Does email marketing even work anymore? 

Email marketing is one of the oldest digital marketing campaigns, and it’s still used today. But many small businesses wonder if it’s even worth including emails in their marketing mix. After all, how many emails do you actually get around to opening?

Believe it or not, email is still one of the most effective ways to reach your audience. With over 4 billion daily email users, email marketing has access to more users than Facebook. It’s also the most cost-effective and customizable way to market. 

So how do you tap into all the benefits of email marketing? It can be tricky to stand out from the hundreds of other emails in your audience’s inboxes, but here are seven tips for crafting an eye-catching and engaging email. 

What’s Your Call-to-Action?

Every email you send out should have a set purpose or goal. The reason marketers use emails is to convince consumers to DO something. It’s up to you to decide what that something is: do you want your audience to buy a new product? Click on a coupon? Visit your blog? Listen to your podcast? Once you decide what your call-to-action (CTA) is, THEN you can design the rest of your email to guide your audience through to completing that action. 

Make Your Subject Line Stand Out

The subject line is the most crucial part of the email because it’s the first thing users will see. It’s what decides whether they’ll open the email or not. That’s why your subject line must be short, sweet, and to the point. Tell your audience exactly what they’ll get out of your email if they choose to open it. 

For example, suppose you’re a marketing firm, and you’re sending out an email about your most recent blog post about email marketing. In that case, your subject line could look like “The ultimate guide to writing emails” or “The secret ingredient to email marketing.” Tell your readers what the email is all about, but make it interesting. 

Be Friendly

No one wants to read an email full of industry jargon and dull walls of text. Successful emails pull you in and sound like a good friend letting you in on a valuable secret. Although different brands will have different tones depending on their brand persona, generally keep a friendly voice. Using “you” and “your” to address your audience will make the email seem more genuine. You can even set up your emails to greet each user by name. 

Keep It Short

Users don’t have a lot of time to spend on each email. You’re lucky if they even get past your subject line. That’s why you must keep your emails brief, only including the most relevant and exciting information. If your readers want to know more, they’ll click on the CTA to bring them to your website, a blog post, or somewhere else. 

Try using bulleted lists, relevant images, and bolded phrases to help guide readers through your content more easily. 

Email Segmentation = Personalization

Consumers love it when content is tailored just for them. Email marketing segmentation divides your email list into segments based on demographics, geographic area, past purchases, or other metrics to send out more personalized emails. 

For example, if someone recently purchased a silver necklace from your e-commerce store, send targeted emails suggesting similar jewelry. On average, customizing your emails results in 46% higher open rates. That’s a big difference. 

Designer Emails

Although you can’t put lipstick on a pig, the design of an email is still essential in keeping readers engaged. Stick with your brand colors and fonts, but don’t go overboard: you don’t want to overwhelm users with crazy headers and a rainbow of colors. Try to keep it simple and sleek. 

Color and font size can guide users to the CTA. Try designing your CTA buttons to pop out with bright colors and readable text. The idea is to make your email as clickable as possible! Remember to include relevant links throughout the body copy as well, but not so many as to look spammy. 

Always A/B Test

Every suggestion above may work differently for different brands. That’s where A/B testing comes in. You must find what kind of subject lines, body copy, layout design, and more works for you. 

Create two slightly different emails, perhaps trying out one type of subject line vs. another, then send one to half your email list and the other to the second half. You’ll be able to measure each email’s open and click-through rates, comparing to see which one did better. 

And voila! Now you know what strategy to use in your next email. A/B testing will be your best friend. 

 

If you need help crafting the perfect emails for your campaigns, Little Red Writing is here for you. Reach out to us to see how easy it is to embrace email marketing.