Email might not be new or shiny, but it’s still the king of marketing channels, and looks to remain so for a very long time. In fact, the business conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have arguably made it more valuable than ever. With conferences, tradeshows, and in-person sales opportunities on indefinite hiatus, email might be your best way of reaching prospects and clients—both now and in the foreseeable future.
Like any tool, though, email works best if you know how to use it. In that spirit, here are some guidelines for making this channel perform for you:
Always deliver value
At some point, the contacts on your list consented to receiving email communications from you. Abusing their trust by sending them low-value content is a definite no-no. Deploying an email for the sake of having a “touchpoint” is the business equivalent of a coworker saying “hey” to you via chat and then going dark. It’s disruptive, and a waste of a perfectly good opportunity.
When you send an email, always give your recipient something they can sink their teeth into. An offer is usually your best bet: a discount, a product sample, a service trial, or a white paper for download, especially if you tease the offer in your email’s subject line.
Practice personalization
One way to get your email read—and acted on—is through personalization. Address your recipient by name in the subject line, headline, or body copy. Use data you’ve gathered about your customers to bring unique details to your message: refer to a recent purchase, remind them of items that are still in their cart, congratulate them on an anniversary. Personalization works, and the stats bear it out: In subject lines alone, personalization boosts open rates by 26%.1
Get your UX right
It’s crucial to make sure your emails are responsive and display well on a variety of devices. Everything from your subject line and inbox preview to the CTA button should work together to engage the recipient and move them toward the desired action. Make sure that any copy used is clear and to the point. Use design touches like colors and contrast to highlight the essential parts of your message.
Test, test, and test again
It’s not enough to send out a single version of an email and hope it catches readers’ attentions, you’ll want to try several approaches: Switch up your subject line. Change your call to action. Add a sprinkling of animation. Send emails at different times of day and on different days of the week. Test these variations against each other and see which ones yield the best open and click-through rates. Then use those insights to guide your future campaigns.
Run the numbers
Like anything you hope to find success with, email requires close attention to results. Developing and deploying your message is only part of the job. It’s just as important to learn how, when, and why people are interacting with your emails and what kind of actions your content is producing. Details like open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, unsubscribe rates, shares, and revenue per subscriber will tell you what’s working and what’s not. They’re invaluable figures to have when it comes time to define strategy for your next campaign.
Ready to succeed at email marketing? Trellist’s experts can help. Our content strategists, designers, copywriters, developers, and analysts will help you build a strategy that engages, creative that converts, and detailed testing that will deepen your connection with your target audience and bring value to your customer relationships. Contact us for details.
1https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/dynamic-co
