Entries Tagged 'email marketing' ↓
September 16th, 2013 — email marketing
Despite the onslaught of video, social media marketing and search engine optimisation, you shouldn’t ignore the impact that a good email marketing campaign can have on your business. 
A recent report by Salesforce.com showed that:
- 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email
- 72% of B2B buyers share useful content via email
- 82% of consumers open emails from companies
- 33% of recipients open emails based on the subject line alone
- 64% open an email because of the subject line
Those last 2 suggest the subject line you use is critical for the success of your campaign. Hardly ground breaking stuff, but how much time do you give to your subject line creation?
The importance of the email subject line
Adestra has just released its annual subject line analysis report that shows usability and clarity is the key to getting good email open and click rates. So forget the cryptic teaser subject lines, people don’t have the time or energy to try and work out what you’re talking about. If you’re having a sale, tell people; if you’re launching a new video, tell them; if you’re announcing a news item, guess what? Tell them.
The report shows that using the word ‘free’ in your subject line will decrease open and click rates, but using ‘free delivery’ had the opposite effect.
So what other keywords work? Well, how about:
- Sale
- New
- Alert
- News
- Video
- Win
- Daily
- Weekly
Those that didn’t perform so well were:
- Only
- Learn
- Report
- Today
- Webinar
- Get
- Register
- Don’t miss
- Re:
- Fw:
Even if you spent hours putting your email’s content together, a hasty subject line could undo all your hard work.
Your subject line is the key to getting your emails read, so it makes sense to spend time over them.
Have a read of Adestra’s report to see what nuggets you can glean that will give your email marketing the shot in the arm it needs.
August 21st, 2013 — email marketing
Normally, when writing about email marketing, I’m usually harping on about content. But this post is more interested with design.
If your email design is flawed, it could lead to a flood of unsubscribers and you don’t want that.
Here are the top 3 mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Difficult to read
It’s worth bearing in mind that many people will be reading your email on their smartphone or tablet, so it’s wise to increase your font size – about 14 is ideal.
Talking of fonts, a simple one is best (not a script font) and try to stick with the same one throughout your email. If you do want to add a bit of variety, stick to one for your headlines and a second one for your body text.
The idea of your emails is to spread news about your brand and, to that end, your emails must be recognisable. That means sticking to the same layout and font for consistency.
Colours are also important. When it comes to text, make sure you use either black or dark grey on a white background, as it’s by far the easiest to read. If you want to use brighter colours, keep those for your call to action. Oh, and whatever you do, avoid patterned backgrounds, they’re very off-putting.
2. Confusing images
Images can be great in emails, but only if they are relevant, simple and fun. Make sure the image you use has an obvious link to what you’ve written about. There’s nothing worse than a confused audience.
3. Inconsistency
The key is for your recipients to instantly recognise your email so they open it and read it. If you constantly change style and colours they may not realise that it came from you and unsubscribe.
To that end, it’s essential the voice you use, template and colour scheme remain the same. Plus the other elements of your email, such as contact details, should stay in the same place so they become familiar.
None of this is rocket science, or ground-breakingly new, but nonetheless they are important points. Consistency is essential in any form of marketing if you want people to recognise and engage with your brand.
May 29th, 2013 — copywriting tips, email copywriting, email marketing
You’re probably wondering why the word ‘sales’ in the title of this blog is in inverted commas.
Well, that’s because a lot of companies that send out emails to their customers and potential customers treat them like sales letters as opposed to emails that should be building trusting relationships.
They seem to have a mental block, believing that every communication they send out must contain the hard sell.
Well, if you do that you could be kissing good-bye to a huge chunk of your audience because they’ll get sick of it and opt-out. And that’s not good.
If you’re sending out regular emails to your list (daily, weekly or monthly) concentrate on the pain your readers are feeling.
After all, if they signed up to your emails they are obviously looking for a solution to a problem.
So rather than hitting them hard with the benefits of your product/service and giving them the hard sell, talk about the pain caused by the problem they want solved and only talk about that.
List all the issues they have, show your empathy with them and then, right at the end, simply add a call to action like:
To see how to overcome this….[insert problem] check out (sales URL)
This approach is:
- Easy to write
- Isn’t a hard sell
- Shows your empathy
- Builds trust
- You don’t even have to mention your product
It really is stealth selling at its best.
Why not give it a try and let us know how you get on?
Perhaps you’ve already tried this approach? If so, how did you find the results?
Leave a comment and let’s evaluate this approach with some real life examples.
About the author:
Sally Ormond is a copywriter, blogger, cyclist, mum and MD at Briar Copywriting Ltd. She’s also an author.
February 1st, 2013 — email marketing, Essential tools for small businesses
This article is mainly aimed at email marketing.
Email marketing is a great tool. You can reach potentially thousands of people within seconds, but it is also one of the toughest marketing tools to get right.
After all, you not only have to think about who you’re sending it to, but also your message, your subject line, when you send it and how you write it.
The ‘who you’re sending it to’ but is the main focus here.
You have 2 options:
- Build your own list in-house
- Buy in a mailing list
Undeniably, option 2 is by far the quickest, but it is probably the least effective. Here’s why.
The downside of buying in a mailing list
The first thing you have to remember is that although the list you have bought may be for your industry (or customer base industry), it doesn’t necessarily mean the people on that list are interested in what you’re trying to sell.
The second thing to remember is that they haven’t asked you to make contact with them. As your email is unsolicited there is no guarantee they’ll open it.
Carrying on with the unsolicited theme, there’s a very good chance they’ll view your emails as spam because they haven’t opted in to receive them. You may not think of that as a problem, but if you get tagged as a spammer, your IP address could get blacklisted meaning you could face fines and penalties for violating the CAN-SPAM Act and UK spam laws.
Finally, because the recipients haven’t opted in, you’re mailing isn’t going to be targeted and therefore is unlikely to be effective.
Basically, although it will take time to grow an in-house list, it will benefit your business in the long run because:
- The recipients want to hear from you
- You can tailor your email messages to be highly targeted
- You won’t be seen as a spammer
Author: Sally Ormond: Copywriter and MD at Briar Copywriting Ltd
December 21st, 2012 — email copywriting, email marketing, newsletter
What is an acceptable open rate for your email marketing campaign?
What should your click rate be?
In answer to those questions the answer is ‘it depends’ – mainly on the industry you operate in.
To give you a heads up, below is a table of statistics compiled by MailChimp outlining the average email campaign stats from their customers by industry:
Average Email Campaign Stats of MailChimp Customers by Industry
| Type of Company |
Open Rate |
Click Rate |
Soft Bounce Rate |
Hard Bounce Rate |
Abuse Complaint Rate |
Unsubscribe Rate |
| Agriculture and Food Services |
23.94% |
4.85% |
0.97% |
2.06% |
0.10% |
0.38% |
| Arts and Artists |
17.53% |
3.54% |
1.58% |
2.54% |
0.08% |
0.25% |
| Beauty and Personal Care |
14.94% |
2.65% |
0.71% |
1.54% |
0.09% |
0.28% |
| Business and Finance |
15.47% |
2.77% |
2.10% |
1.57% |
0.04% |
0.21% |
| Computers and Electronics |
15.51% |
2.97% |
1.12% |
1.71% |
0.08% |
0.30% |
| Construction |
28.70% |
8.01% |
4.51% |
5.81% |
0.11% |
0.35% |
| Consulting |
16.32% |
3.30% |
2.50% |
2.39% |
0.03% |
0.25% |
| Creative Services/Agency |
24.64% |
3.08% |
1.34% |
2.05% |
0.06% |
0.25% |
| eCommerce |
14.98% |
3.36% |
0.74% |
0.88% |
0.08% |
0.25% |
| Education and Training |
16.64% |
3.41% |
1.42% |
2.09% |
0.06% |
0.20% |
| Entertainment and Events |
16.09% |
2.98% |
0.85% |
1.55% |
0.08% |
0.19% |
| Government |
25.66% |
5.37% |
0.86% |
0.89% |
0.04% |
0.20% |
| Health and Fitness |
20.96% |
5.73% |
3.14% |
6.30% |
0.06% |
0.30% |
| Hobbies |
18.45% |
4.33% |
1.13% |
2.08% |
0.12% |
0.40% |
| Home and Garden |
28.20% |
4.38% |
2.93% |
2.68% |
0.02% |
0.41% |
| Insurance |
20.91% |
3.03% |
2.37% |
4.15% |
0.10% |
0.30% |
| Legal |
17.34% |
2.49% |
0.79% |
0.89% |
0.02% |
0.12% |
| Marketing and Advertising |
18.79% |
4.13% |
1.39% |
2.50% |
0.08% |
0.23% |
| Media and Publishing |
18.43% |
3.39% |
0.48% |
0.63% |
0.03% |
0.11% |
| Medical, Dental, and Healthcare |
13.76% |
2.59% |
2.18% |
4.09% |
0.06% |
0.18% |
| Music and Musicians |
13.95% |
2.43% |
0.68% |
1.07% |
0.06% |
0.18% |
| Non-Profit |
20.43% |
3.54% |
1.13% |
1.51% |
0.05% |
0.17% |
| Other |
33.52% |
10.90% |
0.83% |
1.66% |
0.09% |
0.40% |
| Photo and Video |
28.93% |
5.70% |
0.99% |
1.34% |
0.07% |
0.26% |
| Politics |
13.72% |
2.58% |
0.49% |
0.78% |
0.07% |
0.15% |
| Professional Services |
19.77% |
3.71% |
2.55% |
3.57% |
0.08% |
0.45% |
| Public Relations |
14.81% |
1.12% |
2.07% |
2.28% |
0.03% |
0.16% |
| Real Estate |
18.48% |
3.44% |
1.18% |
1.67% |
0.06% |
0.25% |
| Recruitment and Staffing |
15.31% |
3.35% |
1.37% |
1.75% |
0.07% |
0.31% |
| Religion |
23.04% |
3.24% |
0.52% |
0.68% |
0.05% |
0.15% |
| Restaurant |
20.07% |
2.41% |
0.70% |
1.11% |
0.09% |
0.30% |
| Retail |
17.80% |
3.54% |
0.61% |
1.00% |
0.08% |
0.24% |
| Social Networks and Online Communities |
22.37% |
2.85% |
6.94% |
5.44% |
0.11% |
0.74% |
| Software and Web App |
15.57% |
2.49% |
1.88% |
3.06% |
0.11% |
0.39% |
| Sports |
19.54% |
4.77% |
0.86% |
1.53% |
0.08% |
0.24% |
| Telecommunications |
21.20% |
3.22% |
1.60% |
2.85% |
0.10% |
0.41% |
| Travel and Transportation |
14.50% |
2.71% |
0.84% |
0.83% |
0.05% |
0.17% |
How do your results compare?
Congratulations if you’re about right (or above average) for your industry. But what if you’re a bit under par? Where are you going wrong?
Common causes for poor email results
There are a number of reasons why your emails aren’t performing as they should, but here are the most common ones:
1. Murky
The reason for sending your email has to be clear, that means your subject line has to tie in with the email’s content.
If you promise one thing just to get them to open the email and then fail to deliver (or deliver something different), you’ll lose their trust and they’ll probably unsubscribe.
So make sure you’re clear about why you’re sending the email, make sure the subject line and content tallies and make sure your message is clear – that means stick to one (or a maximum of 2) topic rather than trying to cover everything in one go.
2. Way too long
This one slots in nicely after number 1. If you try to cover too much your email will be too long and no one will read it.
If you want to bring the readers’ attention to an article, rather than placing the whole thing in your email, write a short teaser and link out to it.
The ideal length for a newsletter/email is about 400 words (600 would be an absolutely maximum).
3. You, you, you
Read your email back to yourself – who is it talking about, you or your customer?
If it is all about your company, how great you are, your products etc., without any mention of the benefits you will bring your customers, your readers won’t read it.
Email marketing is there to help you build relationships with your customers, which means every email should add value to them. It should offer them great information, give them tips, perhaps an offer or two – it should be about them and not you.
4. No call to action
Sending out emails that give great information is fantastic, but if you don’t ask your reader to do something, they’re a complete waste of time.
It could be something as simple as following a link to your website, downloading a top ten tips list, perhaps a report – basically, anything that will add value to them.
5. Typos
We are all human; mistakes happen and typos slip through, but do your utmost to make sure your email goes out error free.
If you do spot something after hitting the send button, send an apology and offer them something for the inconvenience – perhaps a voucher?
If you get it wrong, apologise and they won’t think badly of you.
Writing engaging emails
OK, we’ve looked at why your click and open rate may not be as high as it should, but what can you do to remedy it?
Well, what follows are a few simple tips that help you be more effective with your email marketing:
- Be yourself – write from the heart, don’t try and be corporate it doesn’t work. Be conversational if you want to boost engagement
- Be in a good mood – the best emails are those written when you’re in the right mood. Try and write a good one when you’re in a bad mood – it’s impossible
- Read out loud – by far the best way to check for errors
- Connection – make sure you write about something that your readers can connect with, if possible tie it in with topical events
- Email address – make sure the email address you send it from is real, i.e. it has your company name in it – it is far more likely to opened that way
There you go, a few simple tips to make the most of your email marketing. Give them a try and see how you get on.
