If you’re asking yourself whether or not email marketing is still relevant, the answer is absolutely YES! In the U.S. alone, more than 90% of adults and 73% of teens use email, and it remains one of the best ways to increase ROI digitally, in some cases even performing better than social. In fact, email today is more relevant than it ever has been, so we asked our Marketing Team for some of their best tips. Here’s what they had to share…
1. EMBRACE GROUPS
To see the greatest return on your email marketing efforts, target email recipients by demographic by using groups. Segmenting your email lists by age, gender, and geographic location to send out specific campaigns is a great way to help your hard work hit harder!
2. INTEGRATE WITH E-COMMERCE
If you sell products online, be sure to link your marketing platform to your online store. This way, you can capture customers who visit and shop on your website for retargeting. You can create a custom e-blast for these customers, and invite this group to return and shop again!
3. GET MOVING!
Incorporating moving content into your design, such as GIFs, is a fun and easy way to boost performance! Just remember, the simpler your animation (or the fewer frames your GIF has), the quicker it will load in your email!
4. DESIGN FOR MOBILE
A reported 86% of cell phone users use their smartphones for email communications! As this represents a large majority, always choose an email marketing platform that offers mobile-friendly responsive design. If you’re still searching for your ideal platform, both MailChimp and Campaign Monitor offer this functionality.
5. STAY TRUE TO YOUR BRAND
Never forget to consider branding when designing an email! Be sure to incorporate brand colors, typography, and design elements from your logo to increase and encourage brand recognition. You want people to understand why and recognize where this email came from.
6. LESS IS MORE
Keep your copy content short and sweet. Don’t write essays in email. Try to break up content groups and blocks, optimizing your email for quick reading. Think of your e-blast as an insight or overview of offerings.
7. GET PERSONAL
Personal touches, even automated, can go a long way with your e-blasts. In fact, automated emails which include personalization have a 75% higher open rate than those that don’t!
8. TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Analyze your data to find your optimal send-out times. By sending your emails out at these “best sending times” you can maximize your open and click-through rates.
9. INCLUDE A CALL TO ACTION
It’s great to have the information listed in an e-blast, but it doesn’t do much for your consumer if they don’t know what to do with it! Incorporate a clear call to action (CTA) that tells them exactly what to do next. Some great examples include adding buttons like “Call Now” or “Redeem Offer.”
10. TAKE A FINAL LOOK
One very important but sometimes neglected practice is proofing your work! Most e-blast platforms have a test-email integration. Be sure to send yourself a test email to review before you press send to your email list to ensure all of your hard work looks great and functions properly!
Happy emailing!
