The online world is nowadays dominated by mobile use and social use but email marketing is still highly relevant. This is a channel that is highly effective for all companies trying to reach the existing audience. When looking at email communications the ROI you can expect, according to different studies, is over 120%. This is actually a lot higher than paid search, direct email and social media.
The problem with email marketing is that you can easily get caught up in the numerous advanced tips that you find all around the internet. In many situations you need to just get back to the basics in order to get improved results. Here are some of those basics you want to keep in the back of your mind at all times.
Always Optimize For Mobile Use
In US the average adult now spends around 3 hours daily on the smartphone to use various apps, check social media accounts and read emails. Desktop users make up around 16% of the email opens with webmail being 30% and mobile open rate is 54%. That practically means that you absolutely have to optimize the email marketing campaign for mobile users.
You have to know the audience you have, including mobile audience makeup so you can use advanced tactics that will increase engagement. For instance, when the mobile makeup is mostly iOS, videos and animations can increase engagement. Be sure that all images added are Retina-optimized and all mobile buttons have to be over 40 pixels around the actual target in order for the target to easily be found.
Do Not Focus Just On Email Body
The very first thing most people see is the name of the sender. Do not ignore this. Most people use the exact same name for every single message. It is much better to vary the name so that content is better reflected. At the same time, subject line should be optimized. Creating urgency is usually something that works well, just as creating mystery. Last but not least, be sure that you also optimize the preheader. This is the text you see right after subject line in emails. Many neglect it so open rates are negatively affected. Do not just paste one sentence from your body. Convey message opening value to increase open rates.
Get Personal
Personalized emails are very important, with AI predictive power being highly effective. As an example, it is much better to customize your emails with group based conversations as opposed to sending the exact same email to your entire list. The experienced marketers actually create various sub-lists in order to increase efficiency. AI tools will help the company to parse data in order to create audience segments.
Never Stop Testing
Before a larger email campaign is set up, you want to be sure the message is effective for the audience. A/B testing is what helps you to do this. You basically want to send 2 message versions to a smaller part of the audience, around 10% of the total. For the rest of the list you would deliver the message that got more responses. Try to test everything related to design and content, including font, layout, email body, subject lines, message frequency, offers and so on.
As a simple extra tip, keep in mind that it normally takes around 48 hours to have the data that you need in order to make really smart decisions. Remember that the way in which you interact with your consumers is what will make or break your brand in marketing. The same thing applies to email marketing.
