Email marketing is the oldest and probably the most misused Internet marketing tool. Let’s start with an overwhelming fact: every day 196.4 million emails are sent worldwide and nearly half of them (80.2 millions) are newsletters.
These numbers are sobering enough to make you at least stop and ask yourself: how many of my emails are actually read? And out of them, how many will convince the readers to visit my website and eventually buy my products?
Unless you are doing your email marketing right, your chances are very slight. Every day, your subscribers are targeted by at least 10 other marketers with emails, and hundreds others through website banners, Facebook ads and Google ads.
So, what does email marketing “done right” look like? Step up your email marketing game with these 5 powerful tips:
#1 Remember That You Are Writing To A Human Being
It’s simple to lose sight of your subscribers when you view them as percentages, conversion rates, and customer lifetime values. However, keep this important point in mind when crafting your emails. Speak to your subscribers personally, using their first name, and write as if you’re communicating with just one individual.
The tone of your emails should be warm and chatty. Don’t rush to get to the call to action or push your sales pitch like it’s a matter of life and death. If readers don’t like your tone or message, they can easily scroll to the bottom and hit the “Unsubscribe” link.
#2 Tell Them One Thing, And Tell It Well
Have a clear purpose for your email. Do not get lost in more than one topic and lose sight of your purpose. If you begin your email as a how-to, or an anecdote and midway you decide to turn it into a sales pitch, that doesn’t flow well.
Never start writing the email before you can reduce its whole purpose to one simple statement in your mind. “I want to inform them about my new product,” “I want them to download this e-book,” “I want them to give feedback about my products.” These are valid purposes, and they will help you write an engaging email.
#3 Leave The Tricks To The Jester
Not only because the engagement won’t increase, it might cease altogether if you trick people. Some tricks are crude, others subtle, but they all leave people with a sour aftertaste. Don’t catch them with a title tag and then have your email be about something different. Don’t promote a product as ‘on sale’ if it really isn’t.
#4 Offer A Good Content Mix
Your subscribers have different tastes, so prepare different types of content to satisfy all sets of taste buds. By the time you have your email marketing strategy in place, you should have a clear idea of your customer demographic. Thus, make sure you build your email content around all of your types of customers.
In addition, make sure you’re not sending out useless emails. Provide value or somethign interesting in every message so they get excited when they see your emails!
#5 Always Include A Call To Action
Last but not least, dont’ just send an email and not include a ‘next step’.Each email should have a call to action ti get people to do something: view a video, participate in a poll, join a contest, or write a product review. If they are not given the chance to interact with you, they most likely won’t.