Social media has become the dominant marketing tool in the digital age, with its multiple channels capable of driving traffic, increasing engagement and bringing numerous campaign elements together.
While this is a largely positive development, it has caused other techniques to become under-utilised. Take email marketing, for example, which despite once being the cornerstone of digital marketing has largely been underestimated over the course of the last few years.
The renaissance of email marketing: 3 ways to improve your campaigns
Email marketing has always been the workhorse behind a successful e-commerce model, however, and this has helped it to retain relevance across numerous markets. As a result, the discipline has enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent times and can be utilised to improve the reach and ROI of your overall marketing campaigns.
This is so long as you tailor your email strategy and optimise your output, so here are three steps towards achieving this goal:
- Create your emails from a real person perspective
While it may seem as though email marketing and social media struggle to co-exist in the digital age, the former is well-placed to heed significant lessons from the latter. Social channels thrive through humanistic and emotive communication, for example, and this is something that can also drive successful email marketing.
This is also backed by statistics too, with 64% of subscribers known to open an email on the basis of who it is from. So by sending an email from a trusted source and an individual email account, customers are more inclined to feel at ease while they also have a point of reference if they have any queries.
It is also important to write an email that drives interaction, and creating content in an informal and engaging style is central to this. This means that relevant employees should create the copy for the email, using their brand’s tone of voice and a conversational tool to drive engagement.
- Optimise your emails for mobile use
Whether you are active on social media, email or both, mobile optimisation remains a pivotal element of your campaigns. Your email content must therefore be mobile-friendly, both in terms of its loading time and accessibility.
Modern consumers are known for their impatience, and an estimated 71% of people would immediately delete an emailif took too long to load or did not display correctly on their screen. In practical terms, this means prioritising a single-column design that is optimised on a vertical scroll, with high resolution (but compact) images and actionable icons featured prominently to drive further interaction.
These types of responsive design techniques will maximise the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns, ensuring that you get the most from your investment.
- Use your subject line wisely and optimise this space
Historically, email marketing was all about the call-to-action (CTA). This is no longer the case, however, with customers increasingly knowledgable and switched-on to overly promotional text at the end of an email.
If your email marketing efforts are to be successful in 2016, you should instead switch your focus to the subject line. This can make or break your campaign, as it is extremely influential in determining whether your email is discarded, read or inspires a direct action from the customer. The key is to clearly define a key message and the primary reason why the email is being sent in the first instance, whether this is to advertise a promotional offer or a new product launch.
Once this has been determined, you must focus on delivering a direct and concise subject line that conveys a sense of excitement. Finally, consider creating a subject line that is 50 characters or less, as this will help to engage readers and potential customers.