Email marketing is still one of the most popular forms of digital marketing, but how you should approach it has changed in recent years. Long gone are the days when you’d send out thousands and thousands of emails in one go, bombarding your audience with generic information and seeing miserable results. The 21st-century marketer needs to be much more strategic with their email marketing in order to see an impressive ROI.
For those marketing newbies who don’t know what I’m talking about, here is the trustworthy Wikipedia definition of Email Marketing:
“Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It usually involves using email to send advertisements, request business or solicit sales or donations and is meant to build loyalty, trust or brand awareness.”
We’ve come up with 8 top tips that we use daily when it comes to our email marketing. We’re sure that if you use these effectively, you’ll see a big jump in your email marketing stats. Let’s have a look.
1. Be clear in the subject area what is in it for the customer
Get right to the point and tell them why they should open this email and what you can do them. They probably have hundreds of emails in their inbox, why should they open yours and not someone else’s?
Be clear and specific and use this opportunity to excite them and be personal. Let them know that what you are doing is for them, and you’re not just trying to sell them something. Have empathy for the person on the other end and make them feel valued and respected.
2. Start from the very first sentence
Grab the reader’s attention from the very first line. Sometimes, people don’t always trust the subject line and often will think it’s spam.
With more and more people opening their emails on a mobile device, they can see the first line as well as the subject line. Impress them with both and grab their attention from the offset. You could forget about using the formality of ‘Hi John’ and just jump right in with what you can offer them. Get to the point.
3. Make it personal by using their name and tailoring your content
If you know their name, use it, but not too much. If you come across too personal and use it in every sentence, it can lose its effect so use it sparingly.
By now you should have created personas and segmented your email list. So you should know what kind of content will appeal to them. After you do this, you will know exactly what kind of content they will be interested in and (hopefully) will respond well to.
4. Keep their interest
If someone has opened your email you want to make sure they stick around and scroll to the bottom to follow your CTA. Use short paragraphs and ensure the keywords and important marketing messages stand out. Include bullet points to break up large chunks of text and use images sparingly. Throw in a GIF if it’s appropriate – we all love GIFs.
5. Mobile friendly
Simple, but so important. If your emails are not optimised for mobile devices, you can forget about any type of impressive response.
6. Check your grammar and punctuation
Check, and double check the grammar and punctuation before sending out the email campaign. People will completely switch off if they pick up on poor grammar, a misspelt word or even worse if you spelt their name wrong. Take time to ensure these are spot on. I use Grammarly every day and it’s a lifesaver.
7. Be clear on what you want them to do
Have a well-defined CTA with clear marketing messages, and clear steps you want the user to follow. You can’t complain about a low engagement rate if you’re not telling them exactly what to do. At the end of every email, tell them to click a link for a free trial, to download your brochure or to find out more information. Ensure these are in every email campaign you send out to get the best response possible.
8. End on a high note
According to research conducted by Boomerang, the most effective email closing was ‘Thanks in advance’, with ‘Thanks’ coming in second place. ‘Best Regards’ and ‘Best’, proved to be the least effective, therefore you should probably avoid using both. There really not that personal, are they?
Depending on your audience and writing style, you can get really personal here and end the email in an informal and friendly tone. Test which ones work best for your brand and review after a certain period of time and keeps track of the responses.
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