Email marketing can get complicated sometimes. It’s a process that requires learning and frequent research. As a business person, time is of the essence. You might not get the chance to identify all the email marketing tips that can boost your business. However, here are actionable email marketing tips that will bring a difference in your marketing strategy.
10 tips for writing an email subject line.
The subject line of your email is important. It affects the open rate of your emails. 33% of recipients open these emails because they find the subject line interesting. The key element is focusing on a subject line that will capture the recipient’s mind straightaway.
1. Power words.
You want your recipient to get inspired to take a certain action. Using power words in your subject line will trigger a response from your recipients. These words will boost your open-rate. Example of power includes and not limited to;
- Back in stock
- Congratulation
- Voucher
- Limited stock
- Limited time
- Hurry
- Great deals
- Brand new
- Back in stock
2. Personalize the emails.
You have the information about your recipients including their names. Add their names in your email. It brings out a personal feeling. Your recipient feels valued.
3. Use the real name of the sender.
A subscriber will find it friendly when they receive an email with the sender’s name rather than the brand name. A lot of providers of email services make it easy for you to edit the sender’s field and add the name of the sender.
4. Test your subject line.
Thanks to technology, you can test your subject line and see how it scores. There are tools such as the Email Subject Line Tester that helps you optimize your subject lines. This way, you will be sure your subject line will trigger the required actions.
5. Include numbers or stats in your subject line.
Research shows that the use of numbers in your subject line increases your email open-rates, which in turn can increase conversion rates. A subject line that has statements such as “save 25%” will improve your open-rates.
6. Invoke curiosity.
Curiosity will make your recipient click on the email to get more information. The best way to make your recipient is by leaving crucial information within the subject line. First, know how the story in your email will start and end. Then, omit crucial details. For instance, your subject line can be “what’s the best way to attain your dreams?” Your recipient will get curious prompting them to open the email.
7. Use preview texts.
Preview text appears after your subject line. It gives your subject line more context. For instance, in the above example, the subject line creates urgency while the preview text adds more details. From the preview text, a recipient will know how long they have to register.
8. Avoid capitalizing.
Writing your subject line in capital letters seems like you are shouting.
9. Use emojis.
Brands that use emojis in their subject lines enjoy a 56% increase in their open-rates. It’s impressive how using emojis can yield results. Why not experiment with emojis as you send your emails?
10. A/B testing.
This testing allows you to play with your subject lines and get to see which drives more conversions. Send two subject lines to a different set of recipients and get to determine which subject line has better click rates.
10 email copywriting tips.
When it comes to email marketing, having the right set of copywriting skills is important.
1. Be brief.
Whether it’s the subject line or the body of the email, remember to keep it brief. Your sentences should have 25 words, and your paragraphs should have at least 3 sentences. Your sentences should be straight to the point.
2. Have a CTA (Call to Action).
Having a CTA will drive the recipient to your product page. Place your CTA across the body of the email where a recipient will easily look.
3. Adding PS for extra links.
If there is additional information or content that you want to share with your recipients, you can add the link in the PS section. Such extra information could be your blog posts, events, or your brand’s announcements and news.
4. What are you selling?
Even a great subject line or email body won’t cut it if what you are selling or offering doesn’t appeal to your audience. Put yourself in a buyer’s perspective and see if what you are selling is something you would buy.
5. Prioritize the reader.
Your customers don’t want to listen as you praise your brand. It’s better to talk about the benefits your product will offer, that’s what the customer is more interested in. Look at these two scenarios;
- “Wash your clothes 40x better with our new and improved laundry detergents”
- “Our new laundry detergent washes clothes 40x better”
In the first example, the customer already envisions how this product will help them. In the second example, a customer will first know about the company before the product. It fails to create that instant connection between the customer and the product.
6. Focus on the product’s benefits.
This is an important copywriting tip. Your customers will relate to a product because of its benefits and not its features. In the above example, a customer will like laundry detergent because of how efficiently it cleans their clothes. They won’t care much about the product being newly improved.
7. Your emails and landing page should align.
The message you communicate through your emails shouldn’t be any different from what your landing page communicates. Your email is talking about a 30% offer then your landing page is talking about a 15% offer. This kind of inconsistency will drive away your customers.
8. Avoid templates.
When starting off, templates might come in handy. However, there’s a chance the targeted recipient has seen that particular email template before, severally maybe. Show your creativity and compose a subject line and an email body that will capture the attention of your target recipients.
9. Have a voice that is distinct.
There are many businesses and companies sending emails to prospective customers every day. The voice of your brand will set you apart from the other businesses.
10. Make your copy easy to skim through.
Lengthy paragraphs are a turn off for most customers. Keep your paragraphs short. The recipient should be able to skim through the email easily and get to know what your email is all about.
10 email marketing tips.
1. Easy unsubscribing process.
When you have a list of recipients, you would want to retain them after they’ve subscribed to your emails. To retain a good relationship with them, make the unsubscribing process simple. This particular customer might like your brand however, he doesn’t want to receive your emails. Attach a link that customers can use to unsubscribe. If it’s hard for them to unsubscribe, the positive attitude they have towards your brand might fade away.
2. Avoid paying for email lists.
Buying email lists seems like an ideal strategy, but it will cost you eventually. Paying for email lists is an illegal action according to GDPR (General Data Regulation Regulation). When sending your email to this list, you are sending it to people who have no clue about your brand. The click rates from your emails will be poor.
3. Write your emails in a mobile-friendly layout.
How you format your emails is important. Poorly formatted emails will get deleted within seconds regardless of how powerful your email content is. Some customers might go ahead and unsubscribe from your emails. That’s a potential loss of revenue. A lot of customers use their mobile phones to check their emails. 52% of customers might fail to buy from a brand if their mobile experience is wanting. You need to check on the size of the images in your email. Avoid too many texts without any spaces or breaks. Providing your recipients with a strong mobile experience will enable you to retain them.
4. Use alternative text in images.
Alt-texts helps email recipients understand more about the images used. It helps provide a context of images especially when they can’t load. It also helps the visually impaired to know about your images.
5. Know the best times to send your emails.
Depending on your target audience, establish the best time for you to send your emails. It will help you increase your open-rates. The best times to send your emails could be 10 a.m., 6 a.m., or 2 p.m. Most people start their day by checking on their emails. Others can’t go to bed without checking their emails.
6. Which days will you send the emails?
Certainly, you can’t send your subscribers emails every day. You will need to know how many times a week you will send the emails. Tuesdays and Thursdays might be the best days to send your emails.
7. Organize your marketing schedules.
They are many tools that can help you in planning your schedule. You can use Google calendar to plan your activities. Planning will bring you consistency, and consistency will bring you results.
8. Analyze your email marketing strategy.
The key to making email marketing successful is analyzing your performance data. Extract your data and determine which days had the best responses, which times generated good open-rates, and how your open-rates are affected when you send a certain email. You can easily get these data analytics provided by your email service provider.
9. Request your recipients to whitelist your emails.
Whitelisting will easily ensure your emails land straight into your recipient’s inbox rather than the spam folder. Having your emails landing directly into your recipient’s inbox will improve your open-rates. You can add an instruction in your email, for example; “be sure to add 123@gmail.com to your contact list”
10. Segment your email lists.
Your subscriber list contains people with different tastes and interests. Sending a similar email across the broad might not be the best strategy. Use different conditions as you create your segments. You can use attributes such as location, frequency of purchase, or products purchased.
10 tips to build your email list.
1. Create a content upgrade.
A content upgrade is any additional information you customers can access from your blog post in exchange for their contact information, i.e. their email addresses. Content upgrade works similarly to lead magnets. Your content upgrade needs to be relevant, something that your customers will enjoy to consume.
2. Add a CTA to your website.
You can contact your developer to incorporate a subscribe/sign up CTA button in your blog post or website. It will help you in collecting email addresses for your list.
3. Social proof.
People love evidence, it makes them believe in your brand. YouTube channels have an indication of the number of subscribers. When a potential subscriber sees this, they can determine how beneficial or genuine that channel is. If you want to make the CTA in your website effective, mention the number of subscribers you have.
4. Run a contest.
Contests are a great way of gathering email addresses. You can choose to have a physical form for registration or have a landing page where participants can sign up. The kind of prize you are awarding will help you in attracting many participants. However, it doesn’t have to be a sophisticated prize.
5. Launch a campaign to build your social media list.
The people who are following you on social media have already shown interest in your company. Running a campaign targeting email sign-ups across these social media platforms will give you a good list.
6. Single-opt in or double-opt in the confirmation process?
With a single-opt in process, a customer will directly get added to your list when they complete the registration process. With double-opt in, a customer will get a confirmation email that they will have to click on to complete the registration process. With this option, the confirmation email might end up in the spam folder. If the customer won’t realize this, you will end up losing a potential customer.
7. Have a signup link in the footer of your website.
They are easy to add, and if you have any trouble you can consult with your developer to add a link at the footer of your site.
8. Exit intent pop-ups.
Exit intent pop-ups help in you capturing email sign-ups when someone wants to leave your website. You wouldn’t want to lose someone after they have spent a considerable amount of time checking out your website.
9. Turn your video viewers into subscribers.
If you use Wistia to host videos, don’t hesitate to add an email sign up form in your videos. Configuring your videos will require viewers to first sign up with their emails before they view your videos.
10. Attach a sign-up link in personal emails.
If you send emails using your company’s email address, you can also use your personal email to grow your list. You can copy the address of your sign up page and add that link at the footer of your email. The procedure to achieve this will depend on your email service provider but it should be a simple process.
These are some strong email marketing tips and strategies that can bring a difference in your business.