Writing emails to advertise or sell a product can be a very technical task, and it’s always a good idea to plan ahead. Therefore, it is essential to do some research beforehand to see the email marketing tips which will make you receive the most attention and consequently, generate the highest response rate.
Statistically, 92% of internet users have at least 1 email account of which 75% of users email versus only 3% of social networks. The record has it that in 2012 there was an impressive ROI of 4000%, which is mind-blowing, where Email has a higher conversion rate compared to Social Networking.
Are you looking for an easy way to market to your customers? In that case, you don’t have to look any further than email marketing. Email marketing is a technique that uses emails strategically sent to people with the focus of leveraging businesses or products for them.
In this post, you’ll find some email marketing tips, list building tips, copywriting tips, and general campaign tips and tricks that will help you get started with email marketing.
Effective Email Marketing Campaign Tips
Now that chat and informal conversations have basically moved to platforms like Facebook and Instagram, email is now primarily used for business. Like most users, you are likely to find your inbox packed with “must-see” offers and opportunities each morning.
As a marketer, you probably know how effective email marketing can be. If your email marketing(1) campaigns do not stand out, it is easy to get lost in the flood of content that hits millions of inboxes each day that no one really wants to read – which is a waste of effort, time, and opportunity.
So how do you create an email marketing campaign that people will, 1) pay attention to, and 2) really accomplish the action you want? Check out these email marketing campaign tips for that.
Here are some easy email marketing campaign tips for running an effective email marketing campaign:
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Target your emails to the right recipients:
Most email marketing software has the possibility of segmenting your subscribers into groups, in this way it makes it easier to send the appropriate content for each group. This makes you treat each subscriber differently so you will be able to offer or serve whatever content each group really have interest in. when getting list for this you must keep in mind the geographic location of customers likewise their buying habits.
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Personalize your emails:
The design of your newsletter is a key factor here so it should show an appropriate aspect for your corporate image and should contain an appropriate language. If you are using a template, I recommend you customize the colors that best represent the brand and also include your company logo in the email header.
Also, when sending the mail, make sure you use the same address always and call your customers by name (there is a shortcode for this based on the software). With personalized messages, you will be transmitting a familiar atmosphere, and you will also have more possibilities to loyalty to your readers from the onset (trust).
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Keep your layout simple:
Surely your subscribers are very busy people who receive a lot of emails in their inbox, so it will be difficult to get their attention with a heavy layout. The first paragraph should be brief summary describing the content of the message, so readers can know what it is about and decides if they want to continue reading. Huge fonts, flashy graphics, and image items should be reduced. If you have to send extensive articles at all cost, make sure you choose to insert a “Read More” or “Continue Reading” link.
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Include a call to action (CTA):
When you send an email without a call to action there is every possibility that the mail won’t yield any positive result. When preparing your message, let it be interactive and there should be a call to action button like links to products, landing page, call, message, surveys or share button.
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Conquer them with a compelling subject line:
When talking about email marketing, you need to convince people that it’s worth opening your email in the first place. If the content you are promoting has an intriguing title, you can simply include it in the subject line.
But this is not necessarily the most effective approach. Let’s say you are promoting an article published on your blog. If you make the subject line the title of the article, it means that when they open your email, they get that same title in the body of the email, which is repetitive. Instead, why not pull the most shocking fact from your article and make the subject line? based on it, then readers will be attracted to find out more. And soon they will discover the equally attractive title of the article.
Email Marketing Design Tips
If you are doing any email marketing operation, know this: design is as important as your subject line and content. A confusing or cluttered design, in turn, makes the recipients confused while a design with bright colors and too many blank spaces will bore them, and they will not buy what you are selling or even pay attention to.
But don’t be discouraged. These email marketing design tips come in handy;
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Minimizing your graphics usage:
it’s certainly tempting to use a lot of good, dazzling graphics in your design. However, there is no such object to have too many graphics. Just think about the amount of time each client spends reading an email – recent studies show that customers tend to treat each email specifically and spend an average of seven seconds on each of them.
If you overloaded the email design with excess graphics, it might not load on time and customer lose interest or even lose some messages which might have been covered with a processing graphics.
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Avoid excessive images:
This is a variation on the first point, but this is where things separate. Unlike graphics, email service providers often block images completely, leaving the recipient with the option of pressing a button before they can see the message. When your design is overloaded with images, it takes longer to load. Be disciplined and don’t put more than four images in the design.
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Links usage improved email marketing reputation:
Here, you are expected to add some juicy links to your content, this makes the content even more engaging and provides instant results. Links like a product, surveys, polls, etc. are very essential.
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Avoid long paragraphs and long explanations:
Long paragraphs aren’t advisable as it bores the recipient’s, your best shot is to write a short text and then if you have more explanations to buttress it then you should use links. Linking to an already prepared webpage with full explanations will be perfect.
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Create one email and test:
You can create an email with each of the leading email service providers like Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, AOL then sends your prepared design, then open it and make sure everything looks great.
How to use Email Subject line
Firstly, what is a Subject line? Subject line is a brief description that presents the content of the email to the user, without having to open it. In fact, the subject line is one of the few elements visible from the inbox, along with the sender name and the pre-header, that is, the first sentence of the message.
Its main function, as we have said, is to give an advance of the content of the email. However, for email marketing experts a subject line serves above all to attract the reader and convince him to read the message.
Below is listed the best practices to create your subject line:
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Use the correct length:
Since email marketing exists, there has also been debate over the length of the email subject line: Sorry to disappoint you, marketing experts continue to debate on the issue and no final verdict yet.
You must consider some factors before making a decision. A short subject line may more easily attract the reader’s attention, but you may omit relevant information.
On the other hand, if you use a long subject line, it is probably not impressive enough and you run the risk of not being fully visualized. Although good, there are people who think that a little touch of mystery can come in handy …
Indeed, each email provider has a different character limit when displaying the subject line: Gmail shows the first 70 characters, while Hotmail and Yahoo Mail show only 60 and 46 characters respectively. Also, remember that more and more users check their emails from mobile devices, where the character limits are even lower.
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Take A/B tests:
One of the best ways to check what is working on your emails is by performing A / B testing, this is very important mostly for your subject line.
A / B testing is the best way for you to optimize your page’s conversion rate and improve your Digital Marketing results.
With this, you can test small options you have in your emails and see which ones are most appealing to your audience. These tools are advised for your A/B test, these tools are advised for your A/B test, Google Optimize, Optimizely, VWO, and RD Station.
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Create eye-catching email designs:
This is a very essential tip every marketer must know. If an email is difficult to read, users are likely to stop engaging with it. Having a crisp clear and creative email design is essential to customer engagement. Using engaging and relevant images with small blocks of text will encourage customers to read the entire email.
It’s not just important to have an email design that works well for desktop readers. You also need to ensure that your newsletters are easily adaptable to mobile devices. In 2018, over 68% of emails were opened on a mobile device. Using responsive mobile design is crucial to engaging the reader’s attention in an engaging way.
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Deliver real value to your subscribers:
It won’t be enough to simply say, “Look what we have here for you!” All email subscribers receive a few dozen offers every day. Who has time to look at everything?
The actual value can come in many different forms: it can be valuable in its uniqueness, such as a discount or interesting, free content such as an eBook, it can also be valuable information, such as an article that leads readers through. This may even be emotionally valuable content, such as an inspiring video that subscribers will want to share with their friends.
Check out some values you can share with your subscribers:
a) Exclusive value
b) Valuable information
c) Emotional value
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Keep your email short and on point:
Most emails from the marketing campaign should be short, just like mini-reports. This is very important if you are promoting a video or an article. Remember that the goal of an email marketing campaign is to lure subscribers to click on your site. Offer them only the smallest and juiciest bait that will make them want to learn more.
According to experts, email marketing content should not have more than three sentences. Just enough to give them a sense of what you are promoting without going too deep.
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Do not use uppercase:
Never put all words in the capital because emails with completely uppercase text tend to be barred by the spam filters used by email providers.
So, use other strategies to get your Lead’s attention, such as bold, italics or even increasing the font size.
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Create dynamic and narrative content:
Content that engages storytelling and inspires your readers provides unique value to your online experience. When creating email campaigns, it’s necessary you include relevant content related to your brand message and the interests of your subscribers.
Creating an email newsletter that is rich in value-added content is one of the best ways to do this, including news, customer success stories, tips, and more.
When a brand is able to connect with its audience on a personal level, it can build a lasting relationship and drive customer acquisition and conversion.
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Don’t overdo it:
While some companies use a daily email approach, it is not advisable for everyone to do so. Often subscribers get frustrated with daily emails. Scarcity has something to do with it – although you might think that frequent emails show that you’re involved with your subscribers, it’s likely that your subscribers don’t want to hear much about you.
The problem is that there are no strict rules on how often you should email your subscribers. The frequency of email subscribers will accept varies by industry and brand. You will need to monitor your metrics over the course of a few months to see how your subscribers behave.
The metrics you should watch most closely are: Click-through rate, conversion rate, bounce rate, growth rate, email share, and forward rate, and overall ROI.
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Simplify:
Sometimes simple emails that speak frankly to subscribers are also effective. You don’t always have to spend all your resources creating visually and textually sophisticated emails. Often plain text asking for something (like a like on your Facebook page, for example) can resonate better with your audience. Emails like this are cool because they are clear, straightforward and don’t look like spam.
In fact, when it comes to email marketing, it is sometimes better to leave out images, GIFS, and videos. Sometimes a simple pair of phrases and a link is the most effective way.
However, when we receive a personalized email with some simple phrases that seem to come from a real human being, we take the opportunity to read them. Even though both types of emails say the same thing, the most direct email seems to be more sincere.
This kind of simplified email is particularly good when you contact a loyal customer base that has invested a certain amount of time and money into your product or service.
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Find out what works for you:
These are tips that have worked for many companies in the past but depending on your industry and specific audience, you may need to adjust these methods. As mentioned earlier, track your email marketing metrics and how your subscribers react to your campaigns.
Remember that the last thing you want is for your email marketing campaigns to be stagnant. If you see your open and click rates decrease, it’s time to change tactics. Adjust the number of emails you send in a given week, take a new approach to your subject lines, and include different types of content in the bodies of your emails.
General Email Copywriting Tips for Beginners
Here are the general email copywriting tips that should be taken seriously when going into email marketing as a beginner.
- Know your goal – You should know why you want to do this and be focused on that reason.
- Proper Alignment – Use the proper alignment and never use fancy text fonts.
- CTA / Clickable action – Your content should link to something productive, we already mentioned this earlier, so try to use a Click to Action button for “Read More” links or phone calls.
- Content should be relevant – Send only meaningful and useful content.
- Choose the appropriate words – Use the best suited words and do not use vulgar words.
- Know your audience – Try to familiarize yourself with your audience/customers
- Non-Plagiarized – Desist from plagiarized contents. Make sure your contents are uniquely written.
- Preview text should be engaging – Make sure your texts are engaging and give to your customers what they expect from you.
- Sentences should be short & meaningful – Especially your subject, try to be brief as possible.
- Include contact and name details – Your contacts should be visible e.g. emails and phone numbers.
Ultimate Email List Building Tips
Creating and maintaining your email lists or contact list is one of the most important tasks in your email marketing strategy. Basically, the results of your campaigns will fall on the quality of your database, so it is necessary that you dedicate time to this task.
If you have decided to do email marketing, but you have zero contacts, either because you just started with your blog, with your website or because you never thought it is important to request email from subscribers, here are the steps you should consider to start creating your subscriber list.
Note This: A very important warning, especially if you are an email marketing beginner.
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Never buy mailing lists:
This is the fastest path to failure in email marketing. You mess up your name, your reputation and still spend money in the process. In addition, engagement on this list is likely to be extremely low as people do not know you or your work.
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Use Signup Forms:
You can easily get quality and verified email address from a website database where registration is allowed, from this you automatically know what niche the website visitors love most and channel it for your marketing appropriately.
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Newsletter Subscription:
Here you be the one to place a newsletter box on your website where people will subscribe to receive emails from you, and you should make sure you give a reason for people to subscribe, with this you can build a healthy email list.
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Learn to say goodbye:
At the end of your email (or even at the beginning), leave a visible link for the person to unsubscribe. Believe me, posting messages to discourage unsubscribe will only have the reverse effect. These messages like, “If you unsubscribe, you’ll never get our tips again and get stuck and lost on the way.” Forget it.
An unsubscribe is a positive thing. A sign that your reader no longer wants to receive your content. It’s much better than a spam markup, or a fragile relationship with your readers.
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Place your brand name in preview:
Adding your brand name or logo makes people know about what you sell, something seen repeatedly sticks to the memory.
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Give some offers for subscribers:
This will make them anticipate your updates when your customers get freebies or discounts, they are tricked to follow your updates, we all love free things.
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Create a Webinar:
Another way to boost the number of emails on your email list is by making a free webinar, for those potential customers who may be interested in the products or services offered by the company.
One of the great advantages of making a free webinar is that it allows you to capture the attention of many people, and at the same time increase the visibility of your brand on the internet.
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Hold a Social Media Contest:
Contests are great ways to capture emails because people will only need to enter their email address to join for them to participate and thus likely win the prize.
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From Website Owners:
This is a very easy method though it might be a little expensive, all you have to do is look for high authority websites and contact the site owner. You need to explain what you intended using the email list for and if you are lucky the person will comply and get you a database filled with valid emails.
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One on One Request:
This is very tiring as you can only get few, you get the email list from your friends or neighbors, this is not advisable as it takes time before you can get a huge list.
Email marketing tips for avoiding spam
Today, there are many people who practice email marketing to promote their products and services, but some people still do not know the difference between spam and authorized email marketing.
Mass unwanted email (spam) is any email sent for commercial purposes without the recipient’s permission is considered as spam. This means that if you send large number of emails to people who never asked to receive messages from you, with promotions of the products offered by the company, they will likely end up in the spam folder.
To overcome this, you must be mindful of the words used in your message and also make sure you add unsubscribe button or link to your messages, also the mail sending provider must be a well-known one.
Conclusion
Despite the advancement of social networks, email is still the best way for a more personal conversation, especially when you need to sell a product. Take advantage of email marketing with the tips we have mentioned in this post if you really want to experience and record success in your marketing career.