If you are not doing email marketing, you’re leaving a ton of money on the table. It’s super effective, and there is no reason NOT to do it.
But to get the best out of email marketing, one needs to understand the science behind it and learn how to write sales-pulling emails.
It goes beyond performing your monthly or weekly ritual of sending out a newsletter.
You need to see your newsletter as a potent marketing tool, and you need to adopt that mindset while writing it.
There are tricks to get people to see your email subjects, open your emails, and take actions specified in the email.
These 9 strategies will take your newsletters and email campaign to the next level.
1. Give people an incentive for opting in
Let’s go back to the basics for a moment. In order to make sales, you need to have a list of responsive subscribers.
To achieve this, you need to give them a deal they can’t resist. You can’t just say “please subscribe” and expect to get great results.
The best way to approach this is to deliver lots of value. Make them an offer they can’t refuse. For instance, you could offer those who sign up a discount, such as 20% off their first purchase. You will have a much better chance of getting them to opt-in that way.
But make sure you include “value” throughout your content. Let your subscribers know that they will be the first to know about new products and exclusive deals from time to time.
Also, In addition to the discounts and exclusive deals, you should find new ways to give your subscribers more value.
If you own an airline, for instance, your company could allow newsletter subscribers access to priority boarding.
You could offer your subscribers free access to exclusive eBook downloads or webinars. If you are into event hosting, giving free entry to your subscribers would be a fantastic deal.
You need to get creative with this. The more email subscribers you add to your list, the more conversions and sales you will generate.
2. Focus on your objective
What is the objective of your newsletter?
You should address this question before you write a word. If you don’t have a definite goal in mind, don’t you think your subscribers will be confused as well?
Some common email newsletter objectives include:
- Generate conversions/sales
- Grow social media following
- Increase targeted traffic to a landing page
- Download an eBook
- Promote a service or product launch
Your company might choose to have lots of other objectives. But if you don’t know where to start, these should serve as a helpful guide.
Stick to one and follow it through. You will only confuse your prospects if you attempt to squeeze all these into a single message.
But, whatever you do, make sure you give your prospective customer a specific action to take after digesting your email newsletter.
3. Getting people to open emails
You win 50% of the battle if you get a subscriber to open an email.
According to a study by HubSpot, companies with 1-10 employees get an average open rate of about 35.3% and those with 26-200 employees see an average open rate of approximately 32.3%.
From experience, we’ve learned that creating interesting emails leads to a higher open rate.
For example, you should try to use your first name in the “from” section of the email.
The reason we suggest this is that research shows that people are more likely to open an email after seeing this section.
Always ask yourself if the sender is credible. “Does the content appeal to me?” “Would I read more of their emails?” “Do I find their stuff useful?”
Checking out who sent the email is the best way to find out.
Lots of people’s inboxes are already spammed to death, and they are wary of opening emails from random companies. But most people will read emails from real people who are ready to them achieve their goals.
4. Create a compelling subject line
To get conversions from your email list, you need subscribers to open and read your emails. The subject of your email is critical to the success of your campaign.
Once you learn to get higher open rates by creating compelling subject lines, you are likely to generate more conversions and sales.
How do you get more of your subscribers to open your emails? For beginners, ensure you create engaging subject lines. Having a subject line that says “April Newsletter” is not enough to make people open your email.
Personalise your messages: most marketers have reported that subject lines with a personal feel lead to a high open-rate. Also, 75% of email marketers reveal that personalised emails lead to increased click-through rates.
One of the most effective ways to create a personalised email is to use the name of the recipient in the subject line.
You can also get more people to open your newsletter by using time-sensitive subject lines. You can achieve this by creating a sense of urgency.
If you have some breaking news to share in your newsletter, it will encourage more people to open your emails. They would want to hear the breaking news now rather than later.
We’ve also seen great results by focusing on specific problems our client’s subscribers are facing. Try to create content that helps your subscribers solve their problem or help them improve their lives.
You want to create a subject line that’s so intriguing that your readers have no choice than to stop and open your email.
You should make them curious and make them feel like they need to click the email to fill that curiosity.
For example, a business into B2B might have a subject line that reads “How to Double Your Conversions from the Same Amounts of Traffic Overnight.”
We recorded one of our best open rates when we asked subscribers for help. One of our clients needed readers to give a genuine response to a Pozible Crowdfunding campaign.
Using some emotion-stimulating words can help skyrocket your open rates also.
If you are finding it hard to churn out exciting subject lines, those words can make a massive difference in the success of your campaign.
You can try some of these emotion-stimulating words:
- mind-blowing
- amazing
- crazy
- exciting
- please
MailChimp recently reveals that certain time-sensitive words have a significant impact on email open rates. Some of them include:
- breaking
- urgent
- alert
- important
I believe the point is a bit clearer now. Smart blogger published this list of 317 power words. You should refer to it.
5. Craft an irresistible opening line
After getting subscribers to open your message, it’s time to craft an opening line that gets them hooked.
This is one of the most underrated steps.
Why?
Because readers don’t get to see the subject line first!
Lots of email viewers nowadays allow readers to see a part of the email without having to open the email.
Depending on how long the subject line is (as well as the browser’s viewpoint), the email body is twice as visible!
This sort of display is not limited to desktop email programs. You should also have mobile users in mind as well.
So, how should you word the content of your opening line?
We address subscribers by their first name most times. This infuses some sorts of a personal feel to the email, which is critical to retaining their attention.
But ensure you let them know the purpose of your email as they start reading. Irrelevant intros might make people click the back button and abandon the rest of the message.
Just hit the nail on the head so you can connect with readers right away.
6. Make a connection in the body
This is where the real connection with your audience is required. Here you can show them how your product or services can benefit and improve their life.
We recommend you keep things simple and avoid using too many unnecessary words here.
Remember the goal here – to capture attention and gain trust. You want to pitch them slightly before they proceed further in the sales funnel.
Don’t be too desperate for the sale here.
Avoid using large blocks of text. Instead, use simple sentences and short paragraphs.
Also, we recommend that you write in the second person and write like you are talking to a friend in real life.
Try asking personal questions so it looks more like a real conversation anyone would have face-to-face.
7. Share only niche-focused content
People will start unsubscribing from your email list if you begin to feed them with irrelevant content. Focusing on your main topic is critical to a flourishing campaign.
For instance, let’s assume your company is into the manufacture of various household appliances such as kettles, coffee machines, and food processors. You have no business talking about music or politics.
It is not in your niche, and your subscribers did not subscribe to receive such content.
Also, try to keep away from controversial topics in your emails as much as you can. Topics like politics, religion and other sensitive issues should be avoided if your business is not in any of those fields.
8. Dazzle with visuals
Images and videos offer additional ways to engage with your audience.
While blogging is not the topic of discussion here, the same strategy applies to newsletters. You need to bear in mind that there are people who won’t like to read every text in your email.
If you are looking for a better way to engage with your audience, adopt the use of visuals. With the aid of infographics and images, people can quickly scan through your content and get the full message at a glance.
Also, include videos in your newsletters when appropriate. People are more likely to open an email that has a video in it.
They don’t have to read every word if they don’t want to, and they still get the full message in the email. This is in line with what we discussed previously about having a specific objective in your newsletter.
9. Incorporate a sense of urgency
This is another thing that delivers great results.
Lots of people love to procrastinate. They may be in the middle of some other tasks or don’t have the time to take the action you require of them right away.
This isn’t a good look because the chance of them coming back after closing the email is slim to non-existent.
Hence the need to give them reasons to act right away.
For instance, you might include words like “this offer will be pulled down in 24 hours,” or “only 5 slots left at this price.”
This is effective at getting your subscribers to take action now rather than later.
Conclusion
At the end of the day email is still really important and should be part of your marketing toolkit.
To get the right results, you need to understand the mindset of the reader and get the formula right.
You’ll see a dramatic increase in your conversion and click through rates if you follow these simple tips.
Get In Touch With Us Today
If you want to know how your business can benefit from Email Marketing, then get in touch with the Bright Owl team today. You can also take advantage of some of our email marketing packages to give your business a push in the right direction.
Our professional marketing consultants will ask you important questions about your business, current marketing tasks, target audience, and industry to see how we can help take your business to the next level.
