5 Quick Tips for Better Email Marketing

March 30th, 2009 : posted by matt

1. Engage the reader with a clear 'call to action'

There's usually a reason why companies send out emails. A lot of the time, this boils down to selling more product.

It's vital to the success of an email to get your potential customers to act (even better if you can add an incentive to do so!). As well as your product information, always include action phrases like 'click here', 'buy now' or 'call now'. Spell out what you'd like your readers to do and you'll see better results than if you don't.

2. Subject lines should be intriguing

Depending on the way your reader's email client (e.g. outlook) is set up, your subject line might be the only thing that they initially see of your email. It may be the one thing that decides whether your mail gets read, or instantly binned. With that in mind, put some thought into your subject line. Try to avoid overtly 'salesy' phrases (usually seen as aggressive and superficial) and definitely don't deceive.

3. Pop the top!

Several email clients present unopened emails using a 'preview pane' that only shows a small section of the top of the email. Some email clients also initially open emails in a relatively small window. You can't take for granted that the reader will take time to read your entire email, before deciding if it's of interest. Stick your most important stuff (key messages, calls to action etc.) in the top half of your email design. You don't want your main reason for sending your mail to initially be obscured 'off screen'.

4. Track it

If you don't know how successful an email has been, it's going to be difficult to know where to make improvements in the future. Most email campaign software can produce some sort of statistics on how your email has gone down (open rate, links clicked etc.) but some systems are definitely better than others. Work out what information you'd like to capture, and choose your software accordingly.