30 top Tips on how to make Email Marketing Work better

Top Tips: Important, #1, Personalize, Humanize, Brand Recognition, Trust, Curious, Focused, Concise, CTA, Right Message, Accuracy, Urgency, Mobile, Best Practices, Opt-In / Out, Cognitive biases, Etiquette. Engagement, Value, Tracking, Conversion.

Still not using Email marketing? Are you wondering why you should use it and if it will work for your Business? Here’s what you need to know. Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective tools you can use to communicate with your Customers, Clients, or your Network. According to a study by Litmus, Email marketing has a 42:1 ROI. In other words, for every $1 marketers spend on Email, they get $42 in return. (that passes the Litmus test !!!)

Benefits. Whether you sell Products or Services, Email is a fast, efficient & inexpensive way to keep in contact with your Customers & Prospects, make new & repeat sales + get people to visit your Website or physical location. But the ability to send Email doesn’t mean your mailing will get read. Nor does it mean that, those who do open the mail will be interested in your offers or click on links to your Website. So how do you make Email marketing work for your Startup, Small Business or Non-profit? Here’s what you need to know.

1. Why Email Marketing is Important

The main reason Email marketing is important is that it is the most preferred by Customers or Clients over other marketing methods. As a Business owner, you may sometimes feel overwhelmed by the number of Email you get, and think your Customers will be annoyed if you market to them in Email too often. But according to studies of Email marketing, that’s not true. According to an eMarketer report, many people still consider Email to be their preferred channel for receiving communications, and 54% have either made a purchase, visited a Website, visited a Store, or shared a Promotion after receiving it in Email.

2. Today, Email is the #1 Communications Tool

Email marketing is more than just Promotion & Advertising. While it can and is often used to send Coupons & Promotions, Email marketing lets you stay in touch with your Customers and establish ongoing Customer relationships. Besides promotions, you can use Email marketing to send Newsletters with Industry information, tips related to your products or services, announcements, Holiday greetings, Invitations to take a survey, etc. If you actively monitor the Email address the Email marketing messages are sent from, Email gives your Customers a way to respond back to you with their requests, likes, & dislikes, too. That gives you a better understanding of their needs.

3. Personalize & Humanize your Email

Email sent from a person and engage target far better than Emails sent from a company (unless you are a known). For the ‘From’ name in an Email as well as the Email ID used in the communication, it is better to use an individual ID. At the back-end, you can even configure that ID to be a forwarder, which your Email recipient may not know.

4. Build Brand Recognition & Trust

Consumers & Businesses like to buy from people they know & trust. Sending Email on a regular basis (ie, monthly) can help keep your name in front of Customers and build your credibility. By providing good content, whether it be Newsletters with helpful tips, new Product information, Promotions, or requests for Feedback, you’ll become better known and more trusted to your audience. You’ll also be helping them remember your products, services, phone number, location & website – so they can easily do Business with you.

5. Make your Subject Lines curious

Make it worth their while to open the Email. Make sure that you are generating curiosity with your subject lines and avoiding spammy words like free, offer, promotion, right now, etc, so that it does not affect readership of your Email

6. Subject Lines are Critical

Sending Email campaigns is easy. But to get results, your Email campaigns need to get read by your audience. Most people get dozens of Email a day – or more. When they look at the Email waiting in their Inbox, what they tend to do is glance down the list and look at the subject lines. The subject lines that catch their attention are the ones they’ll open. Others may be deleted without ever opening them. The subject lines that catch their attention will be the ones that speak to their needs & interests. A headline reading “Save 25% on Swimwear” would probably get someone looking for a bathing suit to open an Email, whereas a headline that reads “Betty’s Boutique Product Recommendations” might easily be overlooked.

**7.Stay focused on the Objective of the Email**

Great subject lines can drive opens, but if they are not relevant to the content of the Email, you are losing an engagement opportunity. Even worse, an off-topic subject line could move a recipient to mark your Email as spam !!! You might have a great subject line, but if the topic is not even discussed in the Email, that will create distrust and your Email will most likely be marked as spam.

**8. Be concise with your Email**

Don’t overload your Email with endless text. You can’t sell everything over the Email. The objective of your Email is to get the recipient to respond back. Given the average read time for an Email is 11 seconds, you’ll lose your reader – if you overload them with lengthy content. Instead, create short, concise Email that whet the appetite of the reader & focus on one topic. If you have more details to offer, you could include them on a landing page that the reader will see after they click.

**9. Consider placement of your “Call-to-Action” buttons**

Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons belong above the fold — not hanging out all alone at the bottom. Don’t be afraid to have multiple CTA buttons, but ensure that at least one is above the fold. Should all CTA buttons go to one destination, or should the reader have choices? Not a simple answer. With the increased sophistication of today’s Email reader, I’ve seen communications using various target locations outperform a single target location. Keep one thing in mind, that with the additional locations you are trying to track the typical human mind and trying to address their hidden needs.

10. Make your Call-to-Action interesting

Use resonating benefit-based content in your Call-to-Action (CTA) buttons. Generic words like “Download,” “Submit” and “Click here” are less likely to generate any meaningful lift. Instead, use copy like “Join the Fun” or “Enjoy the Benefits Now.”

11. Send the Right Message to the Right Customers

To get good results with Email marketing, you should segment & target your mailings to appropriate Customers. Segmenting your Mailing list according to the Customers’ interests allows you to send the right Promotional mailings to the right Customers, thereby increasing your ROI and the Customer’s satisfaction.

12. What’s in it for me?

It is very easy to stay close to the features, functions & benefits of your product. Realize that it is not about your product, but what it can offer to the recipient. Only then, will they be interested to use that product or service. Features & Functions don’t fully engage, but Benefits do !!! In your Email, write about the amazing benefits that can be realized by using your product – instead of the boring them with features & functions. Create the message so it directly impacts the prospect to encourage interest & action. NOTE: You might also want to read “Using Email marketing as a Dialogue”.

**13. Accuracy *trumps Personalization

Personalization is great, when it works well. Starting your Email with “Dear [Recipient Name]” can backfire if your Email subscriber database isn’t accurate. Consider just using “Hi” and skipping the contact’s name unless you’re 100 % sure that your contact names are accurate and formatted correctly. There’s no bigger turnoff than an Email that starts with a mistyped name like “Dear samSmith or Jackjones.” * not Donald.

14. Build a Sense of Urgency.

Provide a clear Call-to-Action (CTA) and remind readers of a deadline (ie, limited time offer valid only until (Date), Hours with a Countdown Timer)]. This often helps to keep customers from procrastinating and to motive them to take immediate action !!!

15. Utilize high-quality Images

good Images engage Email readers more. Use clear, appropriately-sized images that support the Email copy. Faces of engaged & happy customers (or even the sales person) also work well. Eye-tracking studies show that people are drawn to facial features when looking at images.

16. Use it to Increase Sales Quickly

If you’re in Business, good Sales are your ultimate goal. Email marketing campaigns let you deliver promotions and special offers inexpensively to your Customers’ Inboxes. Depending on the size of your Mailing list, and the promotion you send out, online Sales or calls from Customers who want to place an order or make an appointment can come in within minutes of sending out a Email mailing. If you have a brick & mortar shop, the Email can point them to your location and drive sales there. You get results at a fraction of the cost of a Direct mailing or Print advertisement.

**17. Send Post-Purchase Emails.**

Internet marketing Emails should not stop once a potential customer makes their purchase. The company should also prepare a re-engagement campaign within a certain period after the original sale is made. You could offer a similar product or service or a special privilege to get faster delivery, points, percentage off, etc.

18. Optimize Messages for Mobile.

A lot of people read their Emails on their mobile devices, so make sure that the content can be viewed on Smart-Phones & Tablets. Many readers simply delete messages that they can’t read while on the go, so make sure they are – big enuff, simple yet concise. Get smart. Check it out on that phone.

19. Email Marketing helps improve Marketing Results overall

Email marketing services have Reporting Tools that can help you determine what works best for marketing to your Customers. By reviewing the Reporting data for your Email & comparing subject lines, headlines, days of the week, & other data – you can determine which promotions & time of the day and/or week to market to your Customers.

**20. Use these best practices to keep m Engaged . . .**

but not enraged !!! Motive & inspire them to take a take action with a CTA. Here are some things you can do:

Kickstart your Email campaign with a Welcome message
Make up a EZ to remember Sender name
Create your own unique style, then stick with it – if it works
If it fits, look for good Timing, then schedule the Campaign accordingly (ie, Holidays, Seasons, etc)
If you need to, select the right Email marketing service
Avoid being flagged as Spam due to excessive activity (ie, most are monthly, if more often, have a good reason

21. Get People to Opt-In

The more people you try to Email that did not originally Opt-In, the more trouble you will have actually getting an Email provider to accept your list or even getting an Email through to those people in the first place. The best recipients to send Email campaigns to are Opt-in recipients. Here are some creative ways to get people to Opt-in to receive future messages:

Place a simple Email Newsletter Signup form on every relevant page of your website
Add a Link in your Email signature to remind recipients of your one-off Emails to Opt-in
Add an Opt-in field to your Inquiry forms
Add an Opt-in link to Order Confirmations & Customer Surveys that you send out
But don’t forget you Op-out thru an Un-Subscribe

22. Make use of Cognitive biases

We, humans, like to think that we have the world “figured out,” but that’s nothing short of an illusion. The way we perceive reality is incredibly distorted, because we’re subject to a large set of cognitive & logical biases, which incidentally happen to be a very popular tool in the Marketing world. There are over 200 documented biases, many of which can be used to create a high–converting Email marketing copy. Here are a few biases you can look into:

Loss Aversion — many businesses have been using this technique for quite a while. Your aim is to create an image in your customer’s mind, that if they miss out on the opportunity you’re providing them with, they will most likely lose something as a result.
Zero-Risk bias — a person is more likely to buy a product if they feel that there’s no risk associated with the purchase. If a product is marketed as very durable or very long-lasting, customers see little risk associated with it, which helps drive sales.
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) — people are afraid of losing a potentially beneficial opportunity. Chances are this is an evolutionary feature people have developed, which allowed them to find food in times of scarcity. Marketers create scarcity artificially to entice their customers to use their services or products. To use FOMO efficiently, you need to convey the fact that many people are happily using a product, and that product is very limited.

23. tips for friendly, eagerly anticipated Messages …

Stop talking about your list. Or subscribers. Write as if you’re Emailing one person only. It instantly makes your Emails more personal.
Quit wasting people’s time. Only Email when you have something truly valuable or helpful to say.
Be useful. Don’t just Email when you need something from your readers. Be helpful, generous, & friendly. Treat them like a real friend and share info of value.
Be Trustworthy. Let people know what to expect. Yes, Sales messages should be part of your Email marketing, that’s fine. Just be clear about it when they sign up.
Don’t be Creepy. Feel free to personalize Emails, but don’t repeat people’s names too often, because it makes you sound like a Call Center script.
Be on their Side. Remind people that they’re not alone. Tell them you understand their struggles. Empathize with them, and ask “How can I help?.
Give people a Reward for reading. Make sure people benefit from reading your Emails. How? Share a useful tip. Make them feel better. Inspire them.

24. Email Subject Line tips for more opens

Most Inboxes are congested — filled to the brim with un-interesting, boring Emails. Your Emails could be easily drowned out in over-flowing, noisy Inboxes across the world. Gmail tabs & Spam filters have made it even more difficult to get noticed. How do you write appealing subject lines that make you stand out – that seduce people to open your Emails? Subject lines need to attract attention, just like headlines do. Here are 8 Email subject line tips on that:

Promise something good. If people know specifically what they’ll learn or how exactly you’ll make them happier, more informed, or better at business, they’ll be motivated to read more.
Use Power Words. Sensory, emotional trigger words attract attention, and make your subject lines stand out in crowded Inboxes.
Use a Number. Because digits — like 4 or 37 — stop wandering eyes.
Pique Curiosity. Don’t be afraid to occasionally use bizarre words. Tickle or violate the info gap. Your readers will be keen to find out more.
Point out Common Mistakes, because nobody wants to be perceived as stupid.
Quit Cleverness. Simple, specific subject lines beat clever alternatives every time.
Learn from the Masters. Subscribe to excellent Email lists and analyze their subject lines. You’re guaranteed to learn something.
Stop following Meaningless Stats you find in standard Email marketing tips, like optimal subject line length. No average reader exists. Build a real relationship so your readers anticipate your Emails and they’ll open them because they recognize your name — even if your subject line sucks.

25. Email writing tips for Engagement

So, you’ve got people to open your Emails. Now what? How do you keep their attention, and keep them reading your Emails word for word ??? Follow these 9 Email writing tips that will captivate your readers:

Write Fast, because that’s how your enthusiasm & personality come through.
Keep it Short. Content Editing should be a part of your Email process too. Long & unwieldy Emails kill your readers’ interest. Challenge yourself to cut your text down – the next time you edit.
Ask Questions. Imagine having a face-to-face conversation with your reader. You’d ask questions in that situation, wouldn’t you? So do it here.
Don’t follow a Strict Formula. Blueprinted Emails quickly bore the boots off Cowboys – your readers too.
Add a Personal Touch, because you’re trying to get readers to know, like, & trust you, aren’t you ???
Don’t automate your Greeting. Try Warm wishes, Best regards, or Greetings from sunny California, etc. Mixing up your Greetings makes you less robotic, and more personal.
Use the word You, as much as possible, because it’s one of the most persuasive copy-writing words in the English language.
Stop being Dull dufas. Understand the telltale signs of boring writing. Write short, strong sentences. Get to the point! Break a few rules to make it interesting.
Quit being Selfish. Don’t be cold-hearted. Genuinely care about your readers and how you can help them.

26. Provide Info & Content that offer Value to the Reader

The job is not done, merely by making the Subject Line appealing to the readers. But, you should ensure that the Email contains such information & content that offer value to the readers. This will impress the reader, and they will love to receive & read subsequent Emails from you. Remember, even if the purpose of sending marketing Emails is to drive Customers to invest in your products & services, avoid getting into high-pitch Sales Talk all the time. Likewise, you can personalize the Salutation, as well as include more of pictures & videos in the body that will produce more engagement of the readers. Keep the tone of the Email professional yet a bit casual, so that readers enjoy reading the Email till the end. Most importantly, you need to employ the best Email marketing applications that will add more efficiency & productivity to the process. In this regard, MailWizz, FreshMail, GetResponse & AWeber are the top choices that you may consider. These applications are used by million of marketers from all around the globe, and reviews of these applications come exceptionally positive. Hence, you should always prioritize these applications, over other alternatives.

**27. Setup Tracking to Evaluate.**

Before you go sending out any Emails, it is very important that you setup the proper Tracking. Being able to evaluate the effectiveness of each campaign will prove essential to maximizing your ROI. Some of the metrics you should be looking to track through your Email provider’s Dashboard (ie, with a Website analytics tool like Google Analytics are:

Deliverability (rate at which your contacts actually received your message)
Open Rate (rate at which your contacts actually open / view your message)
Click thru Rate (rate at which your contacts click on Links / CTA in your message)
Conversion Rate (rate at which your contacts become leads / customers after getting to your Website from your message)

28. Email conversion Tips for more Sales

You’re not just writing Emails for fun, are you? As a business owner you have to sell to stay in business (whether you like it or not). So, what are the best Sales Techniques? Follow these 8 Email Conversion tips to convert more readers into buyers:

Don’t sell before the prospect is ready. Become a friend and trusted source of information first, and your readers will more readily buy from you.
Highlight benefits. Don’t sell your product. Instead, sell the benefit it offers your customer.
Show what readers will miss. Most people are risk averse. They want to avoid inconveniences, glitches, and complications. Consider rephrasing the benefits of your offer as a problem you’ll help to avoid.
Don’t follow a strict formula. Because formulaic messages that follow strict Email marketing tips sound robotic and are boring as heck.
Work toward your aim. Tell interesting stories that lead to your sales message.
Present a clear deadline. It prevents people from procrastinating.
Insert multiple links (to the same page). Because it increases your chances of people clicking that link.
Have an impeccably clear call to action. Tell your readers exactly what you expect them to do next, and remind them why it’s in their best interest to buy.

Conclusion: Email Marketing is a Business Essential. The bottom line on Email marketing is that it is an invaluable tool for small Business marketers. It is widely accepted by Consumers & Businesses alike, helps build your visibility, your trust, & boosts sales. What more could you want?