Effective email marketing campaigns are great for expanding your business and growing your profits. While email marketing has been around since the 90s, it’s still one of the most effective means of acquiring and retaining new customers.
Email marketing allows businesses to not only remind consumers about their products and services but also to collect important information about them, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and interests.
If you want to create effective email marketing campaigns, look no further than this guide on 10 ways to improve your email marketing campaigns today!
Step 1: Write a killer subject line
After getting your leads from Leadar, you only have a split second to make a good impression with your email subject line.
Your email subject line is the first and, maybe, the only thing your subscribers will see in their inbox. So it’s important to make it count!
How do you write a subject line that will make people want to open your email? Here are 10 tips to help you craft an irresistible subject line:
- Use short words with no more than five syllables.
- Include numbers (e.g., Seven secrets) or specific data (20% off today!).
- Explain why the reader should care about what you’re saying (e.g., 5 reasons why we rock).
- Use active voice instead of passive voice (I’m trying this new shampoo vs. This new shampoo has been tried by me).
- Find out what words have been used most often in past subject lines and use those as inspiration for your campaigns (Springtime sale, Your favorite products, etc.).
- Keep subject lines under 55 characters.
- Don’t forget punctuation: Try adding periods, question marks, exclamation points, or even hashtags to spice up your messaging and drive engagement.
- Avoid buzzwords and marketing language like mega, huge, and free as it often looks like spam.
- Make sure the title matches the content of the email.
Step 2: Know your target audience
One of the best ways to improve your email marketing campaigns is to get to know your target audience.
- What are their needs?
- What do they like and dislike?
- What motivates them?
The more you know about your target audience, the better you can tailor your campaigns to appeal to them. You’ll also be able to create content that will make them want to buy from you.
Once you understand who your customer is, take time to find out what platform(s) they use for social media and other forms of digital communication.
Step 3: Personalize it
Personalizing your email marketing campaigns can be as simple as adding the recipient’s name in the subject line or body of the email. But you can also get more creative by segmenting your list and sending targeted content to specific groups.
Either way, personalization is key to creating a successful email marketing campaign.
Step 4: Provide value
If you want people to read your emails, you need to give them something of value. Whether that’s helpful information, exclusive deals, or just entertainment, ensure your email provides something worth reading. If it doesn’t, they’ll hit the unsubscribe button without hesitation.
In addition, the easier subscribers find what they’re looking for in an email campaign, the more likely they are to spend time on it and interact with the content.
Step 5: Cut down on cliches
Cliches are trite and overused phrases that can make your writing sound amateurish. Not only do they fail to capture your reader’s attention, but they can also make you seem out of touch with what’s current and popular.
To avoid cliches in your email marketing campaigns, take the time to refresh your copy by quickly searching for alternatives before hitting send.
Step 6: Keep it simple
Simplicity is key when it comes to email marketing. You don’t want to overwhelm your subscribers with too much information or too many offers. Keep your emails short and sweet, and make sure there’s a clear call-to-action (CTA) so recipients know what you want them to do next.
You can also use images and videos to break up large blocks of text and add visual interest.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to include links to other articles or blog posts in your email campaigns. Links help readers find more relevant content on your site and provide another opportunity for an opt-in.
Step 7: Engage with them
Your email marketing campaign is only as good as your engagement with your subscribers. You will not get the desired results if you’re not regularly engaging with them.
Reach out to people who don’t open your emails or respond and ask what they didn’t like about it. You might find a problem you can fix in future campaigns, or they might just need a little more information to decide.
Step 8: Send emails at the right time
The best time to send an email varies depending on your audience and what you’re promoting. However, as a general rule, Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days to send emails.
Sending emails early in the morning or late at night is usually a recipe for disaster. You want your recipients to have time to read and respond to your message, so timing is everything.
If they don’t open it right away, they might not get around to it until later in the day when their inbox is crammed with new messages. They may also feel overwhelmed by how many messages they need to respond to by the end of the day if they are bombarded with lots of emails before lunchtime.
Step 9: Have a tracking system in place
You can’t improve your email marketing campaigns if you don’t know what’s working and what isn’t. That’s why it’s important to have a tracking system to see which emails are being opened, which links are being clicked, and which calls-to-action result in conversions.
Google Analytics is one such service that lets you track all of these metrics for free and provides helpful insights into how customers are interacting with your emails.
Step 10: Have fun!
Running a successful email marketing campaign doesn’t have to be all work and no play. In fact, incorporating some fun into your campaigns can help improve their effectiveness.
Wrapping up
To wrap this article up, here are a few more tips for email marketing success:
Frequency matters. Keep your emails short. Include a call-to-action, so people know what you want them to do when they read your email. If you don’t have anything new or interesting to say, don’t send an email.
Focus on getting the content of your messages right before worrying about how you will design it. For example, ensure the email address is clear on every message, and make sure there’s a way for readers to unsubscribe from future messages at any time if they no longer wish to receive them.
And lastly, test everything! Even with these top 10 tips, perfecting your email marketing campaigns can be hard. So you should always test different strategies until you find the one that works best for you.
