Have you ever been nervous about the number of messages in your email inbox? Did you get angry at SPAM, senseless newsletters and content they presented? Probably so. Despite this, many marketing specialists still recommend mailing as an effective form of advertising and show data according to which newsletters increase sales. How do they do that Do you also want to use effective email marketing? In that case, we invite you to read the article – we will show you what it is and how to create a newsletter that will knock your customers to their knees and provide you … profit!
Mailing vs. SPAM
An incorrectly prepared e-mail may go to the SPAM folder. To distinguish valuable emails from spam, spam filters use a special algorithm. They take into account, among others:
– message length,
– email content (pornographic
content, including sex keywords, 100% free),
– graphics to text ratio,
– the number of recipients,
– message subject.
Of course, spam filters also take into account other factors, but these are the most important of them. Then the algorithm gives each of them a certain number of points – when they exceed a certain threshold, the message goes to the SPAM folder.
It is impossible to say unequivocally how exactly these algorithms work and what to do to prevent the message from being sent to spam. Spam filters are being patched and improved on an ongoing basis, and the algorithm is changing rapidly due to the active activities of spammers and data scammers.
According to data from the Paraphrase Online Team, as much as 57% of mailing messages go to spam. How can your newsletter not share the fate of badly written emails?
Make your email marketing effective!
Maintaining customer satisfaction is key to any business. The more satisfied the subscriber to your newsletter is, the more likely you are that he will not automatically delete your messages. Notorious deletion of messages may result in some newsletters being classified as SPAM. What’s more – some users, irritated by mailing, mark it as spammy messages themselves. How can you increase the delivery of your emails?
– Group recipients and make sure that you provide tailored offers.
– Send only offers that realistically
meet the needs of your subscribers.
– Do not spam. Choose
your newsletter shipping time carefully and try not to send it too often.
– Encourage clicking before opening.
– Don’t keep subscribers by force –
let them unsubscribe from the newsletter.
Effective email marketing: 7 simple rules for success
Encourage action before opening! We’ve examined 10 billion messages. Our report shows that emails with topics containing 1 to 3 words get the highest Open Rate, i.e. the rate of message openings. Short titles are more interesting and usually stand out from the rest.
Remember to change the number of words in the message from time to time. Recipients quickly get used to specific forms. Surprise them!
Check who opens your emails!
The most popular systems for sending newsletters will show you who opens your emails. Why send a newsletter to people who haven’t opened a single email from you in a year? Make sure that the list of subscribers includes people who are actually interested in what you send them. Divide customers into target groups – segment!
Subscriber segmentation is the basis. First, divide your customer base into specific target groups, and then, based on data analysis (e.g. user activity), select groups that: regularly read your messages, click on the links you send, can become your potential customers (e.g. based on historical data). On this basis, match the content of emails to the behavior of specific groups of recipients. Also remember to group your recipients by email hosting providers. Only in 2019, more than one billion new accounts registered on Gmail. All because the advertisements there are unobtrusive, effective and very effective, and the system perfectly filters SPAM.
You can group customers based on: purchases made from you, active opening of messages or information they have left by subscribing to the newsletter (gender, age, education).
Use the data that recipients have shared with you – personalize it!
Subscribers can leave a lot of data about themselves when subscribing to the newsletter. In addition, e-mail marketing systems will provide you with further data that you need to analyze to run effective e-mail marketing. These are among others:
– deliverability,
– openness,
– CTA click rate.
On this basis, you will determine which target groups are dormant leads and which will come back to you for shopping (for such people it is worth preparing something additional, such as discounts for regular customers) or simply like reading messages from you, but do not click links. In addition, demographics alone will provide you with enormous knowledge about your subscribers.
Based on the collected data, personalize titles, content, graphics and CTA. Anticipate what particular groups may like, as well as use data from nationwide reports on the purchasing behavior of individual segments. Thanks to this, you’ll more effectively meet their needs and tastes and preferences.
Write simply and succinctly but also catchily!
The modern recipient is tired of the number of messages and information that surround him. Try to limit the content and graphics in your messages – provide subscribers with the most important information that may interest them. However, try not to do it too intensely. Limit the message to one or up to two important pieces of information. Three or more different information can prevent the recipient from remembering the most important thing you wanted to tell him.
Remember to keep the shape of the letter F when arranging information in the message. The modern recipient mostly scans the text, and according to research conducted by dr Philip Benson and David St Clair from the University of Aberdeen, the reader’s eyes follow the track, forming the letter F.
Give your subscribers free
Give something to your most loyal subscribers. These can be unpublished tips, graphics to print or discounts. Give them something that will make them feel special and make your newsletter prestigious. Remember, however, that the more people get such freebies, the less prestigious the newsletter will be. First try to honor some subscribers this way (segmentation will be useful here).
Test campaigns and analyze effects
Testing your mailing campaigns is an absolute must if you want to run effective email marketing. Check before sending that all elements of the message are displayed correctly and that there are no errors in the content. Check what messages look like on devices with different screens (laptops, smartphoness, tablets). Create several versions of the same message and send it to different groups, and then save subscribers’ reactions to individual versions of the message. Check the Open Rate indicator and click-through rate of messages and links in the body of the email. Low OR may indicate that the message was qualified as SPAM. It can also mean that the title did not encourage subscribers to open the message. In turn, low click-through in CTA may mean that you need to change CTA because it doesn’t encourage you to act.
Pareto principle.
Use the Pareto principle. According to her, 20% of
workload generates on average 80% of profits. Translating
this into effective email marketing and subscribers, it is easy to calculate
that 20% of regular customers who are subscribed to the newsletter can give you
as much as 80% of profits from email marketing. So let’s
save the addresses of people who regularly click on links and buy from you to
reward them for loyalty (segmentation and prestige).
Do you already know how to do effective email marketing?
Effective email marketing is based on 7 main activities, thanks to which you have the chance to create a list of valuable leads.
To increase your mailing profits, you must first of all remember to segment and personalize the message content. In addition, make sure that the recipient can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. Test, analyze and do not be afraid to experiment with the appearance and content of your emails. Maybe one word will actually prove to be the key to success to increase OR and click-through rate on links? Or maybe your recipients prefer standard message titles? You will learn all this by using tests and analyzing the results.
Be creative, but do not overdo it with information overload. Try to contain the maximum information in the minimum content. Try new things, and don’t be afraid to give your subscribers so-called giveaway – in thanks that they are loyal to you (you can find out by checking data from mailing systems). Try to stand out as well as respond to the needs of target groups that you have created within subscribers as much as possible. Well, analyze, analyze and analyze again. Be creative, but do not overdo it with information overload. Try to contain the maximum information in the minimum content. Try new things, and don’t be afraid to give your subscribers so-called giveaway – in thanks that they are loyal to you (you can find out by checking data from mailing systems). Try to stand out as well as respond to the needs of target groups that you have created within subscribers as much as possible. Well, analyze, analyze and analyze again.
Ideas for free gifts for loyal recipients: dedicated, short articles that will not be published anywhere else, earlier access to the new offer, graphic designs for self printing, dedicated offers, dedicated discounts and vouchers, invitation to a special action, invitation to ambassador/testing.
