A few years back, some marketers predicted the death of email marketing due to the rise of new technology like social media. However, we all know how their predictions turned out. Email remains the most effective form of reaching out to prospects and clients. In fact, email drives more conversions than search and social media.
But is your email marketing working for you?
Email marketing is only effective when done in the right way. When sending out emails, your objective is to get the recipients to open and read what you have for them. The secret to successful email marketing lies in the format, content and deployment of the email. Below are some factors that affect email open rates that you should know:
Subject Line: Have a Clear, Attention-Grabbing Subject
The subject is the first thing that the recipient will see when your email arrives in the inbox. Make the subject attractive enough to make the recipient want to open the email and read it.
The best way to catch the attention of the recipient is to have a subject that is surprising, asks a question, provides a shocking statistic or elicits curiosity. Also, be clear on the subject line how the content of the email will address the message relayed.
Personalization: Use the name of an Actual Person as the Sender
Prospects are more likely to open an email if it originates from a person rather than a faceless business. It is even worse if the from field is a ‘no-reply’ email address.
When visitors join your email list, you probably welcomed them and signed off with your name at the end of the email. That is the name you should be using to communicate to your list. To achieve higher email open rates, identify a personality that attracts attention to your business and use it as the sender of the email. It is even worth the effort to have a picture of the sender and a signature to sign off the email.
Identify Yourself through Company Branding
If you get prospects to open your email, remind them who you are or what your company is about. If you are running an online business, have your company branding as part of your email. For example, you can have elements such as your logo linking to your company website on the email.
Subsequent emails from your company should maintain a similar, if not identical, form of branding. This brand consistency conveys professionalism, something that prospects will appreciate. Consistency is key to imprinting your brand in the mind of your prospects. Use the same colors in your email, font type, layout and “voice” in your content.
Address Recipients with Personalized Content
Personalize your email to talk to every lead. This starts from the greetings. Having the recipient’s name on the greeting increases the chances of the person going through the email. Avoid the “hey subscribers” or “howdy”; they clearly show you don’t care about your prospects. Remember, the more you connect with prospects on a personal level, the greater the chances of them buying from you.
Your email content should also resonate well with the readers to improve conversion rates. The more targeted your content is, the higher the probability the prospect will be prompted to action by the email.
Segment Your Leads Based on Interest
If you send targeted quality content to the right audience, you will get more prospects to read your emails, and that is what you what. The secret to high open rates is appropriate segmentation of your list. When visitors join your list, they must have come through somewhere. For example, you may have put up a social media campaign and have the visitors join your list through a particular landing page. The offer on the landing page through which the leads joined your list should help you determine their interest.
Segmenting leads will help you target them with more relevant content. Some leads will need more nurturing to buy while others will only need a slight push. Some leads will need high quality whitepapers while others will need sales videos. Segmentation will help you achieve high response rates on your emails through targeted content.
Email marketing is still one of the most high impact ways to reach your audience and make them take action. With proper lead nurturing through targeted valuable content, email marketing can significantly improve your bottom line.
Are you still at a loss on how email marketing works? Are you NOT getting positive ROI from your email marketing campaigns? If so, it’s time to change tactics. Learn the techniques that will make email marketing work for your business. Download our FREE eBook “The Anatomy of a Five Star Email” and start creating high converting email marketing campaigns today.
