Updated on November 4, 2019
Whether you are a part of a small startup or a large corporation, chances are that you rely on email marketing to some extent. Email marketing has been around since the inception of the internet and the rise of e-commerce online trade. However, this trend continues to evolve due to the nature of how we digest digital content.
According to recent statistics, 49% of emails are opened via mobile devices. This change in customer behavior prompts a change in the content strategy implemented in email marketing. Let’s take a look at several guidelines which can help you improve your email marketing for better engagement and overall conversion rates.
1. Focus on Your Opening
The first element of email marketing that a customer comes into contact with is your subject line. This goes both for desktop emails as well as smartphone notifications. According to data, 56% of businesses that used emojis in their subject lines had a higher open rate. It is essential that your opening delivers a punch and doesn’t let go of the reader.
Christopher K. Mercer, digital marketing expert and founder of Citatior spoke on the matter: “The subject line of each email has to be hand-crafted and aimed at the reader directly. Obscure, cliché words, capital letters, and exclamation points all point, pun intended, towards spam email. Once that happens, you won’t get a second chance at reaching a new customer.” Pay close attention to how you write your opening and make sure to use a casual, conversational tone.
2. Expand Your Mailing List
It’s important that you always work on expanding your mailing list, no matter the method you choose to implement. Some businesses use mandatory subscription fields or account creation to get a hold of an email. Others prefer using professional platforms such as Find Emails to curate and shape their mailing list for maximum conversion rates.
Whatever method you choose to work with, make sure that your list includes people who might become your potential customers. For example, getting a hold of a mailing list with copywriters and bloggers won’t help you if your primary service lineup consists of design and modeling. The bigger your list gets, the more hits and conversions you are bound to get over time.
3. Third-Party Support
Not everyone is a natural-born marketing expert – and that’s okay. According to research, the return on investment (RoI) in email marketing has reached whopping 3800%, meaning that every $1 can essentially bring up to $38 back. Outsourcing your email writing process to a reliable third-party can be highly beneficial.
A platform such as FlashEssay can be combined with Hemingway. Alternatively, Scripted can provide you with a writer while Grammarly offers you a chance to write your own content and then have it formatted by a professional. Mixing these professional platforms with proofreading and editing services can help you establish a very good content creation system over time. That way, you can focus on customer servicing, live support as well as shipping and handling of your products and services for the end-users.
4. Keep It Simple
Depending on your target customer profile, very few people will like to see overly long emails with no end or message in sight. To that end, it’s always a good idea to opt for short, concise and to-the-point email marketing. Keisha Bradley, content editor at ResumesCentre was quoted recently: “It’s never a good idea to write a long email, even to people you already converted. Alternatively, you can create PDF catalogs or specialized presentations for anyone who is convinced by your short and professional invitation.”
Make sure that your written content is no longer than a few sentences, in which you will introduce your reader to the reason behind you contacting them. Anyone who is interested in further reading can follow an embedded link to your website or storefront. That way, your readers will be more inclined to get back to you for further information or purchase.
5. Implement CTA
No matter how good your content is, without calls to action (CTA), your readers will remain inert. Calls to action come in different types and can be implemented in various places inside your email. Amanda Sparks, in-house marketing specialist at EssaySupply mentioned CTAs recently: “Calls to action should be an integral part of content marketing and customer service. Expecting your customers to buy, subscribe or share something without explicitly stating it as an option is a fool’s errand.” You can use CTAs to bookend your email or place them inside your subject line. What matters is that you write your CTA as a plea to the reader to act on what they just read. Asking them to “call now” or “visit the website now” will ensure that they do something about it before moving on to other things.
6. Offer Engagement Incentives
When all else fails, you can rely on added incentives to convert readers into customers. Including small freebies, discounts or exclusive content through email marketing is a good way to engage your customer base. According to data, 80% of customers are more likely to engage with a brand if it offers a personalized experience.
Address your readers in the first person instead of lumping them into a nameless crowd. Offer small gifts, survey-based discount coupons and other neat engagement opportunities to your mailing list. That way, your relationship will become two-way and you will avoid your email coming off as spam. The cost margin of your “free” content is minuscule compared to what paid advertisement would cost in its place.
Conclusion
Nailing the email marketing strategy for your company’s customer base is a matter of research, trial, and error. Don’t be discouraged from experimenting with content types or campaign messages. After all, you won’t know the effect of your email content until you test it.
It can also be a good idea to rely on email management platforms such as MailChimp if you don’t have an internal system already in place. Do everything you can to expand your email influence and make your content worthwhile for your end-users – the rest is out of your hands.