Last Updated on September 13, 2024
If you think people are moving away from emails and that email is dead, you may want to go through eMarketer’s research in which they state that email is still the most common method used for acquiring new customers.
As a matter of fact, email spending increases 10% every year (Forrester 2011).
Why, you ask? Because emails work even better than Facebook or Twitter (SocialTwist).
But, of course, not every email marketing strategy proves to be stellar. Not every strategy helps boost traffic, leads, and conversions.
So how do you make sure your strategy really works? How do you spend less and still ensure amazing ROI?
Allow me to help you.
Don’t make your users feel like strangers
This may sound common, but it is often the most ignored email strategy. It’s an easy mistake. That’s because just starting your email with “Dear (Name)” doesn’t mean personalization. Though it’s somewhat effective, it may repel many readers due to security reasons.
The point is not to fake familiarity or get over familiar. The point is to get readers’ attention and give them a meaningful experience. That may include referencing to their purchase history, or at times, using their names. That may include storytelling, too.
Consider this email from Change.org:
Never, ever spam
You may not be spammer but if you’re sending in emails to people who haven’t subscribed to you, you’re spamming. That’s because people don’t like to be sold to, especially by someone they have never heard of. Remember the tele marketers who used to call you on your landline phone? Yeah, it’s kind of like that.
Another thing that makes you look like a spammer is when you don’t share anything share-worthy.
And now that Gmail has a different tab for promotional emails, it has become even more difficult to get noticed without providing much value.
But don’t worry, I recently did a post on this issue that might help you: How to Do Email Marketing with the New Gmail.
Subject lines are pivotal to your bottom line
You can find a lot of articles on the Internet telling you what words you should use in your subject line. You can easily find the most successful subject line ever, experiment with it, and find out whether it works for you.
So I’d rather like to talk about the length of subject lines.
Obama’s fundraising emails used subject lines like “Hey!”, “Wow!” and “Would love to meet you”, which worked out well, raising quite a fund.
Generally, short subject lines or single-word subject line are great if you want to increase your open rate. If you want to increase your click through rate, however, I recommend to keep it long. For example, “Webinar today: Social media optimization best practices: Last-minute reminder”.
Think mobile
38% of all emails are opened on a mobile device (Litmus Email Analytics, 2012) and this percentage is increasing every passing day.
Which means the present is mobile, too – not just the future. Which also means if you don’t make your emails mobile friendly today, if you haven’t yet, email marketing is a losing battle for you.
Take care of what happens after the click
Emails don’t make you money. Conversions do. So it’s just as important to optimize your landing page so that readers don’t just open your email, but also visit your site and buy from you if thy’re interested.
So how do you make your email marketing a success? What’s your secret sauce? I’ll see you in the comments.
