By Tara Lilly, Social Media + Content Manager at the South Agency and Owner of Tara Lilly Design
With 205 billion emails sent daily, it’s no surprise many marketers utilize email as a channel to build into their content and promotion strategies. Customers are inundated with new emails popping up in their inbox hour after hour, but that doesn’t mean you have to wave the white flag. It means making sure you’re getting the right message, in front of the right audience and at the right time. It means giving them a reason to open your emails and click on your links.
Below are five tips you can easily implement in your email marketing strategy to re-engage subscribers and improve open + click rates:
Make Them Feel Special
Raise the bar for subscribers by making them feel like they are in an exclusive club. By sending them a special offer or a piece or content first or even solely to them, being a subscriber to your email list will have value.
Banana Republic has been known to send special sale “perks” to their subscribers by offering a discount valid for a short period of time. When subscribers receive emails from the brand, they know there’s a reward in doing so and often times, a reward just for them.
A Simple Thank You Goes Along Way
While each email is screaming for attention in subscribers’ inboxes, not many emails are there to just say: thank you. Sending an email to show you care, takes little work but carries a lot of weight in lasting impressions with your brand. Take a moment to show a warm side of your brand by showing appreciation (and giving subscribers one more reason to love your brand).
Make it Personal
Every subscriber is not the same, so don’t treat them the same! Sending mass emails across your entire email database will result in low open rates and unsubscribes. Treat each email address as there’s an individual behind it:
- Add the subscriber’s name in the subject line or body of the email
- Send them warm wishes on a special day in their life: birthday, holidays, their anniversary as your customer or even their pet’s birthday!
- Write your messages in a conversational tone to humanize your brand.
Make It Easy
With more than 66% of emails being read on a mobile device, making sure your email template scales to fit smaller screens is crucial to the readability and user experience. Many email marketing companies offer this service in their software, but testing your emails before launching (images, copy, template) will make sure your subscribers don’t have to work hard to consume your content.
If subscribers want to find out more information beyond your email, provide links directly to the pages of your product or service. Seems like common sense, but this step is often missed by companies. Providing a link to your homepage then expecting visitors to search for content is too much work and attention spans are too short. Provide links to landing pages and don’t forget to include a way they can easily fill out a form, make a purchase or contact.
Include Visuals to Strengthen Your Message
Adding images to your email campaigns helps grab subscribers’ attention and make your message even more powerful.
Choose 1 – 3 images that fit your brand, resonate with your message and more importantly, are the recommended file size by your email marketing provider (remember 66% of email are read on mobile devices).
Add your call to action inside an image with a hyperlink as well as within the text. Your recipient will already have their eyes land on the image so make it actionable! Incase they have images blocked or it does not load, by having the CTA in the text as well will make sure they’ll still receive the request for the action you’d like them to take.
What tips do you have to fire up your subscriber list?
