We’re in 2020, social media is the trend and you may think that emailing is now dead. Don’t make this mistake! Far from being dead, email marketing remains an essential tool to include in your marketing strategy, and we tell you why below.
Remember that when you use social media, content is filtered by these platforms and do not reach all people in your fan base. When set up and designed properly, email marketing allows you to reach your customers and prospects much more efficiently.
A recent study by McKinsey & Company shows that email marketing is up to 40 times more effective than social media and that the buying process happens 3 times faster than in social media.
So how do you launch a successful emailing campaign? Here’s a bit of advice
- Optimize your emails for mobile devices
Number of emails opened on mobiles now outnumber opens on desktop. It is therefore crucial to ensure that your email content is optimized for mobiles. - Keep subject lines short and compelling
Subject lines can make or break your campaign. 33% of people decide whether to open an email solely based on its title. A study done by Retention Science states that the best open rates are achieved when titles are 6 – 10 words long.
In addition to the length of your subject, pay attention to its content: make it persuasive enough to encourage contacts to open the emails, but friendly enough to not turn them off.
- Pay attention to the sender’s name
The ‘From’ name is as important as your subject line! No one likes receiving emails from info@mycompany.mu. Avoiding generic brand names and using real persons’ names within your organization will drastically improve your open rates. - Personalize your messages
No two customers are exactly the same – so why should your emails be? Personalizing your greeting with the name of your client is already a first and easy step, but you can go much further than this. Segment your client database in order to send them communication tailored to their tastes and preferences or based on their past purchases with your company. - Include a clear call to action
The point of any marketing message is to get a response!
You’ve convinced your audience to open the mail, you grabbed their attention through a personalized message, now it’s time to get them to click. Think about what you want them to do next (visit your website, fill-in a form, buy a product…) and create a clear call to action.
Bonus hint: Use CTA buttons. Using a button-based CTA rather than a link-based CTA increases click-through rates by an average of 28%. - Send your emails at the right time
Our emailing solution, goMail, takes the guess work out of choosing the ideal send time! Based on data such as recipients’ previous engagement and their location, we optimize the send time to send your campaign when your audience is most likely to open it. - Do not overdo it
A 2016 study by Hubspot shows that 78% of recipients claim to have unsubscribed from mailing lists because they are receiving too many emails.
So what’s the ideal email frequency?
Data suggests that sending a new campaign roughly every two weeks is optimal. This being said, your business and audience are unique to you, and this average might not be what works best in your case. Test different scenarios, analyse your open, click and unsubscribe rates, and then you’ll find the perfect timing for you. - Make your emails shareable
Make life easy for customers who would like to share your email with colleagues, friends and family members.
Including Share buttons, either by email or on social media, can help to increase your brand awareness and distribute your promotional offers widely. - Use A/B testing to test specific aspects of your campaigns
A/B testing helps you to work out which of two campaign options is the most effective to encourage opens or clicks.
How does this work?
Step 1 – Set up two versions of your campaign and send them to a small percentage of your database. This means that half of the test group is sent email A, and the other half is sent email B.
Step 2 – Measure the results and determine which option yields the most opens or clicks (according to your objective).
Step 3 – Sent the highest-scoring version to your remaining subscribers. - Learn from your previous campaigns
Just like with A/B testing, previous sent campaigns allow you to learn a lot on your audience’s preferences. Use your reports’ metrics to learn what works and what doesn’t and adapt your future campaigns accordingly.
This may all seem a bit overwhelming if you have just started to integrate email marketing to your marketing strategy. The good news: goCloud is here to help you make best use of these tips. Have a look at our emailing packages or contact us for a personalized quote.