Some people think that email marketing is a bit dated, but did you know that it’s one of the most cost-effective strategies to reach your customers? Plus, research has shown that the majority of customers like being in contact with the companies they do business with. Email marketing can be a bit time-consuming, especially when you’re handling day-to-day business operations. Hiring a marketing team to handle your email marketing isn’t as expensive as you might think, however. Here are some tips we’ve learned as we’ve navigated the open seas of email marketing. Ahoy!

Branding

Do you have a brand style guide? If not, that should be priority number one. Your brand style guide will tell you what colors, fonts, logos, and image styles you should use when you’re actually designing your email. Always follow your guide in any digital or printed communications to your customers. They say rules are made to be broken. Guides are made to be followed. You don’t want your followers to get the idea that you’re inconsistent or that you don’t know who you are.

Attention Grabber

You might not be an attention seeker, but your business should be. Which means you have a lot of competition in your customer’s inbox. You’ve got to write a perfect, attention-grabbing headline for your email. Would you rather open an email that says “DONUTS DELIVERED TO YOU FREE!” Or an email that says  “Fill Out This Survey For A Free Treat”? See what a big difference your subject line can make? 4-7 words should be your goal and consider using a play on words or asking a question.

Pre-Header

The next thing readers will see is the pre-header. It’s basically an extension of the subject line and it gives the reader a bit more insight into what they’ll find if they open the email. Using our example above, you could say something like “Will you get chocolate iced or jelly-filled?” Aim for around 6-12 words for pre-headers.

Short & Sweet

Images (or even gifs) are almost always a must for your emails. You know what they say, a thousand words or whatever. Throw in an attention-grabbing headline that isn’t too long above or below the image and then get to the point in the rest of your text. What are you offering and how will it benefit your customers? How can they get their hands on whatever it is? This brings us to our final point.

Pro tip: keep your emails under 20 lines of text or about 200 words if possible.

CTA

TBH, the CTA is crucial to your email marketing success. Every email should have a CLEAR call to action. Again, keep it short. “Register Now,” “Shop Now,” “Buy Now” are all easy examples. In our donut example, maybe you’re trying to get people to fill out a survey about their interaction with your business. Completing the survey means they will get donuts delivered to their house for free. Your CTA could say “Send The Donuts” instead of the obvious “Fill Out Survey.” Get all creative up in here!

Your first few emails might feel a bit awkward and your results might be a little worse than you expected. Don’t worry, you’ll get better the more you do it! But if you’d like your emails to look like you’ve been doing it for years on the first day, give us a call!