Every new year witnesses an exponential rise in the number of email users. According to a 2018 study by the Radicati Group by the start of 2019, there will be more than 3.8 billion email users across the globe. Corresponding to more than half of the entire world population, the statistics are indeed impressive. Besides, smartphones have made access to emails easier, and a large chunk of users are checking their emails more than 10 times a day.
The above figures indeed are quite tempting, if you are considering emails as a potential marketing strategy to reach your targeted audience.
The data may seem motivating, but there is a flip side too.
Every day, close to a staggering 269 billion emails are exchanged. And out of this massive figure, the open rate of these emails stands at a meager 16 percent.
This means that, unless you ensure that your emails stand out, chances are that they may fail to achieve their intended target.
Here is a list of 4 basic, yet crucial tips, which may help you run a successful email marketing campaign:
1. Subject Line is the Key
What good is your content, and how does it matter whether your offering is unique and enticing, if users do not find your email interesting enough to open it?
Your subject line is your only weapon to make users curious enough to open your mail.
Think from the point of view of your target audience, assess, and then re-assess if your subject line is catchy enough to grab others’ attention. It is always a good strategy to test an email on a smaller group of people to gauge its impact. You can also test different subject lines to see which one works better, and repeat this exercise until you found the most effective subject possible.
2. Keep it Short with Attractive CTAs
In today’s super busy world, no one really has time to read emails. In fact, a longer email is often considered an indirect way to tell the user to bounce back. Keep the content short, crisp and to the point.
Visuals add on to the overall appeal and convey a lot more than words. Yet, do not fill your mail with images as it may take longer to load and cause the user to close it or delete it altogether.
As for the CTA (Call To Action) button, ensure that it is striking the right cord with the user. CTAs play a pivotal role in making your email campaign a success.
3. Make Unsubscribing Easy
There will always be many recipients who do not want to receive emails from you. These people will look for the option to unsubscribe themselves from your mailing list, and although this may seem like a bad thing to some, it is beneficial for both you and the user.
By unsubscribing, the user will get what they want and your mailing list will become more consolidated and targeted, consisting of interested recipients only, who can eventually become your loyal customers.
Besides, difficulty in unsubscribing may result in the user marking your mail as spam. This will damage your domain’s reputation and can make your message end up in everyone’s spam folder automatically if you don’t change your approach.
4. Design Mobile-Friendly Emails
The number of smartphone users has skyrocketed. Today, out of the estimated 3.8 billion email users, 2.5 billion use smartphones to access their emails. This makes it vital for you to craft emails that appear nicely on mobiles and other handheld devices.
Additionally, you should test your emails to make sure they appear correctly on different emailing platforms like Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook etc.
The Last Words
Email marketing today is completely unrecognizable compared to what it was years ago when it started gaining momentum. The variables that can affect its efficacy have increased manifold. Yet, the above points are still the solid basics of email marketing and should be taken into consideration from the outset.