Email is one of the most effective forms of marketing. And consumers agree! Based on a report by MarketingCharts.com, “email is not only their preferred brand communication channel, but it also acts as a purchase influencer to more US Millennials than any single paid advertising medium.”
While many emails that land in consumer’s inboxes may be deleted, attitudes towards email are improving. According to a report by Forrester, 42% of US adults delete email advertising without reading it, down from 44% in 2013 and 59% in 2010. However, 44% of email recipients admit they made at least one purchase last year as a result of a commercial newsletter.
Here are 3 tips to improve engagement with consumers – before they press the delete button.
1) Subject Lines
- Emails with subject lines of less than 10 characters had an open rate of 58%.
- 64% of people say they open an email because of the subject line.
- Emails with personalized subject lines are 22.2% more likely to be opened.
So how do you create winning subject lines? They need to attract attention. Check out these following examples:
2) Optimize for Mobile
Nearly half of all emails are opened on mobile devices. According to Hubspot:
- 48% of emails are opened on mobile devices.
- 69% of mobile users delete emails that aren’t optimized for mobile.
- 89% of email marketers are losing leads and opportunities because they’re not optimizing their emails.
If you aren’t optimizing for mobile, you are losing out on significant opportunities. Hubspot published a great article on how to optimize emails for mobile.
3) Personalize Your Message
Your emails need to be 100% about your customers and prospects. What are their lifestyles and interests? Based on their past purchases, what offers will be most appealing? Email marketing has huge potential to boost your sales, customer loyalty, and customer acquisition.
The top reasons for U.S. email users to unsubscribe from a business or nonprofit email subscription are content that is not relevant (56%). (Source: ChadwickMartinBailey)
However, you must understand consumers to meet your business objectives. An integrated marketing database and analytics to segment your customers and prospects according to their needs is crucial for your email marketing to be successful.
When customers are segmented for more personalized offers, the results speak for themselves. According to a report by Lyris:
- Email open rates increased by 39%
- Emails were seen as more relevant by 34% of email recipients
- Unsubscribe rates reduced by 28%
Consider using personalized transactional emails to up-sell and cross-sell your products and services. Transactional emails such as order confirmations, receipts, and content download emails are almost guaranteed to be read. This offers an excellent opportunity to suggest other items based on past purchase history, or provide special incentives, events, and offers based on your customer’s profile.
The use of predictive analytics also offer a way to reach out to consumers with personalized messaging. Use advanced analytics to discover trends, what is working, how customers interact with your emails, or how purchase behaviors can predict what a consumer may purchase next.
Download our business intelligence guide to learn how to better understand your customers and send emails that drive conversions.