An explosion of new digital technologies has pushed us to evolve. But those same technologies can leave us feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with obtaining just the right marketing mix. How much should you invest in new channels? Which channel is most effective for acquiring new customers and increasing revenue for your business?
Although we’ve been inundated with new technology, business leaders and marketers keep coming back to email. And the reason is simple: email is queen of the marketing kingdom, delivering an astounding 4400% ROI, or $44 ROI for every dollar spent. Those are some seriously impressive stats.
But how do you maximize the impact of your email marketing campaigns? Part of the solution is figuring out how to get relevant content in front of the right people—and email marketing is one of the top marketing channels for increasing content engagement.
Choose the best email marketing software for your needs. You can make the most out of your content marketing by making your email marketing campaigns irresistible. Here are a handful of tips to do just that.
The build
1. Make your email great on mobile.
About 53% of emails are opened on mobile devices. That’s why it’s important that your message looks just as good on a smartphone as it does on Outlook, Gmail or one of the many other devices and clients your subscribers are using.
You can achieve that by using an email template that will automatically be optimized for both desktop and mobile email clients. Bottom line: email with mobile-ready design is no longer an added bonus, it’s a necessity.
2. Make your CTAs clear and bold.
If your click-through rates aren’t quite what you’d like them to be, consider how you’re presenting the call-to-action in your message. Including a call-to-action button instead of a text link can increase conversion rates by as much as 28%. According to research from Nielsen Norman Group, most people skim over their email making text links easily overlooked.
3. Create interactive content like videos and GIFs.
The Email Institute found that GIFs increase click-through rates by 26%, while videos increase them by 22%. GIFs are essential just another image file format that you can include in your email but add more interest for the reader than a traditional static image.
The audience
4. Make it easy to sign up for your newsletter.
The most important rule when creating a sign-up form for your newsletter is to keep it simple. Clearly state what your subscribers will receive for signing up and how often they’ll hear from you. Design your form so that’s it’s simple to read. Entry should be easy with only one or two fields, and the form should be easy to find.
5. Use a preferences center to create targeted messages.
74% of marketers say targeted personalization increases customer engagement. Instead of batching-and-blasting your email messages, tailoring each one to a specific audience increases open and click through rates, while strengthening the customer experience by providing them with content that’s relevant and useful to them.
6. Quantity and quality for list building.
Improve your sender score by clearly stating intent, using double opt-in and abiding by General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. A simple and effective way to do this is by including a click-through or clickwrap agreement on your form. You can do that by adding an “I Accept” button or tick box that links to a terms and conditions document.
7. Avoid being flagged as spam.
Make sure your list has opted in and send them a welcome email to solidify. A welcome email is a great way to engage your audience right from the get go and not having one is a lost opportunity. In fact, welcome emails get 320% more revenue than promotional emails and an 86% lift in the unique open rate.
The content
8. Use dynamic content to increase click-through.
Dynamic content allows you to display different content to different subscribers, based on their preferences. For example, you might have an email ad that shows men’s clothing to your male subscribers and the same ad featuring women’s clothing to your female subscribers. Doing this can boost your click-through rate by 20%.
9. Use both original and curated content.
Each one has its benefits, so why not use both? Original content is a great way to establish yourself as a thought-leader and drives organic search, while curated content saves time and is a great tool for building relationships. You can certainly drive more long-term conversations when you use both.
10. Use strong images to drive engagement.
65% of your readers prefer image-heavy emails. Not only do images capture people’s attention, but visuals make it easier for people to absorb the information you’re presenting. Using genuine pictures of people—versus the typical stock photo—will often deliver the biggest bang for your buck.
The results
11. Test to learn your audience.
Best practices are great, but only you can get to know your audience. And leveraging the data and information you have about them can help you create personalized emails, which have been shown to generate 5.7 times more revenue than general email messages and campaigns.
12. A/B test to improve every email.
One of the best ways to improve the open and click-through rates (along with a host of other relevant metrics) of your emails is to A/B test—also known as “split tests”— different aspects of your message. Essentially, that means sending one version of your email campaign to a subset of your subscribers, while sending a different variation to another subset to see which performs best. You can split test subject lines, tone of voice, visual layouts, and much more.
13. Measure performance over time.
Regularly keeping tabs on your email campaign’s metrics is important to maintaining a healthy email list and boosting the ROI of your campaigns. Monitor the testing results of your open rates, click-through, unsubscribes, and end-of-funnel conversions over time to help you formulate a well-thought out marketing strategy based on concrete data.
