7 Effective Ways to Master Email Marketing

A clustered inbox is every email marketer’s worst enemy. With an average user receiving approximately 88 emails per day, it’s becoming increasingly harder for companies to stand out from the crowd. For this reason, unique and strategic email marketing campaigns are now more important than ever. Here are seven email marketing best practices that will come in handy when creating your next successful campaign.

1. Hire a professional.

Creating an effective email marketing campaign with interesting and unique content can be challenging. To make sure your email marketing campaign is executed correctly, hiring experts who are experienced in designing and programming eblasts is necessary. Professionals are able to program across all mobile devices and email platforms and run tracking reports that are crucial when analyzing the effectiveness of any email marketing campaign.

2. Make your subject line stand out.

The first thing your reader sees when a new email pops up (other than who it’s from) is the subject line. In fact, research shows that 35% of email recipients open an email based solely on the subject line. A successful way to push subscribers into opening your emails is to use short and concise subject lines. Get straight to the point to ensure that your reader knows what to expect in the body of the email without giving away too much.

Another way to make your subject line interesting is by asking questions, using humor and using emojis that are relevant to your topic and audience. Utilizing emojis and symbols in your subject line is an effective way to convey a lot of information using just one character. Brands using emojis in subject lines should do so appropriately and only if relevant to their message and target audience.

Keep in mind that the subject line is like a first impression, so it needs to count.

3. Personalize your content.

Would you rather read an email sent from a friend or one that’s probably been sent to thousands of other people? No one wants to feel like another nameless face in the crowd. By personalizing your emails, not only are you grabbing your reader’s attention, you’re also showing them that they’re worth more than an automated email. Try using their names and refer to your reader as “you” whenever appropriate in order to create a conversation. Make sure your copy is also written in a natural voice to show some personality.

4. Use appropriate images.

Images in email marketing should be used effectively yet scarcely. When including visuals in your email, ensure that all images are relevant and useful to your audience. All pictures should add something of value to your reader, whether it’s to help visualize the content or add more information to it. Infographics are a perfect example — they are informative, relevant and engaging without being a distraction to the reader. However, creating effective visual content can be difficult. Advertising agencies are qualified in producing and designing creative content that will grab any reader’s attention.

Another strategy to consider when including images is the size, placement and quantity. An image should not overshadow the message in an email and should only be used when needed.

5. Design your eblasts with a mobile-first mindset.

A 2016 study showed that 56% of all emails were opened on a mobile device, whereas only 19% were opened on a desktop. This number is constantly increasing, making mobile-friendly marketing an essential aspect to any campaign.

When it comes to mobile-friendly email marketing, advertising agencies have it in the bag. With more emails being opened on mobile than any other device, agencies have become experts at designing the best displays and layouts that are most suitable to be viewed as a mobile-format. By ensuring your subject line, template and images can be easily viewed on any device, click rates for your email marketing campaign are much more likely to increase.

6. Emphasize your call-to-action.

Once the recipient actually opens and reads your email, the next step is to ask them to do something, a.k.a. the call-to-action (CTA). Make sure your CTA is clear, short and relevant to your audience depending on their demographics and psychographics. Using your subject line to introduce your CTA is an effective way to tell your reader what you want them to do and then explaining it further in the copy.

To make sure your reader fully understands what you’re asking of them, make your CTA visually stand out. A study showed the best way to do this is to use graphic elements, such as buttons and arrows, toward the end of your email.

Your call-to-action should always offer your reader high value at a low cost.

7. Test everything!

The last step to creating an effective email marketing campaign is to make sure everything looks good and is ready to go. Before hitting ‘send’, test out your email to make sure the layout looks correct on all devices, the images are showing up where they should be and all links are working. Make sure you’ve included these email marketing best practices in your campaign to increase your click rates and overall reader interaction.

Creating an email marketing campaign that incorporates all the necessary elements and best practices can be difficult and sometimes confusing. That’s where we come in. Appleton Creative is an award-winning, full-service online marketing and advertising agency located in Orlando, Florida. Appleton works with local, national and international clients to deliver custom content, persuasive online ads and expertly crafted campaigns. By implementing valuable and shareable digital content strategies, Appleton can create the perfect social and digital marketing experience for your brand and audience. Your Internet advertising goals are worth a conversation: contact us at 407-246-0092 or info@appletoncreative.com.