Email marketing channels are flooded. What this means for most people with an inbox, is ten minutes every morning abusing the “delete” key on their keyboard. The challenge for most email marketing strategists is in getting their email noticed before it gets nuked.
#1 Your Content Begins in the Subject Line
You have one opportunity to grab your potential reader’s attention and that falls within your subject line. Be creative, be catchy, but remain relevant to what your campaign is about. Don’t mislead or “trick” recipients into opening your mail – that is dishonest and will taint your reputation as a marketer.
#2 Content Quality Matters
Simplicity wins. Your email content should be easy to read and easy to scan. Your reader has given you a gift: their time. Don’t waste it with lengthy paragraphs and irrelevant content.
Special offers should be clear, news stories should be brief, with a read-more option and call-to-actions should be simple to follow. Studies have shown that email marketing strategies are significantly more successful – and more viral – when they are simple.
#3 Digital Marketing – A Professional Website
Case in point, on one particular email I received the subject line was catchy and the email content turned out to be quirky and interesting. So I clicked a link to the website – it was terrible. Complicated, over-busy and outdated, the website completely lost me.
Ensure your website adequately supports your marketing emails, with brand continuity, content and with general browsing quality.
#4 Digital Marketing – Supporting Social Media
When sending out an email marketing campaign, your social media links should not only be easy to find, but more importantly, they need to lead to active, up-to-date social media platforms.
Twitter accounts and Facebook pages that stand dormant for months and years on end are an insult to the reader who has basically accepted your email invitation to engage there. Do not invite people to like and follow you on social media, unless your profiles are likeable, and actually offer content worth following.
#5 Easy, Non-Awkward Opt-Out Option
Quite simply: it is the law.
Respect the marketplace. Do not try to hide or disguise your opt-out link, or turn it into a tedious process. People will find a way to opt-out and if they have to spend precious time doing it, they will not only being opting out, but they will be opting out annoyed.
If you need any assistance mapping out your email marketing strategy, contact the WSI team today.