The best way to grow your business is by providing value to your customers and prospects. One of the most effective ways to do this is through email marketing. Email marketing can provide a steady stream of qualified leads, which will ultimately help you increase revenue and profits for your company. And it's easier than ever with all the new technology! This blog post will discuss 12 email marketing tips to help you create a successful email marketing campaign!
Understanding Email Marketing
First, it's essential to understand what email marketing is, how it works and why you should be using this channel for your business.
Email marketing is a way of communicating with prospects or customers via email that can help drive traffic back to your site (or anywhere else). When managed the right way, an effective email campaign can bring in new leads and sales, build brand loyalty, increase consumer engagement, enhance customer service capabilities, create opportunities for upselling/cross-selling products or services. You get the idea, and the possibilities are endless!
Leveraging marketing automation with your email marketing campaigns will substantially improve your results.
Tip #1: Make Sure You Have Catchy Subject Lines
First impressions are everything. The subject line is the first thing your subscribers will see, so make sure that it catches their attention and makes them want to open it up!
Here's what makes a good subject line:
- It is short, meaningful, and catchy.
- It's unique in comparison to the subject lines of your competitors.
- It highlights the value proposition for why someone should read this email (i.e., it promises a benefit).
This will determine if a prospect or customer even opens and reads it and whether they take action based on that email subject line (i.e., click through to read more). So you need to make sure you have an attractive subject line because this will increase the click-through rate – which can also affect deliverability.
Tip #2: Personalize Your Messages by The Recipient's First Name
Personalization is a great way to build trust and credibility with your prospects or customers. For example, when you personalize the email message by adding their first name, it makes them feel special – which can help increase conversions!
You can include merge fields in your email templates to achieve this, and it will automatically merge in the person’s first name.
By using your customer's first name in the subject line, email body, and even your call-to-action (CTA), you can improve conversions by up to 30%.
Tip #3: Include The Benefits of Your Product or Service in Your Email to Increase Conversions
It's best to focus on the benefits vs. your product or service features in the email. This way, you will convey value and arouse curiosity in a shorter amount of time.
You can also include a link for more information to increase conversions!
Your email subscribers and customers want to know they will benefit from your email. And they also need to understand how this can happen – what is in it for them? So make sure you include all these things! That way, they will be more likely to engage with your email – which means you can ultimately generate more leads and sales.
Tip #4: Use Visuals, Such as Photos and Videos, to Engage Readers
People love visuals. This is why it's essential for you to use images and/or videos in your email because this will increase engagement rates, which ultimately leads to increased conversions!
Keep in mind that using images and videos can engage readers but can also reduce your chance of making it to the inbox. So it's best to test the use of images and videos with your email marketing campaigns.
Tip #5: Keep Your Email Short and Sweet
Write your emails in a way that is easy to scan and look at. This will help increase conversions by ensuring your email can be easily digested, thus increasing open rates and engagement rates.
You should keep it short – between 250-300 words or less if possible – because emails with a higher word count tend to have lower opens & click-through rates.
Tip #6: Focus on Value, Not Just on Asking For Something
Email marketing is a great way to build your brand and provide value. So when you're writing content for emails, it's best to include information that will help improve your readers’ lives instead of just asking them for something (i.e., buy something).
When people know what they stand to gain from reading your email (like how learning about something can benefit them), conversions will increase because this shows value!
Tip #7: Make Sure You're Sending Emails at the Right Time of Day for Maximum Engagement
The time you send your email can impact engagement rates and conversions. For example, it’s best to send emails during the weekday vs. on weekends because people tend to be busier with other things such as errands, social activities, spending time with family, etc.
It's also ideal for you to avoid sending emails at night or early in the morning since readers may not check their inboxes so soon after they get out of bed (or even before).
These are best practices across many different industries, but they don’t always hold true. I would suggest testing different times with your audience and seeing what times work best with your subscribers.
Tip #8: Write an Email That is Easy to Read, with Short Paragraphs and Bullet Points
Writing an email that is easy to read will help increase conversions because readers won't have a hard time digesting the information in your email.
You can easily achieve this by using short paragraphs with bullet points instead of long blocks of text, bolded words/phrases for emphasis, and italicized phrases or sentences.
Tip #9: Use a Friendly Tone in Your Email
Marketing emails are best when you use a tone that's conversational and friendly. This way, it will be easier for your readers to connect with the content in an organic manner, leading to increased conversions!
An entertaining and distinctive voice can also help you stand out from your competitors and increase conversions.
The more that readers feel connected with the content, the more likely they will be drawn into your email.
Tip #10: Create a Sense of Urgency
An effective email marketing strategy can include a sense of urgency, which will help increase conversions. You can do this by having limited-time offers or unique discount codes and coupons for readers to use when checking out on your website.
Here are a few examples of how you can include a sense of urgency in your email:
- Offer expires soon!
- For today only!
- While supplies last.
By creating an incentive that will expire, readers are more likely to act instead of putting off the purchase. This way, they'll be prompted into taking action now, which increases conversions!
Tip #11: Include a Call To Action
Once your email is complete, it's essential for you to include a Call To Action (CTA) so that readers know what they need to do to get the most out of your email. For example:
- Click here to learn more about our new product!
- Subscribe now for your weekly dose of fashion tips.
A CTA can help increase conversions because it prompts readers to take action. And, if you tell them precisely what they need to do (i.e., click on a link or subscribe), then there will be no confusion.
Tip #12: Test Different Subject Lines to Improve Your Open Rate
A successful marketing strategy involves testing different subject lines with your email marketing campaign. This will help you determine what kind of language resonates most with your readers, which can impact the open rate of emails!
This is because potential customers are more likely to read an email if it has a compelling or intriguing subject line relevant to their interests. They'll also be more inclined to check out your message when they think there might be something in it for them (i.e., discounts, freebies, giveaways).
Conclusion
Email campaigns are a vital part of any marketing strategy to target an audience. You need to make sure you're using the right email service provider and that your emails are highly engaging so they can increase conversions!
I hope that these email marketing tips you've read in this blog post will help your email marketing campaign become more successful!
If you want software that will make creating your email marketing campaigns a breeze, then check out Pulse and find out how it can maximize your return on investment.