The 7 Habits of Effective Email Marketing.

With over 144 billion emails sent every day, email marketing remains one of the best channels for business marketing communication.

We’ve listed the seven key habits to remember to send effective email communications.

Targeting

Ensure you’re sending the email to the right people, and your content is relevant to the audience.

Permission
Recipients should have granted you permission to get in touch with them. This will increase the response rate and avoid any negative reactions to your email.

Opt out
If the recipients aren’t the right audience or don’t want to receive content from you, make it simple for them to opt out.

Subject line

Should be short and enticing. Get the recipient interested and wanting to open your email.

Benefit led
Make the benefit of opening the email clear – something that adds value to the recipient is key. Never use a yes/no question as a subject line.

Relevant
The subject line should lead directly to the content…otherwise the reader won’t read past the first line of copy.

Content

Write succinct and engaging content that will encourage the reader to click through from your email.

Relevance
Make sure you’re sending the right information to the right person, at the right time. If possible, segment your audience to deliver targeted content.

Short and sweet
Less is more with email comms. Ideally cover just one topic that is directly linked to the subject line. This way recipients are more likely to read and remember your message.

Design

A well-thought out design, utilising clear headings and calls to action will be most effective.

Layout
Avoid dense copy and long paragraphs that will hinder the readability of your content. Instead use images and illustrations to increase interest.

Breaking copy
Break up long paragraphs into short succinct points. Bullet points and numbered lists can make it easier to read and remember the key points.

Images
Relevant images can break up an email and make it more interesting; but avoid clip art and be careful with cheesy stock shots.

Testing

To ensure you’re getting the most out of your campaigns run regular tests to optimise success rate.

Subject line
Setting up A/B split tests to a sample of your data is a great way to analyse your emails and see which variation gets more opens and click through, and provide learnings for future sends.

Response mechanism
Make it easy for people to reply to your email. Use your name and email, not an info@email. Equally, a phone number helps to create a two way relationship and not just a broadcast message.

Sending

Consider when and with what platform your audience are most likely to engage with your content.

Time of day
It tends to be different for different businesses, but morning sends usually work best. Run some tests to see what works for you.

Platform
Make considerations for various email clients along with mobile devices, as users increasingly use smartphones and tablets to access email content.

The Basics

As with any form of written communication it’s important to get the basics right.

Tone
Has to be professional but should always be friendly. Never use a tone you wouldn’t feel happy using in a meeting or on a business phone call.

Spelling and grammar
A fundamental of email marketing, spelling and grammar mistakes make you look unprofessional and slapdash. And makes it less likely for the message to be taken seriously.

Download here The Seven Habits of Effective Emails.