Quick and Simple Tips for Getting Better Results From Email Marketing
Every few years, so-called marketing experts decide that we’ve reached the end of email marketing as we know it. Each time this has been shouted from the rafters, those same experts have been proven wrong as email continues to be one of the most effective and profitable means of marketing any business.
While email is alive and kicking, it is true that it is a marketing methodology that has been getting more complex. Spam regulations and Spam filters have been getting tighter and smarter, not to mention the suspicious nature many modern customers exhibit when viewing email marketing messages. To see a real profit from email marketing, you need to be using the most effective strategies in the field, and these five quick and simple tips are a great place to start.
#1: Incorporate Videos Into Your Emails
Video marketing is something that many people are getting wise to, partly just because of the sheer amount of video content consumed by Americans on a daily basis. Most people would way rather watch a video than bother reading a lengthy marketing message, and if the video content is well produced, it can do a much better job of keeping the viewer’s attention until the end of the message than a written sales pitch does.
The roadblock here is that some email software won’t natively playback video. A clever way to circumvent this limitation is to include an animated GIF that looks like a regular video. Link the GIF to an external site with the video placed on that site instead, and you gain the double benefit of delivering a video message while also directing the customer to your actual website.
#2: Quality is King
Remember, the amount of content you send out is completely irrelevant if it isn’t useful, informative or interesting. Clearly define the purpose of your email, whether that is to inform, make an offer, or disseminate news, and ensure that the entire message points clearly towards that primary point. Also, ensure that you clearly use headlines.
#3: Mobile Marketing
How often do you check your email on a mobile device rather than sitting down at a desktop computer? If you’re anything like the majority of the population, this is probably something that happens a great deal. More than half of all emails are opened on mobile devices these days. If the message isn’t optimized to be easy to read on mobile, or if the landing pages aren’t designed to display properly on phones, you can bet that you’re losing a large chunk of your audience.
#4: Earn Your Subscribers
The first rule of email marketing that you should have learned well before now, is that you should never buy a list of subscribers. If you ever see someone offering you a list for a fee, remember that your open rates will be low, and your conversion rates even lower. There are much better uses of your money.
Instead, craft a solid opt-in strategy to create a subscriber base of your own. Make sure that you have an opt-in box clearly displayed on your site, along with a clear benefit offered in exchange for signing up. Incentivizing opt-ins is a time-tested method for increasing a subscriber base. The better your incentive, and the more clearly you communicate it to your audience, the better list you will be able to build.
#5: Make Sure Your Emails Are Opened
You can have the biggest list in the world, but if no one is actually opening your emails it isn’t doing you a bit of good. Crafting a smart and snappy subject line that intrigues customers into opening the email is a key component to this element of email marketing. Avoid words like “free” or “act now” as Spam filters will almost universally quarantine these types of emails.
Also, make sure you’re diligent about testing your email open rates. The particulars of your subscriber base affect what types of subject lines and what time of the day are more likely to lead to higher open rates, so track your statistics carefully and use the gathered date to increase your open rates over time.
If you apply these five tips to your email marketing campaigns, you’ll be sure to see a leap in your profits from this type of marketing. Stay the course, gather data about your results, and continually fine-tune your approach to find what works best for your particular business.
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