Email is all about the relationship.
Think of your own overloaded inbox, which newsletters do you subscribe to (and read)?
Do you enjoy the ones that continually offer you useful information with the occasional offer or the one that’s a continuous pitch fest? I bet you unsubscribe in a hurry from the latter—and you’re probably annoyed by it.
When you unsubscribe, that company has lost you as a potential customer.
No matter if their product or service was exactly what you needed. If they misunderstood email marketing as the relationship building tool it’s meant to be, and instead blasted you with offers–then you’ve both lost.
If people are kind enough to let you into their overloaded inboxes then you have an obligation to provide plenty of value in exchange.
It’s just plain good manners and good marketing.
A good relationship is based on trust and likeability. If you’re helpful and informative, you’re laying the groundwork for future sales. And, as you know, it’s cheaper to retain a customer than to be constantly looking for new ones.
So, how can you make sure your subscribers are getting value from your emails and beginning to know, like and trust you?
1—Provide valuable content—whether it’s your monthly newsletter or a series of emails, don’t constantly hit people over the head with offers. If you do, you won’t be gaining trust and respect and you’ll have people unsubscribing by the droves.
2—Provide even more valuable content— use your email to provide an interesting tip that relates to your product or service. You can include a relevant link to a Special Report or information rich web page to further inform the visitor and ultimately move them through the sales cycle.
Generally, the more expensive your product, the more information your visitor will need before they make a decision. Make it easy for them to buy by offering a short e-course, downloadable report or series of autoresponders to answer their questions.
3–It’s all about your reader. Focus on the benefits to the reader. Make them care. Show your reader how your product or service is the solution to their problem. Will it save them money? Great, how much? Will it make their lives easier? Show them how.
4—HTML or plain text? This is a matter of personal preference—your readers’. Most email providers will send your newsletter out in both formats. How it displays in your readers’ browsers depends on how they have their email set up.
You do want to test your email in both formats to see how it displays. Set up a template to simplify your life. You’ll be able to use it again and again.
5-You want your email to fit within the screen. 600 pixels is the optimum length according to the email mavens at Aweber. If your readers read their emails in the preview panel rather than actually opening them—common in Outlook–then they’ll get the whole sentence in that panel.
6—How long should it be? Opinions are all over the map on this one.
I get many emails that are a couple of short paragraphs and I get others that are essay length. You have to test and measure the results. A report from Email Labs found email users spend 15-20 seconds on each email. So, if your click thru rate is higher on the short ones than the long, you use that as your guide.
7-—Call to action—about that click thru rate or call to action— if the goal of your email is to get people to go your landing page and buy something or download a free report your email has to be written with that in mind. Guide them through the process.
So, there you are, 7 best practices of email marketing.
Email marketing is only one component of your overall marketing strategy, but it’s an important one. In many ways it comes down to all the marketing basics—know your audience, know your goal of the email, and know how to achieve that goal.
If you want help designing and implementing your email marketing campaign, including a regular newsletter, please contact me.
I know doing a regular newsletter falls to the back burner on many people’s to do lists and I can help.
