5 Ways to Slay Your Email Marketing Campaign
Email marketing is not only the most cost-effective way to promote your services, but also the most popular. While social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have become go-to platforms for sharing information, 72 percent of consumers still prefer email as their main sources of business communication.
Here are five points to consider when building your email marketing campaign in order to boost its overall success.
Pick the right subject line
The success of your email campaign can begin and end with a single sentence: Your subject line.
A knock-out subject line will help your email stand out in a crowded inbox and increase your campaign's open rate significantly. Adding personalization (such as a guest's name) using Merge Tags provided by your email marketing platform has proven success for increasing the open rate of emails, especially when combined with targeted promotions or appointment follow-ups.
Using A/B Testing to evaluate the type of subject lines (and body content) that work best for your clients is another great way to perfect your marketing voice.
Keep it short and sweet
Attention spans are shorter than ever, so being to-the-point is key.
With subject lines, try to limit yourself to 40 characters (or five to seven words). Around 88 percent of smart phone users check email on their mobile devices and keeping your subject line short will prevent your message from being cut off.
Try to limit the message within your email as well. Employing Call-To-Action Buttons in the body of your email to link to a longer message can also help you be more concise.
Choose eye-catching images
Ever rapidly scrolled through a social media feed, only to stop and scroll back up because an image caught your eye? The same theory applies to your emails. If a client opens your email and is intrigued by the included image, they may be more likely to read your message. You can use your own image or one from one of the many free stock photo sites available online.
Another important factor to keep in mind is how your image appears in your email. Too small and it could appear pixelated or grainy, and you didn't just spend all of that time selecting the best image for it to look anywhere short of perfect, right? Header images are typically between 600 to 700 pixels wide, but for the best viewing experience on retina displays (such as phone and tablets) you will want to double the pixel size.
If you don't have photo-editing software on your computer, you can typically use the editing tools within your email marketing program or use one of the free photo editing websites.
Send it at the best time
Another variable in the success of an email campaign is when to send your email. Both day and time have proven to be factors when it comes to an increased open rate. Results vary, but the middle of the week is the conclusively best timeframe for sending a campaign, with Tuesday being the best day. Refrain from sending emails multiple days in a row as to not overwhelm your subscribers.
Morning is a great time to send emails as people are checking their phones after waking up, during their commute, or after getting into work first thing. Between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. is the ideal timespan for having your email opened. However, thanks to smart phones, users often check their inboxes throughout the day. Find your ideal time by varying your dates and times until you have an idea of what works best for your audience.
Make your message worthwhile
Sending emails to your subscribers that feel impersonal or canned is the fastest way to make them hit the unsubscribe button. Ensure that the content within your email always adds value to their life.
Whether it be a personalized follow-up email after an appointment, a promotion or discount geared toward their favorite products or services, or an invite to an in-house event that you think they would really enjoy, just be mindful of whether your message matters before you hit send.