Help! I have just started an email campaign and it’s not bringing in the results I want. What’s gone wrong? Why isn’t it working?
Sound familiar?
Email marketing is an art that has several elements that work together. Miss one of those out, and you could be heading for disaster.
If your email marketing campaign is to have the strongest chance of success (remember, there are no guarantees), you must ensure you have looked at all the following elements:
1. Content
This is one of the biggest and most vital aspects of your email marketing campaign. Its ingredients include a powerful subject line to get your email opened, a strong headline to get your email read, an amazing offer to make your recipient want to buy and a strong call to action to help them buy.
But, no one likes to think they are being sold to, therefore your copy has to be engaging, friendly, personable whilst still getting your sales message across strongly and in such as way as they feel compelled to buy.
That’s quite a tall order which is why you should probably consider getting a freelance copywriter on board to work with you.
2. Your offer
Get this wrong and you’re dead in the inbox. If your reader doesn’t find it irresistible, it won’t work. Please note, that was your reader not you. Just because you think you’ve come up with an amazing offer doesn’t mean your reader is going to think the same. You already think your product/service is the best thing since sliced bread, but you have to convince your reader of the same thing. If you don’t you’re heading straight for the deleted box.
3. Your list
Who you are sending your email to is incredibly important. Even if you have the best offer possible written by a world class copywriter, if it goes out to a ‘bad’ list it won’t work. The best lists you can use are ones you’ve built in-house.
4. Aesthetics and browsers
Most companies these days opt for HTML emails because they look great. And they do. You just have to remember that not every browser will display your email in the same way. So, if you want to avoid some of your recipients receiving ‘broken’ emails, make sure you test it in multiple browsers before hitting send.
5. Time
Believe it for not, when you send your email can have an effect on your open rate. Mondays and Fridays are generally not good because they are either wading through stuff from last week and the weekend, or they are on the wind down after a long week. Therefore Tuesdays and Thursdays are better days.
Although these are crucial factors there are others you will have no control over. Your recipient also has a life so they might just be too busy to read your email, you may have sent it to the wrong person in the company (and there are no guarantees that it will be forwarded to the right person), or you may have sent it when they don’t want or need your product/service.
Remember one thing – an email campaign is called that because it is exactly that – a campaign. One email won’t do it. You have to drip feed regularly over a period of time. But don’t just send constant sales messages, mix in useful information too. If you are seen as a company that adds value you will increase your chances of a sale.