Open fast… or die slow. If you want to hit them where it converts, you’ll have to do it in the subject line. More specifically, the email subject line. Anyone sending a cold (or warm) email these days has to navigate the spam waters all the way through to the right person’s eyes. Even then, the outreach team’s job isn’t complete. Why? Because everyone who reads emails is basically trained or annoyed into avoiding anything that even remotely looks like spam. Thanks a lot for those aggressively pushy and intense email marketing campaigns. Never fear, curious marketer. Here’s how you can get it right the first time.
Email marketing can be difficult, and when the target audience reads your subject line, ya gotta’ make them feel it. It’s what gets the people going, after all. If you don’t capture their trust and attention in the first few seconds, you’ve dropped the ball. Odds are, they’ll probably mark you off as spam (mentally and literally) and move on. To avoid that dreaded wasteland of a folder, consider some quick tips for catchy subject lines and email best practices.
What’s your pitch to your target audience? What will you say to get them to open the email? This is one route you can take when drafting an email subject line, but it is not the only way. If the goal of your campaign is to grow awareness for your product or service, then you could offer a discount in the subject line.
No matter where you are in the sales funnel, getting up close and personal with your audience is always a good way to grab their attention. What pain points do your customers have? Offer them a solution. For example, if your customer always buys sneakers from your shoe store, it’s probably not the best idea to brag about new dress shoes in your subject line.
Act now! Don’t let time go to waste! So many marketing “gurus” think that establishing urgency will get your customer’s FOMO at an all-time high. But that is not always the case. For some demographics, maybe. But these types of subject lines reek of spam, and that isn’t even the worst of it. For those who open the email anyway, prepare for disappointment. Odds are, what you’re offering in the email body isn’t as cool as what they thought they’d get from your vague, urgent subject line. If you do choose to follow this path, make sure you’re as upfront as possible and don’t embellish just for an open.
Sometimes, using your customer's name in an email looks spammy, but mostly, it doesn’t. However, don’t use their name for every email… but do use it… and use it often. For example, you should use a customer's name when you’re thanking them or being sincere. Definitely use their first name in the opening of your email, but body templates are a talk for another time.
Keep it sweet and simple. Subject lines are supposed to be light and concise. You also can’t have it getting cut off if your customer reads the email with their mobile device or a minimized browser. For best practices, subject lines shouldn’t be longer than 30 characters. Test send the email and check for yourself. To sum up, the shorter, the better. Chit-chat is for inside the email.
If you’re like most people and have issues coming up with brilliant email subject lines, you’ve come to the right place. Here are a few helpful questions to consider when coming up with catchy email subject lines that will get your customers clicking “open” in no time.
We find that if you ask yourself the right questions during brainstorming sessions, sometimes the creative juices come pouring right out.
Anyone can say they have a stellar email marketing campaign with the best open rates in the biz. But how do you prove it? How is success in an email marketing campaign measured exactly? We just said it: open rates. However, that’s only half the battle. Motives, click-through rates, and engagement are also important. Ensure your email marketing software keeps tabs on the following metrics:
If you’re thinking of starting a successful email marketing campaign, make sure you’re using decent tracking software that will answer the questions that matter. In conclusion, paint a picture of your clients and their dreams, make them come true, and you’ll have a loyal customer for life.
If the whole email marketing thing seems a bit out of your wheelhouse, you’re not alone. Get out of the driver’s seat and let us take the wheel. Cork Tree Creative’s savvy marketing team knows what works and can put their bright minds together to amplify your email marketing campaigns to crowds that matter. We create customer personas and A/B tests, track important metrics, and get you where you need to be. Contact our creative marketing agency today to start sending out emails that work.
With over 4 billion email accounts worldwide (more than half of Earth’s population), the potential value of growing an effective email list for your company is particularly high. Today, social media is at the heart of many marketing strategies, although organic reach for sites like Facebook is down to about 6%. Conversely, email open rates across most industries fall between 15% and 25% – with rates even higher in some niche industries.
Truly, a thriving list of email subscribers can give your company a competitive edge. To tap into this prospective market, you’ll need to convince them of a few key (yet simple) things.
First, customers need to see that it’s easy for them to subscribe to your email list. No one wants to waste precious time searching for a way to give away their contact information. Second, your audience needs to see the unique value in doing just that. By demonstrating value with a subscription to your company’s emails, you’ll have a direct resource for releasing company updates and new products or services.
Depending on the type of products offered by your company, there are several ways to lead customers to the Subscribe button on your website. Most importantly, it should always be easy (and fast) for people to sign up for your company’s email list. If you use website builders like Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace, you then have access to their email capture boxes using their site building tools.
If you have social media accounts on sites like Facebook or YouTube, use their promotional signup tools to drive traffic to your email list – or to a landing page on your site for signing up. Other online tools to integrate into your company’s website to make subscribing to your email list easier include:
What They Are | What They Do |
|---|---|
| Call-to-action text on homepage | On the homepage of your company site, a call-to-action in featured text below your header (but above the rest of the page’s text) is an excellent place to promote your email list because it is usually the first thing people see. |
| Embedded form | The easiest embedded form for capturing emails is a newsletter signup form. More complex versions may use customer feedback surveys or quizzes that require an email address to complete. |
| Pop-ups | If you use the right messaging, you can use pop-ups to convince people already scrolling your website to sign up for additional valuable content. |
| Scrollbar and sliding text | Website tools like Hello Bar and certain plugins on WordPress can add scrolling text or a scrollbar to your webpages. These tools allow customers to subscribe no matter where they are on your site. |
| Signup at checkout | Shopify and other ecommerce platforms let shop owners toggle a selection to add an automatic email signup for customers at checkout. |
| Social sharing buttons | Adding “Email To A Friend” buttons at the bottom of blogs and other shareable content lets you capture a wider audience through direct referrals from existing customers. |
If you’ve used any of the above email capture methods, you may have a list of subscribers ready. Unfortunately, email lists shrink by nearly 25% each year through abandoned email accounts and those who unsubscribe. Consequently, you’ll need to replenish these numbers in your email list by consistently demonstrating your company’s value to new and existing customers. Although this sounds like a colossal task, organizations have found countless ways to market their products while introducing customers to all aspects of their brand.
How you choose to demonstrate your company’s value will largely depend on your industry and the services/products you provide. Nonetheless, you can motivate customers using any of the below strategies by giving them an incentive to subscribe. By entering their email address, customers can:
Maintaining the addresses in your company’s email list is as important to its effectiveness as your marketing strategies. Therefore, use the following three tips to maintain a “clean” email list.
Want to take advantage of the above digital marketing strategies without having to learn all of the lingo? Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.
Email marketing may strike many as old-fashioned or outdated. However, sometimes the old ways are the best ways. Yes, popular social media sites and mobile marketing get a lot of attention. This doesn't mean that email marketing is a dead channel.
But what makes this marketing strategy effective?
This method can be done at a lower cost than other communications. Organizations don't need to pay for printing, postage, phone or high advertising rates.
It brings your organization’s messages directly to people versus a website where people have to look for the message.
Organizations can segment audiences and can send targeted marketing campaigns. This is proven to increase engagement in specific audiences.
This strategy offers organizations the advantage of real time. Since an email can be completed on the day of an event or announcement, organizations can send current messages to help them achieve their goals.
Print, television and radio advertising campaigns make it difficult to speak to your consumers in a personalized way. Having the ability to feed in personalized information to build rapport with your customers is crucial. Cork Tree Creative offers a wide range of public relations services including writing strategic messaging.
When organizations go virtual with their main communication method, you help save the planet by reducing the number of trees used for print marketing pieces.
When organizations use email marketing, they are using a proven channel to directly communicate with their customers. Email can improve sales, increase customer engagement and reduce your costs. Not bad for an “old-fashioned” marketing channel! If you are interested in updating or starting a marketing program at your business, Cork Tree Creative, Inc. can help. Give us a call at (618) 656-7333.
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