In the pursuit of acquiring new customers and improving the overall customer acquisition capabilities, businesses take on many avenues from organic to paid and earned media, there is a lot to do to increase sales through various digital channels. If there is one channel that brings one of the highest returns, its Email Marketing and we can’t stress how important it is to most businesses if not all.
There are many factors that contribute to how effective your email marketing is and we’ll go through some of them in this article. On a high level, every business needs to leverage the latest email marketing techniques to increase their conversion rates. But email marketing effectiveness stems outside what you do with your emails. It’s effectiveness is also bound by other various factors such as content, website personalization, conversion rate optimization, organic search effectiveness, to name a few.
In this article, we take a look at how to improve performance and conversions of your Email Marketing campaign in 2018 and beyond.
Nail the Subject Line
The subject line is one of the most important aspects of email marketing campaign that affects email click-through rate and conversions. It is the deciding factor on whether or not to open an email. Did you know that 69 percent of people will mark an email as spam before they actually open it? Well, that’s perhaps why you need to create a subject line that compels people to open your emails. Good practices include keeping it short, ask questions, use emoji and symbols to make your emails more appealing, use urgency and trigger the fear of missing out (FOMO) and make sure the subject line makes people curious. Also, consider using a larger font, bold or a different.
Create Mobile Optimized Email Campaigns
Now, more than ever before, more emails are read on mobile devices than any other type of device. Perhaps surprisingly, this trend is not bound to die down in the foreseeable future. That’s why you need to consider mobile-optimized email campaigns to improve performance and conversions. To get things right, keep these handy tips in mind:
- Create a short headline (30-35 characters) that can fit on a smartphone.
- Provide white space by breaking up text to allow readers to skim easily.
- Reduce the size of your images to shorten load time
- Make your call to Action (CTA) buttons bulletproof so they can run better on mobile devices
- Make your links visible and easy to click
- Use large fonts to improve readability
- Use a shorter and concise cope
- Make use of a single column layout
Improve Your Email Content
Once you compel people to open your emails, there’s only one way to keep them reading; give them top-quality content. This will not only increase the click-through rates but help you build trust among your subscribers. Here are a few things that make your content more effective;
- Use images in your emails to improve your click-through rate – people respond better to visual stimuli.
- Make sure your emails are interactive – videos, video thumbnails, and animated GIFs can have a magical impact on readers.
- Don’t hesitate to ask for feedback.
- Include social sharing buttons
- Add little extras like a subscriber bonus or incentive
- Use data; this compels subscriber to click through to learn more.
Run A/B Testing/Split Testing
Many people tend to think that creating quality content that is mobile-optimized is enough to increase conversion rates, right? Wrong! Your email marketing effort will have to continue ceaselessly, and more importantly, be tested and optimized regularly. That’s why the importance of A/B testing cannot be ruled out in your email marketing campaign. The randomized experiment helps you to evaluate the changes you have implemented and see how your segment is reacting to them. In most cases, A/B testing (also called split testing) tests virtually every aspect of an email from the subject line, Call to Action text and button, paragraph text, images, links, media mentions, content near fold and everything in between. Something as simple as tweaking the subject line can spell the difference between high and low open rates.
Give the Subscribers Something to Anticipate
Think of how many promotional emails hit your inbox every single day; the case is no different for your subscribers. So, you have to stand out in the competition. An excellent way to do this is to create content that resonates well with your subscribers, and more importantly, give them something to always look forward to. Using daily email broadcast themes such as Earn, Budget, Invest and Spend (everybody’s favorite) can help keep your audience captivated. Doing this does not only prepare your subscribers to anticipate what is coming next but enables you to create a continuous stream of content to match your subscribers’ expectations.
Conclusion
There’s no refuting the fact that email marketing is one of the most effective forms of online marketing. Whether you run your email marketing in-house or through a Digital Marketing Agency, keeping a close eye on your benchmark and success metrics is key to ensure you maximise your ROI.
