Do's and Don'ts of Email Marketing

In 2014, a McKinsey study states that emails are 40 times more effective in acquiring customers than social media. Start with this essential list of do’s and don’ts to create effective and informative emails that customers engage with rather than those that remain unopened or get junked.

Do’s

• Be relevant: Excellent content with a creative touch promotes interest among readers. Subject lines should be short and relevant.
• Personalize: We love personalized emails, don’t we? Also, being responsive to varied interests and demographics cuts through clutter and creates an immediate connection with the reader.
• Be clear and concise: Try to get all information up there in as little words possible. As Einstein said, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
• Be consistent: Send emails at regular intervals while balancing frequency and freshness of content. Most email service providers allow you to schedule emails at specific days and times.
• Proof read: Check. Double check. Triple check. Ensure all links work and appear perfectly.
• Provide contact details: Don’t lose an opportunity to have them contact you. Consider including your various points of contact such as website, email, social media, blog, phone, physical address and map.
• Honor unsubscribes: Offer people an option to opt-for an alternate form of communication.
• Ensure compatibility: Nearly 45 percent of emails are now opened on mobile devices, so optimize for various devices viz. mobiles and tablets.
• Include call to action: What do you want your customers to do? Enquire? Visit website? Visit store? Buy? Avail an offer? Highlight it in an easy, evident and enticing way. Bright colored buttons with embedded links are the fad.

Don’ts

• Irrelevancy: Low-quality content and subject line mismatch fail to provide the reader with what they’re looking for.
• No proof reading: Incorrect details, spelling errors, broken links, incomplete texts are a huge reason for reader disappointment.
• Text overload: Remember we are sending marketing emails, not writing novels. Respect your reader’s time and you’ll get the response you need.
• Email irregularity: Sending too many emails is intrusive and a can cost you a faithful subscriber. Remember they have that oh so powerful ‘unsubscribe’ option.
• Heavy emails: Don’t we know too much of anything is bad. Well even more so if your email won’t load before the reader loses patience. Use graphics and other heavy elements like salt and pepper, but don’t overdo it to ruin the whole meal.
• No call to action: Failure to let the reader know what they have to do may mean that they ‘do nothing’. You should have a reason to send an email, and once that’s clearly defined, make it as plain as the nose on your face.

That’s all folks. Looks like you’re up to speed on the best practices to pump up those dismal open and click rates. Go on, lead your emails to a grateful inbox not fateful junk.