You may be asking yourself, “Does email marketing still work?”
Absolutely, yes!
Even with the ever-growing popularity of social media marketing, email marketing remains one of the most effective and cost-efficient marketing strategies for businesses.
We understand that creating and implementing a successful email marketing campaign from scratch can be a daunting task – but it doesn’t have to be. We’ve compiled five simple but effective email marketing tips you should apply to improve your campaigns.
1) Write a compelling subject line
Your email open rate depends heavily on your subject line – it’s the first thing the recipient notices and the deciding factor whether or not to open your email.
Keep in mind that your marketing emails are competing with other messages in their already crowded inbox. The best way to stand out is to write a compelling and engaging subject line they can’t help but click. The goal is to make it enticing but not gimmicky, straightforward, and aligned with your email content, but not too long.
#TeamStrategyTip: Using a preheader in conjunction with your subject line effectively doubles the length of the subject line, adds more context, and maximizes your opportunity to pique subscribers’ interest.
2) Keep it short and simple
Getting subscribers to open the email is only half the battle; once opened, content must be engaging and relevant to keep their attention.
A well-crafted email is concise, to the point, and scannable. Avoid text-heavy paragraphs by breaking up content with copy elements such as bullets, headlines, and visual elements, including images and videos.
It’s also important to keep the message simple and have one clear call-to-action (CTA) per email, so readers know exactly what to do next.
3) Segment your email marketing list
Audience segmentation is the process of breaking up your email list into smaller groups based on where your customers are in the buyer’s journey or other unique characteristics such as past purchases, website visits, or geographic location.
With email list segmentation, you can create campaigns around lead nurturing, engagement, and customer retention. Each segment will receive targeted, purpose-driven content that will yield results.
The personalized content also keeps readers engaged and returning for more, leading to lower opt-out and unsubscribe rates.
4) Quality over quantity
There is no set rule on how often to email your customers, but sending too many emails can be overwhelming and lead to recipients tuning out your message, or worst, unsubscribing.
While establishing a consistent frequency is necessary, a successful campaign relies on quality content. Email content must be exciting and informative, and above all, provide value to your audience.
Start slow, and test what cadence works for your brand (see point 5 below). Does your audience respond better to weekly emails than daily? Do they prefer monthly? Watch your open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates, and adjust the frequency as needed.
5) Test, test, and keep testing
As your business grows and evolves, so does your audience and where they get their emails.
Not only should you be testing your emails internally for typos and errors, but you should also be testing for design layout and how the campaign is rendering on different devices and email platforms. Are you optimizing for mobile devices? iOS vs. Android? How does your email campaign look in Gmail vs. Outlook?
Split testing or A/B test is also vital to a successful email marketing campaign. Running an A/B test allows you to experiment with slightly different versions of your emails to see what resonates most with your audience. Is it the subject line, the CTA, the day of the week, or the time of day?
We recommend testing one variable at a time to keep track of what changes you make and how it impacts your results in terms of engagement or conversions.
The more you test your emails, the better you know your audience and precisely what works to get the best results.
Email Marketing Conclusion
Email marketing can be a powerful digital marketing tool when done right. Incorporating these simple steps can help improve your email campaign results and set you up for continued success.
If you need help applying these tips or still have questions, contact us today to learn more about Arlington Strategy’s email marketing services and connect with Arlington Strategy on LinkedIn for more marketing tips.
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