Email Marketing Solutions

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This week we are breaking down an email from the meal replacement company – Huel.

Before I jump in, I would love your feedback on these breakdowns. Leave a comment down below or hit me up on LinkedIn and let me know.

As a reminder, every week I am going to pick a different email that I read and that “made me click.” I’ll break down the email from the subject line to CTA and share what I think they did really well. 

Hopefully I can share some insights into what makes a really good email and how you can use these insights to improve your click through rates and email conversions. 

If you have an email that “made you click” and you’d like me to break it down, shoot me an email at ben@henkenmarketing.com.

Now let’s get onto the good stuff…

One of the Best Review Based Emails I’ve Seen

Huel creates some of the absolute best customer focused emails that I’ve seen. And their “real life Hueligan” series is the MVP.

If you’re not familiar with the brand, Huel is a mean replacement product developed to provide a completely healthy, nutritious option for people on the go.

And they do a great job, especially through email, of indoctrinating you as a “Hueligan” when you join their email list.

The welcome email subject line is, “You’re officially a Hueligan” and it’s an email written from the founder.

But Huel doesn’t leave this concept at the door. They carry the idea of being a Hueligan throughout their communication and email strategy. 

Including emails like this one.

Do Lifer

The email opens with a hero image of Asha with the headline, “Do lifer: Asha.” 

Followed by this body copy 👇

I’m going to ignore the fact that this is center aligned and how much that drives me nuts…

Throughout these review style emails (I got three of them within two months of signing up to the Huel newsletter) Huel focuses on different people, from different backgrounds, who use Huel in different ways.

So in the first part of the email, they are introducing you to Asha.

Notice how there is NO mention of Huel in the first part. The email is all about Asha and her story.

It’s more important that people relate to Asha than it is to push the brand or products.

And by providing a snippet and then having the call to action be to “read more” they are opening a loop that can only be closed by clicking.

More About Asha

In the second part of the email, Huel continues to tell Asha’s story for anyone who hasn’t clicked yet.

Notice how they use the image to show Asha with her Huel bottle, but nowhere else is Huel even mentioned.

It’s still more important to connect the reader with Asha than it is to connect them with the brand.

The first two parts of the email are about getting the reader to know, like, and trust Asha.

How many people are able to connect with parts of her story?

>Getting divorced

>Having to move back home

>Starting something new

>Changing a lifestyle

The more that you connect with Asha’s story, the more that psychological principles of social proof, liking, and consistency are going to be at play.

Finally Time to Introduce Huel Into Our Story

Now that we’ve told the highlights of Asha’s story, we find out how and why she has introduced Huel into her lifestyle and daily routine.

The copy that I love here is right in the middle – “She asked her growing follower count… of course Huel came out on top.”

Social proof is one of the most powerful levers that you can pull when trying to get someone to make a buying decision.

Not only is Huel using Asha as social proof, but they found a way to add a second layer of social proof. Asha’s followers and their recommendations.

The other factor that’s really important throughout this email is that each CTA and image goes to the same link. All of the pictures of Asha and the “read more” CTAs take you to the full blog post on Huel’s website where Asha tells her story.

As an ecommerce brand, it can be hard to only have ONE link in your email (and Huel doesn’t end up accomplishing this) but if you are able to pull it off… it helps immensely with your deliverability.

And, the less choices you give your reader… the more likely they are to take action.

So I love that up to this point, the only action available was to learn more about Asha and her story.

Recipes

As we finish up this email Huel provides some of Asha’s favorite Huel recipes and then a different CTA to check out other recipes on their website.

I would have loved to see them include the recipes as part of the blog post and keep this CTA pointed at Asha’s story.

But providing these recipes helps overcome an objection that many of Huel’s readers might have. And it shows how Huel is different from many other meal replacement options.

I’m not going to dive into the last section of this email as it’s a “shop now” section with 4 different products to choose from.

Not much to see here.

One Big Lesson

>>Tell Customer Success Stories

If you are collecting testimonials and success stories, share them!

From blog posts on your website to product pages to emails… these types of success stories are great ways to move potential customers towards making that first purchase.

And make the emails about the customer, not the brand. People connect with stories of other people who share similar stories, backgrounds, and traits. 

Preview for Next Week

If you’ve got an email that “Made You Click” send it my way so that I can include it in my weekly breakdown. You can forward emails to ben@henkenmarketing.com.

Otherwise, I’ll be on the lookout for another great email that lands in my inbox between now and then…

Next Steps

1. Leave a comment below – what did you think of this email? What did you like or dislike?
2. Share this breakdown with someone you know – know anyone with a DTC ecom store? Share this breakdown with them and they’ll thank you for it.
3. Follow me on LinkedIn for more content – and connect with me if you are an email marketer, ecommerce business owner, or course creator.