5 Effective Email Marketing Techniques Backed By Data

Many brands will invest time and resources in creating social media marketing campaigns, but will largely ignore the role that email can play in marketing.

Many brands will invest time and resources in creating social media marketing campaigns, but will largely ignore the role that email can play in marketing. Sure, they’ll use email if that’s how an engaged customer chooses to communicate. They won’t, however, use email to actively reach out to customers.

This is a shame because if there is one thing that people do almost constantly check their emails. In fact over a third check theirs constantly throughout the day. The surge in mobile use throughout the years has surely contributed to this.

While many brands are inexplicably missing out on this opportunity there are others who are harnessing the marketing potential of email. Many are truly earning some amazing results. Keep reading, and check out the 5 email marketing techniques that are proven winners.

1. Compose Great Email Subject Lines

Fewer than 70% of marketing emails actually make it to the target's inbox. Out of those that do make it,  many are deleted unread or reported as spam. This is often because they contain words and phrases that indicate to the recipient that they are spam. These words include:

  • Cash
  • Free
  • Bargain
  • Easy Qualifying
  • Credit Card Offers

In addition to these and other red flag words and phrases, misspellings and exclamation points are also off-putting to recipients. By avoiding these, and writing short yet compelling subject lines, you will reduce the likelihood of receiving ‘your email was deleted without opening’ messages. To further analyze your headlines for effectiveness, consider using Coschedule’s Headline Analyzer Tool.

2. Use a Giveaway as a Subscription Incentive

 In spite of the fact that the word free is off-putting when used in subject lines, giveaways are definitely an effective email marketing technique. In fact, in one case study, a well-run giveaway resulted in an increase in subscription rates of more than 3,000 percent.

 In the case mentioned above, the WordPress plugin KingSumo Giveaways was used. However, there are some other best practices for giveaways. These include:

  • Give People an Additional Incentive to Share With Others (E.G., 3 additional entries if you like us on Twitter and Tweet this link)
  • Ensure The Prize is Worthwhile
  • Increase Your Overall Marketing ROI by Asking For User Generated Content Along With Email Addresses

3. Use The Right Balance of Text And Emails

You’ve probably been told over and over again that images improve engagement. When it comes to your website, blog, social media posts, and other content this is certainly true. However, when it comes to your marketing emails, the truth is a bit counterintuitive.

It turns out that click thru rates is highest in emails that contain three or fewer images. Of course, this may simply indicate that email subscribers think that less is more. Click thru rates also drop off fairly steeply if there are more than 20 lines of text overall.

It may be worthwhile to streamline the content of your emails in light of these facts. By doing so, you will also make them easier to read on mobile devices, which has obvious benefits. Remember that email is content and that quality counts. Review services such as bestwritersonline.com can help you find copywriters specializing in email marketing.

4. Use Personalization

Personalized emails get better results, much better results. The problem isn’t just that businesses fail to use personalization, they fail to use it effectively. Simply replacing the word ‘customer’ or ‘buyer’ at the opening of an email with an actual name isn’t enough. There are other options that boost the impact of email personalization.

For example, are you sending the same marketing emails to every subscriber? If so, you may be boring many audience members with information that isn’t relevant to them. Consider using segmentation, in order to personalize email content further.

Another option is to customize emails based on previous shopping patterns, behaviors, and preferences. This could include anything from emailing product suggestions based on previous purchases to an email triggered by certain behavior such as not logging in or making a purchase after a particular period of time.

5. Remember That Most Emails Are Checked on Mobile

66% of all emails are now opened on tablets and smartphones. If you weren’t doing so already, it’s a good time to put some best practices into place.

  •  Keep Subject Lines to About 30 Characters
  • Shorten Emails Based on The Three Second Rule
  • Use Larger Type For Readability
  • Reduce Image Size
  • Use a Wide Profile For Social Media Icons

If your approach to mobile has relied on responsive design up until this point,  now may be a good time to switch to a mobile first strategy.

Conclusion

Email marketing can be extraordinarily effective. However, that’s only the case if you apply proven techniques that are supported by data. That, combined with great branding, and strong knowledge of your customer base should improve the percentage of email opens and click thru rates.