Despite the emergence of countless social channels, email continues to be the go-to direct marketing tactic for small businesses. For both businesses and consumers, email is a central communications tool. It’s a marketing workhorse, with nearly unlimited potential for generating results. But in a noisy world, email marketing has to work smarter and harder than ever.
How do you make the most of your email marketing efforts? Propelad.com suggests seven ways:
- Stay in regular contact with your customers
- Don’t sell—inform
- Focus on your subject line (more on this below)
- Close with a strong call to action
- Optimize for mobile
- Make sure your emails work without images
- Test, test, test!
But here’s the rub with email marketing, a parallel to “traditional” direct mail: It must be compelling enough to be opened in the first place. Then, the recipient must want to read it and act! No small order, given that recipients have only so many hours in the day and so many things competing for their attention, both professional and personal.
How do you raise the odds that your emails will be noticed, considered and ultimately, opened, by your targets? Concentrate on these specific elements and characteristics:
- Subject line. Hands down, the most important component of your email. If the subject line doesn’t grab attention or motivate to action, nothing else really matters. Resist the temptation to create clever emails and then slap on a quick subject line as an afterthought. Your subject line is the hook. Make it short and catchy. Unexpected. Even startling.
- First line of copy. If the first line of copy shows, don’t make it “Click here if you cannot read this email.” This is the second part of the hook. So short and catchy here, too, to clarify the intent of the email. Are you sending great content? Making a direct request, as in, ‘Can we schedule lunch?’ Or issuing an invitation—to register for a webinar? The goal is to convince recipients they can’t not open your emails.
- A sense of immediacy. A sense of urgency gives recipients the sense that they might miss out if they don’t open the email right away. Make that happen, and you’re in.
- Direct and precise. “Brief” can be in the eye of the beholder. But generally four to 10 sentences max should do it. If you can’t make this work, go back and re-craft. Make sure you’re communicating just one core message. It’s not easy to be interesting and engaging in just a few sentences, but it’s immensely effective and worth the effort.
- A sense of investment. Never forget to answer “What’s in it for me?” for your targets.
- Regularity. Give recipients a short preview for anticipating what’s coming next.
- Meaty, relevant and short content. Otherwise, your email will be viewed as junk, and you know what that means.
- Make it easy. Not just easy to read, but easy to respond. If the call to action is enrolling in a webinar, include a link to a landing/registration page. Can recipients’ information be pre-filled? There’s no such thing as “too easy” when you’re asking someone to take action.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The post Fool-proof best practices to get your emails opened and read appeared first on Business Cash Advance.com.