I don’t have to tell you just how important email marketing can be. It’s 2017, and pretty much every business knows the value of an email list. But once you build your list, how do you actually craft messages that get opened, read, and clicked?
That’s what I want to focus on in this article. I’ll cut right to the good stuff, and share 3 tips that can help you write marketing emails that get results!
It starts with the subject line
It doesn’t matter how great the rest of your email content is; if you aren’t able to convince potential customers to open your message, your emails might as well be going directly to the spam folder.
Just how important is your subject line? Convince and Convert reports that 35% of email users base their decision on whether or not to open an email “on the subject line alone.” On the flip side, a subject line is the deciding factor for a recipient to report an email as spam for 69% of all email users. In short, your subject line can make or break your email.
So how do you ensure that your subject line has a positive outcome on your email marketing? Balance is key. Your subject line needs to be clear and direct so that a recipient knows what to expect when they open your message, but still intriguing enough that they want to read more.
It may seem like a challenge to distill the contents of your email into 50 characters or less, but the better you can do this, the higher your open rate will be. Whether you’re promising a special deal or using an eye-popping number (like “50% off!”), sharing the most important information in your subject line is sure to get more clicks.
Oh, and want to try to really stand out? Consider testing emojis in your subject lines. They work like a charm for some audiences, and marketers are quickly falling in love with emojis as part of their overall brand messaging. In fact, Jess Nelson noted that “the use of emojis in mobile and email marketing messages has increased 775% year-over-year.” Not bad at all! 😎
Make it personal
Just because your email lines should be short and sweet doesn’t mean they can’t still make an emotional pitch to your customers—in fact, personalizing an email subject line based on a user’s name or interests can improve your open rate by an average of 29%.
Personalizing the actual content of your email can do wonders for helping customers have a positive response when your messages show up in their inbox. Even if you’re emailing thousands of people using marketing automation tools, the emails that get the best results are written for the individual.
As Copyblogger notes, this means you “write as if you’re emailing one person only.” It helps you avoid corporate jargon and makes your content instantly come across as more trustworthy and personable.
Your best bet for communicating at the individual level is to write like you talk. Make your email flow as if you were sharing this information with a close friend. Consider the kind of language you would use in such a conversation—like the word “you,” for starters—and cut out anything that you wouldn’t say in real life.
Being personal also includes the way you refer to yourself. Here’s a hint: if your emails are signed by “The Company X Messaging Team,” rather than your actual name (ie. “John Smith at Company X”), you instantly lose that credibility you worked so hard to build throughout the rest of your email.
Focus on action
Of course, at the end of the day, your main goal is to compel your email readers to take a desired action. Whether you’re trying to generate clicks for your blog or announce a new product launch, eventually, you want your email subscribers to do something that directly benefits your brand. While there are plenty of ways you can optimize your call-to action for better results, a good CTA is far from the only thing that will help you sell via email.
More and more email users are checking their messages on a mobile device, which means that much like your email subject line, your email content needs to be kept short, sweet, and to the point if you wish to have any success. Large blocks of text are going to be an immediate turn-off, while engaging graphics and plenty of white space are much more likely to hold your readers’ attention. Another great idea for engaging the readers is to include a GIF in the email.
Throughout your email, highlight the benefits of your product or service to make an emotional appeal to your readers. Give them multiple opportunities to click through to your landing page. And as always, make it personal. The more your persuasive arguments can feel like part of an actual conversation, the less salesy your content will feel—and the more engaged your readers will be.
But at the end of the day, make sure every email drives your readers to your call-to-action!
Conclusion
While these are far from the only attributes that build up to a successful email marketing campaign, adhering to these three key principles is sure to help you generate better results. As you focus on your subject line, personalize your content, and direct your readers to take action, your emails have a good chance of becoming one of the key components in your marketing toolbox.
