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Are your email marketing campaigns opened all or most of the time? If you’re experiencing lackluster results, follow the guidelines below to increase the number of times your campaigns are opened. Remember to avoid SPAM words such as Free and Urgent. Proofread emails carefully — you never know who’s reading them!
How to Create Marketing Emails That Get Opened
1. Create an identifiable look and feel of email campaigns.
2. Use consistent a color pattern.
3. Use a short and simple subject line. Remember, mobile devices don’t read that many characters. Incorporate a specific benefit for readers. Why should they care? Why should they open your emails? What’s in it for them? Also, don’t forget to include your brand in your email campaign. Capitalize and punctuate carefully.
Layout of Email Marketing
Business to Consumer
1. Use a newsletter layout.
Incorporate equal images to text, i.e., lifestyle shots, product shots, etc. Remember, 60% of email readers view with images ON.
Business to Business
1. Use a card layout with ALL or mostly text.
2. Give facts about the product/service.
3. Have a clear call to action.
Note: Most business to business email readers view emails with images OFF. If images are off, type out your business name. Make sure your brand is present by including a description for an image; make it a clickable link. Also, add to Safe Sender List.
FYI: The text version is viewed by 15% of your list.
4. Place important links at the top. Include an engaging message before the links. Shorten the link it it’s too long.
FYI: Smartphones now show HTML emails.
LESS IS MORE! 15-20 SECONDS IS SPENT ON A CLICKED MESSAGE
LIMIT YOUR NEWSLETTER OR CARD 3 TO 5 TOPICS
5. Use power words such as New, Introducing, Save, Discover, Results, Top-Notch, etc.
6. Avoid weak words such as Maybe, Hope, Try, Wish, Perhaps, etc.
FYI: Assist email readers with scanning your emails. Be mindful of bullet points, whitespace, bold headlines, keywords and columns.
Calls of Actions … What’s the Objective?
• What’s the next step?
• What’s in it for them?
• What do you want the reader to do?
BE DIRECT AND SPECIFIC BY USING WORDS SUCH AS:
BUY NOW … LOYAL CUSTOMERS … LEARN MORE (Include multiple links for newer relationships)
Effective Calls of Actions
• Direct readers to the correct landing page by including the proper link.
• Typically, the home page isn’t appropriate.
• Use Readable URLs … must be a legitimate URL.
Insert a video in your Email because this increases click through rate by 300%.
Note: The video doesn’t have to be yours. It could be a video that compliments your business/industry.
Other
1. Include share buttons such as social media, forward to friends, etc.
2. Include a JOIN MY MAILING LIST button which makes it easier for people to join your list.
3. Preview emails BEFORE you send them out.
Related articles
- 12 Guaranteed Ways to Annoy Your Email Recipients (hubspot.com)
- Different Email Marketing Strategies (profitonknowledge.com)
- 7 Tactics to Delete From Your Email Marketing NOW (hubspot.com)
