{"id":1449,"date":"2022-02-10T05:51:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T19:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/primeresults.co\/?p=1449"},"modified":"2022-03-03T00:06:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T13:36:13","slug":"improve-email-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primeresults.co\/improve-email-engagement\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Your Email Engagement (A No-Holds-Barred Guide)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Email marketing is one of the most effective methods of online marketing\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Because it has a higher engagement than other online marketing methods like social media marketing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email allows you to communicate with potential and existing customers, interact with them in real time and build lasting relationships with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Someone once referred to email marketing as the \u201cinternet\u2019s killer application\u201d because of the precision with which marketers could tailor, target and track emails. Its low costs and digital processing enables businesses to send out large numbers of emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High engagement, low costs, shorter turnaround (in the time involved to prepare, send the messages and receive the responses), and customisable campaigns make email marketing an invaluable tool for customer acquisition and retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as wonderful as email is, few marketers reap the returns of this marketing tool<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(And marketers here also include business owners in charge of their own marketing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest challenges marketers face with email marketing is generating consistent engagement\u2014getting subscribers to open an email, read it and take the specified action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot of competition for each of your subscriber\u2019s attention. Your marketing emails vie for the same attention as your subscriber\u2019s personal and business emails, other subscriptions they have and other channels like social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pure360<\/a> found that consumers received around 57 marketing emails each week on average in 2021\u2014that\u2019s about 8 marketing emails everyday plus the hundreds of  work emails your subscriber must prioritise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are only so many emails a person can read in a day and could be why your emails go unread and ignored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that much competition, how can your email marketing strategy drive success? How can you capture the limited mindshare and convert it into leads and sales for your business?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your CEO (who might be you) needs you to create an end-to-end strategy for reaching out to 5K accounts this quarter via email marketing. From prospecting to closure how do you plan a campaign that doesn\u2019t end with your emails landing in spam or getting dropped or bounced?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe there’s no one in your team who knows how to do it and the CEO wants you to come up with some semblance of an effective email marketing strategy and execute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions like these are what drive marketers like us to Google, only to find over 3.5 billion possible answers. Then we\u2019re left wondering whose advice to follow and whose to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s been no shortage of email marketing trends and forecasts since email marketing began over 40 years ago. And every year, a new prediction pops up, bringing along its own set of trends. So much so, it\u2019s become quite tricky for marketers to develop useful, unique and, most importantly, engaging email marketing strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what this long (but loving \ud83d\udc99) article is for\u2014to provide you with a go-to resource for email marketing practises that trigger the right responses from your subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, it is conversion, rather than response rate, that will determine cost efficiency of your email marketing efforts. But conversion doesn\u2019t happen without the response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Good email engagement is the first stop on the journey to more conversions\u2014aka more revenue for your business\u2014and response depends on how well you target your subscriber list, how engaging your messages are and how receptive your subscribers are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sounds simple, but if you’re not sure what you’re doing, that could spell an expensive disaster for your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The practises I\u2019ll show you will make sure your email marketing strategy is up to snuff, no matter what industry you\u2019re in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are 17 email marketing best practices to improve your response rates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Practice #1: Start with the business goal you want to achieve with each email campaign<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Photo by RODN<\/a>A<\/a>E Productions<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Before you write a word of email copy, you must understand why you\u2019re sending any emails in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t have a clear goal, how can you direct your email recipients to perform in the manner that you want?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When crafting your business goal, you need to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know what you are\u2014what do you have to offer, how are you placed within the industry, and why do you matter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know your competition\u2014competition doesn\u2019t mean an \u2018enemy\u2019, rather, it means other businesses that provide solutions like yours. You can study your competition and learn from them, see what they are already doing and how you can differentiate yourself from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identify your market\u2014study and understand who constitutes your target audience so that you can provide what they need with the right approach that suits them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build a mailing list\u2014invite people to subscribe to your newsletters so you can easily keep in touch with them. After all, you can\u2019t plan an email campaign without people to send your emails to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then write down your goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it you want a subscriber to ultimately do after they click through your email?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, you might be selling an online course and want the reader to read your sales email then click through to the sales page.  Your goal here could be to get subscribers to sign up for a 30-day free trial of your course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As another example,  you might send out a newsletter that you want your subscribers to read then click through to read the rest of your blog article. A good business goal here would be to get more comments on your article, more tweets, more Facebook shares etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just remember:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always start with a goal before you launch any email marketing campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Practice #2: Personalise your message<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Personalising your message means adding consumer-specific information to your email\u2014information more specific than simply saying \u201cHi <first name>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does addressing your subscriber by her first name increase the probability of her opening your email?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure. By 20% actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increased email opens translate into a downstream increase of 31% in sales leads, and a decrease in the number of recipients unsubscribing from the email campaign by 17%\u2014according to this Stanford University study<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans are designed to automatically orient their attention to their own name. So, an email with your subscriber\u2019s own name\u2014or the name of the company where she works\u2014gets attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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People also tend to be persuaded by messages that match aspects of their identity. Seeing her name might increase your subscriber\u2019s liking of the product because of its association with the self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But your email marketing strategy must be more intelligent than simply addressing your subscriber by her first name\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026if you\u2019re going to reap the full benefits of personalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Message personalization tactics have been possible for a long time. But marketers still don\u2019t exploit these techniques as much as would be expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that presents a wonderful opportunity for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you personalise your emails, you pique your subscriber\u2019s interest in the email content. You cause them to pay more attention to your message and consider buying your products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One personalization technique that\u2019s been the bedrock of consumer-specific information\u2014and, consequently, successful email\u2014is product recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sorta like that very-on-point email from Netflix \u261d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your email program includes products, offers or content, a first eye-opener is a product recommendation\u2014it\u2019s effective whether you manually pick the products for your subscribers or recommend products by subscriber segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the following example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazon sends a promotional email to someone on their customer database, who previously bought from the site. Because Amazon delivered products to the customer\u2019s address, the company has information about her name, address, and items purchased. The message should include the customer\u2019s name along with product recommendations based on what the customer purchased before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s how you use consumer-specific information to personalise your message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personalization gives you the ability to make your customer feel special. She feels like a person, rather than a brand, wrote to her\u2014and she\u2019s more likely to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Practice #3: Make your emails interactive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Getting subscribers to spend as much time as possible interacting with your emails in their inbox will increase their likelihood of clicking through and completing a desired action\u2014that action might be making a purchase (if you\u2019re a retailer) or booking a consultation (if you\u2019re a service provider).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interactive emails are not only more fun to read, but on the business side, they\u2019re a great way to engage and convert your audience. An interactive email contains functional elements that invite readers to engage with the content directly in the message. Engagement could mean tapping, swiping, clicking, watching, even playing games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anything from GIFs and illustrations to quizzes or countdown timers in an email is an interactive element. As brands strive to bring their personalities through and encourage interaction, they incorporate things like scratch cards and quizzes into their emails..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some brands use scratch cards to offer subscribers a discount or free gift. Other brands use quizzes both for fun and as a way to segment subscribers or recommend products without sounding too salesy. There are also very practical and helpful uses of interactive email elements in showing real time ‘select your seat’ functionality on a plane or for events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you make your emails Interactive, you help your subscriber complete a task directly from their inbox, like adding an item to their shopping cart. Your emails do more than just send the subscriber to a landing page. And because you added something unexpected, your subscribers reward you with better engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take this email from [Google Store<\/a>] for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You could easily choose your preferred colour of Pixel Buds\u2014white, red, blue or black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another form of interaction that\u2019s becoming increasingly popular is gamification. Gamification might be the ultimate way to add interactivity into your email campaigns\u2014if you have the right level of development experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like this Halloween game by Email Monks<\/a> (now Uplers):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(I like how the grim reaper\u2019s eyes light up when you hover over the \u2018Enter\u2019 button \ud83d\ude05).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might take one look at Google Store and Email Monk\u2019s interactive emails and ask, \u201cDon\u2019t I need to know how to code to build something like that?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definitely looks like work. A lot of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you\u2019re not even sure if your email will work in every email client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that many email clients or Email Service Providers (ESPs) offer facilities for some form of interaction such as surveys, carousels, hover effects, name it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your ESP doesn\u2019t provide these functionalities, you can always use third-party services like MailModo to add interactive functionality to your emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your subscribers will thank you for it by engaging with your emails longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more the engagement, the higher your response rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email interactivity is fast becoming commonplace\u2014along with other functionalities that give users more control over their own experience and expand the scope of what they can do with content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it is a simple quiz or a more sophisticated function, the more you can get subscribers to interact, the longer they will be engaged\u2014which enhances your relationship with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practice #4: Exercise \u201cpermission marketing\u201d\u2014not spamming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I believe it was Seth Godin who coined the term \u201cpermission marketing<\/a>\u201d\u2014a concept based on consumers giving their consent to receive marketing information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you exercise permission marketing, you offer your customers the opportunity to determine whether or not they want to receive promotional messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key to effective permission marketing is knowing your customers\u2019 interests and their information needs. In email marketing, that translates to sending emails that your subscribers not only anticipate but that are also personal and relevant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 You improve your targeting and the relevance of your promotional messages when you have a proper understanding of your audience\u2014which leads to better response and conversion rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposite of permission marketing is spamming or spam messaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spam messages are unwanted, untargeted and give customers a negative perception of your brand. Spamming means indiscriminately sending messages without the receiver\u2019s permission and without consideration for the appropriateness of the messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sending unsolicited emails is an invasion of privacy and taints the reputation of email marketing.  You should first obtain subscriber consent to receive promotional emails and restrict the messages you send to relevant ones only, if you don\u2019t want subscribers marking your emails as spam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should also offer your subscribers a no-hard-feelings option to unsubscribe from your emails when they no longer want to hear from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Emphasis on the \u2018no hard feelings\u2019 part).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unsubscription option should not be, “It might take one month for your unsubscribe request to go through.” Rather, your unsubscriber should have the freedom to say, \u201cI’m out! Set my email address on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re better off with a list of contacts who\u2019ll appreciate what you have to offer than not. But it won\u2019t come to that\u2014at least not if you apply the email marketing practises in this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permission email has a higher response rate than non-permission email because people feel positive about receiving emails they agreed to. It also gives you a chance to build long-term relationships with potential and existing customers once you have their initial permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You cement that relationship between you and your customers when you have their consent and trust. Then when you combine that with the two-way information exchange of email, you have an airtight email marketing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Practice #5: Test the deliverability of your emails<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever sent an email and gotten one of these?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yup, that was me trying to apply for a credit analyst position in a major investment firm back in \u201817. But when I submitted my application, \ud83d\udc46 is what I got instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAddress not found.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ouch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The success of your email marketing strategy also hinges on the embarrassing screenshot above\u2014the concept it represents anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that concept is email deliverability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly is email deliverability and why is it so important?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever received an email like the one above, you may have an idea of what bad email deliverability looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If not, kudos to you! Your email game is on point \ud83d\udc4c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Email deliverability is the ability to get emails into your subscribers\u2019 inboxes successfully. It\u2019s what marketing pros use to determine the likelihood of their email campaigns reaching subscriber inboxes without bounces or ending up in the spam folder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you send an email but it\u2019s not delivered, your ESP usually responds with a delivery status notification or error message, explaining why your message bounced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might get an error message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n