Email marketing is used, abused and then used and abused again endlessly today. There are quite a few reasons for this. Email marketing is still one of the biggest generators of revenue. It rakes in a cool $26 per email sent, which is miles ahead of the nearest competitor, PPC at $18. The ROI from email is fantastic and for this reason alone it is frequently the top marketing tool for digital marketers. Email campaign writing is part and parcel of the process, but before we get into the 4 ways to absolutely master email campaign writing, let’s do some solid fact finding.
Email campaigns in numbers
An average email subscriber, aka you and me, would receive, over a period of one month, 416 marketing emails according to Return Path. We can agree that is indeed a hefty number. They have a graphical representation which also shows the read rates for different networks that send these out, sourced by Marketing Charts.
Getting to the point, since we know that there is a big pile of emails our way, readability is an issue. The case is clear. Getting your subscribers to read your email has become a major task. To add to this, deliverability issues are persistent and difficult to override. Simply put, they give you sleepless nights. Even Gmail sorts your inbox according to various sender criteria. Deliverability can be improved through various ways and one of these is to incorporate awesome content.
If you would take a look at the chart below, again provided by the good folks at Marketing Charts, you will see that subscriber engagement is top priority. The effective way to improve engagement is to write emails that pop, lock and smoke and pipe on the way!
Let’s get to the mastering part now. Here is a quick 4-step checklist that you should have in mind when going about email campaign writing.
Subject lines:
With all the SPAM going around, your subject lines have to be engineered to perfection. The best possible combination is to use 50-80 characters and reduce the number of SPAM words in it. There are many sites that help you check your SPAM score. ISPs usually prioritize your subject line for SPAM scoring.
Body:
SEO today gravitates towards longer articles which have an average word count of around 2000. The exact opposite holds true for an email. Keep it short and precise. Most emails are read on the go, on mobiles and such other hand-held devices; so you need to ensure that your mails are bite size and easy to chew.
Images:
Adding images is an acceptable process today. Even so, there are a few rules you need to abide by. The images should not be heavy. Test your email open time on various internet speeds, as not everyone has high speed connections, especially mobile data. Insert Alt tags always. Do not exceed 2 images, one which is big and other comparatively smaller.
Links:
Always have links inserted into your email body. They should be strategically placed persuading the reader to click for more information. Don’t overdo it as ISPs do not take lightly to link overkill. The standard rate is 3-4, but then again it depends on what type of list you are sending to and the volume.
These are simple and important rules for crafting good and effective email campaigns. Always ensure that your headings are catchy, easy to read and deliver your message effectively. Being vague does not help your cause but you can try it if you know exactly what you are doing. Content is central to your email copy and hence take sufficient amounts of time and research to come up with the best versions. Have your colleagues read it and ask them for honest feedback. SPAM scores should be kept as low as possible. A/B testing is an extremely beneficial tool and should always be used; the more the better.
Strategic Marketing Services provides stellar email campaign writing services. Take a look yourself.
