A company has many options when trying to reach out to their client base. However, one of the strongest tools for running a marketing campaign is email. So, making sure you plan out a strong email campaign is essential. A well-executed marketing strategy can increase customer engagement and loyalty, while a poorly carried out one can have the opposite effect.
Luckily, if you’ve had bad luck in the past with your email strategies, it’s relatively easy to right those wrongs. By following a few simple steps, you too can optimize your campaign and increase your click-through-rate.
Steps for a successful email campaign
#1 Be Organized
The first step in launching any successful marketing campaign is visualizing what you want to get out of it. Going in with vague intentions will make the whole process more difficult, and also lead to possible disinterest and confusion from your readers.
Begin by asking yourself questions like:
- Are you trying to sell a product?
- Are you trying to attract subscribers to a newly launched service?
- Do you want to get an increase in your conversion rates through a new web feature?
By clearly laying out your goal, you can give yourself a path to follow while writing your email. Establishing what you want to achieve from the get-go lets you produce more relevant and accurate content.
#2 Be Flexible
The next step to take after setting your goal is deciding how you want to track your successes. By measuring metrics, you can identify what parts of your campaign are working, and which aren’t.
These metrics could be anything from checking on click-through or conversion rates to seeing how much your web traffic has grown. Test a few different email marketing designs to determine what gives you the best ROI. By making minor tweaks to emails, you can give yourself the best chance for success.
#3 Be Transparent
It can be tempting to use a click-baity subject line to grab your readers’ attention. While you would think this would help transform readers into clients, it can actually alienate these subscribers. A misleading subject line may help to get your email opened, but once a reader discovers that it has nothing to do with the actual content of the email, they will become disenchanted with you and your brand.
A subject line that clearly states what it is you’re offering in the email can be the key to success for your brand’s email campaign. Not only does it show that your company is honest, but it also has the added bonus of attracting people who are actually interested in what you’re talking about; this can dramatically increase your success rates on your CTA. Subject lines with the information about great offers and prizes can also highly increase the email open rates.
Additionally, make sure you’re taking advantage of available space. Your typical email server doesn’t just show your subject line in an inbox; it also includes the first few words of your email. Don’t let this opportunity to get your audience’s’ attention go to waste.
#4 Be Picky
Nobody wants to look through pages of fluff to get to the heart of the message. In fact, most readers won’t even stick around long enough to get there if they feel as though their time is being wasted. With all the interesting and absorbing content available on the internet, people don’t want to spend unnecessary amounts of time getting to the point.
This is why editing is so important. While a writer can probably do a great job editing for grammatical errors, they’ll also be attached to all the content included in the email. Having friends or coworkers give it a look as well can help you make sure you’ve been as clear and concise as possible in getting your message across.
#5 Be Responsive
Chances are you have customers that are opening your emails on their mobile devices. In 2017, up to 47% of users were checking their inboxes on their smartphones. If your email is not easy to read on the small-screen, potential customers will completely ignore your message.
Be sure to make your content easy to digest, using short paragraphs and graphics to help streamline your content. Picking out your format as you set your goals can help make sure you don’t waste unnecessary time reformatting your information.