Email marketing has largely superseded traditional newsletters and flyers. For one thing, sending emails is a lot cheaper, and for another, thousands of emails can be sent out at the click of a button. They arrive instantly, don’t generate waste, and are more likely to be seen by the intended recipient. However, there is a fine art to creating compelling marketing emails.
Know Your Audience
Before you start drafting marketing emails, you must understand your target audience. Sending out thousands of emails to your entire email marketing list is unlikely to do you any favors. Start by defining your audience.
- Who are the people who are going to be interested in your products and services?
- What are their needs and pain points?
Once you have these facts ready, you are in a better position to write emails that resonate and convert.
Segmenting a list will yield much better results if you have multiple marketing strategies to put in place.
Define Your Campaign Objectives
Think carefully about what you hope to achieve from your campaign. Is the aim to generate leads, increase brand awareness, or perhaps nurture existing customer relationships? Once you have this nailed, be more precise about your goals.
For example, if you want to generate more leads, email click-through rate is important, along with conversions and engagement. This is where the term SMART comes in:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
If you don’t pin down your objectives, you won’t know whether the campaign has been a success. This is something a good digital marketing agency will work through with you, to make sure they are realistic.
Subject Lines Must Be Attention Grabbing
The email subject line is the first thing most people see when they open up their email inbox. Since the average person receives around 120 emails each day – and probably more to a work email – the subject line must grab attention. This will help your email stand out.
Write subject lines that resonate with your audience. Use your market research to isolate what your target customer is going to be receptive to. Will news of a flash sale excite them? Or maybe they want information on a new product line.
Engaging Content
Tailor the body of the email to your target audience. Keep the content concise and to the point. Break it up into short paragraphs and bullet points. Use a conversational tone in keeping with your audience. For example, business marketing emails are better in a more professional tone, whereas emails to Millennials will resonate better if they are more casual in voice.
Tell a story, solve a pain point. Offer solutions to a problem the reader didn’t know they had. This is the kind of email people want in their inbox.
Add Images and Graphics
No reader is going to be excited by a marketing email made up purely of text. That’s a surefire way to encourage a reader to unsubscribe or mark it as SPAM. Break up your email content with visual treats like images, videos, infographics, and even emojis!
Content that’s more visually compelling is a lot more engaging to the reader.
Email marketing is one of the most successful digital marketing strategies out there, but you must follow the above steps to achieve the best possible outcome for your campaign.
Read Also: How to Archive and Unarchive Emails in Gmail
