Email marketing is one of the fastest and easiest ways to reach customers. You are in control of the content, and your message lands directly in their inbox – assuming it hasn’t been filtered out as spam. Customers may receive dozens of emails a day. Therefore, you want to use some key tips for email marketing when making sure your newsletter catches their attention and inspires action other than hitting delete.
Optimize your approach through these tips for email marketing:
Keep It Simple
No one wants to spend time reading a long, drawn-out message or have to sift through cluttered content, unsure of where to focus their attention. One of the most important tips for email marketing is to keep your emails short and to the point. Have a clear purpose and stay on topic.
Break up text with appealing visuals of your products, services, or related images. Don’t forget to include alt text just in case the image doesn’t load. Make sure there is a smooth flow from introduction to call to action (CTA) that guides your customer through your content with ease.
Include a Strong CTA
Every email should include a call to action that lets readers know what they should do next. Do you want them to check out a new product, view available services, schedule a demo, book a call, download an e-guide, or share the email with friends? Close out your message with an actionable next step.
Stay Consistent
Sending sporadic newsletters or updates leaves customers wondering when or if they’ll hear from your company again. Create a consistent schedule and use an automated system to regularly send emails. Leverage analytics to determine what the best day and time to reach customers is so you’re sending emails when they’re more responsive and likely to open messages.
Segment Your Audience
You may have a list of 1,000 subscribers, but that doesn’t mean that everyone wants or needs to receive the same email marketing campaign. Another of the most important tips for email marketing? Break down your audience by demographics, preferences, and where they are in the funnel or buyer journey. Personalized emails that appeal to what your customers want or are looking for are more likely to be read. If they continually receive irrelevant content, they are more likely to delete the email or unsubscribe.
Scrub Your Email List
Speaking of unsubscribing, here’s another one of the key tips for email marketing. Focus on quality over quantity when it comes to your email database. Periodically review data from recent emails you’ve sent and see which customers are frequently unresponsive and unengaged. Remove email addresses that bounce, no longer exist, or have high unopen rates. Leaving them on your list can negatively impact your sender reputation and increase the likelihood of your emails being sent to spam folders.
Make It Mobile Friendly
Many of your customers are likely checking their email on their phone or other mobile device. Optimize your content and images so that they fit on the screen, put links near the top rather than the bottom, and adjust the fonts and colors for readability.
Avoid Spam Words
Context matters. Your email newsletter content should flow naturally and not sound overly salesy and promotional. You can use enticing words and phrases, but don’t make promises that sound too good to be true or stuff your newsletter with keywords that may trigger a spam filter like 100% satisfaction, guaranteed, once in a lifetime, call now, limited time, no cost, or no catch. You can use spam check software to see how your email ranks.
Review Analytics
Evaluate the data you receive on open rates, bounce rates, click through rates, and other metrics. Considering using A/B testing to see how different wording or layouts affect customer engagement. Making small tweaks and customizing your approach can improve your return on investment and keep your emails from being marked as spam.
Let Customers Opt In or Opt Out
Including a link for customers to unsubscribe can increase the validity of your message and reduce the likelihood of it being flagged as spam. It also lets readers know that you respect their time and their preferences, giving them control over whether they receive emails from you or what type of emails they want.
They should also have the choice to opt in to subscribing to your email newsletter in the first place. It may take time, but build your list organically, not by purchasing email lists. You want your content to go to customers who want to read it, and unsolicited emails can quickly give them a poor impression of your business and lower your sender reputation.
Make Your Email Marketing More Effective
Don’t miss out on a valuable opportunity to connect with customers and share meaningful content with them because you’re not taking these tips for email marketing. Stop sending your emails directly into spam folders and get your newsletter marketing back on track by contacting Grammar Chic today at (803) 831-7444 or by visiting www.grammarchic.net.
Amanda E. Clark founded Grammar Chic in 2008. She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and holds degrees in Journalism, Political Science, and English. She launched Grammar Chic after freelancing for several years while simultaneously leading marketing and advertising initiatives for several Fortune 500 companies.