Email marketing drives more conversions than any other marketing channel, including search and social. Yet, many companies find it challenging for their emails to reach their target audience who would convert in the first place. How can marketers build email campaigns that actually land the inbox, get read, and finally, are forwarded along to other interested readers?
Follow these three rules to email marketing to make your next campaign a success.
Rule 1: Design
Do – Complement your message with a dynamic design using beautiful imagery that visually balances your message.
Don’t – Have an image-to-text ratio greater than 2:3
Be sure to incorporate content in your email that is consistent with what the subject line describes. No reader wants to be surprised or fooled into opening an email that is not relevant to what is portrayed in the subject line.
Have fun with your design, but make sure it is on brand and relevant.
Rule 2: Delivery
Do – Fit your content around your reader’s schedules, not your own.
Don’t – Send emails that are not supported on mobile devices.
Did you know? Mobile open rates peak just as people are waking up and desktop open rates peak just as your readers are getting settled at work.
Rule 3: Optimization
Do – Track and A/B test your campaign pitfalls and accomplishments to better reach your audience on future email sends.
Don’t – Be afraid to include your sales team in the planning and testing process. The more the sales and marketing departments are in sync, the higher the likelihood your brand has to attract new customers.
When A/B testing, if one email performs better than another, and you don’t know for certain why or have not reached a level of statistical confidence based on the test percentage or sample size, then more testing is needed.
Remember, not all A/B tests will give you the answers you seek. You will be shocked by what wins and what loses. Keep testing. Never stop! Your readers are people with evolving tastes, so keep up with them by A/B testing every campaign.
Want more dos and don’ts?
These three rules are a great place to start, but to master email marketing you have to get acquainted with all the latest rules. In our latest ebook, Reply All: Flat-Out Fundamental Insights into Crafting Compelling Emails that Deliver, we discuss all the email marketing best practices every digital marketer should know.
The Reply All ebook is available in three bite-sized parts or combined in one large epublication and covers email marketing from the time your email is sent, to when it is read and forwarded.
About the Author
Alex Navarro comes to Distribion with a background in developing and executing national brand awareness campaigns. His passion is creating personalized marketing strategies and watching them come to life. Alex studied advertising and marketing at Pepperdine University and has enjoyed working in the field ever since. He also loves meeting new people – connect with him on LinkedIn or Twitter.