It is not always easy to convince people to open email messages from brands. After all, people are busier than ever before and are increasingly using applications like WhatsApp to stay in touch with friends and family members. But the benefits of marketing through email can’t be denied. According to HubSpot Blogs research, 77% of American consumers have engaged with an email marketing campaign. That’s a lot of people. And you can bet that those people are going to start seeing your emails (and hopefully, opening them). So if you’re still convinced that email marketing is a lost cause, then you might want to reconsider. Here are some tips on how to title your email marketing to make sure people open it.
Personalization And Relevancy
One of the things that make email marketing so effective is personalization. Email marketing software platforms like MailChimp allow you to send personalized messages to your contacts based on their previous behavior. If you’ve ever shopped at Nordstrom, you may have seen their famous “wishlist” email which pitches designer dresses and other high-end products to people who bought something in the store. Nordstrom accomplished this by taking advantage of email marketing’s ability to target individuals with tailored content.
But you don’t need expensive technology to show personalized emails. With a little bit of imagination, you can use simple keyword targeting to send personalized emails to your contacts. For example, if you own a car detailing business, you might want to send them an email marketing message about oil changes. Or if they bought a camera recently, you can send them an email about the best film to use for displaying images in light conditions.
If you do a lot of business with photographers, you might also want to send them a weekly email roundup of the best local events and activities. By tailoring content to match previous buying behavior, you can significantly increase the likelihood that your contact will engage with your email. When designing your email marketing strategy, it’s important to keep in mind that not all recipients will be equally interested in your content. The more relevant the content, the more likely you are to engage with your contact.
Action Button
An essential part of every email marketing campaign is the action button. This little piece of marketing advice comes from former Nike president and CEO Mark Parker. He says that a consumer’s ability to easily act on an offer is one of the best indicators of that offer’s success. It’s easy enough to click a button and purchase a product that you’d been considering anyway. But to get someone to actually take the action of opening your email and going through all of its content demands careful consideration.
The number one way to ensure that someone clicks the action button is by making the process as easy as possible. Instead of just sending out a mass email without enough content for readers to want to act on the offer, consider sending single emails with multiple points of interest. The best part about this approach is that it makes your email more relevant to each individual recipient and increases the chance that they’ll be more inclined to engage with your content.
Greetings And Salutations
When someone decides to open an email from a brand, they’re already establishing a connection with the brand. But you don’t need to stop there. You can use your email to further connect with your contact and turn them into a potential customer. Consider giving them a warm welcome by adding a personal note to the email. This isn’t something that will put you out of pocket, but it can increase the likelihood that they’ll engage with your content.
For example, if your company is called Smith & Jones Shoes and you’ve got a retail store in Manhattan, you might want to write a short note saying that you’re sorry they had to walk all the way to New York City from Long Island. And then you might tell them about the exciting new styles in your store and add a little something about how size 13 shoes are on special this week.
Personalized salutations not only increase the likelihood that your contact will engage with your message. They can also help you determine the appropriate tone for your email. For example, you might want to write a business email, but for the most part, you should avoid using “you” instead of “I” in your emails. Using “you” in a business email tells the reader that you’re not in an authoritative or a teaching position. Instead, you’re an employee telling someone else what to do. So it would be better to say: “As a valued customer, you’ll be interested in the newest styles of Nike as they’re unveiled in the coming weeks. As you know, Nike is always looking for new ways to improve their collections. So be on the lookout for an email coming from Nike’s Marketing department.”
Actionable Tips
Giving someone a tip or suggestion in your email can be highly effective. But remember that your contact might not always want to hear about your opinion. Sometimes they’re just looking for solutions. That’s why you should try to include some tips or suggestions along with your opinion. Consider sending your contacts a weekly email providing them with tips and tricks on how to improve their lives. You might even want to send them a few relevant articles from reputable companies. Your email should be a combination of educational content and a call to action.
Providing tips on how to solve their problems is one thing. Telling them that you’re confident that their wants will be fulfilled by a particular product or service is another. People are less inclined to trust sales pitches if they feel that the content is being used to manipulate them. And that just doesn’t sit well with us marketers.
Summing Up
We’re big fans of personalization in general. It not only makes targeted marketing possible but also provides a more relevant message to each individual recipient. Make sure to incorporate all of these tips into your next email marketing campaign and you’ll be able to significantly increase the chances that your contacts will engage with your content. In the end, as long as you’re not being overly sales-y, people aren’t likely to find your email too much. And that’s probably the best thing for everyone involved.