A quick search on email marketing and mailing services reveals that your email readers must engage with your newsletters. If you want your campaigns to have any results, of course.
On the surface, the number of engagement and clicks shows the actual feelings that an email is sparking on the reader’s end.
So what makes a good email campaign? The open rate? The number of clicks on your website?
You may find voices that argue for each of these metrics. But we call them ‘vanity metrics’ and say that they don’t mean too much.
They are simply stepping stones to the end goal – sales. After all, that’s how you should measure the ROI of a campaign. So yes, open rates and clicks matter – without them, readers won’t get to the actual product or service you are selling. But they are not goals in themselves.
Let’s take a look at how you can boost the number of opens, clicks and, more importantly, sales:
First of all, the right email template has to be part of your equation when creating the newsletter. And yes, you have to look at the technical side, too. A pretty email template means nothing if half your list can’t see it properly.
According to Email on Acid, a template should consist of a single column and not exceed 600px in width. Luckily, many of the mail providers are compliant with this design. Moreover, depending on the area of the display, your template should at least be able to resize and respond – yes, it’s about mobile users here.
Ensure that you brand your mail newsletter. This cannot be stressed enough!
The recipients need to know whom they are receiving emails from, don’t they? Make sure the name of your company appears in the sender’s address and that your logo designis well developed and visible.
This way, you increase your brand awareness and help people associate your name with your brand image. In the long run, it’s the safest way to ensure that you gain loyal customers.
Irrespective of your campaign goal, you usually need people to visit another platform to read, buy or follow something, right? Don’t let them chase or Google the right links (spoiler alert – they won’t). Make it easy for them to read, buy or follow by adding the proper links. But don’t overdo it.
You can’t sell 100 different products in a single email AND get your subscribers to read your latest blog posts. It’s too much and too confusing.
Segment your list properly to know who wants to receive what. And don’t spam with useless links.
Did you know that over 45 billion spam emails get sent every single day? Well, now you know.
With that kind of revelation, you need to avoid words that could get your email marked as spam. Also, you should use an SPF checker to ensure proper email authentication and prevent your messages from being flagged incorrectly.
A lot of emails sent in good faith end up marked as spam because of an unfortunate copywriting error. There are certain words that could trigger spam filters. ‘Free’, ‘money’, ‘win’, ‘lose weight’, ‘get rich’ are just a few of the words and phrases that remind spam filters (and subscribers) of ‘destitute princes’ trying to scam them.
If you’re not one of those princes who needs a few thousand dollars to reclaim your million-dollar fortune, avoid them as much as possible.
Your content needs to be short and precise. A newsletter is not a scholarly journal.
Make sure that it only has content that is in line with the objective. The aim is to get readers out of their inboxes and onto your website. Therefore, the content should also catch the attention of readers using filtered words. The word count of a good email is around 200, according to Constant Contact.
Finally, get to mix and match colors with those of your brand. The right color sets the mood of the text. Color comes second to none when catching the attention of a reader. For precision purposes, tools like Coolors can help make your next newsletter pop.
Email still remains the most popular and widely used mode of communication today. Even with innovations like instant messaging tools and chat-enabled productivity and collaboration tools, email still tops the charts.
This fact alone shows you the power email still holds. Email newsletters can significantly boost your sales. You can also take it a notch higher by integrating your ESP with other apps through SyncApps, which helps your CRM by automatically syncing all your email marketing contacts on a daily basis.
