10 tips for making the most of your e-marketing
Despite the emergence of social media and mobile devices, email still has a vital role to play in the marketing world.
Statistics show that 77% of consumers prefer to receive e-marketing communications, rather than via mobile or by post, and 44% of email recipients made at least 1 purchase last year based on a promotional email.
These figures show that, despite it being one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, it can still deliver success.
In a world of social media and new technology, email is somewhat of a stalwart. Its long-term presence in business gives in an air of authority and reliability: two incredibly important things in the business world.
So to make sure you are getting the most out of your e-marketing campaigns, we’ve put together 10 useful tips.
1. What is your campaign for?
Before designing or sending any emails, you need to know the purpose of your campaign. Is it to get more customers? Is it to generate more business? The secret to any successful marketing campaign is having a plan.
2. Who are you sending it to?
Like the above point, you need to have a plan. Who is your target market? Who will be reading this email? Know this, and then tailor your email to appeal directly to these readers.
3. Consider the best time to send it out.
There are optimum times for sending out emails, depending on the subject and the target market. Do some research; find out what is the best time to reach the most readers.
4. Make it mobile friendly.
Over 80% of users report reading emails on mobile devices. If this is the case, then the email definitely needs to look good on mobile. Use things such a single column template, larger text and short and snappy sentences to look great on a phone.
5. Perfect your subject line
The subject line is the first thing the reader will see. It helps the reader decide whether they want to read the email or not. Make it interesting and exciting. Subject lines with under 50 characters are usually the most effective.
6. Make it look great.
Whatever your email is selling, it needs to look great. 65% of consumers said they preferred emails that are mostly images so getting your hands on some good quality pictures is worth doing. Even if your email is going to be simply text, you need to make sure it is set out well and is pleasing to the eye.
7. Clear call to action.
Making sure your email has a clear CTA action is a great way of making sure people do something with your email. Whether it’s buy something, read something or signing up, tell them what you want them to do by making it clear.
8. Include social media share buttons.
Research shows that emails with buttons that allow readers to share the email on Twitter or Facebook have a 158% higher click-through rate. A good CRM will let you add these easily to your email.
9. Measure your success.
Most e-marketing programmes such as MailChimp or Openrate allow you to track the success of your email. They’ll tell you how many views the email had and what the click-through rate is. This will allow you to figure out what worked, and what didn’t.
10. Use A/B testing to optimise success.
This means sending one version of the email to one half of your mailing list and a second version to the other half. You can then monitor which version of the email had the best viewing figures and click-throughs so you know what people want next time.
A well thought-out e-marketing campaign can be incredibly effective. Keep these tips in mind, and get in touch if you want to speak about launching your own campaign.