If you ask business people, expert marketers and top masterminds about the easiest, cheapest and simplest way to reach the masses, they would all have one answer – effective email marketing campaigning. However, beware. It is an art and when handled properly can grow your business sales exponentially. Try to be over-indulgent, cause nuisance and customers will run away with the “opt-out” option. No two email campaigns will ever be the same, just like no two products in the market are the same. But, they will have insights derived from the same principles and guidelines. In this post, we discuss the ways to work on email marketing habits to have the best chance of achieving marketing success.
Timing
Timing the campaigns is crucial. Banks send their statements every month. What if they skip a month, won’t you get a mild panic attack? Irregularity affects brand loyalty and creates a sense of unreliability. Also, customers tend to forget if they aren’t regularly reminded of a brand’s presence. Hence, deciding on a schedule; whether daily, weekly or monthly is important.
Another aspect of the campaign should focus on the demographic and geographic location of these demographics. Confused? A company may be located in India and the potential target audiences may be Dubai, a different time zone altogether. One must then schedule the emails to be sent at a time that is convenient for the audience. This increases chances of click-through-rate.
Subject Line
An email might have the best content and exciting offers, but it won’t matter if it doesn’t get opened. The surest way to get customers to open an email is by providing the most catchy subject line. This subject line is the main pitch to customers, so it must be worthwhile.
When you read the share of emails every day, what catches your attention? “SALE ENDS TODAY”, “FLAT 50% OFF..”, “OFFER EXPIRING”, “AVAIL CASHBACK”, “1 Night FREE On Booking Of 2 Nights”, “Flights Starting @ Rs.799.” are the emails probably opened first! This works for businesses that try to pitch in deals and offers. For instance, if you looking for a real estate agent, an email with subject line “I Heard You Are Looking For A Home” is sure to make you feel settled enough already. An enticing subject line does the right trick!
Content
When we expect customers to open the email, we are asking for their valuable time. So in return, it must be ensured that we are providing valuable information from which they can benefit. This is not only true for tangible inventory sales, but also for non-tangible businesses like lawyers, artists, bloggers, etc.
Customer leads decide within seconds, just a glance, whether they are interested or not. So, let the content be crisp and clear. Brevity is the key to effectiveness. Next step is to identify the audience and purpose. Has the audience subscribed to offers, newsletters or new blogs? So, deliver what they asked for in the first place. Using personalization in the content makes customers feel important and gives them peace of mind. CTA buttons (call-to-action) leading to the website, attractive visuals are a great way to provide compelling content.
Frequency
Email blasting is an era long gone by. It’s like chasing a boyfriend to pay attention and then driving him in a direction to break up with over obsession! Keeping readers engaged doesn’t mean send them an email every day.
Sometimes, depending upon the line of work, sending a flyer once or twice a month is also sufficient. For instance, if a hotel is hosting a “Seafood Food Festival” at their restaurant, they must send subscribers emails regarding the offers only till the festival lasts. Yes, if it is an artist who has multiple shows or exhibitions a month, saying hello with all the details works. Then just send an effective reminder few days before the event should be sufficient.
Responsive Design (optimisation for all devices)
Creating mobile friendly designs always helps. Users and customers are viewing content on laptops, tabs, desktops, smartphones and many such devices. If you don’t consider responsiveness of content on these platforms, accessibility is jeopardized. Being able to view an email on any platform makes the experience user-friendly. In addition to that, you are also allowing your content to be viewed in the way you designed it.
Successful marketing campaigns don’t happen by accident. They require planning, thought process, brainstorming and a lot of hard work. Emails thought through correctly will entice customers to open and read your content, not let it go to spam. Make every word and picture count!