Here are some stats for you. Did you know that more than half of businesses generate 10% of sales through email marketing? Or that 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase based on a promotional email? The point is — if your company hasn’t invested in email marketing yet, maybe it’s time to consider if this would be an appropriate way to grow your business. For those of you who have bought a ticket on the e-newsletter train, here are five ways to make sure you are headed in the right direction.
1. Keep It Short
The most common problem with e-newsletters is that people try to fit too much information into them. As a collection of articles and photos, it’s easy for e-newsletters to look cluttered and overwhelming. Keeping your e-blasts short is crucial, especially since the average person only spends 51 seconds reading them. Make information look concise by breaking it out into distinguishable sections, and use bullets so people can scan info quickly. Remember, the less you have to say, the more people will remember.
2. Spend Time on Your Subject Lines
With 35% of people claiming they open e-newsletters based on subject line alone, they’re worth spending time on. Some strategies that have proven successful in crafting a subject line include using ellipses to elicit curiosity, or asking a question. For example, “And the most successful marketing technique of 2015 is…” or “What will you do with the $500 we help you save?” Whatever you do, do not write your subject lines in all caps or over punctuate (ex. “Sale ends soon!!!!”). Not only is this annoying, but it can also trigger spam filters.
3. Optimize for Mobile
Studies show that 45% of email opens are on a mobile device and you don’t want to miss that much of your audience. Many e-blast programs have templates that will adjust to fit smart phone screens. If you’re not working with one of these, format your newsletter to one column so people don’t have to scroll left and right. Making your e-blast mobile friendly also circles back to keeping copy short and making your links big so that people can easily click on them with their fingers.
4. Aim To Be Educational Over Promotional
Unless you’re offering extreme discounts, people probably didn’t subscribe to your newsletter to be inundated with your self-promoting messages. Your audience will find more value in an email that teaches them something related to your product or service. For example if you’re a retail store, your e-blast content can include “The Top 3 Colors for This Fall Season.” For the promotional aspect of your e-blast, include one main call to action that stands out over others so that your readers know exactly what you want them to do.
5. Keep Design in Mind
When someone opens your e-blast, one of the first things they should see is your logo. They should also immediately see your header. Both of these elements should be consistent in every e-blast you send to build brand recognition and to make it clear who the communication is coming from. Base the remaining color palette of your e-newsletter on your logo (or brand guidelines if you have them), and balance your text to image ratio so that they complement, not overshadow, each other.
With these basic strategies, you have enough info to create, or improve, your business’s e-newsletter. Thoughts? Questions? Share them with us in the comments, or let us know about an additional tactic that you’ve found successful in your e-mail marketing efforts.
Sources: GetResponse.com, ExactTarget.com, VerticalResponse.com, ConvinceandConvert.com, EmailMonday.com
