In spite of years of predictions of the decline, email marketing continues to remain as one of the most effective ways of prospect and customer outreach, providing a high return on investment
However, many businesses, particularly small and midsize organizations, could increase the effectiveness and success rate of their email campaigns. Read on to find out how your email marketing activities.
1. Make sure your emails are mobile-friendly. After spending time to create the perfect email, the last thing you want is for it to get straight to the trash. It is crucial to focus on developing mobile-optimized email content, that catches the eye of users on smartphones. A study from Litmus highlighted that 71% of people delete an email right away if it does not deploy correctly on mobile.
It is important to ensure the subject line is short, your email has sufficient white space and your call to action buttons are big enough to be easily clicked via mobile (minimum of 44 x 44 pixels)
Not all email service providers allow you to test what your emails and messaging will look like on mobile, tablet, and other devices, so it is important to use a responsive design to develop your emails. According to a benchmark report by Yesmail, brands with a responsive design throughout all of their emails gett a 55% higher mobile click-to-open rate than brands that do not have responsive in their campaigns.
2. Emails with text and a few images
Simple text-based emails with links to your content, products, or services can be very effective. Although images are designed to make your email pop out platforms like Outlook tend to block them automatically, meaning that many people can end up seeing a broken image link instead of your pretty-looking image. Therefore short and descriptive paragraphs with links to the site can work well.
3. Make your subject line compelling and to the point.
Your subject line will make or break your email click-through and reply rate, so make sure it is very compelling. A great example is starting with an offer your customer can’t refuse or telling your customers about something special taking place. This tactic works better when your mailing lists are segmented and the messaging can be tailored to your customers.
A major rule is to keep your subject line short, lines with fewer than 50 characters tend to achieve higher open rates.
4. Personalize your email.
When done right, personalization can persuade contacts to open emails and interact with the content inside. Firstly, you can start with the basics such as adding first names to the subject lines. If possible, you can use advanced data in the body of the email for a more persuasive call to action. An example is using previous purchase behavior to determine which offers will be most intriguing to specific contacts.
5. Have a clear call to action (CTA). “
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in email marketing is not having a call to action that is clearly defined. If the reader cannot determine what they are expected to do with the email within 5 seconds, they are likely to delete your email. Therefore, when designing an email for a marketing campaign it is important to test it out by showing someone else, giving them a short time period to see whether they know what the call to action is. Whether you want the reader to subscribe, purchase, learn more, or sign up, each email should have a stated and clear purpose. An eye-catching CTA, for example, a button or graphic that is placed in a prominent area within the email can generate more clicks and engagement than a ‘click here’ embedded in the text at the end of your message. The less scrolling needed from your readers, the easier it becomes for them to engage with you.
