Email Marketing Is Still King

 

 

Across all industries, only 22% of emails are opened on average. To stay in the top 20% of emails, your email marketing campaign must be more enticing than 78% of emails sent. While some might question the relevancy of email since the start of social media, don’t be fooled. Over 80% of businesses use email marketing, where social media marketing is being used by 67% of businesses. This is because 91% of people still use email every day for many purposes. Email is a more passive and tactful form of marketing that is simple for prospects to engage with – all the subscriber has to do is click to open.

 

So, if email marketing really still is top dog, why are you not getting any revenue from email marketing efforts?

 

It’s because your emails (quite frankly) suck. No one is bothering to open them whether that be because the content is boring, the titles are misleading, or you’re spamming them non-stop. There are plenty of reasons why a subscriber will not open your emails, or worse, will unsubscribe from any further emails. Avoid this tragedy and follow these email marketing best practices!

 

Email Marketing Best Practices That Work

#1 Subject Lines

The first thing the subscriber notices is who the email is from. Second is the subject line. If your email’s subject line says, “customer-name-hello.jpeg”, do you think the email will be opened? Likely not. The subject line has to be interesting and to the point. There must also be a compelling reason to open the email using actionable topics such as, “Download this Free White Paper”. Explaining how opening the email will save the subscriber money as an incentive is a great way to increase open rates. Experts also agree that adding urgency to a subject line increases the open rate of the email.

 

#2 Personalization

Success! You got the subscriber to open the email. Now it’s time to make sure they read the content and click on the CTA. It’s not going to happen if it seems like a robot sent the email. No one likes to see “Dear Loyal Customer” upon opening a message. It seems like one email got blasted to thousands of people who the business doesn’t know about or care about. Using personalization tokens is a great way to add that personal touch without taking up the time to change the name on every email. Using personalization token can also extend to the company name, hometown, and career title of the recipient. Take the time to use these and you’ll be surprised how many personal responses you receive from recipients.

 

#3 Visually Pleasing

DO NOT waste the subscriber’s time by sending emails that look unpolished and have no interesting design to them. This email is meant to represent your brand, and you won’t want to send the message that your company is bland and doesn’t stand out. If the subject line was good enough for the email to be opened, don’t disappoint them by leaving a boring looking email. Use branded graphics, good-looking text, and accent colors based on the theme that already represents your business. The goal is to have the recipient open the email and have a person from the desk behind them say, “Oh, is that [your company here]? I love their emails!”

 

#4 Relevant Content

Last (but not least), the actual content. The recipient found interest in the subject line, so they opened the email. They like the format and graphics of the email, so they didn’t click out immediately. Now it’s time to make sure the content is relevant enough for the reader to click the CTA within the text. The writing should be personal, to the point, and easy to understand. What is the purpose of the email? What do you want the reader to know after reading the text? Find a way to convey this quickly and with intent. Email marketing content should be written in the second person to add that personal touch yet remain informative.

 

#5 A Convincing CTA

The average open rate on CTA’s is at a mere 3.29% across all industries. This means that if you managed to get the subscriber to open the email and read the content, it’s now more important than ever to make the perfect CTA. Make sure the command is easy to understand and easy to read (those are two different things). If the CTA says, “DOWNLOAD WHITE PAPER”, but it’s in faded yellow on a white background, it won’t matter. The CTA should be in a color that can be easily seen and should stand out from the rest of the text. The command should be a clear “do this”. Make sure there’s no way for the reader to miss it.

If you follow these guidelines, your open rate should start to soar in no time! Stand out, be personal, and write creatively.

 

Want some more guidance? Send me a message!

 (I only bite 3.29% of the time)

 

Kelsie Collins

kelsie at heartbrain dot marketing

Marketing Content Writer

HeartBrain Marketing Agency