How Effective is Email Marketing?
It’s easy to see how pervasive email can be for everyday life when you learn that 80% of smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. Before getting up most of us will do a quick scan of our inboxes and delete everything unimportant, then click to read emails with subjects that catch our attention. The power of email marketing is that simple. When it comes to return on investment, email marketing is still one of the forerunners.
Two-thirds of online marketers rate their email marketing ROI to be ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ according to an Econsultancy study. In fact, top online stores with a mastery of email marketing can earn around $15 in sales per email sent, according to Harvard Business Review. Think about it. Sending an email is one of the most personalised ways to reach your audience. You are putting your message in the palms their hands, literally. You are able to reach out to thousands in an instant—and you can compel them to take action, whether that means reading your new blog post or checking out a special offer. The only problem is, hundreds of other email marketers like you are also trying to reach out to that same market. Your message could end up getting lost in all the rest.
Separating Yourself from Spammers
How do you get people to read your email message and then take the actions that you want them to?
The most successful email marketers tend to focus on two things: 1: writing eye-catching subject lines, and 2: building personal relationships.
It’s All About the Subject Line
The words on your email subject are mission-critical in online marketing. Fail in this respect and recipients are likely to just dismiss your message as unimportant or worse, even label it as spam. Here are some rather unconventional tips on writing a great subject line.
- Try going ‘negative.’ Titles containing negative words tend to have higher open rates. Example: “7 Things Rich People Know That You Don’t”
- Make your offer sound exclusive. Words like VIP, invitation-only, exclusive, and limited time tend to prompt more people to take action. You can also set a deadline. Examples: “Exclusive Invitation to…” “Last Day Today!”
- Never use capital letters. Using cap lock makes it seem like you are SCREAMING AT YOUR READER. You want them love you, not fear you. Spam filters also tend to flag emails like this as spam.
- Avoid these four words: Free Percent off, Help Reminder. These are overused in email titles and have the tendency to generate lower open rates.
- Finally, make your point clear and simple. No one wants to read an email that is as long as a book. People prefer to skim read, and this is why numbered or bulleted lists always work. The trick is to promise your recipients that they will learn a lot in just a few seconds. (Tip: Odd numbers tend to boost open rates.)
Clever subject lines have to be backed by quality content. If content is irrelevant and unhelpful readers will be disappointed and open rates will eventually drop. The industry standard open rate for small businesses is 20% to 30%. If you are currently not achieving this, keep testing different strategies until you find out which methods best appeal to your target market.
In Part 2, we will discuss how to build personal relationships and why it is crucial for successful email marketing.
