Email Marketing: 4 must-haves in every email you send
Everyone loves sending out emails right? Or is it just me that feels it becomes increasingly harder and harder to stay consistent with my email campaigns? What I have found to be increasingly true, is that if I have a plan or a template going into each email, I am way more likely to complete and send the email. Here are 4 must-haves to help your email campaigns but also easy to produce on your end.
Consistency is key: Your audience craves knowing who you are and craves a consistent email schedule. I know, crazy right? But it’s true! Your audience will begin to expect when your emails should come in and if you are off of your game, they will notice. This builds strong brand loyalty and it’s not something you want to pass up. How do you stay consistent though? It’s tricky but can fall into place if you give it a little effort up front. Here are some go-to methods I use to help me stay consistent. First, start with 3 columns. In each column, put the following information.
Information your audience needs: These will consist of alerts and updates. What pieces of information does your audience require the information for, that if it was not provided, they would feel in the dark? Those pieces of information will fall into the “Must Have” category
Information your audience wants: This is where you put your listening ears on and listen to the items your audience would love to hear more about. It could seem silly to you, but in all reality, could be the very thing that keeps your audience engaged. The best part about this category is that it can be ever-changing, which allows more and more content to be created.
Information you would like to share (the fun stuff): These items are the “brain-storming” ideas, the ideas that give you the personality behind who you are. It sometimes seems not as important, but on the contrary, it allows you to come up with what makes you, you. Your audience will love this because they won’t feel like you’re expecting anything from them, but that you are genuinely giving information just for the fun of it.
By creating these 3 columns and keeping them filled, you are able to have something to pull from for your emails.
2. Call to Actions: This is a very important part that should be a non-negotiable in every email sent. Your audience needs guidance and appreciates when they are guided to perform the action intended by your action. This also increases their likelihood of reaching your website and learning more about you. What could be bad about that? Call to Action can be in the form of a button or a linked text. Here are some great examples of good CTA’s.
3. Timing: This is incredibly important if you want to appropriately deliver your emails to the inboxes of your audience at a time they are most likely to see it. This digs into the personas of who your audience is and when they are most likely to be at their email. If moms are your audience, for example, you might want to send emails that are sent around babies’ nap times, or if your audience is corporate workers, then having an email in their inbox in the morning is key. The point is to get to know your audience and your open rate will increase rapidly if you are delivering the emails at a time that works best for your audience, not you.
4. Email Subject Lines: This is so important. Can you think of a time that an email subject line was the reason you opened up the email? If they are catchy or enticing you are more likely to open them. Consider making the subject line conversational, this will help break the barrier your recipients might feel and make it feel like they received an email from their friend. Or perhaps, introducing emojis to catch the eye. Make sure to be playful with this, because at the end of the day, you can always tweak to see what works best for you.
These are all ways that can help you feel more confident about your emailing tactics and give you the peace of mind that you have a strategy to follow. You can always change your approach but you have to start somewhere. Once you become consistent, you will then have the freedom of testing new ideas and theories.
Happy emailing! If you have questions, please do not hesitate to ask!