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Email is one of the best and most effective strategies to help boost your business by far.
But it’s getting harder and harder to stand out from the crowd. In fact, over a hundred billion emails are sent and delivered each and every day. The average email inbox is littered with marketing emails these days.
And if my own inbox is representative, I’d say that over 90% of emails are promoting products or services of some kind.
Yes, even the spam ones.
So what is going to make someone click and read your email as opposed to the countless other marketing emails they receive?
Luckily for you, I have 8 of the best tried and tested marketing strategies that will skyrocket your success in email marketing.
Follow these handy tips and tricks, and you are sure to set yourself up for success.
8 Best Email Marketing Strategies
1. Ditch The ‘Dear [FirstName]’
This may sound a little controversial, I know. Aren’t you always told that personalization is key when it comes to marketing?
It can be, but studies have shown that addressing your customer by their name doesn’t always work that well, and can even turn people off you.
See, most people have seen a few marketing emails in their time, and unless you are very skilled, they know deep down you aren’t writing to them personally.
And with so many scams, phishing, and pharming emails flying around, a false personal greeting can actually make your subscribers feel more wary than included.
Trying to create a relationship with your subscribers is like building a relationship in real life… it takes time. If you are too personal or familar too quickly, you run the risk of alienating your audience.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t personalize your emails in some form or manner.
It’s just that personalization is effective when its actually meaningful.
Like tailoring emails to your customers purchase history, abandoned cart items, demographic information and interests.
2. Use Shorter Subject Lines
Studies have consistently shown that shorter subject lines get more opens.
A 2021 study by AWeber, which analyzed 1,000 emails from the world’s top email marketers, found that 80% of subject lines were under 60 characters.
And the average length for the email subject line was 44 characters.
This makes perfect sense when you consider that over 50% of emails are opened on mobile devices, which typically display between 33 and 43 characters.
And the average desktop inbox displays about 60 characters.
Anything longer is just cut off.
3. Send Them Out At Night
You may think that it makes most sense to send out your marketing emails at the beginning of the day, but the data suggests that you’re wrong.
While people might send emails between 9 am and 5 pm, it’s not really when they’re sitting down, opening them up, and paying them any attention.
That comes later. You know, once you’ve had your tea, put your feet up on the sofa and are aimlessly scrolling through your phone unwinding.
That is the prime time to strike. Between 8 pm and 12 am.
And it improves pretty much all the important stats.
Open rate, clickthrough rate, and sales.
In fact, the data suggests your open rates could improve by a whopping 22% if you send them during these hours.
So test sending emails out at odd times to see how your audience respond.
4. Everyone Loves A Freebie
I cannot stress enough how much customers love getting something for free. It seems to be an instinct buried deep within us all – we just can’t turn down a freebie.
Research suggests that free templates, tools and the like will get pretty much everybody clicking and opening that email. No matter how big or small the actual free item.
It just has to be relevant to their needs!
Most customers have a ‘what’s in it for me?’ mindset. So give them an incentive or reward that is for them and you’re going to reap the benefits of that.
5. Mobile-Optimization Is A Must
Staying relevant and up-to-date is very important in such a saturated market. And most people live and breathe through their mobile devices these days.
At least 47% of all emails are opened through mobile devices, so you really need to make sure that your emails are mobile-optimized.
If your emails are only designed to be opened on a computer and look stiff, awkward, and just downright wrong on a mobile, you’re alienating pretty much half of your audience. And that’s not good.
6. Don’t Get Swept Away By Social Networking
I’m not saying you shouldn’t be using social media as a marketing channel. It’s certainly a useful, especially if you don’t have an email list yet.
But if you only have time to do one, then pick email marketing.
Every. Single. Time.
Studies have shown that email marketing converts twice as many new customers than social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (see also ‘Email Vs Social Media: Which One Is Better For Marketing?‘).
7. Be A Weekend Warrior
As we mentioned in number 3, you don’t really want to send emails when people are busy at work, because they just don’t jump on emails right away.
So by the time they do check their email, another 57 companies will have pushed your email below the visible line and they probably wont even see it.
And while that sweet 8pm-12am time slot we previously mentioned is best, Saturday’s and Sundays do a pretty good job too.
People typically have more time to read their emails, and it’s also a fairly low-traffic time period so there is less competition to fight against.
So again, do test different time slots to see what works for your audience.
8. Wake The Dead
It’s all well and good having a huge email list, but if the majority of those on your list are completely inactive, you’re not going to get decent results.
Research suggests that a whopping 63% of subscribers can be completely inactive on the average email list.
Re-engagement campaigns are a great way to wake up those inactive subscribers, or weed them out if they are beyond saving.
The reason this is so important is because inactive subscribers send a powerful negative signal to the big email providers like GMail and Yahoo.
If your lists are chock-a-block with these zombie subscribers, and you don’t clean your lists regularly, you’ll soon find your emails appearing in the junk / spam or promotions folders.
Final Thoughts
Finding ways to keep your email list engaged can be tough (see also ‘15 Amazing Ways To Make Money Using Your Email Lists‘).
People’s inboxes are so filled with marketing emails that they’d never have any free time if they opened them all.
But don’t let this dishearten you.
There are so many different ways to boost engagement and get more people interested in your emails. Any of the 8 tips above will help you achieve this.
But remember to be bold and creative. Play around with things. See what works and what doesn’t. It’s simply a game of trial and error.
