Now the GDPR panic has passed many companies are wondering if email marketing is still OK. The answer is that, providing your list has opted in, yes.
So, if you’re going to run an email marketing campaign what will keep people away from that unsubscribe link?
Time to go and sit in the chair your email recipients will be occupying when your email lands in their inbox.
Get them to open the email
Your subject line has to generate enough curiosity in the recipient to make them want to open the email.
Take a look at the emails that are in your own inbox. Apart from the ones from your clients or team, which subject lines make you want to take a look at what they have to say? I guarantee that anything with ‘October Newsletter’ won’t make the cut!
The only exceptions to this are the ones you’ve been reading for years and always offer something interesting. However, as new people may be joining your list, don’t rest on your laurels – always take trouble over your subject line.
See it from their perspective
When it comes to the content, be careful about the sell, sell, sell approach. OK the big online retailers – clothing, home improvements, etc. – are trying to sell their products, but the good ones always have something that makes you want to at least take a peep at what they’re offering. They tap into your materialistic nature.
Whether you’re selling a product or a service you want to think like your reader.
- What do they WANT to read?
- What will interest them?
- What will help them?
If you can deliver something that ticks these boxes you’ll have cracked it!
What action do you want them to take?
When they’re read your email, do you want your reader to call you, visit your website, download something, read a blog, sign up for a webinar, complete a survey – or something else?
Every email must have a call to action – and you must make taking action literally a knee-jerk reaction.
So if you want them to call you – tell them ‘Call me know for a no obligation chat on 01234 567890’. Even if the phone number is in the footer of your email don’t make your reader work hard to take action.
If you want them to visit a webpage, a blog or survey, embed the link so they can just click and get where you want them to go.
I’ve never understood people who say ‘call me now’ and only give you a website address. Why would I make the effort to search round your website for a phone number?
One is not enough
A good email campaign has continuity. That means that there is more than one message, 3, 5 or more.
They will all be with the same focus, but with different words.
For instance if you want someone to sign up to a self-help programme on your website, you might deliver some useful tips around the subject. You might even link these to a blog with a call to make the purchase at the end of the blog too.
Remember that one email – however good it is – may not be read by people who are particularly busy when it arrives. Give them a second chance (and third) to benefit from what you have to offer.
