Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to convert potential and existing customers into sales and revenue (Long, 2016). It can be a good way to help reach more of your potential customers and start building relationships with them (Reimers, Chao and Gorman, 2016). Whether you’re a complete beginner or whether you’ve been using email marketing for years but aren’t getting the return that you’d hoped for, we’ve come up with our six top tips to help you improve your email marketing.
If you are completely new to this and aren’t sure what email marketing is exactly, it is “directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using email” (Mohammadi et al, 2013)
- Make it personal.
Customers want to feel valued and personalising your emails to them is a good way to start (Mohammadi et al, 2013). Address them by their name in the email so that they feel as though the email is tailored to them (Shaoolian, 2017). Ellis-Chadwick and Doherty (2012) argue that personalisation along with interactive features are the most effective tactics for email marketing.
Moth (2013) share their five examples of effective email marketing campaigns
2. Know your audience
Knowing who your target audience are for your email marketing campaign is incredibly important. It is essential that you are sending out relevant emails to your customers with information that will keep them subscribed to your emails.
Segmenting your email list is a good way to ensure your customers are receiving relevant emails to suit their needs. For example, you may segment your email list into what they buy, when and how often they buy, where they live or their gender. You could use an email marketing platform such as Marketo or Mailchimp to ensure all your email campaigns are segmented to the correct audience (Shaoolian, 2017).
Reimers, Chao and Gorman (2016) argue that it is exceptionally important that you are sending relevant emails to your customers in order for you to maintain a relationship with them, otherwise they may unsubscribe from your email list. Thus, sending your customers relevant emails specific to their needs will serve as the key to success for your email marketing.
3. Use an enticing but honest subject line
Your email list will probably be receiving many other promotional emails so it is critical to use a subject line that will prompt them to open it. However, it is important to not use clickbait subject lines which have no relevance to the content in the email as people will click off the email and potentially unsubscribe from your emails (Rampton, 2015).
Ellis-Chadwick and Doherty (2012, p847) express that the subject line must grab the initial attention of the customer and persuade them to open the email, otherwise “there is no opportunity for sustained attention” and the email will be ignored.
Allen (2017) has come up with 17 tips for writing catchy subject lines.
This is a good example of a catchy subject line and a personalised email.
4. Keep your emails short but interesting.
It’s important to keep your emails short and to the point so that readers don’t end up forgetting what the actual email was about. The best email marketing campaigns have a clear and compelling message “that speaks to a user’s needs or desires” (Shaoolian, 2017). As well as keeping them short, make them interesting. If your emails are interesting and readers feel as though they are gaining something from them, it will keep them subscribed (Wong, 2016).
Marketo (2017) have created a guide for tips and tricks on engaging email marketing
5. Make sure your emails are mobile responsive
A previous study found that 68% of emails are opened on a mobile phone which is why it is essential that your emails are mobile responsive (Sterling, 2015). For example, make sure that it loads quickly, your images show and that it is easy to read on a smartphone screen. If your emails aren’t mobile responsive, you run the risk of the email being deleted or ignored. Test out the emails before you send them to ensure they are mobile friendly (Wong, 2016)
6. Only have ONE call to action
The final tip is to only have ONE call to action in your emails. Make sure it is clear what you want your readers to do as this will increase the likelihood of their engagement with you. If you have more than one call to action, your customers may get side tracked and not follow through with any of them. Make it easy for them (Wong, 2016).
Courvoisier (2016) have produced 75 call to actions that will help you get you clicks as well as their tips to optimize your call to actions.
So, those are our six tips to help you improve your email marketing. Make sure you are regularly checking on how well your emails are performing so you can see what works and what doesn’t.
Reference list
- Allen, O. (2017). How to write catchy email subject lines: 17 tips. [Online]. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/improve-your-email-subject-line [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- Campaign Monitor. (2016). 10 tips to optimise your email calls to action. [Online]. Available at: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/10-tips-improve-email-calls-action/ [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- Courvoisier, K. (2016). 75 call to actions to use in your email marketing campaigns. [Online]. Available at: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2016/03/75-call-to-actions-to-use-in-email-marketing-campaigns/ [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Doherty, N. F. (2012). Web advertising: The role of e-mail marketing. Journal of Business Research, 65(6), 843-848.
- Long, J. (2016). 8 ways to improve your email marketing performance. [Online]. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/285949 [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- (2017). The definitive guide to engaging email marketing. [Online]. Available at: https://www.marketo.com/definitive-guides/engaging-email-marketing/ [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- Mohammadi, M., Malekian, K., Nosrati, M., & Karimi, R. (2013). Email Marketing as a Popular Type of Small Business Advertisement: A Short Review. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 7(4), 786-790.
- Moth, D. (2013). Five useful examples of effective email marketing campaigns. [Online]. Available at: https://econsultancy.com/blog/62166-five-useful-examples-of-effective-email-marketing-campaigns [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- Rampton, J. (2015). Tips for a successful email campaign. [Online]. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2015/05/07/tips-for-a-successful-email-campaign/#69d0db03326d [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- Reimers, V., Chao, C. & Gorman, S. (2016), “Permission email marketing and its influence on online shopping”, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 28(2), pp. 308-322.
- Shaoolian, G. (2017). 6 ways to improve your email marketing campaigns and boost sales online. [Online]. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gabrielshaoolian/2017/05/10/6-ways-to-improve-your-email-marketing-campaigns-and-boost-sales-online/ [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- Sterling, G. (2015). Majority of email opens are mobile, but most conversions on the desktop. [Online]. Available at: https://marketingland.com/majority-of-email-opens-are-mobile-but-most-conversions-on-the-desktop-137760 [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].
- Wong, D. (2016). 13 email marketing tips to increase open rates, click throughs and shares. [Online]. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-wong/13-email-marketing-tips-t_b_9050798.html [Last accessed on 20 December 2017].