Proactively seek feedback from sales reps to hear their recommendations, discover any issues, and make any content as effective for them as possible.
• Track usage: If and where possible, track content usage and performance metrics to continuously refine the content you share with sales. In fact, this functionality may even be present within the tools that your company already has.

Got content but need to distribute it? Look no further!

If you need to quickly connect in-market buyers to your sales team, NetLine can help. Personalize content and confidently connect with in-market buyers.

Discover how we have helped clients across industries to drive pipeline success and make their sales teams smile!

If you had to guess, how many email newsletters do you think you’re subscribed to? Ten? Twenty? Fifty?

To be honest, I’ve lost count — and I know I’m not alone. Email marketers have a lot to compete within their subscribers’ inboxes. That’s why a solid newsletter template is crucial to designing an email that people are encouraged to click through.

If done well, email newsletters can do wonders to help you build an engaged subscriber base, keep your business top-of-mind, and nurture leads that are already making their way down the funnel.

However, “done well” means more than just serving up great content. In fact, an often overlooked component of the newsletter creation process is the design.

Don’t have time to build out a custom template from scratch? We’ve scoured the internet for the best resources for email newsletter templates and compiled them below. Many of the templates have also been pre-tested for compatibility with major email service providers (ESPs) via Litmus — a web service that allows you to preview the way your email will look on different email clients and devices.

Once you find one you like, download the template and customize it to fit your needs.

1. HubSpot

Price: Free & paid options available

If you’re a Marketing Hub user, HubSpot offers a great collection of email templates you can use on your next marketing email. No need to log out and search for a template in another marketplace; these templates are available to you right within the tool.

Once you choose a template, you can start using it immediately right in HubSpot — no HTML or CSS required.

2. Announcement by Litmus

Price: Free

Litmus offers a free email template collection — from newsletter templates to account management templates. This marketing-specific theme — simply referred to as “Announcement” — is modern and sleek, while still being kind of fun. All of the templates have been tested with Litmus.

While you are required to create a Litmus account with your email address to access the templates, the templates themselves are free of charge.

3. ConvertKit

Price: Free

ConvertKit is a creative email template platform that’s a great option for bloggers, course creators, and more. ConvertKit comes with email automation tools, signup forms, and many more integrations.

To use ConvertKit’s email newsletter templates, you’ll need to sign up for a plan, but the good news is that they offer both free and pro subscriptions. While this platform is more on the creative side, their vast array of templates and tool integrations will help businesses in any industry upgrade their email newsletter.

4. ZURB Ink

Price: Free

ZURB Studios has five responsive email templates available for free, including the newsletter one below. It has a great, fluid layout you can customize with your own colors, images, and wording.

If you want to see how each template looks on different email clients, you can check out screenshots from each template’s email client tests, which are available on the site. These layouts are optimized for most email clients — except for outdated versions of Outlook.

The template kit comes with a separate CSS stylesheet and HTML file to ease the editing process. Most email code editors will place the CSS inline with the HTML itself after both are uploaded separately. If you’re going to add images to your newsletter, keep in mind that you’ll have to create a separate folder and compress it with the CSS stylesheet before uploading.

Pro tip: Once you’ve selected a template, use HubSpot’s free email marketing software to craft your message and send a newsletter out to the world!

5. Postcards

Price: Free, Trial and Paid

Postcards provide some of the best-designed email template builders on the market that are up-to-date and require no previous coding experience.

With Postcards, you can easily create professional-looking emails quickly with their pre-designed email templates that are customizable. Their email builder is a game-changer for marketers, designers, and developers who want to streamline their email creation process and focus on what matters: crafting engaging content and design.

6. Flodesk

Price: Free for 30 days

Flodesk is an upcoming email newsletter design platform with over 3,000 email templates and designs to enhance your email marketing. Aside from giving you access to a vast array of templates, Flodesk lets you connect your ecommerce site to help with automation and analytics.

Another benefit of Flodesk is that its subscription price ($38/month) is a flat fee. So, whether you’re sending 200 or 2,000 emails, you’ll pay the same price, and you’ll never have to upgrade your subscription to get all of the perks.

7. 99designs

Price: Free

99designs is a growing online community and collaboration platform for designers and small businesses, and they have a great designer blog and business blog. As a free offering to their blog readers, they released a set of 45 free email templates — perfect for newsletters, promotional messages, and personalized responses. All of the templates are fully responsive and compatible with all major email clients.

8. Moosend

Price: Free for 30 days

Moosend is an email marketing platform that makes it easy to design custom emails with a drag-and-drop editor and over 70 premade templates. Moosend also tracks analytics and sends personalized automated emails to subscribers based on their interest and behavior. If you’re interested in landing pages and subscription templates, it includes those as well.

Moosend analyzes your subscriber base to help with the success of your business. Just like Flodesk, Moosend lets you connect your ecommerce site to attract more subscribers and store all information in one place. Moosend is free for the first 30 days, and then you would have to upgrade to pro status for $9/month.

9. Bee Pro

Price: Free & paid options available

BEE Pro is the ultimate solution for creating captivating emails without any coding skills. With its extensive library of over 1500 responsive templates, you’ll have a wide range of options to bring your email designs to life.

They provide a drag-and-drop functionality that empowers you to create on-brand newsletter emails easily, ensuring your message resonates with your audience. Its collaborative features enable multiple team members to work together seamlessly on email templates, streamlining your workflow and boosting productivity.

BEE Pro’s seamless integration with Hubspot allows you to effortlessly export your email designs for a smooth transition. With its extensive template library, user-friendly interface, and seamless HubSpot integration, you can create stunning, responsive email designs in no time.

10. Campaign Monitor

Price: Free

Campaign Monitor is another free email newsletter template and marketing platform. With a variety of email templates for newsletters, welcome emails, and promotional campaigns, Campaign Monitor makes designing emails easy. Campaign Monitor also compiles your analytics and tracks when emails are sent, delivered, and opened.

For many businesses, email marketing needs to connect to their website or ecommerce site, and Campaign Monitor does just that. Campaign Monitor has it all when it comes to templates and helps you maximize your sales by staying on-brand and creating a seamless customer experience. Campaign Monitor is only free for 30 days, but plans start as low as $9/month.

11. MailerLite

Price: Free

MailerLite offers various newsletter templates for promotions, announcements, and more. With its trendy newsletter designs, MailerLite makes sure its customers stay up to date while sending newsletters. You can customize the templates using either an HTML editor or drag-and-drop editor, and connect your MailerLite account to your website. MailerLite also has features where you can grow your audience with landing pages, subscription forms, and pop-ups.

MailerLite provides data insights as well. The advantage of MailerLite is that they will send your emails based on your customers’ time zones, allowing you to send emails that can get the most opens. MailerLite also provides A/B split testing tools so you can identify the best version of every email you send.

12. Sender

Price: Free & paid options available

Sender is an all-in-one email & SMS marketing platform for ecommerce and small to medium-sized businesses who want to reach out to their customers at an affordable and accessible price.

Sender provides delivery-friendly text and branded HTML email newsletters to connect with your email subscribers and biggest fans. Choose from a library of 35+ visually stunning, premium-feel newsletter design templates that are fully customizable to your specific business requirement. In addition, all templates have responsiveness baked-in to the design so that your emails are guaranteed to play nice on mobile devices. Besides offering advanced email marketing features such as segmentation and automation, Sender also allows you to design highly responsive and eye-catching popups and forms to attract sign-ups and execute SMS marketing for higher conversions. 

Sender has a ton of affordable price points and capabilities even in their free account. With the Free Forever plan, you can send up to 15,000 emails every month to 2,500 contacts at no cost, with premium features such as segmentation and automation bundled together.

13. Constant Contact

Price: $9.99 a month

Do you run a non-profit? If so, this is the newsletter tool specifically for you. Constant Contact is an email newsletter builder that offers specific templates to help nonprofits raise funds and market their missions. With hundreds of templates to choose from, you’ll be sure to find a design based on the template you need and what type of nonprofit you run.

The great thing about Constant Contact is the business analytics. While using the platform, you can see when emails are sent, delivered, opened, and shared. You will also be able to see top trends and send personalized emails to your clients.

Constant Contact also connects with your social media profiles, includes sign-up forms, and offers text message marketing tools. Contacting your non-profit subscribers via text message can be a great advantage because people check their emails but people check their text messages more. While Constant Contact is not free, its features more than make up for it. You can start at the basic subscription ($9.99/month) or upgrade to a pro account ($45/month) to unlock all the features.

14. Themezy

Price: Free

Download sixteen free HTML, CSS, and PSD customizable email templates on Themezy. You don’t have to submit an email address to get started, and there are various color schemes and layouts to meet your email list’s needs.

Plus, they’re designed to be responsive across devices to ensure that your subscribers can read your newsletter.

15. Drip

Price: Free

Drip offers email marketing and SMS marketing for ecommerce brands. Drip is a new platform that lets you set up email marketing campaigns through hundreds of customizable templates. Along with their email newsletter templates, Drip offers excellent customer relations management tools, data analytics, and trend trackers so thorough that you can see how many of your customers bought red shoes within the last year. As a result, you’ll be able to better market yourself through your campaigns. Drip also has integrations that you can connect to your WordPress website, so you can use Drip without being on Drip.

Drip lets you start with a free 14-day trial, and the cost of your subscription will depend on your number of contacts. For up to 500 contacts, it’s $19/month, and the price goes up from there. Drip is beneficial to creators and ecommerce businesses because of the various marketing and analytical tools it offers. From email marketing to SMS marketing campaigns, Drip lets you effectively engage your customers.

16. MailPortfolio by SliceJack

Price: Free

If your marketing strategy is heavily reliant on visuals, MailPortfolio is perfect for you. It’s a minimalist template with no added background distractions. While it was made for those looking to display personal creative portfolios, it’s also suitable for larger businesses and organizations.

The template has been tested with Litmus, is responsive, and works perfectly on all email clients. (Note: older versions of Outlook may not render all of the fonts, and the Android Gmail app is not fully supported.)

17. Material Design by Paul Goddard

Price: Free

This template is based on Google’s Material Design and has a robotic-retro feel. It is perfect for sending out multi-purpose newsletters featuring new products, events, and other announcements at the same time. This theme isn’t made for a specific industry, but the template is well-fitting for businesses looking for a timeless, technological look.

Material Design has been tested on Litmus, is compatible with all major ESPs, and is responsive. While its main attraction is its unique design, this theme download also includes customizable HTML files.

18. Briar by SliceJack

Price: Free

Briar is the perfect newsletter template for marketers looking for a fluid, minimalist design featuring images and text that don’t overshadow each other. It’s perfect for sending out regular newsletters, and you can customize the Inline CSS files.

The template has been tested with Litmus and works with all major email service providers (ESPs). However, some older versions of Outlook may not render all Google fonts. Also, the Android Gmail app is not fully supported.

19. EmailOctopus

Price: Free

EmailOctopus is a marketing service that launched a series of 11 templates that can be used to create newsletters for a variety of industries. Whether you’re marketing for a fashion brand or a medical supply company, one of the templates will fit your needs.

The templates have the “typical” newsletter look, but allow you to add product announcements, feature stories, and CTAs wherever you’d like. All of the templates can be modified through any WYSIWYG editor, and the downloads include the HTML files.

These templates have been tested through Litmus across all major ESPs and are responsive to all screen sizes.

1. Feshto by Liramail

Price: $29-25/template

Feshto is an email bundle that helps ecommerce companies feature products in their newsletters and share testimonials from satisfied customers. It comes with a weekly digest module, which is their version of a newsletter.

The module features a chic, clean design that ensures your images and copy are not distracting from the other. You can choose from their various layouts, such as “Weekly Digest,” “City Story,” and “Blog Article.”

As mentioned, these templates are perfect for product features and testimonials from satisfied customers. While the default themes are black and white, you can make edits in your preferred WYSIWYG editor.

Feshto’s templates are responsive and compatible with all major ESPs.

2. Bee

Price: Free – $15

Bee is an HTML template tool with thousands of free templates for any professional to use. With a variety of categories, Bee gives you a template for everything, but it also has tools that allow you to build your own email newsletters. The drag-and-drop feature allows you to pick and choose the elements that best suit your personal needs. The versatility also allows you to customize every email you send, then download it as an HTML so you can send your emails to anyone from anywhere. Another great advantage of Bee is that it allows you to save various content from different emails that can then be used in other templates. No need to start from scratch.

With Bee, you do have a 14-day free trial and plenty of free templates to use if you do not want to sign up for an account. If you would like an account, Bee offers different versions of their Pro account depending on the field you are in. For instance, they have Pro Freelancers, Pro Team, Pro Agency, Pro Enterprise, and Pro Nonprofit; Pro Freelancer starts at $15 a month.

3. ThemeForest

Price: $6-23/template

ThemeForest is an awesome resource for email templates if you have some budget to spend. Their library has over 460 newsletter templates in all different colors, styles, and themes. The templates are rated using a four-star system, and you can filter by rating, price, recency, and popularity.

Here’s one example from its library:

Market – Responsive Newsletter with Template Builder ($19)

This template has eight prebuilt layouts, 24 color variations, 24 full-layered PSD files, and more. Plus, it’s supported by all major email clients.

4. HubSpot Email Copy Templates

Price: Free

If you’re looking for written templates you can input into your email tool, these are the templates for you.

HubSpot offers free email templates that empower you to market and sell your business over email without writing a single line from scratch. These free email template downloads save you time and money.

The templates can be downloaded right to your computer and can be used by any type of business.

5. Mailchimp

Price: Free – $200 per month

Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps small and large businesses scale and grow their business through marketing techniques and automations. Mailchimp has a variety of pre-made templates in their email newsletter tool. Aside from giving you over 100 designs to choose from, Mailchimp also gives you the option to download their Email Blueprints, which allows you to customize HTML templates.

6. ActiveCampaign

Price: Free – $258 a month

ActiveCampaign is a full-service email provider that offers email marketing automation and CRM tools. Its library of newsletter templates allow you to create conversion-optimized, visually impactful emails without touching a single line of code.

ActiveCampaign is free, but you will need to sign up for an account to use and view their email templates. You can use the majority of their templates for free, but if you want some customization, you’ll want to upgrade to a paid account.

7. Canva

Price: Free – 20.00 per month

Canva is an online graphics software that provides free templates for a multitude of things like Instagram posts, resumes, and email newsletters. Canva is a great tool because you can find free templates for specific niches like fashion, tech, culinary, and many more. While there is a paid tier, many of the premade templates are free, and you can add your own customizations without having to pay extra.

8. Adobe Express

Price: Single Application: $33.99 a month | Full Bundle: $79.99 a month

Adobe Express, formerly known as Adobe Spark, is another browser-based graphic design tool that has a multitude of templates and functions to help any company create a newsletter. Similar to Canva, Adobe offers premade templates based on industry categories like photography, architecture, and fashion. To access the templates, you must sign up for an account with Adobe.

9. CakeMail

Price: Free – $200.00 per month

CakeMail is an email marketing tool that includes user-friendly automation tools and allows you to create customizable emails for any person, occasion, and niche. CakeMail offers over 50 free editable email templates that are divided into smaller niche categories. One of the advantages of CakeMail is that you do not have to sign up to use the email templates provided, but if you would like to see how your email campaigns are performing, you can register for an account.

10. MJML

Price: Free

MJML is an HTML-based email designer. They have a wide variety of free templates that are customized for the type of email marketing your company is trying to do, including newsletters, promotions, and seasonal emails. Once you find a template that you like, MJML allows you to see the template and the HTML code in real-time as you edit it. Because MJML is HTML-based, you will have to copy your code and transfer it to the HTML editor in an email marketing service to use the template.

11. TemplateMonster

Price: Varies

TemplateMonster offers a variety of email newsletter templates, such as the Useful Notifications newsletter template pictured below, all of which are available for relatively low prices. Their templates are clean, customizable, and easy to use, and they’re compatible with most major email clients, such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

Additionally, the templates come with built-in responsive layouts for screen adaptability, like the ones on the mobile phone pictured below, and PSD sources for a litany of customization options.

12. Microsoft Office Templates

Price: Free & Paid Email Templates

Microsoft Office has a variety of tools, including extensive templates that can be used for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can further narrow down your templates depending on the category of your business. While Microsoft does offer free templates, they are limited. For use of the paid templates, you will have to download Microsoft 365 to use them.

How to Customize Email Newsletter Templates to Increase Engagement

1. Choose headings wisely.

To help with the overall flow and understanding of your email, it’s imperative to make good use of headings and subheadings. Not only do they draw attention to the most important parts of your newsletter, they also divide sections and give your text a visual hierarchy to help readers process information in the correct sequence. 

2. Create a cohesive look.

Choose consistent typography, colors and spacing to give your email a cohesive look. You’ll want to choose colors that complement each other and don’t overwhelm the eye. Knowing a little color theory will pay off and help you create engaging emails. 

3. Add your logo and brand colors.

Speaking of cohesiveness, swapping the template’s stock colors for your own branding can quickly create a cohesive design. Use your own logos and brand color scheme so that all of your marketing materials have a similar theme. 

4. Keep it short.

No one wants to open a newsletter to see a wall of text. You want your messaging to be concise so that readers can quickly scan it while getting all the pertinent information they need. 

5. Put images to good use.

Images can greatly increase the readability of your newsletter and provide much-needed buffers between text. Images and infographics are also great ways to display information in an engaging way. They should be in line with your brand’s messaging and high quality.

6. Make it mobile-friendly.

As more people use phones to access email, you’ll want to make sure your newsletter has a  mobile-friendly design. Choose a responsive design that adapts to whatever mode (tablet, mobile, or desktop) your readers are using. 

7. Use clear CTAs.

Increase conversions and engagement by using attention-grabbing CTAs. Entice your readers to click using persuasive language, eye-pleasing colors, and proper placement. Using a contrasting color design will help your CTA stand out. 

8. Test and make adjustments.

To find the best newsletter format, you’ll need to use A/B testing to determine which performs better. Test out different designs over a set period of time, compare results, and go with the one that performs the best. 

Get Started on Your Email Marketing Newsletter

Ready to draft your next email newsletter campaign? Download one of the excellent newsletter templates from the template galleries and landing pages above. Then, grab your free guide below for creating an email newsletter your audience will want to engage with.

Editor’s Note: The post was originally published in December 2018 but was updated for comprehensiveness in December 2019.

 

A car fire ignited a viral marketing moment for the Stanley brand.

On November 15, TikTok user @danimarielettering posted a video showing the aftermath of her car catching on fire. Though the car was totaled, her Stanley Quencher tumbler was intact and still had ice in it.

The video quickly went viral and has gone on to rack up more than 84 million views.

Two days later, Stanley President Terence Reilly stitched Danielle’s original video offering to send her some new tumblers and to replace her car on behalf of the brand. This response has earned over 32 million views, quickly becoming the feel-good story of the season.

The comments to Reilly’s response are filled with praise for the brand, with TikTok users saying:

“This is awesome, definitely buying a Stanley now!”

“They responded, that’s freaking awesome. I’m gonna have to buy a Stanley now.”

“Do I need a Stanley, no. Am I going to buy one on principle now, yes.”

While the circumstances of this marketing moment are unusual, the Stanley brand is no stranger to TikTok virality.

Becoming a viral water bottle brand

Over the years there have been various trendy water bottle brands including S’well, Hydroflask, Yeti, and now Stanley.

The Stanley brand has been around for over 100 years and was best known for goods that could stand up to outdoor activities. However, the brand’s target demographic began to shift after the introduction of the Quencher tumbler in 2017.

That same year, bloggers behind The Buy Guide began sharing links to the Quencher introducing the cups to a new audience that wasn’t familiar with Stanley’s outdoorsy roots. However, in 2019 Stanley stopped listing Quenchers on its website to prioritize other products.

The Buy Guide founders felt there was a greater opportunity to market the tumblers to women, and worked with Stanley on a wholesale arrangement to begin selling the cups on their own site.

According to The New York Times, they quickly sold out of their initial run of 5,000 tumblers in 2019. The success of this initial run led the Stanley brand to reintroduce the Quenchers on the brand’s official site in 2020, offering more colors and an intentional influencer marketing strategy to attract more female customers.

These tactics worked. By 2022 Stanley tumblers continued to gain momentum on social media as the viral item to have and frequently sold out. Last year, sales for Stanley tumblers increased by 275%.

What began as an unfortunate accident, resulted in well over 100 million impressions and positive PR for the already social-savvy brand.

Looking to grow your company’s reach? Education marketing is the answer. Here, you can grow demand for your product, services, or institutions as more people choose online education. The data speaks loudly: The global e-learning industry is set to reach $457.8 billion by 2026.

How do you develop your first education marketing campaign? How much money and time do you need to invest? What is the whole range of benefits?

In this guide, you’ll learn the fundamentals of education marketing. Understand the steps of building an education marketing strategy, as well as get actionable tips.

Table of Contents

• What is education marketing?
• Why education marketing is important?
• Building an Education Marketing Strategy
• 4 Tips for Education Marketing

What is education marketing?

Education marketing is the practice of promoting educational institutions, programs, products, or services to prospective students (aka clients), thus increasing student enrollment.

Let’s dive into an example. A nearby community college is seeking to increase the number of students enrolling in its vocational training courses, with a specific focus on healthcare programs. To achieve this, they create target ads, social media posts, and testimonials from past students who got rewarding careers.

Additionally, they host webinars and virtual open days to engage with prospective students and answer their questions by highlighting the high demand for healthcare professionals.

Note: Education marketing is often confused with education-based marketing. The latter is a specific marketing strategy used to educate potential customers on a particular topic by creating demand rather than directly pushing toward a sale.

Why Education Marketing Is Important

The online and offline education sectors are highly competitive. Here is why education marketing matters to stand out in today’s saturated market.

It boosts brand recognition.

Successful marketing campaigns lead to a strong and recognizable brand identity for educational institutions. They also have strong associations with specific qualities, values, and attributes.

An example may be a heartwarming welcome video, like one from Stanford.

It helps reach a broader audience.

Education marketing helps such institutions reach a broader and more diverse audience, including international students, non-traditional learners, and remote learners.

For example, non-traditional learners often require information about how the institution’s programs can fit into their busy lives and career aspirations. Effective marketing helps convey this information and demonstrates that the institution understands and supports its educational journey.

Invite world-known speakers to prompt students to enroll in the institutions. Here is the motivational speech from Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios.

Back in 2005, at Stanford University‘s 114th Commencement, he delivered a speech urging graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks.

It allows educators to learn about the needs of their students.

Education marketing is not only about students, their families, or institutions themselves. There are also other stakeholders, such as educators.

Katie Stoddard, a former educator turned education marketer, sees marketing as a key piece of the education ecosystem.

“In a world where decisions on instructional materials and professional learning largely happen due to past relationships, marketing is a way for educators to learn about other solutions and tools that meet the needs of their learners,” Stoddard says.

Stoddard is the founder and managing director at Ed2Market. She notes that marketing allows small companies to compete with the legacy providers in the space.

“And most importantly, it’s the start of the cycle that gets the absolute best products and services into classrooms across the globe,” she says.

It helps student families get involved.

Education marketing should cover any possible information that the students and families might need, showing them what their options are, what they can expect, and why they should pursue education at a given academic institution.

Students and their families can easily access information by reading testimonials, watching videos, or taking virtual tours. This is true at all levels of education — from elementary schools to universities to online academies.

According to the RNL’s latest report, parents preferred to get important information via email. The same report suggests that parents are open to getting emails from different universities if they contain the following information:

• Cost (tuition, accommodation, etc).
• Academics (programs, subject area info).
• Admissions requirements, deadlines, and timeline.

Building an Education Marketing Strategy

Here are six fundamental steps to build an effective education marketing strategy.

For each step, we’ve sourced real examples of campaigns.

1. Understand your target audience.

First, define your audience. In this case, decide who is receiving your educational offer. By this, we don’t simply mean prospective students.

Think about their families, too. Parents or relatives most often have the final say in their educational choices.

Have a clear understanding of the goals and expectations of both parties and make sure your educational offering is a great fit for them.

Pro tip: Conduct surveys and anonymous reviews to collect feedback on your target audience. What do they value, what factors impact their decision-making, and what expectations do they have from institutions?

Knowing the answers will help you find common ground to offer courses and programs that meet their needs.

2. Articulate your unique selling points.

Define what sets your educational institution or program apart.

Highlight your strengths, such as academic excellence, unique programs, experienced faculty, or special facilities. Recognize the qualifications and expertise of your faculty members.

For example, mention any faculty members or notable alumni who have received awards, grants, or recognition. If you possess modern facilities, laboratories, or other resources that provide exceptional learning opportunities, feature them prominently.

In the example below, Oregon State University uses pieces of concrete information to get visitors’ attention. The copy focuses on science and research.

The statistics further reinforce a positive impression.

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3. Choose social media channels to connect with the audience.

Social media channels are extremely popular among millennials and Generation Z, the members of your target audience.

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and LinkedIn are the most used social networks, each with its specific characteristics.

From the beginning, stick to 2-3 social media platforms where your audience spends most of their time. Make sure to keep consistency across all your social media channels.

Central Michigan University posted an emotional video on TikTok showing the graduation ceremony where the brother of one of the graduates surprisingly came to congratulate her sister.

The video generated more than 5.5 million views despite having just 14,000 followers.

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4. Roll out an email marketing campaign.

Education-related emails have an open rate of 35.42%, indicating that old-fashioned email marketing is still effective in education.

Create a monthly or quarterly newsletter communicating your institution’s most important activities. Each email should have a clear and compelling call to action (CTA), such as “Enroll Now,” “Learn More,” or “Register Today.”

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Use email automation tools to send targeted emails based on recipient actions, such as welcome sequences, nurturing campaigns, and event reminders.

Send follow-up emails, provide how-tos, tips, and tricks to engage with candidates, and nurture them through the enrollment or conversion process.

Pro tip: Use HubSpot’s FREE email tracking tool to get notifications as soon as someone opens your emails and keep an eye on their interactions.

Try our email software today.

5. Invest in digital advertisement.

Digital advertising will help you reach not only local but also international students who are interested in studying abroad or taking online courses.

Digital advertising platforms, such as Google Ads, Bing Ads, and social media ads, offer precise targeting options.

Set up advertising campaigns based on geographical, demographical, or interest-based targeting. Experiment with various ad formats, such as search, display ads, video, or social media ads.

In the image below, there are several search ad examples. All include the degree program as the title, as well as relevant CTAs prompting you to explore more.

6. Track the metrics and optimize.

Track the metrics to calculate the ROI of your marketing efforts. Understand what‘s working and what’s not so you can optimize your resources and use them wisely.

Depending on your objectives, the list of relevant metrics and KPIs may vary.

Tips for Education Marketing

How to succeed in education marketing? Here are a couple of actionable tips to implement in your education marketing campaigns.

1. Focus on informational content.

The key to educational marketing is to provide value at every stage. Identify the pain points and needs of your target audience throughout their user journey and create informational content around them.

The latest education marketing trends indicate that the most popular types of content include:

• Long-form articles.
• Case studies.
• Newsletters.
• Testimonials.
• Press releases.
• Checklists.
• Ebooks.
• Videos.
• Webinars.
• Podcasts.

Want an example?

At HubSpot, we built a comprehensive academy that provides teachers and university instructors with the opportunity to access inbound education marketing resources and sales training materials, such as guides, templates, ebooks, and webinars.

As members of the academy, educators can use HubSpot’s software for free and become part of a community.

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2. Use subject spotlights to let students try before they apply.

How do you make sure that prospective students have a good perception of their desired program? Subject Spotlights is the answer.

Created by Springpod, it provides an interactive, cinematic course taster experience, which enables institutions to attract, engage, and inform prospective students about their course offerings.

Using this tactic, you also spot courses with low interest to promote them more.

3. Leverage student reviews.

Actively solicit reviews from current and former students, parents, and alumni. Address both positive and negative reviews and identify areas for improvement.

Create engaging video testimonials featuring students, alumni, and faculty members sharing their experiences and success stories. Incorporate them into your marketing materials, such as brochures, website content, and social media posts.

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4. Grab students’ attention with events.

Host days where prospective students can explore your campus, interact with faculty and current students, and get a feel for the educational environment.

You can also create a community with past students and organize events such as yearly reunions. Invite renowned guest speakers, industry leaders, or alumni to share their experiences and insights with students.

Get creative and host career fairs to introduce students to potential employers, internships, and job opportunities. This is especially beneficial for higher education institutions.

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Here is a podcast from Education Marketer: Learn how to use events to grab students’ attention in detail.

Leverage Education Marketing to Maximize Your Institution’s Potential

Education marketing plays a pivotal role in the success and growth of educational institutions across all levels, from schools and colleges to universities and online academies.

To overcome shifts in student expectations, combine different education marketing strategies, gain insights, and optimize your campaigns accordingly.

Whether on Facebook Messenger, their website, or even text messaging, more and more brands are leveraging chatbots to service their customers, market their brands, and even sell their products.

But, the if/then logic that powers many chatbots’ conversational abilities limits them from answering unique and new questions, which can hang your customer out to dry and leave them dissatisfied with your customer service — luckily, AI-powered chatbots that can solve that problem are gaining steam.

In this post, we’ll discuss what AI chatbots are and how they work and outline 18 of the best AI chatbots to know about.

The rise of generative AI and language models like GPT and LaMDA (the podcast below discusses how they work) has made way for conversational AI chatbots with advanced capabilities that can mimic a human conversation style, find information online, and produce unique content.

Click here to listen to the full episode

The most important thing to know about an AI chatbot is that it combines ML and NLU to understand what people need and bring the best solutions. Some AI chatbots are better for personal use, like conducting research, and others are best for business use, like featuring a chatbot on your website.

Conversational AI vs Chatbots

Conversational AI and chatbots are related, but they are not exactly the same.

Conversational AI is a broader term that encompasses chatbots, virtual assistants, and other AI-generated applications. It refers to an advanced technology that allows computer programs to understand, interpret, and respond to natural language inputs.

Although AI chatbots are an application of conversational AI, not all chatbots are programmed with conversational AI. For instance, rule-based chatbots use simple rules and decision trees to understand and respond to user inputs. Unlike AI chatbots, rule-based chatbots are more limited in their capabilities because they rely on keywords and specific phrases to trigger canned responses.

Use Cases for AI Chatbots

AI chatbots are used in a wide range of applications across many industries, helping businesses streamline operations and increase productivity, provide better user experiences, and improve customer service. Here are some ways you can use AI chatbots to enhance processes within your organization:

Customer Support

• Provide 24/7 support to your customers
• Address FAQs
• Solve simple issues through a chat interface

Sales and Marketing

• Answer initial inquiries about products and services
• Provide recommendations
• Help customers with purchase decisions

Writing and Editing

• Generate content ideas
• Create article outlines
• Draft emails, social copy, and paragraphs

Recruitment and HR

• Engage with potential job candidates
• Answer basic questions about open positions
• Schedule interviews and meetings

Benefits of AI Chatbots

Having an AI chatbot on your company website can bring numerous benefits, no matter what industry you’re in. Here are a few key advantages:

Improved Customer Experience

AI Chatbots provide instant responses, personalized recommendations, and quick access to information. Additionally, they are available round the clock, enabling your website to provide support and engage with customers at any time, regardless of staff availability.

Efficiency

As your business grows, handling customer queries and requests can become more challenging. AI chatbots can handle multiple conversations simultaneously, reducing the need for manual intervention. This ensures faster response times and improves overall efficiency. Plus, they can handle a large volume of requests and scale effortlessly, accommodating your company’s growth without compromising on customer support quality.

Data Gathering and Analysis

AI Chatbots can collect valuable customer data, such as preferences, pain points, and frequently asked questions. This data can be used to improve marketing strategies, enhance products or services, and make informed business decisions.

Lead Generation and Support

AI Chatbots can qualify leads, provide personalized experiences, and assist customers through every stage of their buyer journey. This helps drive more meaningful interactions and boosts conversion rates.

With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the best AI chatbots for 2023. Read on to find the right one for you.

1. ChatSpot

Price: Free

Get Started with ChatSpot for Free

ChatSpot is HubSpot’s new conversational CRM bot. It combines the capabilities of ChatGPT with unique data sources to help your business grow. You can input your own queries or use one of ChatSpot’s many prompt templates, which can help you find solutions for content writing, research, SEO, prospecting, and more.

For example, I prompted ChatSpot to write a follow-up email to a customer asking about how to set up their CRM.

Though ChatSpot is free for everyone, you experience its full potential when using it with HubSpot. It can help you automate tasks such as saving contacts, notes, and tasks. Plus, it can guide you through the HubSpot app and give you tips on how to best use its tools.

Key Features

• Chat-based commands help sales, marketing, and service professionals maximize productivity
• Draft follow-up emails, compile analytics reports, or even prospect
• Connects to HubSpot software and leverages your existing data

2. ChatGPT

Price: Free; ChatGPT Plus: $20/month

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ChatGPT is OpenAI’s conversational chatbot powered by GPT-3.5 and GPT-4. It uses a standard chat interface to communicate with users, and its responses are generated in real-time through deep learning algorithms, which analyze and learn from previous conversations.

Because ChatGPT was pre-trained on a massive data collection, it can generate coherent and relevant responses from prompts in various domains such as finance, healthcare, customer service, and more. In addition to chatting with you, it can also solve math problems, as well as write and debug code.

Both free and paid users of ChatGPT can enjoy unlimited usage. However, ChatGPT Plus subscribers get to enjoy a few extra perks that free users do not have, such as exclusive access to GPT-4, priority access during peak times, and faster response speeds.

Key Features

• Uses natural language processing to understand the context of conversations to provide related and original responses in a human-like conversation
• Multiple use cases for things like answering simple questions, ideating and getting inspiration, or generating new content (like a marketing email)
• Improves over time as it has more conversations

3. Bing Chat

Price: Free (requires Microsoft Edge)

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Microsoft describes Bing Chat as an AI-powered co-pilot for when you conduct web searches. It expands the capabilities of search by combining the top results of your search query to give you a single, detailed response. Plus, it cites the sources from where it gets its information.

Bing also has an image creator tool where you can prompt it to create an image of anything you want. You can even give details such as adjectives, locations, or artistic styles so you can get the exact image you envision.

To get the most out of Bing, be specific, ask for clarification when you need it, and tell it how it can improve. You can also ask Bing questions on how to use it so you know exactly how it can help you with something and what its limitations are.

Key Features

• Uses NLP and machine learning to understand conversation prompts
• The compose feature can generate original written content and images, and its powerful search engine capabilities can surface answers from the web
• It’s a conversational tool, so you can continue sending messages until you’re satisfied

4. Bard

Price: Free

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Google’s Bard is a multi-use AI chatbot — it can generate text and spoken responses in over 40 languages, create images, code, answer math problems, and more.

One of Bard’s strengths is that it is great with text. You can use it to write and edit things, such as emails, resumes, and cover letters. Because it’s created by Google, it also features a “Google it” button to help you learn more about a given topic as well as exports to other Google products, like Google Docs and Gmail.

Despite its impressive capabilities, Bard has faced criticisms for providing false and misleading information, especially compared to ChatGPT.

Key Features

• Powered by Google’s PaLM-2 (instead of GPT)
• Use it for things like brainstorming and ideation, drafting unique and original content, or getting answers to your questions
• Connected to Google’s website index so it can access information from the internet

5. Jasper Chat

Price: Starts at $39/month

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Jasper Chat is built with businesses in mind and allows users to apply AI to their content creation processes. It can help you brainstorm content ideas, write photo captions, generate ad copy, create blog titles, edit text, and more.

Unlike ChatGPT, Jasper pulls knowledge straight from Google to ensure that it provides you the most accurate information. It also learns your brand’s voice and style, so the content it generates for you sounds less robotic and more like you.

Key Features

• Proprietary AI engine sourced from OpenAI and other models.
• Wide breadth of knowledge on niche and elaborate topics.
• Remembers and learns from previous conversations.

6. Perplexity

Price: Free; Pro: $20/month

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Powered by GPT-3.5, Perplexity is an AI chatbot that acts as a conversational search engine. It’s designed to provide users simple answers to their questions by compiling information it finds on the internet and providing links to its source material.

With no set-up required, Perplexity is pretty easy to access and use. Just simply go to the website or mobile app and type your query into the search bar, then click the blue button. From there, Perplexity will generate an answer, as well as a short list of related topics to read about.

Key Features

• Provides links to sources and generates related queries for further reading.
• Focus setting allows you to narrow your results from specific sources for different purposes, such as WolframAlpha for computational queries or Reddit for discussions and opinions.
• Allows you to save search threads and share them with others.

Note: The six chatbots mentioned above are conversational and generative bots best suited for internal business use for things like ideating, producing content, and getting answers to your queries. Below we’ll go over AI chatbots that are customer-facing.

7. Tidio Lyro

Price: Starts at $29/month

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Lyro is a conversational AI chatbot created with small and medium businesses in mind. It helps free up the time of customer service reps by engaging in personalized conversations with customers for them.

Lyro instantly learns your company’s knowledge base so it can start resolving customer issues immediately. It also stays within the limits of the data set that you provide in order to prevent hallucinations. And if it can’t answer a query, it will direct the conversation to a human rep.

Key Features

• Provides human-like answers to frequently asked questions.
• Keeps a record of redirected questions so that you can add them to your knowledge base later on.
• Asks customers follow up questions to ensure satisfaction.

8. Kommunicate

Price: Start: $40/mo; Grow: $100/mo; Business: Custom Pricing

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Kommunicate is a human + Chatbot hybrid platform designed to help businesses improve customer engagement and support.

The platform helps businesses build chatbots and manage customer interactions across multiple channels, including website chat, messenger apps, and email.

Although you can train your Kommunicate chatbot on various intents, it is designed to automatically route the conversation to a customer service rep whenever it can’t answer a query.

Key Features

• Conversational AI and NLP capabilities, which allow businesses to automate aspects of customer support, such as answering frequently asked questions or routing customers to the right support agent.
• Offers a range of integration options, allowing businesses to seamlessly incorporate it into their existing workflows.
• Provides advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, allowing businesses to track and analyze customer interactions and support metrics.

9. HubSpot Chatbot Builder

Price: Free

Free Chatbot Builder Software

HubSpot has a powerful and easy-to-use chatbot builder that allows you to automate and scale live chat conversations.

Keep in mind that HubSpot‘s chat builder software doesn’t quite fall under the “AI chatbot” category of “AI chatbot” because it uses a rule-based system. However, HubSpot does have code snippets, allowing you to leverage the powerful AI of third-party NLP-driven bots such as Dialogflow.

Key Features

• Customers can get answers to frequently asked questions, book meetings, and navigate through your site.
• Conversations are stored in your CRM so you can qualify leads and trigger automation flows.
• Easy integration across your marketing, sales, and service tools because HubSpot is a CRM platform.

10. Intercom Fin

Price: $0.99/resolution (requires Intercom subscription, which starts at $74/month)

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Fin is Intercom’s conversational AI platform, designed to help businesses automate conversations and provide personalized experiences to customers at scale.

Built on ChatGPT, Fin allows companies to build their own custom AI chatbots using Intercom’s tools and APIs. It uses your company’s knowledge base to answer customer queries and provides links to the articles in references.

In addition to having conversations with your customers, Fin can ask you questions when it doesn’t understand something. When it isn’t able to provide an answer to a complex question, it flags a customer service rep to help resolve the issue.

Key Features

• Built-in safeguards to ensure it only provides accurate responses to customer questions.
• Fin Conversations allows you to easily view Fin’s interactions with customers from your inbox.
• Create custom answers to FAQs that get prioritized over AI generated answers.

11. Watson Assistant

Price: Free – $140/month

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IBM Watson Assistant is an AI-powered conversational bot that gives you impressive recommendations for further training so it gets better at its job. Its intent recommendations flag topic clusters that should be added to the database, while its entity recommendations identify existing topics that need more depth.

Watson Assistant is trained with data that is unique to your industry and business so it provides users with relevant information. It can run on your website, messaging channels, customer service tools, and mobile app. Plus, you can quickly get started with the low-code chat builder.

Key Features

• NLP and machine learning to gather context.
• Integrates with multiple systems and databases to access information.
• Analytics and insights to monitor user interactions, understand user behavior, and improve overall performance.

12. Drift

Price: Contact for pricing

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Drift is an automation-powered conversational bot to help you communicate with site visitors based on their behavior. With its intent detection capabilities, Drift can interpret open-ended questions, determine what information users are looking for, and provide them with a relevant answer or route the conversation to the appropriate team.

Drift’s AI technology enables it to personalize website experiences for visitors based on their browsing behavior and past interactions. It can also seamlessly book meetings and qualify leads.

In addition to its chatbot, Drift’s live chat features use GPT to provide suggested replies to customers queries based on their website, marketing materials, and conversational context.

Key Features

• Rule-based and AI chatbot with a classifier that categorizes conversations by context for more meaningful conversations.
• Can handle context switching if the conversation flow or subject changes.
• Customizable chat widget for mobile and desktop with helpful out-of-the-box integrations.

13. Infobip

Price: Contact for pricing

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Infobip’s chatbot building platform, Answers, helps you design your ideal conversation flow with a drag-and-drop builder. It allows you to create both rules-based and intent-based chatbots, with the latter using AI and NLP to recognize user intent, process information, and provide a human-like conversational experience.

Infobip also has a generative AI-powered conversation cloud called Experiences that is currently in beta. In addition to the generative AI chatbot, it also includes customer journey templates, integrations, analytics tools, and a guided interface.

Key Features

• AI and machine learning help you train your chatbot.
• Rule and intent-based bots that understand the context of and replicate a conversational experience.
• Omnichannel usability for WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Etc.

14. Appy Pie Chatbot

Price: Starts at $6 per bot/month

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Appy Pie helps you design a wide range of conversational chatbots with a no-code builder.

Appy Pie’s Chatbot Builder simplifies the process of creating and deploying chatbots, allowing businesses to engage with customers, automate workflows, and provide support without the need for coding. The customizable templates, NLP capabilities, and integration options make it a user-friendly option for businesses of all sizes.

Appy Pie also has a GPT-4 powered AI Virtual Assistant builder, which can also be used to intelligently answer customer queries and streamline your customer support process.

Key Features

• GPT-3 powered intuitive chatbot with contextual understanding.
• Leverages your business data to give accurate results to queries.
• Deploy a chatbot on your website or mobile app.

15. Zendesk Answer Bot

Price: Starts at $55per agent/month

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Zendesk Answer Bot integrates with your knowledge base and leverages data to have quality, omnichannel conversations. Zendesk’s no-code Flow Builder tool makes creating customized AI chatbots a piece of cake. Plus, it’s super easy to make changes to your bot so you’re always solving for your customers.

Each Zendesk Suite plan includes standard chatbot capabilities. However, you can access Zendesk’s Advanced AI with an add-on to your plan for $50 per agent/month. The add-on includes advanced bots, intelligent triage, intelligent insights and suggestions, and macro suggestions for admins.

Key Features

• Use Flow Builder to create custom AI-powered conversation flows.
• Deep learning capabilities to contextualize conversations and understand intent.
• Escalation to live agents who get insights and suggestions from AI to bring quick solutions.

16. Salesforce Einstein

Price: Available through cloud products

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Salesforce Einstein is a conversational bot that natively integrates with all Salesforce products. It can handle common inquiries in a conversational manner, provide support, and even complete certain transactions. Plus, it is multilingual so you can easily scale your customer service efforts all across the globe.

Einstein Bots seamlessly integrate with Salesforce Service Cloud, allowing Salesforce users to leverage the power of their CRM. Bots can access customer data, update records, and trigger workflows within the Service Cloud environment, providing a unified view of customer interactions.

Key Features

• Powered by predictive intelligence and machine learning.
• Builds contextual understanding and leverages existing Salesforce data to surface the best responses.
• Routing to human agents for more pressing conversations.

17. LivePerson

Price: Contact for pricing

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LivePerson’s AI chatbot is built on 20+ years of messaging transcripts. It can answer customer inquiries, schedule appointments, provide product recommendations, suggest upgrades, provide employee support, and manage incidents.

This AI chatbot can support extended messaging sessions, allowing customers to continue conversations over time without losing context. When needed, it can also transfer conversations to live customer service reps, ensuring a smooth handoff while providing information the bot gathered during the interaction.

Key Features

• The intent manager leverages data to understand the context of conversations.
• Create automated conversation flows across different messaging channels (website, mobile app, Apple Business Chat, etc.)
• Point and click builder to quickly and seamlessly create your bot.

18. Ada

Price: Contact for pricing

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Ada is an automated AI chatbot with support for 50+ languages on key channels like Facebook, WhatsApp, and WeChat. It’s built on large language models (LLMs) that allow it to recognize and generate text in a human-like manner.

The drag-and-drop chat builder requires zero coding and offers smart suggestions to help quickly train your chatbot. That way, you can spend less time on fine-tuning your chatbot, and more time on deep work.

Key Features

• Uses pre-trained machine learning models that you can refine to meet your business needs.
• Intent detection understands context and uses profiles and metadata to personalize conversations.
• Connected to your business’ crucial data to bring appropriate solutions.

Want to learn more about artificial intelligence? Check out this learning path.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Landing pages may be the equivalent of making a good first impression, but thank you pages are the final memory you leave a website visitor with before they go.

They’re often the final opportunity to engage your site visitors and leave them with a warm, fuzzy feeling about their overall experience on your site.

Like any website page, good thank you pages require careful consideration across design, layout, copy, and calls-to-action (CTAs).

If you’re struggling to make your thank you page work for your visitors and website goals, check out these nine examples to get inspired.

Table of Contents

• What is a thank you page?
• What is the benefit of a thank you page?
• Thank You Page Examples

What is a thank you page?

A thank you page is what your customers and leads are redirected to immediately after completing a form or making a purchase on your web page.

Its primary purpose is to acknowledge the website visitor’s action, whether that’s a purchase, a sign-up, or a request for information.

While thank you pages perform a similar function to a confirmation email, viewers don’t have to choose to open it.

Think of a thank you page as both the last step in your conversion process and the first step for customer retention.

The thank you page presents a prime opportunity to turn a lead into a customer — or a customer into a brand advocate. The best way to do this? Make the next step(s) in the buyer or user journey:

• Obvious and clear.
• Immediate.
• Exciting or desirable.
• Value-driven.

This means clear and concise copy, good layout, and taking the opportunity to add value for your website visitors.

What is the benefit of a thank you page?

Think of it this way: You may never have an easier, more natural opportunity to give a customer something that pleasantly surprises them and precisely fits what they want.

How do you know what your customer wants? They just told you exactly what they want by following a CTA on your site.

After someone follows the CTA on a landing page, take them to step two in their journey before they click away. Show customers you’re ready to deliver value time and time again.

For instance, if a customer makes a purchase on your site, use the thank you page as an opportunity to add value through additional resources or content — which will build trust and delight customers.

Alternatively, you might use a form thank you page as an opportunity to provide leads with the next steps. If the lead downloaded a Social Media Calendar ebook, the thank you page can list out alternative social media resources you’d like to provide.

Thank You Page Examples

1. Contact Form Completion

Confirm to your customer that they completed their intended action successfully — and remind them what you will (and won’t) do with their information. Build trust and let them know you’re on their side.

Let consumers know you’re interested in delivering value … and won’t be emailing them just for the sake of it. While you have them engaged, take the opportunity to highlight what they can expect from speaking with you and what else you can offer them.

This is your best chance to convince consumers your brand is different, and it comes long before they run across one of your messages in their inbox.

Best Contact Form Completion Thank You Page

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Rocket Agency does an excellent job of reinforcing its brand, providing other offers, and highlighting its achievements with previous clients on the thank you page for their Contact Us form.

The page flawlessly mixes and matches valuable offers like a digital marketing guide and their ongoing podcast with social proof such as award wins, partners, and customer logos.

Best of all, they provide their direct phone number in case the visitor wants a faster touchpoint.

2. Resource Download Thank You Pages

You likely have an ebook or other lead generation downloadable sent automatically via email. However, it’s still best to offer a download link to the originally-requested item right on your thank you page, as well.

This can keep your customer engaged on your site and increase the likelihood they’ll open and engage with your materials right away. It also gives you the opportunity to continue nurturing them towards a higher-intent conversion action on the site.

Best Resource Download Thank You Page

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One of the best ways to extend the value of a content download is to combine it with your subscription process so you can continue nurturing your leads.

That’s exactly what Smart Passive Income does before leading you to a thank you page where you can access the resource you wanted to download.

The thank you page also welcomes you as a subscriber and fosters a sense of trust and community. Users can customize their content preferences according to their biggest challenges, download other relevant resources, and see upcoming events.

Most importantly, the page contains a CTA to purchase an all-access pass to Smart Passive Income’s extensive training material.

3. Purchase Confirmation Pages

The post-sale confirmation page is an often-missed opportunity to surface similar, related, or complementary products.

To increase effectiveness, you’ll want to customize these recommendations with an aligning offer — such as a coupon or a rewards program.

If customers can create an account on your site but also have the option of checking out as a guest, the confirmation page is a great opportunity to prompt a free account creation.

Best Purchase Thank You Page

Few companies can even begin to approach the level of customer data that Amazon collects, stores, and leverages across their businesses.

This quality of information — and the company’s essentially limitless supply of items and store listings — makes the purchase confirmation page incredibly effective (and, as a consumer, quite difficult to resist).

Amazon frequently uses its thank you page to encourage further purchases of related products or drive users to other offerings like Amazon Prime.

4. Appointments and Reservations

When you’ve got someone newly signed up for an appointment, the thank you page provides a ready-made opportunity to expand or extend the conversation with them.

Encouraging viewers to follow or engage with your organization on social media is a natural next step.

As your follower on social, they’ll get frequent reminders about your brand, including any specials or deals you have on offer. If you’re a business that relies on repeat custom, this is a huge win.

Best Thank You Page for an Appointment or Booking

OpenTable incentivizes users to download the app once they’ve made an appointment so they can track and modify changes from within the app itself.

The thank you page also includes helpful notes about what to know before arriving at the restaurant.

5. Account Creation Thank You Pages

This is a prime opportunity to usher your lead seamlessly into your onboarding or account setup process.

You’ll want to make it so easy they don’t even think about clicking away.

The thank you page for account creation provides an opportunity to move your new users a step or two along in the customer lifecycle and increase retention.

You can offer resources to guide them through your product or platform or provide prompts to fully complete their account set-up.

Best Account Creation Thank You Page

Backlinko goes above and beyond in laying out the next steps for their leads.

They’ve infused their page’s messaging with urgency, but also friendliness and approachability.

6. Donation Thank You Pages

A donor isn’t “buying” a product in the same way most other customers are, but they’re undoubtedly looking for some element of reassurance, affirmation, appreciation.

Or — at the very least — some confirmation that their contribution is making a positive impact and being well spent.

For nonprofits, political campaigns, and other donor-soliciting sites, use the thank you page to provide a window into each donation’s impact, right from the start.

Additionally, it never hurts if you can anticipate and answer questions about your efficacy before they’ve even asked.

Best Donor Thank You Page

Save the Chimps nails the impact of storytelling on their donor thank you page, putting the chimps — the organization’s beneficiaries — front and center.

7. Consultation Booking

Many businesses rely on an initial consultation with their prospective customers to seal the deal, whether the consultation will take place in-person or virtually.

From tattoo and beauty parlors to B2B marketing agencies, free consultations are an ideal lead magnet. The trick is to make sure your thank you page is effective at keeping your new prospect engaged so that they’ll show up for your consultation appointment.

Best Consultation Booking Thank You Page

Cayk uses an embedded form on their site so prospects can book a time and date that’s most convenient for them without waiting to hear back from a salesperson.

Once the appointment is confirmed, a thank you message is displayed along with reminders about what the prospect will gain from the meeting.

Cayk also takes the opportunity to highlight their value propositions and what sets them apart from competitors.

8. Newsletter Subscription Thank You Page

If someone decides to sign up for your newsletter, it’s likely you’ve already impressed them with the content and quality of your website and resources.

So, why leave a bad taste with a poor newsletter subscription experience?

A well-designed thank you page here can make sure your subscribers stay engaged, not just on the site at that moment, but with any subsequent content that lands in their inbox.

Best Newsletter Subscription Thank You Page

Consumer Reports does a fantastic job on the newsletter subscription process and the thank you page. Upon signing up, users can select exactly which topics are relevant to their interests to customize their newsletter experience.

Once that’s done, the site confirms the sign-up process is complete and presents visitors with relevant content to keep them browsing on the site.

9. Event Registration Confirmation

Whether you’re encouraging visitors to sign up for a webinar or an in-person event, your thank you page helps to set the tone of the event.

You can use the thank you page to set expectations, provide important details, and keep users engaged until the event itself rolls around.

Not only does this provide a great user experience, but it also increases the chance of the registrant showing up — a particularly relevant concern if your event is free to attend.

Best Event Registration Thank You Page

MarketingProfs runs a lot of virtual events and webinars as part of their content strategy. When users sign up for an event, they’re taken to a thank you page that confirms all the event details, including the price, start time, and duration.

Registrants can also use social and email buttons to share the event with friends and colleagues to help boost sign-ups even further.

MarketingProfs also takes the opportunity to provide some FAQs about the webinar experience, how to access the session, and what happens if a registrant misses the event.

Saying Thank You

Thank you pages let you express gratitude and show appreciation towards visitors who have taken action on your website.

By acknowledging their interest, you create a positive relationship with potential customers, increasing the chances of building long-term brand loyalty.

So, start expressing your thanks so you can feel the love long term.

Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint— a blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of underrepresented business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success.

Representation matters.

We hear this over and over again. And most people agree.

However, not all representation is created equal, and this is important to recognize, especially to ensure your efforts in including more people in your marketing are received positively rather than being met with frustration and skepticism.

As the number of brands embracing inclusive marketing and prioritizing visual imagery that accurately represents their target audience grows, it becomes crucial for marketers to become well-versed in how to do representation in marketing the right way.

When done right, it demonstrates to underrepresented consumers that you’re committed to them and their communities. When done right, representation in marketing makes the people you serve feel seen, supported, and like they belong with you.

Below are what consumers have shared with me in recent years about what is important for them to see in terms of representation.

But first, to make sure we’re on the same page, let’s talk about why representation in marketing is so important.

Why Representation in Marketing Matters

The people you serve need to see themselves and who they aspire to be reflected in the visual imagery your brand puts forth.

When they see themselves, it is a permission slip to take the next step forward with you in your customer journey. When they don’t, many consumers receive the message “this isn’t for me” and go off in search of another option that does make them feel like they belong.

The 2021 State of Representation in Marketing study I conducted revealed that 74% of consumers choose to buy from and engage with a brand as a result of seeing themselves represented in the visual imagery a brand puts forth.

Representation also has the effect of impacting how consumers feel about themselves. In that study, one consumer said they wish brands knew “The damage they do by underrepresentation.” Another consumer said they wished brands knew “How much it can affect someone and their feelings about themselves when they never see themselves represented [in marketing]. Like they are not important.”

These sentiments were present on social media in 2018 when Cosmopolitan UK put plus-size model Tess Holiday on the cover. One woman shared, “If I had seen plus women like me on magazines growing up, it wouldn’t have taken 25+ years to love my body.”

With representation, brands have both power and responsibility to influence not only the way consumers feel about themselves but also how they feel about other people. One study showed that exposure to highlight reels of women’s sports changed attitudes for the better toward female athletes.

French telecom company Orange followed this insight and created an ad in advance of this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, highlighting that good representation really can influence perceptions of underrepresented groups, in this case, the skill, competitiveness, and emotion of women’s sports.

As you work to build an inclusive brand that makes more of the people you serve feel like they belong with you, know that taking the time to get representation right will have a significant impact on many, including you and your customers. Embrace these principles to engage in representation the way consumers want you to.

How To Do Representation in Marketing the Right Way

1. Representation in marketing includes more than just photos.

The on-ramp for many brands starting with inclusive marketing focuses on making their visuals more representative. But switching up your visuals doesn’t prove that your brand is inclusive.

Consumers will believe you are inclusive when it is representative throughout your brand. In the same study, many consumers shared that they want the brands they engage with and buy from to be holistically representative.

One respondent said, “It’s more than putting someone on an ad. They need to create products that cater to different people. Hire people that are diverse.” Another commented that, “I wish they included more types of people in their campaigns and in their actual companies as senior leaders.”

Another person responded to the research by explaining, “When you choose to represent different types of people, that inclusivity needs to translate into other areas of the brand. The brand also needs to be outspoken politically, have fair hiring tactics, etc., or people will realize that their “representation” is just pandering for sales.”

Here are important areas to focus on concerning representation for your brand.

Products

Take the time to ensure the products you develop showcase, acknowledge, and support the differences of the people your brand serves. For instance, Barbie has said that one in every five of the dolls they develop is Black, which bolsters part of its commitment to “ensure that diversity is represented everywhere” in its products.

Content

Representation matters with the content you create as well. Whether it’s who you include in videos, the guests you feature on your podcast, or even the influencers you work with, build a content plan that allows your target audience to see themselves represented in what you publish.

If you’re seeking more guidance on how to create inclusive and representative content, the episode below can serve as a great guide:

Discover more episodes here

People

Building representative teams is an important part of demonstrating that your brand is inclusive. Who you pay serves as a strong indicator of both company and brand values. Consumers may question your company’s true commitment to diversity and inclusion if you do not have a representative team.

Having a diverse and representative team not only helps you produce better work but also brings numerous other benefits.

Jerry Daykin is the head of global media at Beam Suntory. During our chat on the Inclusion & Marketing podcast, Jerry told me about a study conducted by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), which revealed that the marketing industry at large is grappling with significant challenges in achieving proper representation. “Almost every minority you can name is underrepresented in the industry and also likely to have a worse experience of working in the industry,” he stated. “If the industry was properly inclusive and represented everyone, we probably would make better work.”

That better work comes from allowing individuals within these communities to harness their lived experiences and cultural intelligence, as it informs the development of exceptional products, services, and experiences.

Of course, building a diverse and representative team isn’t necessarily something you can do overnight. It takes time. A way to ensure you can have a team representative of the people you serve in the interim is to hire consultants and contractors to support you as you build and grow.

Marketing

Ensuring adequate representation exists in your marketing mix is essential, especially to ensure that customers connect with your brand at every touchpoint throughout their customer journey.

Many brands prioritize the inclusion of representative individuals in their photos and videos, whether sourced from stock imagery or custom content, to ensure a genuine reflection of the people they serve. However, another important area to consider is your customer testimonials.

Unfortunately, it isn’t uncommon for people with identities from underrepresented and underserved groups to achieve success at different levels than people from dominant groups. These disparities are often the result of systemic and societal barriers not directly related to the problem your brand solves. Still, these issues do hurt organizational success. This episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast covers this topic more in-depth:

Discover more episodes here

2. Representation must tell an accurate narrative.

Too often, the narratives told about people from underrepresented and underserved communities aren’t accurate; they often reflect harmful stereotypes.

As such, as your brand starts to infuse representation of people from marginalized communities into your brand’s awareness and value system, take time to ensure the narrative you’re communicating with that representation is well-aligned with their real-world experiences.

For instance, Meryl Evans, a disability advocate, talked about her frustration with brands that are trying to represent people from the disability community but continue to perpetuate the narrative that people with disabilities can’t function on their own. She wrote a note on LinkedIn, saying, “My fellow deafies and I who prefer sign language would appreciate avoiding the use of photos with the help sign. It infantilizes deaf people like we always need help.”

3. Longevity and intention matters.

Two consumers I chatted with recently expressed their frustration with brands who seemed to have a sense of entitlement about how consumers should respond to brands being more representative with their visual imagery.

One said it felt like the brands were saying, “OK, here you go, here’s a Black person. Come buy our product.” As a Black man, he felt that the actions of the brands did not embody authenticity. To him, it felt like the brands were just changing their imagery, so he’d think the product was for him.

A woman who wears plus-size clothing expressed similar frustrations. She told me that brands launching campaigns representing different bodies can feel gimmicky because it’s a sudden change to their track record. She says, “So now I’m supposed to feel like, ‘Oh, this product is for me’ because all of a sudden I see someone who looks like me?”

As we chatted further, she talked about how, for now, her loyalty remains with the brands that have long represented and served plus-sized people. She did express that if a brand, in its early stages of embracing representation, perseveres in supporting the community consistently over the long term, it has the potential to earn her trust.

Your customers are waiting for you to see them; what will you do next?

By promising to make your brand’s commitments to DEIA representatives throughout all areas of your marketing mix, in time, you will earn the attention, trust, and loyalty of consumers from underrepresented and underserved communities.

By committing to producing marketing, product, and visual content that features imagery representing the people you serve or who they aspire to be, you ensure that they feel seen and validated.