Marketing Email Pattern #1: The Pick-and-Choose

Marketing Email Pattern #1: The Pick-and-Choose:from Email Marketing Tips by Amanda Gagnon

Email marketing doesn’t have to take a whole lot of time, especially if you follow these tips for procrastinators and use these templates. And when it comes to putting your content down, it can be even faster if you have somewhere to start.
So we’ve come up with three templates you can start from and fill it in with your specific content. You’ll see them here over the next few weeks. Today, we present the first the “pick-and-choose” pattern.
Also known as a “digest,” the pick-and-choose pattern neatly presents a summary of all the information your readers might be interested in.

The Pick-and-Choose Pattern

Seven speakers, seven messages. This was the format used for the presentations at Evolution Magazine’s recent Women In Business Conference.
At the beginning, the audience was told that each speaker would keep things simple by presenting on one central message. With the seven-fold presentation, each attendee would find at least one idea that strongly resonated with them.
This pattern was extremely valuable at the workshop, and it can be just as valuable in an email. Living as we do in the Information Age, we’re inundated with a constant flow of multiple streams of information. Having that information neatly organized to select from is a relief.
How to Write a Pick-and-Choose Email
Choose a selection of items to include in your newsletter. These can be your blog posts, articles from around your industry, news stories or any other content you may typically publish.
Present them in the email as evenly weighted items. Give each one them the same amount of text and the same size headline, and potentially, illustrate them with the same size pictures.
Readers will be able to select what works for them and leave the rest, all the while appreciating the lack of pressure to read every bit.
For Example
JavaScript Weekly is a free newsletter for those interested in the language. The creator, Peter Cooper, carefully chooses the content, only including the articles he believes programmers will appreciate the most.
His emails look like this:



When Would You Use This Pattern?
You might choose to let readers pick and choose if:

• You have a lot of news to put out, but not a lot of time to create multiple emails
• You have a series of options to present
• You?re in an industry that people can be interested in for a variety of reasons (for example, emails for runnings could include both 5k and marathon information)
• You send your emails regularly, but not frequently – like monthly newsletters

Two More Templates

Two more email template patterns are coming up in the next few weeks. Sign up right below here to get them delivered to your inbox (along with all kinds of other great marketing tips, twice a week – and of course, never spam).