Despite what you may read online, email marketing is far from dead. Nearly half of all businesses use this form of marketing, making it one of the prime marketing mediums in the United States. It’s easy to see why email marketing is so popular. It’s affordable, easy to use and has very little lag time from the drawing board to the customer. However, all marketing emails are not alike. For yours to be effective (and generate the click-through rates you’re looking for), consider the following tips:
Ways to make your email marketing work better for your business
1. Keep it concise and clean.
Even your most loyal customers are pressed for time. Don’t waste theirs by saying more than necessary in your marketing email messages. In addition, make your message easy to read by using sub-headings and bullet points. If you use images, limit it to one or two, and make sure the files are as small as possible. Remember many email programs send messages with large images directly to spam.
2. Make it actionable.
Don’t leave your readers guessing about what you want them to do. Tell them! If you want them to subscribe to a newsletter, buy a product or download an e-book, make sure that you end your message with a concise call to action with the necessary contact information.
3. Format your email for success.
A good marketing email tells a story. Start with your offer, continue with why the customer should take your desired action, and finish with a clickable call to action.
In addition, make sure that your email will play as well on a small screen as it will on a large screen. That generally means not getting too fancy with images and elaborate formatting that don’t look great on a mobile screen.
4. Start with a great subject line.
Your subject line is the first impression of your marketing message. Write a boring subject line and it’s likely that your reader won’t ever see the cleverly-crafted body of your message, let alone buy your product. Make your subject line enticing by personalizing the line, making sure to keep it within the character count limit, and asking an intriguing question.
5. Use a conversational tone.
No one likes to be lectured to. However, too often we talk more like a professor in our marketing emails than a friend. Whereas traditional direct mail pieces used phrases like “buy now” exclusively, email marketing relies on building and is much more effective if you use a tone similar to how you would talk with a friend about your product.
Crafting effective marketing emails doesn’t have to be a stressful chore. Increase your click-through rate by being concise, using a conversational tone and making sure to include a clear call to action.
