When you send out email marketing, you are sending your troops into war. The first battle is with the spam filter and if your email survives, you start fighting with every other email in the recipient’s inbox: newsletter subscriptions, blog RSS feeds, emails from friends and colleagues and lots (and lots) of promotional material.
What does an email marketing victory look like?
You’re winning the war if your email gets opened. You’ve won the battle if your email gets a response. Here are some tips that will help you win the email marketing war:
1. Write a subject line that gets your readers attention.
You could have the most amazing offer ever, but if your email isn’t opened, it’s worthless. Spark curiosity or simply explain what your email contains, but keep it under 10 words and make it stand out in a long list of emails.
2. Personalise your email.
Fill out the From field in your settings so your reader will recognise you as a credible source and personalise the greeting. “Hi Sarah” is so much nicer than “Dear sir/madam,” isn’t it?
3. Try sending your emails at different times.
The line between “work time” and “personal time” is heavily blurred so try sending your emails on the weekend, early in the morning and in the evening. Compare the results and see when your audience is most responsive.
4. Use lots of links.
When you scatter links through your email, your reader doesn’t have to work hard to follow the thread. It can be a number game, but the more accessible you make your content, the higher your click-through rates will be.
5. Include a strong call to action.
After getting your email through the SPAM filter, opened and read, you must direct your reader to some kind of action. Do you want them to reply? Tell them. Or visit your blog? Tell them. Just implying an action isn’t enough – be bold and really spell it out.
6. Optimise your email marketing for mobile devices and tablets.
As most of us access emails and webpages when we’re on the move, it’s worth making sure your email marketing is easy to read on a smaller screen.
7. Include an unsubscribe link.
This is a legal requirement, but it’s good practise to make the unsubscribe process as easy as possible. Why not collect some valuable information on the way out and ask them why they are leaving? Most importantly, remember to measure, analyse and improve. A very respectable open rate is between 20%-40%, but this will be influenced by your industry, when you send the email, your subject line, etc. Try varying the elements of your email marketing, including your opener, how many links you use and your call to actions to see if they impact your results. Is email marketing an effective tool in your marketing arsenal? Are there are tips you can add to the list?
