HOW TO WRITE AN EFFECTIVE EMAIL

How do you write an effective email that people want to read? The answer seems to be ever-changing. While social media has grown to be an important part of any marketing campaign, email remains a key component to a marketing strategy. Companies still find email to be a cost-effective way to reach their target market; how they get them to click links and the overall message are keys to successful email campaigns.

Keep the subject line short: We get our information so fast it is important to grab the reader’s attention early. 64% of people say they open an email because of the subject line. The most effective subject lines are less than 30 characters in length. Emails subject lines with 10 characters or less have an open rate as high as 58%, well above any industry average.

Words Matter: Choose the words of the subject line and the body of the email carefully. For example, “you” and “your” are used in 18.7% of subject lines making them among the most commonly used in email campaigns. Personalizing email subject lines makes the emails 22.2% more likely to be opened; so it pays to take time to create emails that are noticed by recipients.

Engage the reader: Email marketing can be as impactful to the reader as social media or traditional print marketing campaign. It is important to engage the audience with a subject line that is not only short but grabs their attention. Controversial headlines, actionable tips and how-to titles and themes are the top ways to engage the reader. Follow up with content that keeps them reading your email and clicking through to the website.

Effective email marketing is more than an engaging subject line. You’ve got to have the content to back it up. Many companies are choosing to repurpose website and blog content in their newsletters saving time and reaching different readers. The key is to get readers from the newsletter to the website.

What is the email click-through rate (CTR)? It is simply the number of people who clicked links from an email to get to the sender’s website or blog. Creating engaging content increases the CTR of your email campaigns. The average click through rate is about 10% with variations across industries. Factors to consider when building an effective email campaign include the following:

• Newsletters are more effective than a pure marketing message. People want to she shown, not told, about your product or service.
• Rather than sending an email from “marketing at your company name,” consider sending an email from a specific person at the company such as the owner or CEO. It makes the message more personal and readers are more likely to engage.
• Create specialized lists so you can target the marketing message within each newsletter. Consider separating prospect and client lists, for example.
• Add a lot of links so there are ample opportunities for readers to click through to the website or blog.

While email remains an effective marketing tool for many companies, it is important to understand how subject lines and content impact click through rates and overall email success. As social media grows to engage your audience, effective email campaigns will become more important in the marketing strategy.