Effective Email Marketing Tips

A large number of people in the industry are writing off email marketing as an effective source of link-building, however the fact remains that email marketing remains an integral part of almost all big SEO campaigns, and is one of the single most effective ways of getting highly targeted traffic.

According to studies and research, people have started to regard ‘spam email’ as emails that they simply don’t want, or are not interested in. In addition, a great quantity of emails also ends up in the spam-folders, which means that a large proportion of your recipients never receive your emails in their inbox in the first place.

This means that the modern email marketers have had to adapt their email marketing campaigns accordingly. The following is a list of things any and every marketer should incorporate into their email marketing campaign to make it much more effective:

1. Ease of Subscription

We start off from the basics: ensuring that it is easy for users to subscribe to your updates. This will be, by far, one of the most important things when it comes to building a list. Make it simple, easy and straightforward for your visitors to subscribe to your emails. Instead of lengthy forms and too many fields, keep it short and simple by just asking for the first name, and email ID. Put this subscription box up on the top of the sidebar of your website so that it is clearly visible to everyone who comes to your page, and make sure that you have a privacy policy which lets your subscribers know that you won’t sell their information.

2. Email Titles/Subject

Your subject line will be the single most important thing when it comes to whether the recipient will open your email or trash it. As a rule of thumb, avoid titles that might be regarded as spam at all costs. Use catchy, captivating and interesting titles that will not only allow your email to make it past the spam filters, they also instantly grab the attention of the reader. For instance it would be a good idea to avoid abbreviations, symbols and/or slang words, or words and phrases that are known to be spammy.  

3. Content And Visuals

The content of your email is one of the most important aspects to its success and failure. Generally speaking, emails with big walls of text will almost always yield poor CTR and CTA rates. My recommendation: use graphics, images and pictures and design a visually-attractive email. Hire a graphic designer for the purpose if you have to. Not too many images though, otherwise it might end up looking cluttered and unorganized. Two important things: (a) optimize any visuals in the email for optimal load-times. Use as less text as possible (less is more!), and (b) make sure that the visuals and easy on the eyes!

4. Address Recipients Using Names

It is also important to address your recipients using their first name. This is especially useful when you want to ask them for a favor (that is do something you want them to do through the email). Personalization is very important! Do this properly and you are sure to receive a reply back from them. Addressing people using their first name looks professional, and ensures that they at least give your email a read. Generic emails which are addressed to no one in particular look spammy, unprofessional and don’t give the recipient any reason to read it. Popular email and list management programs such as Aweber and MailChimp let you store names along with email IDs, and then send out each email with the name attached to it.

5. First Paragraph/Opening Text

The first paragraph is what will eventually make or break your email and it’s CTA, and whether users actually perform the action you wanted them to take or not. You might be doing everything else right – using correct subject, addressing people using names, and sending out some visually-pleasing emails. However if you fail to engage your readers in the very beginning, it all goes down the drain. Therefore, the opening text should be appealing and engaging, and above all, it should be able to convince your reader to read on and take the action(s) you want him/her to take.

6. CTA

Your CTA, the action you want your readers to take, should always be clearly visible and evident. The CTA should always be above-the-fold; users should not be required to scroll down to take an action. Make it crystal clear what action you want your readers to take. Whether its purchasing a widget, availing a special offer or a discount, verifying a user’s account or signing a petition. It should be crystal clear. No ambiguities.

7. Contact

Allow your recipients to be able to contact you easily, and provide them with various methods to do this: telephone, email, etc. A good idea to do this would be to put all your contact information in your signature.

8. Unsubscribe

It is extremely important that you allow you subscribers to be able to unsubscribe easily, and at any time. This is extremely important because the cold, hard truth is that there will almost always be someone who would want to unsubscribe and want out. Make this easy for them; allow people an option of one-click unsubscription with every email so that people can remove themselves from your list.

9. The Power of Tuesdays and Wednesdays

According to several studies and researches, it has been concluded that the best days to send out emails to your list are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, because people are apparently the most ‘receptive to communication’ during midweek. More receptive audience means more clicks which could very well mean more sales! Make the most of your email campaign by sending out your emails on these days.

10. Consistency

Consistency is important, both in terms of frequency of your emails, as well as the email’s look and feel. People who have opted-in to your subscription list would expect to hear from you on a regular basis. Send out your emails on regularly, for instance every week. But not too frequently, as you do not want your subscribers to thing you’re spamming them. In addition, be consistent with your email look and feel, especially if it’s an e-magazine. This helps strengthen your brand and image, and increases your CTA.

11. Bonus/Incentive

Offering a bonus or an incentive almost always guarantees you get subscribers. It could be anything – a free eBook, access to a webinar or a training course, a premium theme/plugin, a discount or a rebate.. sky’s the limit! Offer a ‘free eBook on how to get more traffic instantly’, and watch those subscriptions roll in!