We would like to start by expressing our hope that you, your family and loved ones, and your businesses are safe, healthy and well in these challenging times.
The worst thing a business can do during times of uncertainty is to go dark. Instead it should reinforce digital marketing efforts to tap into their customers increasing screen time as they work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maintaining brand awareness during these times creates leverage as we shift into the post Corona-19 environment.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to reach and engage your audience while also gathering essential data and ultimately boosting marketing ROI. Let’s look at some of the basics for creating an effective email marketing campaign.
- EMAIL PLATFORM SELECTION:Selecting the right email platform for your organization’s needs and budget is essential. Platforms range from simple to use platforms like Mail Chimp and Constant Contact to the complex marketing automation platforms like Pardot, Infusionsoft and HubSpot. Understand your needs and costs associated with each platform. The less robust platforms may serve your initial purpose and be less expensive, yet may not provide ongoing lead or email “nurturing”.
- MOBILE FRIENDLY DESIGN:The majority of emails are viewed on mobile devices today. As more people continue to use their mobile devices to read email, it’s more important than ever to design your emails with them in mind. Use a responsive design email so that your campaign renders well on all platforms; desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
- IDENTIFY YOUR AUDIENCE:Identify your buyer persona to better understand your customer and to customize your email campaign to their needs.
- DATA CLEANLINESS AND LIST SEGMENTATION:You’re only as good as your data and maintaining clean data is essential. List segmentation is another necessity for sending targeted emails that convert. Segments are a useful way to divide a list into groups of people with common traits.
- CLEAR, ENTICING SUBJECT LINE:Your email is competing for your recipients’ inboxes and its subject line is your first opportunity to capture their interest. Recipients should have an idea about what your email is about, need to open and read it for more information and click a call-to-action for more. Subject lines must be engaging, capture attention and be fewer than 50 characters so they don’t get cut off, especially by mobile devices.
- RESONATING MESSAGE:Match your message to your audience’s needs using actionable language. If you’re able to make your message resonate with your audience, then you can drive them to take action.
- CONCISE LAYOUT:Keep your emails short and compelling. Everyone’s busy and their inbox is already full. Too much copy is actually a trigger for spam filters. A short opening paragraph, a few bullets, a one sentence close and an engaging call-to-action is all you need. A single column of text is enough to allow for content.
According to HubSpot, a leading marketing automation platform, “data suggests the ideal length of an email is between 50 and 125 words. Emails this length had a response rate above 50%. A similar study found emails with approximately 20 lines of text, or about 200 words, had the highest click-through rates. When in doubt, keep emails short and under 200 words”.
- PERSONALIZATION:Write to your audience which means write to one person. Design your email campaigns to include personalized details (a.k.a. personalization tokens), showing the recipient that your email isn’t simply a blanket message without relevance and that is in fact intended for them. Personalization depends on the information you have and could include first name, company or location. Placement could be within the body of the email or even in the subject line.
- INCLUDE A CALL-TO-ACTION BUTTON:Place your CTA in a location where it’s easily visible and makes sense for someone to click on it. Many email recipients will scan your email without reading all the copy. That’s why you want to have a clear call-to-action button that’s easy to see quickly and solicits a “click”. And the same goes with your landing page. Make them want to fill out the form and click ‘submit’.
- SEND FROM A REAL PERSON:Your email open rate increases when you send email from a real person and not your company. People get so much spam that they hesitate to open an email from unfamiliar senders. They’re far more likely to trust a personalized sender name and email address than a generic one. Any email platform has this option.
- PREVIEW AND TEST BEFORE SENDING:Before sending your email, make it a habit of previewing it in different email clients and devices. Make sure all your images and hyperlinks are “clickable” and directed correctly. All reputable email platforms have this capability too.
Even in uncertain times, it’s still wise to define and use a marketing budget to create high-quality, shareable content. Doing so serves as an immediate investment in long-term returns.
Contact Oracle Marketing for help to improve the overall performance of your email marketing campaigns, including:
- Increased click-through rates
- Decreased unsubscribes
- Higher conversions
Get in touch and start improving your email marketing performance today.
