Email marketing, though a dinosaur in the digital marketing space, is still one of the most effective forms of direct marketing. A good email marketing campaign is full of opportunity to convert potential leads and establish brand rapport with your audience.
Want to ensure your email campaigns lead to outstanding results? Contact us about our email marketing services! In the meantime, here are a few tricks of the trade:
Nothing Beats Good Design
There is simply no substitute for an email that looks clean, plain and simple. In terms of design, a clean looking email is clutter free and directs the viewer’s eye to readable content and a clear call-to-action (CTA). It’s also paramount that your email design translates across platforms. What might look excellent on a desktop might turn into ugly blobs of pixelated imagery on mobile. Similarly, make sure you aren’t creating massive blocks of copy. This elongates emails on mobile, decreasing the likelihood that they’ll read the entire email. Use line breaks, color blocks, and headlines strategically to let someone know they are reading a new section. Ideally, a reader should be able to scan your email in 10 seconds or less and understand what it’s about.
Optimize As Much As Possible
Aside from good design, we’ve got a few good housekeeping rules that will save you a headache when developing your email campaigns.
- Make sure you always verify and authenticate your domain to avoid spam filters.
- Increase transparency and avoid having your email be accidentally reported as spam by providing the name of an employee AND the name of your company or product in the “from” field.
- Update your templates regularly – it’ll save you time in the future when you’re making new campaigns.
- Always link out your images. Anywhere someone might click in your email should lead them to exactly where you want them to go.
- Provide an “unsubscribe” link in the footer. It isn’t just good email etiquette, it’s required to be in compliance with the U.S. CAN-SPAM laws.
Make Effective Use of Your Subject Lines
Like any good book, you need a solid hook to inspire people to read on. We’ve found that using your brand name in the beginning of the subject line and keeping the character count to 50 or under inspires the most opens. Additionally, make sure you take every opportunity to A/B test your subject lines (we recommend testing 30% of your audience for four hours before picking a winner). This will give you more data on what your lists are responding to in terms of copy and styling, and allows you to experiment.
If You Have a Call to Action, Make it Shine
If you want a reader of your email to click through to a website, you need to make that portal stand out. This can be done with a CTA button (we recommend at least one, max two), and using good design to draw the eye toward it. Make it pop with a unique color, and don’t use that color anywhere else in the email. If your CTA link is especially important, you can link all of your email images to it, as well as linking out words and phrases throughout the email’s text.
Lastly, DON’T Spam Your Email Lists
The worst-case scenario in email marketing is having someone unsubscribe from your list, and there is no easier way to cause this than by sending too many emails. We recommend no more than once a week for standard communications, with an absolute rule of no more than twice a week during a launch (or similarly important) week. Our data has shown Tuesday to be the most effective day for sending out email blasts, barring holidays and other opportunities to send out themed emails. Remember that content is king, and if you don’t have any new content to share, take a hard look at whether your email will help keep people engaged – if you’re not sure, use social media instead!
Remember – if you are looking to step up your email marketing game, contact us and we’ll help you make it happen.