Whether you’re a novice or an expert, you need to get the basics spot on in your email marketing. Going back to basics ensures that your email campaign is crafted in the best way possible, making sure you get the best results possible from your email marketing campaigns.
Email marketing campaigns are one of the most cost-effective and direct ways to reach your target audience. It’s a great way to showcase your achievements and upcoming events, as well as being a fantastic platform for promotional offers and sharing your carefully crafted content.
Great campaigns build promising customer relationships, increase brand awareness and can directly increase revenue. So whether you’re a novice or an expert, don’t mess about! Check out our top tips on how to create a successful email marketing campaign.
This is a Tip You Really Need to Read…
Did that catch your attention? Yes? Well that was the plan! Your email campaign isn’t going to be successful if your subject line isn’t enticing. Most writers will describe the subject line of an email campaign as the hardest part of it all – and it’s the truth. Have a look at your inbox – how many emails do you glance over every day? Statistics show that on average we receive up to 100 emails a day and spend up to 18 hours a week sifting through them! If an average user spends so much time looking at emails, it means that there’s a lot to compete with – if you’re subject line doesn’t stand out from the crowd, your email will remain unread and will be unsuccessful.
So when you’re conjuring up a catchy subject line for your email campaign, keep the following tips in mind:
- Keep it short – a good rule of thumb is 50 characters or less. If it’s too long, it’s giving too much information away and if it’s too short, there isn’t enough information to make it enticing. Mailchimp statistics show that subject lines with 28-39 characters have the highest click through rate, so keep that in mind!
- Approach your subject line as a question – Think about your audience and the problems they face – now think about how you can provide them with a solution. This is a great method for subject lines, if you’re asking them something that you know they need an answer to, you’re bound to get that email opened.
- Make it personal – if you’re targeting your audience by location or group, take advantage of it in your subject line.
Here’s a useful example for you! If you’re targeting high street retailers in Leicestershire, the following subject line is a catch, ‘What’s the best solution for Leicestershire’s High Street?’ You’re asking a question, targeting the location and the audience with the high street topic, all with the suggestion of a solution in your email.
Mastering your subject line is no easy task, and it’ll take a lot of brainstorming and re-drafting, but it’s worth the hard work if it means your content will be read. Stick to these tips and try it for yourself.
How long is your email campaign because it really shouldn’t be too long else it might get a bit boring for your reader…
So that subheading wasn’t too enjoyable to read, was it? That’s the whole point! Your email marketing campaign needs to be the perfect length for your audience. It makes sense that someone wouldn’t want to read a huge email, so you have to make sure that it’s just the right length. It needs to be long enough to showcase your important content, but at the same time it needs to be precise and ‘straight to the point’ so your readers don’t get bored and close the email. This may seem like a rather confusing concept to get your head around, so just follow our pointers on how to keep your content to an expert length.
- Don’t give too much away – email campaigns are sent to readers to get them to interact with your content. If you put too much information into your email newsletter, the chances are that the reader won’t feel the need to click through and discover more for themselves! So make sure to give a brief and accurate outline, making them want to find out more.
- Don’t overindulge in how many topics you include – Whether you’re sending out a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly email marketing campaign, you don’t want to overdo it and make the email long and cumbersome. A good rule to follow is three topics with snippet outlines, this could be from blog posts to news about your business or promotional offers.
- Open with a short and personal introduction – your readers have subscribed to your newsletter for a reason, they want to hear from you! A short opening paragraph with power words like ‘you,’ ‘our’ and ‘we’ are great ways to connect with your audience in a friendly and complimentary tone.
Create Valuable Content
The best way to look at content is sharing what you know, rather than talking about yourself or your business; that’s why blog topics act as great content for email marketing campaigns. With receiving such high volumes of emails every day, readers are tuned out to ‘buy me’ content – they want to spend their time reading something that can help or benefit them, teaching them something new. If you’re struggling with which content you should include, have a look at previous campaigns you’ve sent, what are the most popular links? Focus on these topics and ideas to deliver great content to your readers.
There’s no harm in telling your readers about special offers or promotions that your business has on offer, just try and keep it in line with the rest of your email marketing campaign – the most counter-productive thing you can do is make your email one huge selling point for your products. Include the promotional offers further down your email content – this gives readers the opportunity to engage with the rest of your content, rather than closing the email at the sign of a sales pitch.
Including upcoming events or news for your business is also a great addition to your content, especially if it’s relevant to your readers. Keep it short and sweet so it’s in line with the rest of your email marketing campaign.
Design – Reflect your Brand
To compliment your enticing subject line and knowledgeable content, you need a well designed template for your email marketing campaign. The appearance of your email needs to reflect your brand and continue its theme. Make sure to use the right colours, logos and fonts that you use already to ensure this – fonts can be tricky but try to be as close as you can!
Your design needs to present important content clearly, make sure it’s not too cluttered and it’s easy for the eye to follow. Your logo should always appear at the top of your email along with contact links. Include a header image that is relevant to the topics being discussed in the newsletter, as well as further images where they are suitable. For a successful email campaign it’s important to strike the right balance between written content and imagery.
Include social media and contact details in your email footer, this gives your readers the opportunity to interact even more with you. A nice personal touch is to include your signature at the bottom of your email campaign.
Whether you’re about to send out your first email marketing campaign or you’re a pro, our handy tips are a great addition to any newsletter. Follow our pointers to ensure your email marketing campaign will result in plenty of views, click-throughs and successful conversions.