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People spend more time reading their emails than they do surfing the web.
Done right, email is your most powerful channel to connect to customers and prospects.
To get the most out of your email marketing program, follow these tips.
Tip One: Use a Good List
Email marketing success starts with the list. The very best list is the one you build in-house.
It takes time, but consistently shows the best results. To build a top-performing list, develop a solid email address acquisition plan,
your plan to acquire email addresses should include:
- Strategies on how you will find and approach your target audience. You must convince people to give you their email addresses.
- Specific targets, such as the number of emails you will acquire each month.
- The touch point you will use to invite people to join your list. Your potential touch points could include
- sign-up forms on your Web site
- signature lines on email sent by your staff (especially marketing sales, and customer service staff members)
- thank you pages that Web site visitors see after they fill-out one of your online forms
- networking events attended by marketing and sales staff
- articles you publish in industry e-newsletters, etc.
Tip Two: Adopt a Double Opt-in and Easy-Unsubscribe Process
Double Opt-In, works like this: recipients sign-up on your subscriber page and your email auto-responder sends them an email, including a confirmation link. Your recipients must click on the link in the email before you add them to your list.
Even when you meet folks in person and they request your email, make sure you send them a confirming email before you add them to your list.
You should use double opt-in because people are more likely to remember they requested your email messages. This decreases the likelihood of having your messages flagged as SPAM. Additionally, to insure your message gets to willing recipients, remind people to add your email-sending address to their white list.
Also, include a single-click, easy-to-find unsubscribe link. That link should take recipients to a page, which automatically and courteously removes them from your mailing list.
Tip Three: Send Personalized Messages that Matter to the Recipient
Do not use the list to blast sales messages to your subscribers. Send useful information and weave your sales message into the email. For examples, if you are a financial firm, send out topical financial tips timed to the season. Tax tips during tax season for example.
If possible, segment your list into different areas of interest. You can then create special messages that appeal to each unique segment. For examples, if you provide computer support services to a wide range of companies, develop segments by industry. Medical providers might get a different message than law firms.
Personalize your messages by addressing them to a specific person and from a specific person. Your message should start with the recipient’s name, just like your personal email messages do. When you personalize your message, studies show you increase both your reading and click-thru rates.
Tip Four: Develop the Half-Second Subject Line
When your email arrives in your recipients’ in boxes, your subject line will typically have less than a second to catch their attention. If your subscribers use a filtering system, such as mailwasher, they will only see the subject line. So, do not be coy with your subject line. Put your strongest offer point in the subject line. For example, 8 Tips to Improve Your Email Responses.
Tip Five: Maximize the Click-thru Rates
Research shows recipients expect links to be bold, blue and underlined. Put your call to action links in that format. Also, place these links high in the email. If you use graphic buttons, do not rely on graphics alone to do the job.
As a rule, email delivery systems only track open rates on HTML emails. Most systems will not count (in your open rate) recipients getting your text-formatted email. For this reason, many senders prefer HTML.
You might need to send a text-based email if:
- you go to a large mobile-device crowd
- your recipients request it, or
- your recipient’s email client cannot read HTML
If you do send text emails, account for the tracking issue when analyzing your CTR. One way to encourage a higher CTR is to include a strong call-to-action that promotes the click.
Tip Six: Be Consistent in Look and Frequency
Several studies indicate that the best days to email are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Emails sent on those days tend to have better open and click-thru rates. You may want to test different days as you develop your program. In the beginning, your best bet is mid-day on one of those days. Once you have determined which day and time works best, stick with that schedule so your subscribers know when to expect it.
You should also develop a consistent look and feel. A consistent look strengthens your brand and increases your response rate from subscribers, as they recognize your email messages.
Tip Seven: Prepare Messages in a Sequence
Email marketing can be very time consuming. One productivity tip is to prepare a series of email messages that you can send automatically to your subscriber list.
You can use an auto-responder or a system that enables timed e-mail message sending.
As an example, if you provide a free e-newsletter, you could set-up 2 messages to go automatically to new subscribers. The first message could thank them for becoming a subscriber and the second message sent a day or two latter might promote an upcoming webinar.
Tip Eight: Test and Adjust
As with all direct response marketing, you should constantly test. Test only one element at a time
to measure results for the one change. For example, you could test:
- Subject lines
- Creative elements
- Length of copy
- Best days to send
- Best times of day to send
- Landing pages, etc.
One best practice tip is to map out a series of changes and implement the changes on a set schedule.
After sending three different emails, compare the click-thru rates to see which works best. Keep the winner and keep testing.
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