Whether you’re an average consumer or skilled business person, there’s no doubt that your email is packed with messages. Some get straight to your email box without having a sender, or a purpose. What’s even worse is that most of us receive unsolicited emails. Receivers only have a split of a second decision whether or not their emails are worth opening. The majority get straight to the spam folder. How do you improve email marketing efforts? How do you make customers open your emails? Here are 5 best practices you should take into account for your next email marketing campaign.
5 Ways To Improve Your Email Marketing And Increase Sales
1. Get to know your audience
Before sending emails to prospects, you should first target and segment your audience. Don’t send everyone the exact same type of email. For example, if you’re selling fitbits, your buyer persona should be enthusiastic individuals between 20 and 40 with an interest in sports. In this case, seniors over 50 won’t be that interested in your promotional discount. List segmentation matters the most because it helps you send the right type of email to the right group of people. There are email marketing platforms you can use to help you segment your email list. Use it wisely and you’ll have a lot to win.
2. Keep emails short and to the point
Ten years ago, we were all used to getting long emails packed with content and no visual appeal. At the most, these emails had huge flashy subheadings that were extremely tough to scan through. Some companies still use this practice, but with no positive outcome. What you should do is focus on crafting qualitative emails. Receivers don’t want to be overwhelmed with content; they want to understand what you’re trying to say or have to offer in as little as 5 seconds. You can achieve this target by focusing on well-structured emails. Choose a catchy title, focus on short sentences and be direct. Use subheadings, paragraphs, and images to grab attention and people will react a lot better to the message you’re trying to convey.
3. Take out the fluff content
Emails that begin with “I know your time is limited …” or “Hello Sir, I’m so sorry for bothering you …” are a huge no-no. You don’t begin an email by apologizing. These lines are awkward, stiff, and inappropriate, and can’t be used to grab attention. Remember, email marketing is all about instilling curiosity and making the receiver open and read your email.
Open your email by addressing directly at the receiver. Most people these days are busy individuals who don’t want to read your apologies. Get to the point and make your case. What do you have to share? Be brief as email marketing is targeted at laying out as clearly as possible what you can do to help fix a customer’s issue. Don’t use pleasantries to grab their attention because that approach won’t work.
4. Responsive email template
Keep in mind that most people today use their smartphones to access and read emails. This means your email template should feature a responsive design. If you’re sending out newsletters, the content has to be perfectly readable from a phone, tablet, laptop and desktop PC. MailChimp, for example, is an excellent service that you can use. The platform has lots of responsive templates that can help you send the perfect email across multiple devices.
5. A CTA is a must-have
Email marketing goes hand in hand with having the best call-to-action at the end. Without a CTA your prospects won’t react. Users want to be guided and pointed on what to do next after getting an email. A single CTA and a membership card printing is enough; more can confuse the prospect and your email will end up in the spam folder. Keep your call-to-action simple and to the point; make sure it takes the reader to a landing page that complements the expectations they have after reading your email.
There are lots of clever techniques you can use to improve your email marketing campaign and boost brand awareness. The best tactics are all about writing emails with the customer needs in mind. Establishing a buyer persona for your prospects, and segmenting your list are two core ingredients to have in mind when sending emails.
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See also: 9 Myths Uncovered About E-commerce Marketing Tips
