There are two types of people; those who religiously read emails and those who simply don’t.
Which one are you?
I’ll hold my hands up, I’ve been guilty from time to time of deleting an email if I can’t see ‘30% off!’ or the word ‘FREE’ in the first couple of sentences.
But what do you expect? There are reportedly 200 billion emails sent every day worldwide, with up to 84% of those emails considered spam. And you’ll be wrong to think these are purely marketing; up to 55% of all users admit to not opening or reading messages regularly – business or personal.
With the number of email users set to top the 3 billion mark by 2020, how we interact and what emails we interact with is shifting entirely.
But are your marketing messages up to scratch to stand out from the masses?
Follow our top tips to help you along your way.
Get Personal with Your Subject Line
Giving your emails that personal touch is a proven strategy to boost click-through rate. In fact, studies have found that emails that are personalised for the recipient have an average open rate of 17.6%, compared to 11.4% of those without.
Write an eye catching subject line that flows naturally into the body of the email. This makes it all the more easier for the reader to take in the information given.
Get To the Point
Hi, my names Lydia. I am writing this article today because I like research and informing clients on how to…. Bored yet?
Are your eyed glazed over and begun thinking about dinner tonight? If you’re going to take anything away from this article if should be; if you’re sending emails with tons of copy, stop!
You’re making it much more difficult for yourself, and recipients to decide whether you are right for them.
One of the worst habits we see time and time again are emails that try and shove their entire company story into one email.
Do you read every.single.word in the email? Probably not. It’s more likely that you scan for the important points so you can get a general understanding, and decide if you want to take any action.
Focus on the key message you want to get across. Whether it be a discount or announcement of a new product/store launch, keeping it to the point will be a much more compelling to recipients.
Top tip – include a click through link to a landing page on your website where the recipient can get more information if they wish. Don’t force it, nurture them to be interested in you and your brand.
Use the Right Tone of Voice
Use the tone of voice that fits with your company, as you want to use language that resonates with your target audience. Have this pre-defined beforehand to be consistent across all channels.
Consider the keywords you want to include in your email messaging, keeping in mind the audience you will be sending it to.
Take Action
Use actionable words, not only in your subject line but also in your email copy. By incorporating verbs like; download, buy, ask, reserve etc. the reader knows exactly what they can do with the email.
Actionable words will encourage people to click on your email/link by instilling urgency and excitement.
But be genuine. Don’t readily use a gimmick subject line to entice people to click through, as along with their respect their loyalty will also diminish. With the same token, use actionable verbs sparingly. To overuse can make the recipient numb to your headlines.
Segment Your Data
Now you’ve personalised your subject line and wrote your copy, now is the time to make sure you’re sending your email to the right people.
It’s all well and good urging subscribers to share their contact details with you, but if you’re not segmenting your data, you’re not optimising your email campaigns to their fullest potential.
It’s common knowledge that segmenting your email-marketing lists helps you get better open and click rates. By narrowing your focus and sending messages to targeted groups within your lists, your recipients will find your campaigns more relevant—and relevant campaigns get better results.
But that alone won’t drive change, you need to know what content appeals to which customers.
There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach to email marketing. There will always be clients who are at different stages of your customer life cycle and sending everyone the same message is counter-intuitive.
Why not segment your data depending on age, interests, buying behaviour, geographic location etc. Targeting your customers based on their preferences can help with engagement and deliver a better understanding of their wants and needs from your business.
Research by the Direct Marketing Association found that segmented and targeted emails generated 58% of all revenue for businesses.
In layman’s terms, segmentation equals more clicks.
Mobile friendly?
Mobile is slowly becoming the more dominant device we use to access information. According to The Kahuna Mobile Marketing Index, over 85% of emails were opened on a mobile device in Q1 2016.
With this in mind, are your emails optimised for mobile?
In order to get your slice of the pie, your emails must be easily read on mobile devices otherwise your users won’t be able to interact with your email messages, and will either delete (or worse) unsubscribe.
Customise your email width – while iOS devices adjust screen width automatically, many don’t. So consider trimming your email width.
Good luck!
What are your best tips and tricks for improving email subject lines? Share them below.
