Email marketing is the only way for many companies to get their message out. As a matter of fact, 66% of small businesses use email marketing in one form or another.
If you’re one of those businesses, are you using email marketing effectively? Is it paying off? Regardless of how it’s working for you, there are always ways to make it more effective.
How useful is email marketing?
According to Forbes magazine, email marketing delivers the highest return on investment compared to other marketing channels – you’ll see $42 back for every dollar you spend.
The effectiveness of email campaigns is measured by open rates (how many open the email) and click-through rates (how many people click on your call-to-action or another link in your email). On average, a good open rate is around 11%, and an optimal click-through rate is between 0% and 10%. Those numbers sound low, but those who open your emails are most interested in what you have to say.
To ensure your message is coming across loud and clear in your email marketing, here are some great tips to improve your open and click-through rates.
Clear subject line
Convince people to open your email by using a compelling subject line and pre-header; the pre-header is what describes your email in one sentence. To optimize your subject line, make sure it’s
- Relevant to your audience
- Actionable
- Clear and to the point
Actionable body copy
Your email’s language, tone, and layout will increase your click-through rate, especially when it comes to your call to action. Good marketing copy should include
- Your offer and why it matters to your readers
- Brief, compelling, and interesting copy
- Short paragraphs and bullet points
Think about it – when you get a marketing email, will you read the Gettysburg address, or are you more likely to read something that includes short bites? You don’t have time to waste on a lot of words.
Images
Images that highlight what your email is about will help draw the reader’s eye down through your email and help convey your message. But don’t include too many; it could dilute the message. The best images are
- Relevant
- Visually compelling
- Consistent with the tone of the email
Call To Action
Why are you sending your email? Is it informational? Are you trying to get the reader to do something? Your call-to-action is the hook to your email. You could say it’s the most important part of your email. Everything else in your email leads down to the most compelling language – what do you want people to do?
Creating an effective call-to-action begins before you write your first word. Again – what do you want people to do? Why are you sending this email? Even if it’s informational, you still need to include an action you’d like people to take. To be actionable, it needs to be
- Visually attractive. We’re not talking pretty. We’re talking about making it a different color, bold, in a box, something that sets it apart from the rest of your email
- The first instance should be toward the top of your email and then repeated toward the bottom
- Plenty of links throughout your email
Making sure your call-to-action is compelling will increase not only your open rate but especially your click-through rate.
Big Picture Takeaway
An effective email campaign will increase your conversion rate and potentially drive new customers. Making it clear, simple, and effective is the key to a great email marketing campaign.
Likely Impact
- Reach new audiences
- Strengthen brand awareness
- Increase conversions
- Improve click-through rates
The Bottom Line
Reaching your target audience and encouraging them to try your product or service should be the main goal of any email marketing campaign. Ensuring it’s effective, using a great subject line, actionable body copy, relevant images, and a compelling call-to-action will surely increase your brand awareness and bottom line.
If you want to explore how Search & Convert can help you with an effective email campaign, check out our Great Creative services! Our Creative Director, Casey Taylor, and our content team are ready to write and design a great email campaign just for your audience.
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