Email Marketing – ever tried it before?
So, you’re in business and you’re on the fence about Email marketing. How do you make Email marketing work for your business?
Have you already used Email marketing? Was it successful? If not, why not?
Have you never used Email marketing before? Why haven’t you? Do you not know where to start?
On the negative side:
According to Yes Lifecycle Marketing, inbox overload is the biggest reason subscribers ignore marketing emails. This news comes from a survey of 1,000 consumers of all ages.
They found that 55% of consumers ignore marketing emails due to inbox overload, despite the fact that 47% rank email as their preferred channel for brand communications. Alongside this, 50% of subscribers say they ignore marketing emails because of irrelevant product recommendations, while 41% say irrelevant content.
Finally, the report also suggests that marketers are failing to collect and make use of customer data to personalise emails, as 30% of consumers say they have received recommendations for products they’d already purchased.
On the positive side:
So, what can you do about this?
- Make email content relevant to your audience. If you have a retail business and you know that you customer purchased a dog kennel, for example, then you know it’s safe to say that your customer has a dog. Target content related to dog produces for this customer. Don’t bombard them with product information about every other animal related produce you have.
- Make it personal. There is nothing worse than a really generic address to all readers. Most email marketing tools allow you to address the individual; e.g. “Hi Mary” rather than “Dear Madam”. Also, sign the email off by a named individual in your business – the more senior the better. Making it personal includes having the email sent by a non-generic email address.
- Make sure your emails look professional. Consistency in branding and messaging is so important. Try to keep all emails looking a similar style and tone.
- Use short paragraphs. It’s easier to read and digest shorter snippets and the eyes take in more when there’s not reams of text. Your keywords and phrases need to stand out.
- Use bullet points. Again, it’s easier to skim read and take in the most important points.
- Use images sparingly. Remember that some email providers block images. So, don’t use images to replace words.
- Include relevant links and calls to action. Highlight clearly what you want the customer to do. Is it to phone or book online? Or is it to visit your website? There’s lots of options, but make it clear.
- Make it easy to unsubscribe. Be mindful of GDPR and that you need to have consent to contact the customer via email. Be careful to always include an unsubscribe option.
- Send the email at an appropriate time and day. Customers tend to look upon email contact more favourably on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The favoured times of the day are 10am, 2pm and after 8pm. Research backs this up! However, this is all dependent on who your target customer is and when they have time to read emails. For example, if busy mums are your target, then why mail them when they are busy from morning to evening? Their downtime to catch up on emails could be after 8pm.
- Test subject lines. Have you heard of A/B testing? Simply put, you test two subject lines and see what is opened and viewed more. You then know which subject headline to use to capture your audience’s attention. This, in turn, will improve your open rate.
- Not all of your emails will be read. Don’t lose heart if there isn’t 100% open rate in your emails. Depending on your industry, the open rate may only be from 20-40%.
As ever, Lush Marketing offer a one hour free consultation service for all new customers. If you need help to get your email marketing campaign(s) up and running then let us help you. Feel free to get in touch with us at www.lushmarketing.ie/contact