Sending out regular email campaigns is a hugely underrated form of marketing – in fact, it’s one of the most effective ways of reaching existing and potential customers. As such, it’s worth investing both time and resources into making sure that your email campaigns are as good as they can be, in order to maximise the potential that can be gained from them.
At LVE THT we’re huge fans of email marketing, and it’s something that we encourage brands to do every day. One of the first questions we ask a client when onboarding them is finding out what level their email marketing campaigns are at. In this article we’re looking at some key ways to improve email marketing campaigns, to make them as effective as possible.
MAKE THE CONTENT ENGAGING
With so many emails being sent and received each day, it makes sense that the emails with the most engaging content are the ones that are most effective.
By using bold colours, visual content (for example, videos, GIFs, and images), and eye-catching headings, you can immediately grab a reader’s attention and draw them in. From here, you need to ensure that the content stands up to the email’s design. Utilise short paragraphs and share interesting stories are easy ways to ensure a reader doesn’t click off the email after only the opening lines.
There’s nothing worse than being faced with an email that is just a wall of solid text, and this is what these strategies work to overcome.
INTEGRATE PERSONALISATION
Campaigns that lack any personalisation tend to perform worse than ones that have had this added to them. Generic, cookie-cutter emails are lazy and easy to spot, and they are much less likely to resonate with subscribers.
Integrating personalisation doesn’t need to be a mammoth task; there’s a number of ways to go about it, from ultra-simple methods to more complex strategies. You could start with merging the subscribers’ names into the template so that the email reads ‘Dear [reader name]’, rather than ‘Dear customer’. This helps to make the reader feel involved and considered from the get-go. Alternatively, you could personalise the subject line to have the same effect.
For more advanced personalisation, try segmenting your subscribers into groups based on their demographic, their engagement level, their purchase history, and more. From here, you can send only emails that align with these groups, to make their email experience more bespoke and intentional.
ADD A CALL TO ACTION
Without a call to action (CTA), your subscribers will read your email and continue with their day, with no follow up. This is a huge missed opportunity, as you’re likely to gain little to nothing from your campaign efforts when you could have secured a new sale, follow, site visit, or more.
A call to action should be immediately visible and clear in what it’s asking a reader to do. For the most effective CTAs, ensure that your copy is succinct and well written, that it’s easily seen on the page with surrounding clutter and distractions removed, and that there is a sense of urgency about it.
Whether it’s a big and bold button for readers to click on, or your finishing sentence at the end of your email, a strong CTA will do wonders for your campaigns’ successes.
OFFER EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS AND DEALS
It’s a no brainer that people are more likely to open an email that includes a special deal or discount, compared to one without this offer. By including in your email’s subject line something along the lines of ‘exclusive subscriber-only offer’ you’re more likely to hold a reader’s interest and get them to click through to your website. And, if they have a limited time members’ only deal on their hands, they’re more likely to carry out a sale while they’re browsing your site’s pages.
The beauty of offering deals like this is that you can convert those subscribers who might be on the fence about trying your products or services, and retain the ones who are already loyal fans. Exclusive deals make people feel valued, so as well as boosting potential sales for your company, these deals can boost morale among your email subscribers, giving your brand a feel-good factor.
ENSURE OPTIMISED LAYOUTS
Emails are no longer solely read on computers, but are consumed on phones, tablets, laptops, and more. Due to this, it’s vital that any email campaign that is sent out has been optimised for different devices. If an email design hasn’t been optimised it can be incredibly difficult to read, and in some cases, it can fail to display altogether. This can result in emails being immediately deleted and the effort that has gone into their creation is a waste.
Some easy ways to achieve an optimised layout are utilising a single-column design, using big headlines that can stand out on the page, and ensuring that any buttons and interactive elements are big enough to be clicked on with ease.
It’s also important to note that optimisation doesn’t just extend to different devices, but also different browsers. Sometimes web browsers struggle to display certain design elements, and so even if an email looks fantastic in Chrome, it may not have the same impact or usability in Edge or Firefox.
There are countless ways of optimising your email marketing campaigns, but these are our favourites. They’re simple and easy to do, but yield great results when implemented properly. Use these tactics to stand out from the sea of marketing emails that customers receive every day, and ensure that your emails are the ones that are remembered.
If you’re looking for help with your email marketing strategy, we’d love to hear from you! Follow this link to start a conversation today.
