For beginners, email marketing can feel overwhelming. Email is a huge aspect of many marketing campaigns, so it’s vital to be aware of current best practices, such as how to design your layout and how to create catchy subject lines. Even if you’re sending out your first email campaign, these six tips will help you create meaningful and memorable content.
1. Simplify Your Design
It can be easy to get lost in the design elements of your email. While you certainly should never ignore design in your email, it’s important to keep the design consistent with your brand. Use your brand’s current colors, fonts, etc. In general, try not to use more than three typefaces, as too many can become overwhelming and busy. You want your reader to be able to easily glide through your email and not have to reread it over and over.
2. Use a Persuasive Subject Line
Crafting a subject line can be the hardest part of a marketing email because it needs to be compelling enough to get people to click and read on. While the subject line may seem less important than the rest of the email content, in reality, it’s the first impression your readers will have of your brand.
When writing email subject lines, there are a few things you can do to pull your readers in, like creating a sense of urgency, piquing your readers’ curiosity, and personalizing the subject line so it speaks specifically to individual readers. You can even include your offer in the subject line, so your reader knows right away why they should click.
3. Use an Information Hierarchy
Last year, Litmus Email Analytics determined that readers spent an average of just 10 seconds per marketing email. So, you should assume you have less than ten seconds to grab their attention. Readers want to know the most important thing first. If you wait to put this information at the end of your email, many readers will stop reading before they find out what you most wanted to communicate.
4. Keep It Short
While it may seem like more content is better, for email marketing you generally want to keep your emails short and to the point. We already know that you only have a few seconds to grab readers’ attention, so having only important information in your email is key. Don’t drag it on for the sake of adding more words; just include the content that your readers really need.
What your readers need to know will vary from one email to the next. If you’re emailing contacts with a product or service offer, communicate why your offer is compelling. If you’re sending out a weekly newsletter, include content that is pertinent to that week, not information from three weeks ago that is no longer relevant.
5. Link to Your Social or Website
Linking to your website or social media platforms can get you more traction and more visits to your website. Linking to your social pages or website is also a good way to limit your content and keep your email short. If you want to include more information but don’t want to make your email longer, link to a page on your website with the information.
6. Optimize For Mobile
Optimizing for mobile is crucial, as more than 61.9% of individuals open emails on their mobile device. Rather than an afterthought, mobile optimization should be front and center when developing an email campaign. Remember mobile devices connected to Wi-Fi may take much longer to open large files, so avoid using too many photos. Also make sure to break up your text. You don’t want large paragraphs that make the reader scan for the most important information. Use short sentences that convey your critical points.
Implementing these tips will help set you up for a successful email campaign. Following current industry best practices can help your brand to stand out and capture your readers’ attention. To learn more about email marketing, subscribe to the Blue Frog blog.
