5 Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing Campaign

By Brad Shorr, Director of Content Strategy
Straight North

The enemy of email marketing is the full inbox. And who, these days, does not have a full inbox? Information overload puts subscribers on the defensive — they look for reasons not to open an email, not to read an email. Information overload is a drag on open and click-through rates, often to the point where email campaign ROI goes underwater.

Nevertheless, successful email marketing is possible. All five of the suggestions that follow will enable you to subdue the full inbox enemy, and improve results.

1. Test, Test, Test Subject Lines

Bad subject lines = no opens. What is a good subject line? There are mountains of theories, statistics, trends, expert opinions and best practices, but the only way to know for sure which subject lines work for your business is to spend plenty of time writing them — and even more time testing them.

To start writing subject lines, think in general terms about what a subject line can say that would make your subscribers want to read the email. You’ll probably come up with a list that looks something like this:

• Convenience
• Fear of missing out
• Hearing news first
• Learning something valuable
• Savings
• Solving a problem
• Urgency

Compose subject lines around these themes, and hone them to the right length and style. Then split test to see which themes get the best results. Ditch themes with poor results, and going forward, refine thematically effective subject lines (and the content that goes with them) through continuous testing.

2. Keep It Short

Keeping emails short, over time, makes subscribers more apt to open and read them. In a full inbox world, Short + Useful = Success. The key is to make every email short so subscribers know what to expect. When I say short, I mean short. For example:

3. Segment Mailing Lists

The more tightly your email list is targeted, the more relevant the email content will be. Emails that say too much, that cover too many themes, and that lack consistency are symptoms of an email list too broad to effectively communicate with anyone.

The nature of your business determines the best way to slice and dice the list — by geography, customer size, type of product/service used, etc. Once you’ve identified your audiences, write content that speaks to them and only them.

4. Implement Mobile Design

If subscribers open your email on a mobile phone, you must deliver a great experience. Most major email management platforms have mobile templates that display when a mobile device is being used. Selecting and tweaking mobile templates should be done with care. In the old days, “mobile-friendly” was good enough. Today, “mobile-first” is the design philosophy that ensures an outstanding user experience.

5. Market Your Marketing

Just about every business website in the world has a little sign-up box that says SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EMAIL. But this leaves BIG questions unanswered:

“Why should I sign up for your newsletter? What’s in it for me? Why should I add one more thing to my already overstuffed inbox?”

If the marketing of your email marketing doesn’t answer these questions, then you will never be able to add a critical mass of relevant, engaged subscribers.

Text above and below the subscription box should state the email’s value proposition, wherever that box appears on the website and company blog. The name of the email and any header text should further reinforce the value proposition, to strongly remind subscribers why they signed up for it. Phone and field sales reps should be trained in how to explain the value of the email and encourage customers to subscribe.

Give people a good reason to read your email, and read it they shall!

Need more information?
Brad Shorr
https://twitter.com/bradshorr
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradshorr/
Straight North
Downers Grove, IL
630-824-2172
 

About the Author

Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr is Director of Content Strategy at Straight North, a leading Internet marketing company in Chicago that specializes in SEO, PPC and web design services. With more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience, Brad has been featured in leading online publications including Moz, Smashing Magazine and Entrepreneur.