8 Tips to Improve Your Email Marketing Campaigns
Email has been around for years and it remains one of the most effective channels for communicating with customers and nurturing prospects. Email marketing is affordable to all businesses considering there is tons of free and low-cost email marketing software solutions. However, email marketing success is all dependent on how you approach the process. If you don’t plan your campaigns well, you will get minimal results. This article highlights some key tips that can be helpful in improving email marketing campaigns.
Tips to Improve Your Email Marketing Campaigns for Maximum Benefit
1. Clean Your Email Lists
Some of your subscribers might have made a mistake when signing up. Others could have changed their email address somewhere along the way. Hence, from time to time, your email list will have addresses that are incorrect and others that are no longer in use. Don’t forget about the inactive subscribers too. This is the key reason why you should clean your email lists regularly. A low open rate is one of the clear indications that your list needs some cleaning. With a clean list, you will have better deliverability, lower your marketing costs, reduce the bounce rate, and improve the open and click through rates and your return on investment.
2. Segment Your Lists
If you take the one size fits all approach, you will get minimal results. All your subscribers have an interest in your business, but each has their own unique interest. Thus, if you send one email to all, it will only be relevant to a few. Consider segmenting your lists based on the location, age, interests, purchase history, engagement and income among many others. When you segment your lists, all subscribers will receive relevant emails and this can boost open and click through rates and conversion. Also, segmentation can lower the unsubscribe rate. Subscribers can easily go away if you keep sending them emails that are not relevant to their interests.
3. Reconsider the ‘No Reply’ Email Addresses
According to this Forbes article, a ‘no reply’ email address is a clear signal that you are not open for communication. It shows the subscriber that you have no interest in having a dialogue with them or listening to what they have to say.
4. Ensure You Have a Good Template
Your email template has to meet four key qualities. One, it should stand out. Two, it should be mobile responsive. Three, the template should be ideal for the type of campaign you are running. Four, it should be easy to customize.
5. Find the Perfect Sending Time
Some experts argue that the best time to send emails is early in the morning between 8 and 11, whereas others believe that evening and night time are the best. Well, any can work for you depending on the nature of your business and clients. To find the perfect timing, send your emails at different times of the day or night until you find that which works best for your customers. If your business is international, don’t forget to take into account the different time zones.
6. Give Subscribers an Option to Choose
Maybe they love your business, but one email a day is too much for them, or maybe they would rather receive emails covering one specific subject only. Some subscribers may have certain preferences and thus you should consider giving them an option to choose. You can give them an option to choose both how often they would like to hear from you and the type of messages they would like to receive. When you give your subscribers options, you will have better open rates and lower unsubscribe rates.
7. Have a Clear Call to Action
What is the reader supposed to do after reading your email? Don’t skip the call to action or make it too vague. If you do that, you make it hard for the reader to take action and this will affect the success of your campaign. Communicate clearly and make sure your call to action button is visible.
8. Work on Your Subject Lines
Customers receive tons of emails each day. When picking out what to read and what to ignore and mark as spam, most subscribers will look at the subject lines. If it’s boring or irrelevant, your email is less likely to be read. When writing your emails, choose headlines that are interesting, those that spark curiosity or urgency, and don’t forget to keep them short. You could also use some emojis on your subject lines to make them more interesting.
According to an article on the HuffPost UK, one of the email marketing best practices is to ensure that you measure the impact of your campaigns. Always check the number of emails that were delivered, opened, read, and shared and the subscribers who took the call to action.
