You probably have heard all kinds of desperate predictions about the demise of email marketing, but what the evidence shows is that it’s still an integral component of your online marketing mix, both now and down the road. As reported by Sign-Up.to’s 2013 UK Email Marketing Benchmark Report, there has been a strong increase in average email open rates, rising from 18.35 percent to 21.47 percent within the past 12 months. Also, (and even more exciting) the average return on your email marketing investment is a mind-numbing $44.25 for each dollar spent. (iContact)
So how do you to take advantage of this?
Here are 5 easy ways to get your email marketing efforts heading in the right direction!
- Create great subject lines – Headlines matter, as your open rates will tank if you overlook this aspect. Take the time to craft a subject line that makes people want to open your email. This could be a combination of curiosity, excitement, urgency, beneficial and spam compliant.
- Write engaging content – Make certain your emails are not only written to engage, but are also providing great content unique to your brand. Over-deliver when it comes to handing out pearls of wisdom, as that is presumably why they’re subscribed to and following you in the first place, correct?
- Incorporate social media – This is a easy way to spread your emails around, especially those with terrific content. Implement social sharing buttons in your emails, and encourage your users to use them. This can result in easy new opt-ins.
- Send mobile-friendly emails – Given that 64 percent of decision makers read their email on their mobile device,(TopRankBlog) and also the average person checks their smartphone some 34 times a day, do you need any more convincing to make your emails mobile friendly?
- Send email more often – This is one we frequently hesitate at. Nobody wants to keep pissing off people who don’t want to read your messages. Sure, if you’re selling some shiny new object every email. Rather, make sure to keep sending fantastic content that people simply can’t wait to read. Copyblogger reports that very often your unsubscribes actually decrease if you mail more frequently.