In 2017, people all over the world sent 269 billion emails every day. That number is expected to rise to 333 billion before we reach the year 2022. With so much information flooding our inboxes, how can a business make sure that its email marketing gets noticed and acted upon? The tips below can help increase open rates and provide a path to conversions.
Relevancy is Everything
Successful email marketing begins with creating a great message. The content must be relevant to your audience and should have a real benefit. No one has time to waste and no one will spend more that 1-3 seconds to determine whether to read or delete an email. Recipients are more likely to open an email if they view a company as a trusted source or partner – relevancy earns trust. An effective email campaign requires a strategy, knowing the targeted audience and determining the take-away or action desired.
Sometimes it’s Subjective
A good subject line can stop someone in their tracks. Catchy and short, the subject line should entice the reader to quickly open the email, read it and ultimately click through to links within the email to get the recipient to take further action. A good subject line offers a benefit or creates curiosity or a desired outcome: “Reduce Your Energy Costs by 50%,” “Learn How to Save 50% on Energy Costs,” “Company-A Saves $100,000 in Energy Costs.” If the email is promoting a sale, motivate the reader to open the email by mentioning the sale or promotion in the subject line. Keep it under 60 to 70 characters. Shorter subject lines tend to get more opens, while subject lines with fewer than 49 characters generate more clickthroughs.
Timing is Everything
Knowing what time of day — as well as what day — to send an email is just as important as crafting it. The time frame of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. may seem like a good time to unleash your email masterpiece, but often it’s not. The send time depends on your audience. Some professionals are up earlier and reviewing email by 5 a.m. and out on job sites by 9 a.m. Others might be best targeted between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Google Analytics can provide the best insight into the most precise times that clients and potential leads are engaging with your company website.
Frequency Matters
If the science of marketing is being in the right place at the right time with the right message when the need arises, then it is important for a campaign to achieve a meaningful level of frequency. A strategy for achieving the right frequency to elicit the desired action and campaign results should be determined from the get-go. Knowing the audience will also be a factor — what is their tolerance of frequency? Frequency can also be changed throughout the campaign, for instance, it may make sense to be more aggressive in the initial weeks or months and then more laid back as the campaign matures.
If your organization is using email marketing, it is important to have a winning strategy. What works for one company often doesn’t work for another.