Email marketing is essential to any marketing campaign. Email is a vital method in consumer engagement. Before we get into how to write effective email marketing content, let’s look over the astounding facts on why email marketing is “the king of the marketing kingdom”, according to Campaign Monitor.
Email marketing boasts of a 4400% return on investment. This ROI percentage is equivalent to $44 for each $1 spent. ROI is just a sliver of the impact of email marketing.
According to Statista, there are 3.7 billion email users worldwide. A recent study of email users revealed that over 70% of people prefer brand communications via email. On the other hand, a mere 17% of people would rather receive brand communications through social media. Moreover, almost 40% of email users want more informational emails than promotional emails. It’s clear that consumers value the importance of email as a way of communication.
Why Email Marketing Works
Users aren’t just accessing email via computers, but by their mobile devices as well. A Pew Research Center report stated that more than 50% of U.S. mobile phone owners view emails on their phones. Additionally, a Forrester study revealed that 17% of email were opened on tablets. Marketers are able to reach a wide range of consumers without even having to spend a lot of funds on new software or new technology.
Consumers are constantly searching for rewards, discounts, coupons, and they’ll subscribe to email campaigns just to get them. Research shows that 93% of email users are likely to use coupons received through email. Plus, they will share these deals with friends and family. Check out 76 Effective Lead Magnets for Your Email List for more ways to gain subscribers.
Fortunately for marketers, email marketing is easy to integrate into other forms of marketing. The versatility of an email campaign allows for both simple messaging to complex messaging with a varying level of personalization falling in between. Messaging can be personalized by the name of the recipient, product recommendations, a unique welcome message, shopping cart reminders, and more.
Since the bottom line is important in any marketing campaign, it’s important to note that email marketing is efficient and effective. It offers the chance to reach a wide audience. Almost 90% of U.S. retailers believe email marketing is one of the most effective methods to acquire customers.
Writing Effective Email Marketing Content
Writing effective email marketing content is one of the many skills of experienced copywriters, so if you’re not comfortable writing it yourself you can hire a copywriter to write it for you.
Start with a Catchy Subject Line
While your business name alone may compel subscribers to open your message, it will likely take more than that to get subscribers interested enough to open your email. Your open rate will suffer from boring subject lines. Keep it short and sweet while using action verbs, directly address the recipient, and make it unique. Check out How to Create Clickable Email Subject Lines for more instruction and inspiration.
Make it Personal
On the most basic level, personalization means using a subscriber’s name in the subject line or in the body of the email. On a deeper level, personalization could mean tailoring the content to that particular subscriber in terms of their interests, location, gender, birthday, relationship status, etc. Subscribers that you have formed a solid relationship with may require further personalization. Advanced tactics include product recommendations, loyalty program information, a reminder for items left in an online shopping cart or wish list, and beyond.
Gathering this type of information can be done via email subscription forms. With forms, users can input their own information. Integration tools and software can supplement forms by importing additional information. Lastly, website tracking can collect insane amounts of behavioral data about your customers.
Keep it Relevant
The more relevant the message, the more likely the subscriber will take action. Relevancy can be established through personalization. The copy must relate to something of importance for the subscriber. Think about region-specific holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. A lack of relevance may give the appearance of a generic, unthoughtful email. No one wants that.
Keep the content of the email relevant too. If you run a fashion business your subscribers will want to read about fashion-related news and stories. Keep it in line with yoru business.
Be Dynamic by Creating a Visual Hierarchy
Use a font consistent with your brand standards. Different fonts convey different meanings. For example, Comic Sans and New Times Roman are two very different fonts. Comic Sans is casual and resembles lettering used in comic books. Times New Roman is plain and reflects lettering used in books. Choose a font that will help get your point across.
Images help break up the flow of the text. Images are more aesthetically pleasing than mounds of text and are more likely to capture the attention of the subscriber. This allows readers to be more engaged in the message.
The structure of the text and images together will affect readability. Instead of using large chunks of text, merge the text with images and use bullet points. Lists make it easy for readers to digest information.
Keep it Simple
Busy emails aren’t good for anyone. Well-crafted emails are clear, concise and are designed for the reader to take action. Don’t overwhelm the reader by providing unnecessary information. Include only the information that will encourage the reader to take a desired action. Follow this formula for your email marketing content: image + text + call to action.