I get sent a lot of marketing emails, and to be honest, I end up deleting around 95% of them. However, some do get my attention.
Why?
Because they understand what I'm interested in. They grab me with a great headline or image and engage me enough for me to leave with a positive view of their brand for future reference. It means I'll trust that business and accept more communication from them in the future and I'm much more likely to buy from them (rather than a competitor) when the time comes. It proves that email marketing is still an essential part of a sales pipeline and can be ultra successful if done correctly.
Know your audience
The main reason I bin the majority of marketing emails I receive is because they are completely irrelevant to me. They are sent en masse without any knowledge of who I am and what interests me.
The first role of any email marketing campaign is to make it relevant to your subscribers. It's also worth avoiding talking too much about yourself. Most people will have little interest in knowing that you have a new office or learning about staff members getting married etc. Save this type of content for social media. You're in a privileged position being able to contact your subscribers directly and so it's a wasted opportunity to include this type of content in your email marketing campaigns. At best, readers will choose to ignore it, at the worst it will trigger an unsubscribe and a negative view of your communications.
Make your headline engaging
Your headline should be short, descriptive, and give the subscriber a reason to explore further. To create a sense of community and build relationships with the audience, consider leveraging dynamic content offered by most email marketing platforms. By dynamically including personalised greetings or bespoke references to the subscribers' business or interests you can help boost click-through rates by around 60%.
Focus on 'above the fold'
To make your email newsletter stand out, focus on the prime real estate 'above the fold' – the area visible without scrolling. Use this space wisely with a compelling headline or image that entices subscribers to explore further. Try to avoid cluttering this area with logos or unnecessary information. Make your first impression count – you only have seconds to capture your readers' attention.
Good design is essential...
Good design is essential for your email marketing campaign.
To improve readability, information must be segregated, and the email must be organised clearly. A designer can help design your email as well as being able to suggest best design practices to circumvent spam filters.
A "mobile first" approach should be undertaken when designing your email campaign too, since more emails are now accessed on mobile devices than desktop computers. To ensure readability on smaller screens, make sure your design doesn't have any awkward text returns or hyphenated words.
If you copy your text directly from Word or similar programs, make sure you strip out all the inbuilt Word formatting, otherwise you may see odd fonts and spacing issues on your final email. One way of doing this, is to click the 'clear formatting' button in Word (see below) or paste the text into Notepad or similar beforehand. Then convert it to 'plain text' before you copy it into your email marketing platform.
Resist the urge to design a single large image and simply insert this into the main body of your email. Using single large images with little text can result in two things happening:
- Your email will end up in a spam folder Spam detection algorithms assess the image to text ratio, if there are too many images and too little text, it is much more likely for the email to end up in the recipents spam folder
- Your message won't be visible Many email clients do not download images when the email first loads. If you are relying on a single image to communicate your message, then it's highly likely the reader will be presented with a blank box with a 'Download image' button. Real text, on the other hand, is visible when the email loads and therefore its more likely people will hit 'download' if the text explains what the email contains.
Remember, every interaction with your brand counts, including your email campaign. Consistency in design and messaging is crucial for building credibility and appealing to your audience.
Incorporating calls-to-action
Make sure your CTAs are obvious and use simple but persuasive language. By using phrases such as 'Learn more' over 'Read more' you can improve click through rates by around 20%. If you are selling directly from your email, then include the price on the button - 'Buy now - Only £20' for example. Alternatively, if the item is discounted, then remind your readers of the savings available 'Buy now - Save 50%'.
Overall, clearly communicate the value and benefits of clicking on the CTA to motivate your readers to take action.
Respect boundaries - don't spam
Always remember to respect your subscribers' trust by only sending emails with valuable content or offers. If you send too many emails, you risk increasing your unsubscribe rate.
On the flip side, you also need to make sure that you commit to your campaign and send your emails on a regular basis. Every business is different but we advise our B2B clients to initially run a campaign for 6 - 12 months and send no more than 2 emails every month.
Analyse performance
To ensure the effectiveness of your email newsletters, it's crucial to regularly test and analyse performance.
This involves monitoring metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. By analysing this data, you can identify trends, insights, and areas for improvement. Use A/B testing to experiment with different subject lines, imagery, content formats, or call-to-action buttons to determine what resonates best with your audience.
