Sometimes it is the small improvements that can make a big difference, especially with marketing performance.
Email marketing is capable of generating leads, allowing you to reach wider audiences (social shares), inform your audience (blog / company news updates) and drive sales (special offers), so we need you to give this a lot of effort.
Of course, some things we'll suggest will be fairly easy to experiment with, others will be more challenging, but they are proven industry methods for increasing response and open rates.
1. Have a strategy
Don't for a second believe that planning and strategising email marketing will slow you down - it can only improve things! allow yourself the time you need to be creative with your campaign and offer.
Rather than spending time post-send-out fixing mistakes, spend more time pre-send-out ensuring that it is right!
2. Proofread
Get somebody who isn't involved in the process but is a strong proofreader, to look over your campaign. Even if they're not trained to proofread, as long as they've got an average-to-good standard of reading, a fresh pair of eyes could prevent a costly mistake..........
3. Review for different platforms
Emails don't look the same across the board, they're different from screen size to email client. Whether it's HTML or text that needs to be analysed, test them for mobile and Outlook, Google, Yahoo...
When we send out email marketing campaigns, we do it for our clients too!
4. Subject lines
Vary them! Short subject lines work best because they increase open rates, as well as certain images and words also boosting open rates. Don't be too detailed, just make the reader think, "tell me more!".
5. FWD and RE
If you genuinely are forwarding something worthwhile or providing an honest reply, then let the reader know! As long as you're actually following up on something, people aren't going to mind that FWD: or RE: in the subject line!
6. Resend!
It didn't work as well as hoped? Resend!
If Group X didn't open the email, no matter how many people are in Group X, send it to Group X again - if they didn't read it the first time, they're not going to mind it being sent again - so try a different subject line and they'll never know it is attempt #2!
7. Content delivery notification emails
Don't just thank them for signing up etc, take advantage of that follow up email to lead them down another content marketing route - offer them something new!
Lead nurturing is all about actively engaging and enticing your relevant audience. If someone opts into email marketing then they're saying, "I want you to entice me" - so do it, don't be as dull as dishwater!
8. A/B test subject lines
Which subject lines work best for your buyer personas? Segment your email list into your personas and target them in ways that suit them - starting with email subject lines.
Try different subject line approaches over a few campaigns and study which had higher open rates and define why. Like we said earlier:
If Group X didn't open it the first time, resend in a few days with a different subject line - does it improve?
9. Metrics and measurement rates
Management probably don't care about open rates, clicks and responses, they care about revenue. Experiment with how your marketing and sales can combine to discover which email campaigns ultimately lead to people engaging further with your sales process and becoming customers (therefore earning the company revenue).
This is the hardest step, but ultimately the most rewarding - use points 1-8 to get to this stage!
Thrive says...
Email marketing can be much more damaging to your reputation if you get it wrong - you don't want to be viewed as spam by email services. Nor do you want to damage your sender reputability with poorly-engaged email send outs.
Be wary of how you conduct email marketing and analyse findings to ensure that you and your email marketing recipients get the most out of it.
Analyse and review each campaign and adjust for the next send accordingly!
Find more like this via Email Marketing.
