You want to market your business, but you aren’t 100 percent sure how. With all the different marketing strategies out there these days, it’s no wonder you aren’t sure where to look or who to turn to! But, rest assured, reliable, solid marketing strategies with proven track records exist. While it may take you a little time to leaf through the pile and narrow down the best of the best, in the end, you’ll find one of the most effective strategies for marketing (and it’s been around the block a time or two) is still email marketing.
Email marketing may sound like something from the days of AOL and pagers (remember those? They came before cell phones), but it’s as relevant today as it ever was. Yes, social media and mobile optimization are important too, but implementing new methods doesn’t mean you have to drop the ball on the foundation of all marketing strategies.
In fact, social media has made email marketing more powerful than you may think. Email provides a way for you to personally correspond to customers and clients in an effort to boost sales and conversions.
The trick?
You’ve got to generate great email content that includes a beautiful, intriguing design to grab your customers’ attention and keep them reading.
With that in mind, here are the top 10 tips to creating the perfect marketing email.
Create a Valuable Exchange
Is your time valuable? Of course it is! Well, so is your customers’ time. When you’re creating email content, focus on that fact. Bear this in mind and you’ll find yourself cutting right to the core of how you can help your customers—which is ultimately what they want the most.
Don’t Waste Time
Don’t beat around the bush. If you’re promoting a special to your customers, tell them, in a way that reminds them it’s not always about the sale for you. Be classy when you promote. Your customers won’t buy something every time you email them, but they might buy something the NEXT time you do.
Focus on the Subject Line
Any expert marketer will tell you that the subject line is one of the most important elements to a marketing email (if not the most important). The subject is what determines whether or not the email is opened, and it may also determine whether it is delivered in the first place.
Use Email Marketing Templates
When you want to make your email look like the best thing your customers have ever seen in their inbox, using email marketing templates is a great way to make it happen. Templates you can customize to your taste with logos, brand colors and unique messaging are the best way to get your customers to pay attention to your email content.
Make it Mobile Friendly
The numbers are in—nearly 2 out of every 3 Americans own a smartphone. What do you think they do with their smartphones? That’s right. Read email! Reading email tops out at the most popular activity for smartphone users. If your marketing emails aren’t mobile friendly, you may not be reaching a good chunk of your customer base.
Include Unique Images
By inserting images into your marketing emails, you’re giving users something to look at besides bare, boring text. Since images are more appealing than text, it’s a good strategy to choose images that relate to your messaging and grab readers’ attention.
Compel with Your Content
You’ve only got one shot at getting your customers’ attention with email marketing (they’re probably not going to go back and re-read). Make sure your content is not only clear, but compelling. Take your readers seamlessly from point A to point B – your call-to-action.
Keep Usability in Mind
Your customers don’t want to be confused. Make sure you’re linking to the right products and pages in your email so that readers can easily click and get to where you want them to go.
Keep the Offer Clear
Don’t make your readers search for the point of your email. Make use of sub-headings that pop and give the reader a good idea of what lies below. If they’re in a rush (which is often the case), a glance will give them the basics of your offer.
Generate Repeat Business
Create email content for customers who have just made a purchase. Say thank you, offer them a discount on their next purchase and encourage them to come back.
