Email marketing is about much more than just sending mass emails. It’s an essential channel which allows us to communicate with our customers, monitor them, keep them informed of our news and also build up their loyalty. It is simply a basic element within any online marketing strategy.
But to achieve our objectives, we have to get the recipients to open our emails and interact with them.
In a recent study, UK marketing agency Experian Marketing Services analysed the results of all their email marketing campaigns over the past year. The study highlights that their campaigns have an average Open Rate of 24.79%, with a Click Through Rate of 4.19% and a Click-to-Open Rate of 11.88%.
We also observe the great differences in terms of Opening Rate between different sectors. We highlight the email marketing campaigns of the government sector with an open rate of 44.99% as opposed to, for example, the advertising sector with a rate of 16.64%.
The opening rate is the number of emails that have been opened among all the emails we have sent in an email marketing campaign, the click rate indicates the percentage of users who have interacted with the content of the mail, and the click-to-open rate calculates the percentage of users who have interacted based on the number of emails opened.
All these values determine the success of an email marketing campaign and therefore affect the results of the online marketing strategy. In this article we will give you five basic tips that will help you improve your campaigns.
1. An eye-catching issue
Most of us have quite congested email boxes and it is the subject that determines whether a user decides to open an email. The subject line is the seller of the email marketing and is what will make the difference between a low or high open rate.
To stand out from other emails and seduce users, the subject of your emails must be striking:
- Promise them something good: If just by looking at the subject line we know what we’re going to find in the email, we usually feel better, more informed. If it is good news, we will be even more perceptive and want to know more.
- Use powerful words: Using an emotional and sensitive vocabulary will attract much more attention making your emails stand out.
- Don’t discard the use of emoticons: Platforms like Mailchimp include this option that gives more dynamism to the subject. But it is convenient not to abuse it so as not to tire the users.
- Use numbers: The numbers provoke alert in the look and make us stop unconsciously in a mail.
- It piques the user’s curiosity: Be daring, break the mould, use strange words, expressly leave the information in the air and even bypass conventional social codes.
- Don’t be too intellectual or formal: A too formal tone in the subject will make you seem too snobby. The best thing to do in an email marketing campaign is to be simple, direct, sincere and friendly.
2. Be brief and concise in content
The content of the message must be brief, concise and interesting for those for whom it is intended and, of course, in line with the subject of the mail.
It is a good idea to write it quickly. It sounds silly, but it is the most effective way to convey your enthusiasm and personality to the user without falling into artificiality. Of course, you should avoid looking like a robot or using pre-established formulas. You should write in the most natural way possible and, above all, avoid using the “you”. You want him to feel like a friend!
Avoid making too much of a mess. You know, short and concise, with short, concrete paragraphs, highlighting the issues of interest to the user.
3. The importance of eye-catching design
Another key to a successful email marketing campaign is its design. Emails must be visually appealing, attracting the user’s interest and not boring or tiring to read. The best way to achieve this is with a good image that also reinforces the message we want to convey.
We must choose relevant and quality images that really illustrate what we offer. It is important that we remember that, before reading the text, the user will look at the images, and if he does not like them, he will close the email.
In any case, it is also very important to choose very carefully the images we insert in terms of volume and size. It must be taken into account that many mail managers block them by default if the format is too large.
It is also very important to include an eye-catching call to action, guiding the user’s view to it. In fact, that is the objective of our mail, that users click on that call to action. That’s why it’s probably the most important component of our email marketing campaigns.
4. Perform A/B tests
By carrying out A/B testing we can evaluate two different versions of our email campaign, determining which one is more effective and adapting to our customers’ needs. In addition, the advantage is that we can check both the subjects and the contents of the emails.
With the results obtained from the tests we can optimise the mailings, doubling the chances of improving the opening and click rates.
5. Don’t forget responsive design
The best content and an eye-catching design are not enough to make a success of an email marketing campaign if your emails are not displayed correctly on all sorts of devices.
If your emails are not optimised, especially for mobiles, there will be users who will find the text too big, or too small, or too long, or with an impossible scroll. And they will end up marking it as spam.
The solution is the responsive design, designing your campaigns optimized so that they can be adapted to any device.
By following these simple tips, you will get your opening rates, click rates and click-to-open rates to improve dramatically.