This is not the place for a hard sell. People only open emails if…
1. They are interested in the information they perceive your email contains
2. They are intrigued by a subject line that makes them want to know more
3. The creativity of your subject line appeals to them or flags up some entertaining content
Interest, curiosity, engagement… these are the fundamental qualities of the best subject lines.
Subject lines that contain a question pique people’s interest as they wonder what the answer might be. This is a very powerful way to boost your open rates (more on that later).
Offer a handy tip or statistic in your subject line to whet your customer’s appetite, or find a way to appeal to their self-interest and explain how they will benefit from opening the email. Whichever approach you take, it has to compel your subscribers to find out more.
Create a sense of scarcity or urgency with subject lines that encourage people to “act now”. This is one of the most powerful subject line formats, but use it sparingly or else you’ll tire out your prospects with endless urgent calls… or they’ll cotton on to your tactic.
Be humorous. UrbanDaddy is very good at this with subject lines like “First you drink Malbec. Then you mount a horse.” from an email featuring polo games in Argentina for their activities segment. It’s funny and also quite intriguing, prompting you to find out more.
Personalise your email messages
ESPs like MailChimp and HubSpot allow you to pull subscribers’ personal details out of your database and populate the content of your emails with them.
Personalised emails have 6x higher transaction rates than generic messages, however, only 30% of brands do this. Make sure you’re one of them!
Refer to your customer by name and include a “from” name from a real person in your email. Your customers want to think that you value them and are talking to them directly.
Segment your email list
It’s important in emailmarketin that you send your customers content that is relevant to them; not just in terms of their interests, but also in terms of their demographic positioning, and their stage in their customer journey with you.
It’s important to capture as much info about your subscribers as possible.
If they have subscribed from your home page, it’s likely they are new customers.
If they have subscribed from your product page, they may be much closer to making a purchase.
Maybe they’ve expressed an interest in one of your premium products or services; this may mean they have more disposable income than someone who’s signed up to hear more about discounts and special offers.
You know your customers best. Try and find ways to get to know who’s on your list so you can begin to segment it as accurately as possible.
Be sparing in how much data you try and capture as you want it to be as quick and simple as possible for users to sign up. Some marketers just ask for a name and email address. If that’s your preference, there are various survey platforms you can use like Survey Monkey.
Tone of voice
The tone of voice you use in your emails is really important. It’s much more of an art than a science. It involves understanding your audience; the way in which they communicate, the kind of language they use to talk about your sector, their level of industry knowledge.
In 90% of cases, it’s best to avoid jargon and acronyms (even in B2B situations this can be quite distracting, especially given that a business client may just be taking their first steps into your sector.)
Humour can be a particularly effective way of communicating. However, you need to judge if this is relevant to your industry (it’s probably not great for home security services, for example).
The most important thing is to be natural in the way you communicate. If you are writing your email content yourself… try and be yourself.
And know your audience. The most effective communicators are comfortable in their own skin. If you run a beauty salon the chances are you are genuinely excited about the industry and are a good communicator. If not, consider hiring a copywriter; but make sure they are briefed about your desired tone of voice.
Being a good communicator is a bit like being a method actor. Hang out with your customers as much as possible; not in a creepy way, but stay up to date with relevant web forums, read your customers’ messages on social media, try and see the world from their point of view and reflect that in what you write.
Optimise your emails to streamline your communications and drive conversions.
The trick to effective emarketing is to create a streamlined process for creating campaigns that convert.
Think through the whole campaign and make sure you have considered every element. It may help to create a tick list to make sure you’ve covered each element.
Nail the subject line
The subject line is to the email body what a single is to an album: an impactful, short, and catchy piece of content that signals the quality that is in store for whoever buys the record (opens the email).
When it comes down to it, your subject line is your “elevator pitch” to your potential customers.
If your subscribers are busy, flag up how you can help them save time. If they are on a budget, you can take a leaf out of Pizza Hut’s book. They nailed it with their classic subject line “feed your guests without breaking the bank”… which neatly identifies the customer’s pain point and suggests a solution.
Do some research into what keywords work best in subject lines and find ways to integrate the ones that are most relevant to your sector. However, avoid using a keyword if it makes your content look unnatural. Authenticity is more important for your reputation in the long run.
Sender name
Chose your sender name wisely and use it consistently. Make sure it flags up clearly who you are and is attached to your website URL, not a generic email service (ie, contact@myrestaurant.com, not jeff126@randommail.co.uk).
Personalise your emails
This doesn’t mean using creepy techniques that use your customer’s name every 2 words, but rather it means making sure your email is relevant to the receiver and that it relates to their interests, needs, and concerns. This is where the list segmentation we talked about earlier is very useful.
Get the body right
This means taking the time to craft copy that is compelling, easy to read, clearly conveys your value proposition to the reader, and is not too long. The best emails read a bit like a short story, each sentence motivating the next.
Get your sign off right
It’s much more effective if your email comes from an actual person (ideally with a friendly profile pic to show you’re not a faceless marketer).
