When DONE CORRECTLY, email marketing can be a highly effective way to:
- Generate leads
- Boost sales
- Build brand loyalty
- Increase website traffic
- Nurture leads over time
This week, in part one of a two-part series, let’s review the top 10 email marketing “Do’s” to help you achieve success in your email campaigns.
10 Tips to Maximize Email Marketing Success
- Follow all CAN-SPAM Laws. Within your email content, be sure to include:
- Your physical address
- Email address
- Phone number
- Ability for the recipient to easily unsubscribe from your email campaigns
- Develop an Email Marketing Strategy
- Determine goals/objectives.
- Identify hot topics of interest to your target industry (see #5 for more ideas).
- Create an email marketing schedule and stick to it. Remember: Consistency is the key.
- Sending an email once a month is a great start; twice a month is even better.
- Be sure your email marketing strategy is linked to your sales strategy and goals.
- Use a Current, High-Quality List
- Use a high-quality, targeted email marketing list with accurate information
- Be sure to send to enough people in your target market to achieve desired results. (Note: With an average email open rate of 10%, combined with an average 5% click-through rate, a list of 1000 contacts will yield only 5 “interested” people. So, be certain you are using a large enough email marketing database in the first place!)
- Always keep your email marketing list current.
- Remove all unsubscribes and bounces from your list after each email campaign.
- Use an Email Marketing System
- Use an email marketing system (e.g. MailChimp), designed to track all email activity, including opens, clicks, and unsubscribes.
- Leverage email marketing automation tools to improve marketing efficiency.
- Create workflows to automatically nurture interested leads using “hot list” triggers. (i.e. the number of times a contact opens your emails; the number of times they click on certain links, etc.)
- Create Value-Added content (versus SALES content)
- Develop educational, thought-leadership content the reader will find helpful in their business.
- Write about industry trending topics.
- Take a controversial stance on something to get the reader’s attention.
- Think from the recipient’s perspective. What interests your readers? What kind of content would YOU OPEN? (On the flip side: What makes you delete an email? What makes you unsubscribe?)
- Create a Compelling Subject Line
- This is critical! Have a powerful, interesting subject line that builds curiosity.
- Keep it short and sweet for ease of mobile reading: Aim for simple/concise text.
- Use a number in your subject line. (e.g. “Top 5 Ways to Improve Email Marketing Results”) Numbered lists entice people to open emails.
- Try something controversial.
- Avoid using SPAM-trigger words or all caps in your subject line. (Do not use words including: Free, offer, trial, clearance, sale, buy, order, click, call, deal, guarantee, compare, sign up, urgent, open, opt-in, etc.)
- Use an “Email Teaser”
- Do not give away the whole article in your email campaign. Provide just enough information, an “email teaser,” so readers will be enticed to “Click to read more.”
- Include trackable links where people must “Click to read the full article” (This is the only way you will know who is actually engaging with your content!)
- Make the message personalized and relevant – Use the person’s first name.
- Keep the content short and EASY to read – Use bullets and bolded text.
- Include a SINGLE, CLEAR call to action. (e.g. “Click here to read article.” or “Click here to register for webinar.”)
- Use a simple email template design without too many graphics which can get caught in SPAM filters.
- Test Messages
- Test your email messages on various popular email systems to be sure your content looks good across a variety of platforms.
- Measure, Analyze, Tweak
- Use Trackable links to track and measure opens, clicks, and unsubscribes to see what works well and what doesn’t.
- Continue to test, analyze results and tweak your campaigns based on results.
- Try different topics, subject lines, frequency, email templates, marketing lists, etc.
- Always seek to improve results.
- Make it Mobile Friendly
- More than 50% of email is now opened on a mobile device.
- Be sure your email design fits the screen.
- Keep the word length short and manageable.
- Ensure the loading time doesn’t take forever.
- Keep up with changes in technology to ensure optimal results.
Remember, Mentor Tech Group is a highly specialized company offering marketing intelligence data for companies selling and marketing to decision-makers in e-learning, corporate training, talent management, and HR.
You can outsource to an expert in your business. Mentor Tech Group provides:
- Precisely Targeted Decision Maker Lists
- Free 4-month updates
- 100% verified data – by phone interview!
- Segmented by Job Function (i.e. the contact’s ACTUAL area of responsibility)
See what our customers are saying, then contact us at (651) 457-8600 Extension 1.
P.S. If you’re attending the annual ATD International Conference in May, please be sure to visit the MTG-sponsored exhibitor booth for complimentary coffee, tea and water! Hope to see you there!
