Welcome back, readers! Can you believe we’ve entered not only a new year, but also a new decade?! I know it’s hard to believe. ? As we kick off the year, we’re diving back into one of the most efficient forms of communication that almost EVERYONE uses, email! It gives us the power to communicate with family, friends, and colleagues with just a simple ping.
Email is also an amazing marketing tool that can help spread the word about a wide range of topics, news, and events! In one of our past blog posts, we gave you a crash course in email marketing and the many forms it can take, such as newsletters and promotional campaigns. We’ve also talked about its many benefits, including its low cost and the ability to target a particular audience.
NOW, we’re going to introduce you to some ways in which you can make your emails shine bright like a diamond. ?
Start with the Subject Line
It may seem a little obvious to start with, but this is the MOST IMPORTANT part of any email. The subject line is what gets your emails ? open and read. If it’s not engaging or catchy, the email ends up in the dreaded T-R-A-S-H.
Consider some of these approaches when writing a subject line to earn more opens:
- Keep it Short and Exciting. A typical email inbox reveals about 60 characters of the subject line. On a mobile phone, it’s even less with just 25 to 30 characters. Along with staying short, it’s also good to add some mystery to draw people in. Try subject lines that spark curiosity like: “This Just In…” or “Breaking News.”
- Engaging Punctuation. Punctuation like dots, lines, and swirls can increase your email open rate. Little touches like ellipses can add extra suspense because it makes people want to know what’s coming next. Even emojis can make subject lines more engaging, but make sure to not overuse to avoid looking spammy! ?????
- Keep Your Tone Consistent. It’s important for the tone of your subject line to match the tone of your email. If you have a subject line that’s friendly with emojis and business content in the body, people will become uninterested (and probably feel a little betrayed that it’s not the content they signed up for). Keep the same voice throughout!
- Look at Your Competitors. Knowing how your competitors are engaging with their clients or customers will help you craft the perfect subject headline and woo them into joining your legion of followers. So, sign up using your email account to see what your competition is doing.
Build the Right Body
The heart of any email is in the body! Your target audience determines your content: some age groups prefer long posts, while others tend to like them shorter and more to the point. Here are some things to keep in mind when you build the body:
- Be Relevant. It’s important to understand your audience so that you can deliver the content they want. People sign up for a lot of different emails, so stay on point and remind them why they signed up for yours! Keep track of the content and emails that you send out and keep them consistent.
- It’s All About Your Audience. REMEMBER that emails are going out to your audience, not you. Therefore, it’s important to not use words like “I” or “we” when writing your message. Instead, focus on your audience and personalizing your messaging. Even adding a person’s name in the text of the body makes a person feel that they’re not just another email.
- Call to Action. If you want people to do something as a result of reading your email, you have to say it. So the big question is…what is your call to action?! Some words are also more powerful than others. Words like get, give, and receive have proved to be more powerful because they are direct.
- Timing. When you wake up in the morning, do you have a hundred emails already waiting? What makes you want to open certain ones and delete others? It’s all about timing:
- According to CoSchedule, there are certain days and times that increase your chances of your email getting opened. Their data shows that the best day of the week to send an email is Tuesday. If you’re sending multiple emails, the best days would be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
- The time of day also plays a big part in whether your email gets moved to the junk pile ? or stays unread. Data shows that the best time to send emails is 6 A.M., which is when many people first start their day.
There’s a lot of thought and planning that goes into writing any email. Focus on your audience and always keep things simple, sweet, and to the point.? Happy Writing!