At first, it can seem quite daunting to become an email marketing expert. It requires a lot of patience and testing as there are so many parts that need to work together, but by using a few simple techniques, you’ll be way ahead of most people. Here are 5 tips to get you started on your path to a profitable email campaign:
1. First things first
No matter how good your product, service, or app is, it’s only useful when you can get it into the hands of your target customers. Research has shown that 1 in 3 potential customers will definitely open an email from a business email address. Unfortunately, most small businesses, especially startups, still use a generic email account (Yahoo, Gmail, etc.) during email marketing campaign.
2. Attractive subject line
It all starts with the subject line. This is where it grabs the user’s attention and tries to get them to open and read your email. While it can sometimes be worth trying to do something clever, it usually works great to keep it reasonably short and give a hint of what’s inside the email so the user knows what to expect. Try to avoid exaggerating too much or sounding like a salesperson. Think of the person on the other end of the line as a friend, not someone you are marketing to.
3. Involve your reader from the beginning
Once the user opens your email, you want to connect immediately, within the first few seconds of reading. That’s really all you have until you decide whether to continue reading or move on to the next email in your inbox. The best way to do this is to deliver the most valuable part of your email right away. Don’t dwell too much on the body text either, but try to keep the email down to the essentials. Shorter is almost always better, and again you should try to write as if you were writing to a friend. Casual, conversational and simple is the way to go.
4. Attractive call to action
Most likely, the purpose of the email you are sending is to get the user to do something. You might want them to sign up for a membership on your site or buy something. Whatever it is, the call to action is the part where you actually ask them to do it. Usually the best way to do this is to include a big button that they can’t miss, saying something simple like “Download Now” or “Sign Up for Free.” You can also include in-content links in your body text to increase the chances that they will actually take action.
5. Split test
The best way to find out what works for your particular list is to get into the habit of split-testing your subject line and call-to-action. Just send different variations of email to smaller segments of your list and look at your stats to see what works and what doesn’t.