Many have predicted that email marketing would either fade away or be replaced and ultimately become a thing of the past. But email marketing is still going strong, and actually, remains one of the most effective marketing strategies out there.
Since email marketing is a highly effective method for engaging potential and existing customers, it’s also one of the most common. Billions of emails are sent out daily, that’s right, daily. Many of these emails are ignored or sent straight to spam, which is simply wasted efforts. If you want to make your emails sing and compete with the rest of them, we’ve got some top tips that can help you increase your open rates and click-through rates. Let’s jump in.
You probably wouldn’t tell the cashier at your local supermarket about your recent break-up, would you? That’s because, in life, we are selective about which bits of information we tell to which people. The same goes for your email lists. You don’t need to send out every email to every person on the list, you need to be selective. Segmenting your email lists can help you send out emails to the relevant recipients. For example, if you offer student discounts you could segment your email list according to age groups.
A great subject line can be the difference between an ignored email and an opened one. You want it to be compelling enough to persuade recipients to open the email, but not so compelling that it comes off as spammy. Nobody likes spammy. You could spell out an offer, or something exciting that’s happening, whilst also keeping it short and to the point. Subject lines with less than 50 characters tend to get the best open rates.
People aren’t just checking their inboxes on a desktop or laptop, they’re checking them on the go with their smartphones too. If your email doesn’t load properly on a mobile screen, it’s bound to get sent straight to trash. Many email marketing tools allow you to test your emails so you can see how it looks on both desktop and mobile inboxes, don’t skip this step!
A simple trick to increasing those click-through rates is adding your contact’s name to the emails you send them. People are more likely to open emails that are addressed to them as it comes off less robotic and more personal. Plus, taking note of your contact’s previous behaviours, such as which emails they tend to open and which types of content they most interact with, will enable you to customise the emails you send out to them in future.
One of the biggest mistakes people make in their email campaigns is not including a clear call to action. If it’s not immediately evident to your contacts what action they’re supposed to take, it’s likely they’ll just close the email and move on. Whether it’s making a call or opening a link, spell it out with a clear CTA.
The best time of day to send emails is between 8:00 am, and 9:00 am. This is because the first thing people tend to do when they arrive at work is to check their emails, so catching them at this point is your best bet.
Your email list will degrade over time. For example, when people change jobs their old email address will become redundant. It will negatively impact your delivery rates by having inactive users in your email list, so make sure you cleanse your list by removing those addresses that haven’t been engaged in a long time. As a rule of thumb, you should be doing this once a year.
And there you have it, our 7 top tips for crafting the perfect marketing email. If you’d like to read a more comprehensive guide to email marketing, check out this article we wrote.
Good luck!