If your email inbox is anything like mine, it’s flooded with work, life admin and a bunch of automated email newsletters you’ve signed up for over the years. Unless an email is hugely important, it’s often flagged for follow up, deleted or even unsubscribed from.
So, as marketers how do we use email marketing effectively to get that initial open, click-through and web conversion? The answer – by creating and sending a relevant and engaging email in the first place.
Here are Threesides’ top tips for creating a successful email marketing campaign:
- Have an email plan in place
- Determine the objective of your email campaign. Are you informing your customers about an event, a new product or special offer as part of a member program?
- Consider content topics or themes relevant to your target audience. What do they want to know about or see as being of value?
- Who are you communicating to? Is it a general email blast to your entire database or have you segmented the lists based on specific criteria? i.e. interests, birthdays or member program type?
- Personalisation
With email inboxes being so full, you’ve got to break through the clutter. Sending a personalised email over a generic one has proven to be more effective, particularly if the information or offer is a) addressed to the recipient and b) targeted to their individual preferences i.e. shopping habits, or related to their latest online or in-store purchase.
- Mobile responsive design.
Email campaigns must be mobile-friendly and viewable across all platforms – desktop, tablet and mobile. Email campaign tools such as Campaign Monitor allow you to create campaigns and view various device layout options prior to sending.
- A call to action. What action do you want readers to take?
A call to action doesn’t mean only in the in-text link or click to website button. You need to get them to open the email first! The subject line is the most important part of the email, i.e. Threesides Marketing’s ‘This Month in Marketing’ is encouraging readers to open the email to find out what’s been happening in the marketing world. Another example is an email from a retailer that starts with, “Happy Birthday, Lily. We’ve got something special for you!” Who wouldn’t want to open an email that includes a gift?!
- Review the results.
You’ll only know if it was an effective campaign by reviewing results. Taking a look at key metrics like open rates, click-through (to website), most popular news item and other conversions that can be linked directly to your campaign.
Every business can develop an email marketing campaign but as we’ve established, it’s important to stand out from the crowd. This is where Threesides can help. We work with you to segment your lists, set up branded campaign templates, research and develop articles and content, source images, and send and test personalised email campaigns on your behalf, using either an existing email marketing platform or our preferred emailing marketing platform, Threemail.
If you think you’d like expert help to set up and distribute your email marketing campaigns, get in touch.