Now more than ever, email marketing is crucial. Marketers today have access to smarter, more effective tools that make campaigns more engaging and personalized because to the quick advances in AI.
Simultaneously, customers are becoming more careful about who they share their information with due to increased understanding of data privacy laws. Email is a crucial channel for gathering and utilizing first-party, consent-based data, as the phase-out of third-party cookies forces marketers to come up with new strategies for connecting with and comprehending their audiences.
So, how can you maximize email marketing to increase interaction and gather useful data? These nine best practices will help you improve your approach and achieve greater outcomes.
- Use Personalization
- Write a Catchy Subject Line
- Audit and Clean your Email Lists
- Use Omnichannel Marketing
- Include Relevant Links
- Be Interactive
- Have a Good UI and UX
- Use Artificial Intelligence
- Look at your Competitors
1) Use Personalization
Personalization produces outcomes; it’s not just a fad. Nearly 80% of business executives believe that tailored experiences increase consumer spending by an average of 34%, according to Merkle’s Customer Engagement Report 2022.
The problem is that even if personalization works, a lot of consumers still believe that brands are not doing enough. According to Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer report, there is a glaring discrepancy between what customers anticipate and how personalized their experiences are.
Keep your brand distinct from the email clutter. Not only is personalization a nice-to-have, but it also significantly increases email openings and engagement. Simple gestures like putting the recipient’s first name in the subject line or wishing them a happy birthday can have a significant impact.
Another successful tactic? Give the impression that your communications are from a real person rather than a nameless company. To foster familiarity and trust, enter a team member’s name in the “from” field. You may even go one step further by including a photo, such as this one from Dubsat, so that recipients see a friendly face in place of a generic logo.
When it comes to customisation, automation is revolutionary. You may create behavior-triggered emails, which are communications that are delivered automatically based on a customer’s interactions with your business, if you have the necessary tools (check out this list of the best options).
For instance, Sephora’s email workflow is automated to react instantly to consumer activities, resulting in a smooth and extremely relevant experience.
2) Write a Catchy Subject Line
Never undervalue the significance of a compelling subject line. It’s the first thing your audience sees when they open their inbox, and it frequently determines whether they choose to read your email or ignore it. It’s usually worthwhile to invest a little more effort in creating a catchy and pertinent subject line.
Here are some tried-and-true strategies for creating attention-grabbing subject lines:
Get personal: As previously stated, addressing a previous engagement (such as a purchase or content download) or utilizing the recipient’s name makes your email seem more pertinent and customized.
Add some humor: A catchy or lighthearted subject line can pause a reader in the middle of their scroll. Just make sure the tone is appropriate for your target audience.
Emojis may give your email individuality and make it stand out, so use them judiciously. Just be careful not to go overboard and make sure they are pertinent.
Select strong language. Steer clear of cliched or weak wording. Make use of forceful, directive language that inspires a sense of urgency or enthusiasm.
Set realistic expectations: The content of your email should be reflected in the subject line. If a previous “winning” sentence doesn’t work, don’t use it again; relevancy is crucial.
Encourage curiosity by appealing to your FOMO. Encouragement from a little mystery can go a long way.
Do you need some help creating the ideal email? Take a look at our comprehensive guide to get you going. Additionally, don’t be scared to try new things; ChatGPT and similar tools can be excellent for generating original, imaginative content ideas.
3) Audit and Clean your Email Lists
You’ve probably heard by now about Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) and Google’s 2024 phase-out of third-party cookies. Prioritizing the collection, management, and protection of client data is now more important than ever due to these changes.
One particularly effective source of first-party data is email, which is entirely yours, consenting, and permission-based. Because of this, it is even more crucial to handle it carefully. Make sure you have explicit permission for each contact on your list by first checking your database. To remain courteous and compliant, immediately delete anyone who has unsubscribed from all active lists.
Consider sending a re-engagement email to dormant subscribers who haven’t interacted in a long time. Give them the choice to opt out or an opportunity to get back in touch. Keep in mind that a smaller, more active list is significantly more beneficial than a big one that is full of contacts that don’t care.
4) Use Omnichannel Marketing
Omnichannel marketing is becoming the standard for companies of all sizes and is no longer merely a trendy term.
What is omnichannel marketing, then? To put it simply, it’s about making the most of each marketing channel and making sure that users have a smooth, consistent experience when switching across platforms.
Email is essential to this strategy. It is an effective tool because of its adaptability, testability, and simplicity of customization. Additionally, it provides insightful information on the interests and behavior of customers.
Email has an even greater impact when combined with other channels like social media, paid search, and SEO. It helps to increase engagement, fortify brand relationships, and create enduring consumer loyalty.
5) Include Relevant Links
The next step should be easy if someone clicks on your email. Point them in the direction of a clear, pertinent destination to make it simple for them to act.
Don’t send potential customers to a generic homepage. Create customized landing pages instead that complement your email messaging and content to maintain consistency and boost conversion rates.
Remember to add links to your active social media accounts so that people can interact with your brand on other websites. To keep things up to date and credible, only include platforms where you frequently publish and interact.
Pro tip: Do you want to go further? For additional information, see The Anatomy of an Effective Marketing Email.
6) Be Interactive
Include interactive components in your emails to entice readers to swipe, click, tap, or watch. Interactivity encourages users to spend more time with your material, which increases engagement. Examples of this include countdown timers, embedded videos, and visually appealing GIFs.
Consider this example from Google Local Guides: the email includes helpful advice for adding photographs to Google after a GIF showing how to shoot a beautiful picture. In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, it is also very pertinent and helpful to the audience, which makes it both engaging and educational.
This is yet another excellent example, this one from Nike. Nike employs a GIF to display numerous goods in a single dynamic graphic rather than stuffing the email with static images or urging users to click through to a landing page. It’s a modern, space-efficient method of drawing attention to themselves and showcasing their products within the email.
7) Have a Good UI and UX
Building trust and increasing conversions require a consistent experience across all of your channels. This entails being extremely mindful of both user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), particularly when include links in emails.
For instance, the landing page should make it obvious that you are offering a 20% discount on a product. Along with a clear call-to-action (CTA) to finish the transaction, it should give a brief description of the goods.
The secret is consistency. To prevent a disconnect, the landing page’s style, color scheme, and tone should all be consistent with the email. Additionally, remember to optimize for mobile—every touchpoint need to be user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing on all platforms.
8) Use Artificial Intelligence
Email marketing is changing as a result of artificial intelligence (AI), becoming more intelligent, efficient, and quick. You may automate important processes that increase engagement and generate income with technologies like SendGrid for optimal distribution and Rytr for copywriting. Solutions like NeverBounce and ZeroBounce help control spam risks and maintain the cleanliness of your database for deliverability and list hygiene.
AI uses machine learning and sophisticated data analysis to extract insights from massive datasets and consumer behavior. It may help with everything from creating customized email content and organizing your contact lists to sending newsletters automatically and optimizing send times.
Do you want to improve your email marketing approach? Examine the best marketing automation and AI products on the market right now.
9) Look at your Competitors
By researching what is already successful, particularly in your business or among competitors, you may create a high-performing email campaign.
This is made simple by tools like Mailcharts, which provide you with access to both historical and real-time campaign data. You can investigate effective email tactics, observe what elicits responses, and obtain insightful knowledge that you can use in your own campaigns.
Email Marketing Tips for Special Sectors
Email Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
Email marketing is a potent tool for small businesses to engage with clients and create enduring bonds.
One significant benefit? You probably have a thorough awareness of the wants and desires of your clients, which puts you in a good position to provide content that is relevant, individualized, and genuinely appealing.
If your company is local, take advantage of your relationship with the community. Write topic lines that address your readers directly. Try something like, “Manhattan: Enjoy a Free Morning Coffee on Us!” if you own a coffee shop.
Taking part in or organizing local events is another way to expand your audience. These events are a fantastic way to advertise your company, interact with people in person, and entice them to subscribe to your mailing list so they can receive updates on events, news, and special deals.
Email Marketing for Insurance Leads
It frequently takes time to nurture and convert prospects because insurance is a long-term, high-value purchase. Email marketing excels in this situation by providing a means of disseminating useful, tailored information that gradually fosters confidence.
Utilize automated processes to lead potential customers through the process according to their behavior. Your first email may be a welcome message, for example. You may then customize follow-ups:
After a visitor views a personalized landing page after clicking a call-to-action, send them a follow-up email with extra resources or a request for more information.
Send them another email that gently encourages them to re-engage by highlighting the opportunity they might be missing.
Concentrate on offering answers. Recognize and directly address the typical insurance-related worries or obstacles that your audience encounters. Direct visitors to informative and illuminating blog entries, frequently asked questions, or guides. It all comes down to establishing credibility and maintaining brand awareness.
Oscar, a health insurance company that uses email to provide prospects with helpful advice and individualized support, is a fantastic example of this strategy.
Email Marketing for Political Campaigns
For political campaigns, email marketing is an essential tool that helps you mobilize voters, gather support, and disseminate important information. Here are some best practices to remember in order to maximize your efforts:
Create a neat, superior list. Make sure your email list is current and validated. Use re-engagement emails to get in touch with dormant subscribers, but don’t be scared to delete phony addresses or archive unresponsive contacts. A list that is in good health does better.
Divide up your audience. Sort your list into specific parts to personalize your messaging. This guarantees that the most pertinent information—whether it be about local events, policy changes, or requests for donations—reaches the appropriate individuals.
Customize the sender name: In political communications, trust is important. To establish trust and familiarity with your audience, use a sender name that is constant.
Make use of important dates Emphasize significant dates, such as polling places, campaign activities, or voter registration deadlines. Make use of these opportunities to not only educate but also to reaffirm your call to action and campaign theme.
Always include a link to unsubscribe; openness is crucial. Make it simple for folks to withdraw if they so desire. It demonstrates professionalism and consideration for their choices.
Keep it interesting since sometimes pictures say more than words. To make your message more dynamic and memorable, think about using a little video or employing GIFs, especially for important campaign highlights.
B2B Email Marketing Tips
Because the journey from prospect to customer may be lengthy and intricate for business-to-business (B2B) organizations, email marketing is an essential tool for nurturing leads and assisting them in moving through the sales funnel.
Here are some effective strategies to maintain audience interest:
Provide downloadable materials. Distribute valuable resources that offer insights in a certain niche, such as infographics, whitepapers, or ebooks. By offering something truly helpful, these not only educate but also re-engage your email audience.
Make use of client endorsements: Social evidence is an effective way to establish credibility. Emphasize statements, evaluations, or case studies from pleased customers to reaffirm the worth of your offering.
Share news, data, and research because B2B audiences frequently seek out content. To grab readers’ attention, use eye-catching statistics, timely industry insights, or pertinent research. By announcing their Series A funding and asking customers to sign up for a waiting list, the gifting site &Open, for instance, effectively employed this strategy to generate curiosity and exclusivity.
Feature case studies: Although they can be time-consuming to produce, case studies are very beneficial. They present actual outcomes and show how your product or service helps clients with their challenges. Use succinct, attention-grabbing language or a little video clip to highlight them in your emails, and direct readers to a special landing page for the complete tale.
Take your email marketing to the next level
Write emails that grab readers’ attention and encourage action. From developing a solid data strategy and creating engaging content to creating powerful layouts and testing for optimization, DMI’s Email Marketing course gives you the tools you need to be successful. Learn the skills you need to confidently start email campaigns that are successful and conversion-focused.