Although there is a significant emphasis on Facebook marketing and new social media players such as TikTok, email marketing is still not only relevant but, in many cases, dominant. Email marketing is one of the most inexpensive marketing strategies and has a strong ROI (Return of Investment). Through linking, emails bring subscribers directly to your site. In addition, regular emails allow your brand’s story to unfold through an ongoing relationship with subscribers. An effective email strategy allows subscribers to engage with your product and become aware of your brand.
With eCommerce booming, people are receiving a higher volume of emails than ever before. The average inbox now has a hundred emails a day, which increased over just a few years ago. As a result of email flooding, recipients are more selective about which emails they will open. Besides, spam filters have become more efficient and single out the type of emails that are not opened for the spam folder.
The following are some tips on how to make your emails stand out. Subscribers who find value in your emails will open them again and again.
1. Keep Track of Data
You can take the time to craft impressive emails, but if they aren’t getting opened, marketing goals will not be met. It is essential to keep track of the data that indicates which emails are opened and which are ignored or deleted. Click-through-rates mean how many clicks the links in your emails are receiving. You can find the CTR by dividing the number of click-throughs by the number of emails you sent.
What is a healthy CTR? The average person receives 120 emails per day. The majority of emails are ignored. An average CTR is around 3%, and an outstanding rate is close to 10%. If your CTR is around 7%, that is a good sign your email strategy is working. Crafting interesting subject lines and providing email content targeted to your audience will bring your CTR rates up and ensure more subscribers open your emails.
2. Prevent Complaints
When unwanted and annoying emails appear in an inbox, most users are quick to push the “mark as spam” button. As the sender, you can view how many complaints your emails have received. Although everyone who sends a large number of emails receives complaints from time to time, high rates can threaten email deliverability.
One way to avoid being blacklisted is to ensure your recipients understand why they are receiving your emails. This means not trying to be overly subtle with branding, but the recipient should know why they are getting emails from you.
Make it easy for recipients to unsubscribe. In America, anti-Spam legislation requires unsubscribe buttons. Recipients should never feel trapped but need to know they can stop receiving emails when they wish to unsubscribe. Encourage those who are leaving the list to leave feedback on the reasons why they wish to unsubscribe.
3. Revamp Your Email List
Your email metrics can look worse than they should be if you keep unresponsive subscribers on your list. People who never open emails or click through anything in the text of an email can hurt the overall numbers. Periodically go through email lists and trim the users who are not responding. However, you can try to re-engage them with a campaign before taking them off the list. Providing incentives could help you retain subscribers who have temporarily lost interest.
Email marketing metrics often get a boost after trimming passive subscribers. It is important to be on the lookout for inactive accounts which can alert spam filters if they receive too many emails. Once you have gotten rid of non-active subscribers, it may be a good time for a new campaign to replace the subscribers who were removed from the list.
4. Pay Attention to Links
The key to encouraging recipients to click on links is creating the kind of anchor text that will inspire action. A simple, generic text may not only discourage clicks, but can be a red flag. Ensure your links are branded, using your own domain. Avoid using generic, short links that can be associated with spam and can be vulnerable to blocking. Optimizing links encourages readers to click and is the best way to improve CTR.
5. Personalize Email Strategy
People are more likely to open emails and click on links if they feel that the message is explicitly designed for them. Avoiding generic phrases in the subject line, such as “Buy Now!” and deceptive subject lines such as “Confirmation” to manipulate people into opening the emails are basic tactics to avoid.
Personalizing email goes beyond using or not using certain catchphrases. Researching your typical customer, segmenting these customers into groups, and planning an email strategy and content for each specific segment is the key to targeting your subscribers and creating a personal approach to marketing.
Obtaining eCommerce data about your subscribers is an essential step to creating a personalized email marketing strategy. This can be done through visiting places they spend their time on social media and eCommerce platforms, looking at reviews and feedback, and finding out what products and activities interest them. Getting to know your subscribers is the best way to ensure your emails are opened.
Despite the popularity of text and Whatsapp marketing, an email strategy is as important as ever in 2020. Refining your email lists, keeping track of data, and crafting inspiring emails that provide value to subscribers will make your email marketing strategy successful.
