Five Tips For A Successful Email Marketing Campaign

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Email marketing is making a comeback this year as many consumers now have an email-capable smartphone in their pocket and a desire to stay informed about their favorite brands. The following guide will help you setup your email marketing campaign for success, allowing you to connect with consumers and keep them coming back.

Easy Subscriptions, Easy Marketing

Let’s start with this tip because, quite honestly, nothing else is going to matter if you don’t have any subscriptions. Your first goal for a successful email marketing campaign is to wrangle up as many emails as possible. Reach out to your social media followers and post a link to sign up for your newsletter. Let them know what kind of juicy, privileged content they can expect after they sign up. Plaster your subscription form on your website. If you don’t want to have the form on every page, at least include it on your homepage, your blog, and in the navigation menu. Also, make sure your subscription form is quick and easy to fill out. If you’re going to ask people about their occupation and marital status, forget it. Just ask them their email address and have a submit button.

Many email marketing subscription services like ConstantContact and MailChimp offer an auto-responder that will send a thank you email to every new subscriber. This is a great way to show your appreciation and give your followers another taste of what they can expect. This is also how you can ensure your emails don’t get sent to the spam folder, never to be seen again.

Write A Screamin’ Subject Line

When you read a newspaper, do you stop to read the articles with headlines that read, “That Guy Did This”? Probably not. It’s boring, there’s nothing to reel you in, and you probably won’t benefit from reading the article. Now imagine that your email’s subject line can have that same influence over your subscribers. You can either grab their attention with a catchy headline, or you can sound like every other email newsletter they get.

When you’re writing a “screamin’” subject line, keep in mind that people want to know that if they’re going to spend their precious time reading something, then they are going to get something out of it. Therefore, make promises in your subject lines (that you’re able to make good on later). If you have a cleaning service business, try a subject line like this: “In-Laws Visiting? The Mother-In-Law Approved Cleaning Guide.” Subject lines that include “How To” or “Five Tips” are also winners.

Create Content Worth Reading

Now that you’ve promised your readers something, it’s time to follow through. Your email’s content shouldn’t be taken lightly. It will be the very thing that can convince your readers to pass on your email to friends and family, click through to your website or blog, or share your company on Facebook. Therefore, you should create content that feels personalized to them. Consider the feedback you’ve gotten on your blog and social media channels. What has your consumers buzzing? What topics concern them? How can your company meet their needs, improve their lives, better their shopping experience?

Also, post links to your most recent blog posts, ask for feedback, and include surveys. By allowing your readers to have a decision in what they get to read, they’ll feel loyalty toward your brand as you cater to them more and more.

Crystal-Clear Call To Action

Your call to action is like hitting the high note at the end of a power ballad; it is the lasting impression that sells your reader on whatever it is you want them to do. Even if you’ve included links to your blog or your Facebook page, nothing will get readers to go to your blog or Like your Facebook page more than a button that says “Like Us On Facebook!” or “Subscribe To Our Blog!”

This direct approach is a marketing favorite because it gives consumers clear and honest directions. There’s no guessing about what they should do next or what point there is in reading your emails. When you put your goals in front of your customers, they are much more likely to follow through.

Don’t Be A Nuisance, Don’t Be A Stranger

The timing and frequency of your emails can be just as important as any of these other tips. If you email your subscribers too frequently, they won’t hesitate to unsubscribe. Even if you’re offering great subject lines and intriguing content, think about all the other newsletters your readers are getting on a daily basis. With so little time and too many distractions, your email can become an unnecessary piece of mail that just earned its way into the spam folder.

On the other hand, if you don’t email your subscribers enough, they can lose interest quickly and won’t be as motivated to read your emails a few months after they’ve subscribed.

While the perfect formula varies for each company, try to email your subscribers once or twice a month. Pick times that are convenient for them, as well. If your target audience is businessmen and women, then morning emails that they can read while riding the bus to work or drinking their morning coffee will be better than emails that cut into their family time in the evening.

Don’t let email marketing take a backseat on your company’s development plan. A successful campaign can bring you new clients and boost your profits. With catchy subject lines, quality content, and a decent following, you can turn your email newsletters into marketing victories.

Pete Wise is the SEO Manager at blue onion whom have been on the cutting edge of ad creation for the better part of two decades. If you need a denver advertising agency to take your service or product offering to the next level, contact blue onion today. We do everything from branding seminars to full advertising campaigns.