Engaging your audience through email newsletters and offers can be an effective way to build up brand loyalty and reputation. But there is a fine line between providing content your readers want, and just ending up in the trash bin.
The Radicati Group compiles data on email use each year and estimates its usage in future years. In their report which currently spans 2015 - 2019, they cited an average of 122 billion emails sent each day, or 88 per user. Knowing that users have a lot to go through each day, what steps can you take to ensure they read your emails?
Your subject line needs to grab the user's attention and make the user want to click. With our ever decreasing attention span, it's estimated you have about 5 seconds to captivate that reader.
By now, you should have a target audience for your business in mind and know a bit about those demographics. You can easily use this to your advantage. Does your audience appreciate humor? Would they prefer a call to action? Knowing your audience is critical to making sure your email marketing campaigns don't fall flat.
Your email doesn't have to be the next great American novel. In fact, it shouldn't be. If your email is over 200 words, chances are it will be skimmed at best, and discarded at worst.
Boomerang released a study on this very topic and found 50-125 words is the optimal length of the most effective email marketing campaigns. Another interesting find from their study was the type of writing is just as important. For example, to make your content as accessible as possible, they recommend keeping the style to a third grade reading level.
Have you ever heard of words going viral? Neither have we. In the digital age, we have the ability to quickly share interesting content at the bush of a button. If you want to make your emails memorable and enjoyable for your audience, try to add some media!
Pics and videos give your reader an alternative to reading blocks of text while still grasping the basic concept of your post. The fact is, users are often checking their email on the go and don't have time to read through lengthy emails. Don't get too crazy though! Remember, emails will have a size limit, so you'll want to make sure your email is no more than 10-20MB.
Seems like a no-brainier, right? If your content isn't related to your industry, or subject line for that matter, you can bet you'll see your unsubscribe rates soar. Your audience signed up for your email because they believed you had something to tell them. Don't let them down by adding irrelevant filler content just to hope they'll click through the email.
Still not sure how to transform your emails? No matter how experienced you are, we all need a bit of inspiration from time to time. Here's some great examples. Now, go write some killer email content!
Have other tips for a sending good email? Share in the comments below!