Email newsletters can be a fantastic way to share stories, news and information with your audience. They give you an opportunity to get into the minds and inboxes of your audiences with just a few clicks of a button and without pulling on the marketing budget’s purse strings. However, with the number of emails landing in all our inboxes every day there is a battle for audience’s attention. With the global open rate on marketing emails at only 18%, how can you stop your email ending up in the 82% left unseen, or worse, deleted? Here are some tips to help decrease the deleters:
First Impressions Matter It’s easy to just shove a generic subject line in that doesn’t take much time or thought but using “Winter Newsletter” or “Read our latest news” is not getting anyone’s attention! According to Marketo’s research, the ideal length for a subject line is 7 words, or 41 characters, so you have not got long to grab their attention. A short description of what your reader can find inside makes your email much more appealing. Using a snappy list, “Marketing wins, client stories & opportunities for you”, or a short heading, “Our guide to the latest trends”, will give the recipient a much better idea of what they will get out of the email and makes it more worthwhile for them to click. What’s in it for me? It may sound obvious, but when composing the content for your newsletter, it is important to think about what your audience will want to read about and what they can get out of it. We, as marketeers, are often focused on our targets and aims and how to reach these, so we add links to where we want them to go, or a call to action to direct them to what we want them to do. Take a step back and think what the added value for the email recipient is! A top tip is to separate your content into helpful subheadings and provide a contents list at the top of the email. Your reader can then quickly find the information that interests them. This will reduce the number of people that open the email, see the long body of content and send it to the deleted folder! But don’t make it too long Life is busy! Too busy to spend ages reading a marketing email that’s the length of the Bayeux tapestry. So those of us who are curating the content for these emails need to bare that in mind. Just be aware of the amount you’re trying to squeeze in and keep big blocks of text to a minimum and you’re onto a winner! Stay on brand I have no doubt that your company has a visual identity, whether that is a specific colour palette, a bold logo or a specific font, make sure your emails follow your rules. If you have built up a relationship with your audience and they recognise your brand, they are much more likely to continue reading and not toss your email in the trash folder. What’s more, presenting your email in an easy to read, but attractive way may also boost attention in your send. There are loads of sites and tools that you can use for email marketing that allow you to design and personalise your email exactly how you want. No need for boring looking mail merges anymore! Avoid stock photos This tip is less specific for email marketing, as it could apply to any of your marketing activities. Audiences are drawn to visual content so using images, even stock images, in your emails is preferable to large sections of text. However, stock photos stand out like a sore thumb, and often don’t add anything to the story you are sharing. Try, whenever possible, to use real photos gathered by you, your clients or customers. A real photo can add a personal touch, can emphasise your message and can increase engagement. Audiences are reportedly 35% more likely to engage when a real picture was used, instead of a stock photo.
If any of these tips have struck a chord and you want some more advice, or you would like some help putting an email marketing plan together, organise a free consultation with us or drop us a message.