Email marketing is one of the most cost effective ways to communicate with your customers. In fact, according to Salesforce, for every $1 spent on an email marketing campaign, the average return is $38.
However, if you are going to build an email campaign, it is more important than ever before to ensure your email campaigns are engaging and valuable to your recipients. According to DMA Insights, 53% of consumers say they get too many irrelevant emails from brands.
So how can you build a spectacular email marketing campaign that recipients will find engaging? Check out our 10 Best Practices for Email Marketing Campaigns.
1) Be Aware of Email Opt-In Rules
It’s important that the email addresses you are sending your email marketing campaign to were collected the right away. In other words, never send emails to recipients if you don’t have their permission – not only will you be at risk for violating laws that guide the use of email marketing, but you are wasting time and resources.
Want to make sure you’re up to date on laws guiding email marketing? Check out the CAN-SPAM act for American businesses and CASL laws for Canadian businesses.
2) Personalize your email marketing campaigns
If you want to improve your open rates, add personal elements to your email marketing campaigns.
Many email marketing tools give you the flexibility to customize your content to include certain information regarding your subscriber. After all, “Dear Ryan” is more much inviting than “Dear Customer”.
Furthermore, we recommend having your campaign come from a person rather than a business name. People want to feel like they are talking to people, not a robot.
3) Is your subject line effective?
Subject lines are tricky when it comes to email marketing. You want to make sure the subject line is attention grabbing but you also want to make sure your subject line doesn’t put you in the spam folder.
Avoid using words like cash, earn, free, and sale. As well, avoid long subject lines, using all caps, and unnecessary punctuation. Keep it simple and make sure your subject line is consistent with your email content.
Keep in mind, shorter subject lines are better for mobile devices which is where most people are viewing their emails these days.
4) Less is more – don’t overload on copy and design
You want to ensure that when the reader first opens your email, they aren’t overwhelmed with content, as that will only make them race for the delete button.
Keep your email marketing campaigns clean and consistent with short paragraphs, bullet points, and a proper colour palette throughout the email (avoid using multiple colours or colours that are not web friendly).
In addition, you can use bold keywords and phrases that will stand out to readers to help separate your content. Limiting yourself to 2 – 3 topics and content pieces. This will help keep the readers attention which is likely only available for a limited time.
5) Is there a call to action?
It’s important to establish a goal with your email marketing campaigns, like increasing traffic to your site, collecting information through a form, or directing readers to a landing page.
Calls to action, or CTAs, play an important role in the effectiveness of your email. Don’t be afraid to use them to create opportunities for readers to click to explore a topic in more detail. This can also help you track which content and topics your recipients are engaging with more often.
6) Make sure your unsubscribe button is apparent
Although no one wants unsubscribes, legally you need to ensure that you are giving readers the option to opt out from further email marketing communications. Otherwise, you could land yourself in the spam folder or in hot water with your email marketing software provider.
Most email software platforms have measures in place to ensure that you are following these rules and if you break them you may be flagged as a spammer which can lead to email deployment rights being suspended or revoked.
7) Is your email marketing campaign responsive?
A responsive email means that it can be viewed across all platforms including desktop, tablet and mobile. The truth is, more people are checking email on their phones and tablets versus their desktop computer so it is important to be sure it can be viewed properly across all devices.
8) Test your email marketing campaigns
You don’t want to send out an ineffective or “broken” email, so be sure to test them before sending. Be sure your email is working properly across various email platforms (Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook etc.) and across desktops, tablets and mobile devices.
Just because it is viewable and clickable on a desktop does not mean it will function properly on tablets or mobile devices. Test the email to ensure that all clicks, forms, buttons and links work across all platforms and devices.
If there are issues with viewing or clicking in your email, your click rates will decrease and unsubscribes will likely increase as well.
9) Timing is everything
Be sure that you are sending your email marketing campaigns at a time that will get you the most opens and clicks. We recommend spending a bit of time doing research into when your key target audience is most active online and checking their email. This will ensure that you are sending emails at optimal times to get their attention and not during times when your email will get buried in their inbox.
10) Track your success
Your email has been sent, but the campaign doesn’t stop here! We recommend taking the time to track how your email is performing. Most email marketing platforms will allow you to track your open, click and bounce rate so you can make the necessary improvements for your next email campaign.
We also recommend conducting A/B tests with your email campaigns. This allows you to track the performance of different subject lines, content, and timing of emails.
Email marketing can be tricky but we hope that these tips will help you streamline the process for successful email campaigns!
Interested in Ackroo’s email marketing services? Contact us today to learn more about our email marketing services!
