Email marketing has been around for a long time. Before there was Facebook and Twitter, businesses could send a simple email letting their customers know about new products, the latest deals they were offering, and company news. Though, just because email marketing has been around for quite some time, doesn’t mean it’s outdated. Email marketing, even today, is only growing in popularity and is still an effective way to increase sales. You just need to know how to do it correctly.
#1 Don’t Spam
Everyone loves a good deal, but nobody wants a weekly email solely talking about the promotions your business is offering. Break up your business news with interesting, readable content. What else is your audience interested in besides being a customer of yours? Instead of just including emails filled with what’s going on in the world of your business, include articles that you’ve written or featured on your blog. Make sure they’re interesting, and of some use to your readers. It’s what’ll keep your audience loyal and coming back for more emails time after time.
#2 Write an Interesting Title
Titles are maybe the trickiest part of email marketing. No one’s going to click on your email if you don’t have a good title. It has to be interesting, yet clear. Unique, but not too out there. My best advice is to let your readers know exactly what they’re about to click on, but in the most compelling way possible. Easy, right? When in doubt, have a brainstorming session with one of your team members. Sometimes it helps to bounce ideas off of another person when coming up with something creative like a title.
#3 Try New Things
Change things up every now and then! It’ll keep things fresh for you and your readers. Try sending your email out on different days and times. What gets you the most opens? Go in a completely different direction with your titles- maybe you always feature a deal in the title, try an exciting statistic instead. Switch up the layout of your email every now and then as well. Don’t get stuck sending the same old email week after week.
#4 Keep it Short
It’s better to keep your emails on the shorter side. Give your readers a bite-sized email filled with information they won’t want to miss and keep them coming back for more. Mail on the Mark suggests limiting the length of your content because “people often use their phone to check email when they just have a brief moment. They expect to get through your email content quickly, so make your e-newsletter as short as possible, while still being useful.”
#5 Quality over Quantity
It’s better to send out one really, really good email once a month than it is to send out thrown together, subpar emails once a week. If you don’t feel like you have the time to commit to a weekly or bi-weekly email, either hire someone to take on the task themselves, or stick to a monthly email. You’ll get more unsubscribes if your readers can tell that you didn’t spend very much time on your email. If you don’t spend the time to create good emails, why should they spend the time reading them?
#6 Write to one person
Keep your emails feeling personal. You don’t need to go in and personally address each email to each of your readers, but you should speak as though you’re speaking to an individual. Use the word ‘you’ when addressing your readers. It’s a powerful word that hits home, and it keeps the language personal.
#7 Have a Clear Call to Action
You’d be amazed how many email marketers don’t include clear calls to action. It’s the most important part of email marketing, and yet, not many people have mastered creating a clear, easy call to action. Include buttons that read, “Click here to __________.” Really spell it out. Let your readers know what you want them to do, and then include links and buttons advertising that action. It’s that easy.
#8 Be Picky With Your Images
A big part of successful email marketing is making sure your emails look good. They should be a pleasure to open (on every email service, and on mobile devices as well as laptops and computers). Use complimentary colors throughout your emails, and make sure the images you use look like they belong together. If you need a good place to get free high-quality images, check out StockSnap.io. It has tons of beautiful, high-resolution photos. It’s a tool I’m relying on for my image-heavy blog, Bill Geeks. Highly recommended!
#9 Reward Your Readers
You’re probably filling your emails with frequent deals and promotions, but do a little more for your loyal readers. If someone’s letting you take up space in their inbox every week, you should thank them! Offer up freebies every now and then. You don’t even need to give freebies to everyone (that can get expensive), but offer them up to the first 15 people who email you back. On top of that, thank your readers by consistently providing them with quality content.
#10 Give Your Readers the Option to Receive Less
Say you have a reader who’s getting a little tired of your emails. They’re a customer of yours, they like your products and your business, they’re inbox is just getting a little too full these days. Instead of just offering them the option to unsubscribe, give them the option to receive less. AJ Agrawal writes in Forbes, “Opting down is a better option than giving people the chance to stay or go. For example, you can add a form that allows people to reduce how often they receive your emails. You can still retain your customers without bothering them. It’s the best compromise.”
#11 Double Check Your Emails Before Hitting Send
If you’re sending a weekly email, it can be easy to rush through at times- we all have those weeks. But make a point to set aside some time to at least edit your work. If you can, send a preview to an extra set of eyes to look it over before sending it out as well. Double check for spelling and grammatical errors, and make sure all of the links work and go where they’re supposed to.
You’ve worked so hard to create consistent, quality emails to send to your customers on a regular basis- you should be proud! Promote your emails on your social sites. Remind your followers about every month or so that they can sign up for more business news and receive great content by subscribing to your emails. Include a pop-up on your website asking website visitors to subscribe. Promote your emails on your business cards. Let people know that you’re excited about the content you’re creating and sharing- they’ll at least want to see what all the excitement is about.
