Are you dragging your feet getting an email marketing strategy off the ground for your brand, because you are worried about competition in the inbox? You're not alone! In this post we'll take a look at how and why deliverability, subject lines, and copy (with content) influences your email marketing and what you can do to make sure that your email lands as a ringing success in inboxes.
Deliverability:
Hubspot defines deliverability as the 'feedback loop' on your email marketing. Establishing good deliverability or cleaning up an existing status is the first step in making a dent in the noisy inbox. Consider your deliverability 'score' your umbrella for all the elements of tracking that you'll want to consider under neath it: click-thru-rates, open rates, unsubscribes, spams, etc.
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Deliverability can be tricky to track because email hosts like Gmail or Yahoo don't share your ranking. You can sometimes find a suggested report on deliverability within your email service platform (thinking Klaviyo, here) but most of the time it's up to you to track and maintain a solid deliverability ranking.
What happens if you don't? Your emails will start to drop from the 'promotions' tab to the 'spam' tab and this is no bueno for 2 reasons.
1.) The percentage of users that flag your email as spam will affect where it shows up for the other users that haven't.
2.) You want your readers/clients to see your emails to engage with them to convert and make the effort of the email worthwhile. The fewer eyes on your email affects your open rate which further affects your deliverability rate for future sends. Your message ending up in a spam folder is wasted time, money, and resources that could be avoided with maintained deliverability reporting.
Subject Line:
Think about your own inbox. Have a clear idea of the last email you opened? What was it about the subject line that grabbed your attention? Subject lines are the 'door bell' of your online marketing. They have to ring clearly across the house so your user thinks 'I should get that!'. Or in this case, open that. At Litir Marketing the stance on subject lines is clear: short and sweet.
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Mailchimp recommends that an email subject line be no longer than 9 words of 60 characters. There's some debate about the use of emojis in subject lines but that seems purely personal and really comes down to a brand by brand basis. For example, a vintage clothing store might avail of a colorful emoji to communicate a sale whereas a SAAS sustainability company may not have the same playful tone of voice.
Personalization where possible can be a big win for your email communications. You're more likely to engage with an email that says "Huge Summer Savings, NAME!" simply because your name is in the title. Personalization adds a touch in the digital world that can't be understated -- much like remembering your favorite baristas name, remembering your customer or clients name in a mass communication is a soft touch for a long win.
Testing subject lines on sends can be a great tool for experimenting with what works or doesn't for your audience. Called "A/B testing" you can tweak personalization, copy, or even the use of emoji to see how two sets of users respond to your messaging. And armed with that data, you can start to shape the beat for your future email marketing.
Content (& Copy):
Before you hit send ask yourself this question: Is this communication meeting a client/customer need? If the answer is yes, send it out! If the answer is a soft yes, take a pause. If the answer is no? You can guess where this is going.
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Just because you may be "inspired" to share something with your email list there are a few road signs to consider before you hit send.
1. What is the tone of my message? Be sure of the why on your end before you sit down to write. Don't just send for the sake of sending! But at the same time, have a clear schedule to keep yourself consistent and appear accessible to your readers. There's multiple types of email marketing you can deploy from the newsletter to the sales promotion, and beyond. Just like your subject line, short and sweet takes the cake.
2. Is this train on track? Everyone rambles when they hit a good speed, writing or at the pub with their friends. It happens! But it doesn't always mean great things in the email marketing world. Have a clear mission statement for why you're including any copy. Are you telling an anecdote? Or are you promoting a new piece or service? Tell your readers in the first sentence. If you're inclined to go on, write a blog post on your site and link your readers via the email communication there. The goal should be get them to your site and get them clicking around. It's great they opened the email but that should be the first action they take on a predetermined ladder you've got in mind as you're writing the email. It takes time, but you'll get there.
Summary:
In short, the loudest isn't always the best. Taking deliverability, subject lines and copy (with content) in your stride will help your email marketing stand out for all the right reasons.
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