What is Email Marketing?
"Email marketing is a type of direct marketing in which you send personalized emails to your email list to educate them about your product or service."
"Email marketing is a key component of customer acquisition programs for businesses in every industry. "
Excellent email marketing is timely, relevant and customized, so a good place to start is to understand the basic types of emails you can send to your customers.
Email Marketing Best Practices :
Below are the well studied and group of domain expert suggested practices that you can refer.
- Don't purchase contact lists : This first tip should come as no surprise, but given the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), it bears repeating.
- Avoid using 'No-Reply' in the sender's email address : "No reply" in an email message prevents recipients from responding and even opting out of further emails, which CAN-SPAM protects their right to do so at any time.
- Stick to fewer than three typefaces : The less clutter you have in your email, the more conversions you'll get.
- Optimize the email's preview text : Your preview text should supplement your subject line by adding in details to capture your audience’s attention and encourage them to open.
- Include an email signature : People are naturally more inclined to read an email if they know it came from a human being, not just a collective marketing team. Your email signature is your ticket to their attention.
- Clean your mailing list regularly : It keeps you from bombarding your subscribers with emails they’re not interested in while keeping your list clean.
- Keep the main message and call-to-action above the fold : Above the fold refers to the information that’s visible to the reader before they scroll down. Eyetracking research from Neilsen Norman Group found that consumers spend 57% of their viewing time on above-the-fold content. That number drastically goes down to 17% of the second screenful and gradually decreases as they scroll. With this in mind, place your message and CTA above the fold. It’s the first thing your recipients will see once they open your email, therefore increasing your conversion rate.
- Personalize the email greeting : Personalizing the greeting of your emails with your contacts' first names grabs the attention of each reader right away.
- Keep your email between 500 and 650 pixels wide : Having your template fit within the standard format will make for easier readability, better conversions, and an overall better user experience.
- Split test different subject lines and calls to action : If you can't seem to increase your email's open and click-through rates, a couple of things might be wrong: You're not emailing the right people (are you buying your contact list? , or the content needs to be improved. This variation tests to see if your audience would be more or less likely to take an action based on that element. For example, you might change the color of your CTA from red to green to see if your email's clickthrough rate increases. If it does, the test indicates that you should change your emails' CTA color to green from now on.
- Include your logo : Logos are a must when it comes to emails. A 2020 study by Red Sift and Entrust found that logos positively impact email engagement as well as brand recall. With this in mind, add your logo to your email design to ensure that it’s always included.
- Name the offer in your subject line : When you include an incentive in your subject line, you can drastically increase your open rates. "Free shipping when you spend $25 or more" and "Receive a free iPod with a demo" are examples of good, incentive-focused subject lines.
- Allow recipients to subscribe to your newsletter : Add a small but visible CTA that allows an email viewer to subscribe to the newsletter if they received this email from someone else.
- Write compelling (but concise) subject lines : Your email subject line should also create a sense of urgency while giving readers some indication of what to expect once they open the email.
- Use auto-responders for opt-ins : Be prepared for your readers to forget they opted in. Set up an auto-responder that reminds people they opted into your email database. The auto-responder should be sent out one day, five days, and 10 days after the person registers.
- Closely tie emails to landing pages : Your landing page should match the email in terms of headline, copy, and content. The look and feel of your landing page should also match the email as consistency goes a long way toward a customer's trust.
- Conduct a five-second test : Send a copy of the email to a friend or business associate. Can they quickly tell what your call-to-action is? If so, you're golden. If not, keep working.
Learn in-detail with HubSpot HERE to get your email campaigns to drive Higher Audience Engagement.
When put all of these tips into practice, that helps you build meaningful relationships with your recipients.
(Publisher Note: This post major content was originally published by HubSpot.)
