In this digital era many things have gained an online Outlook. In the same way marketing has also evolved and gained an online structure. There are many methods to market online and one such important tool is the electronic mail or simply the Email.
Email is also a communication tool, used to exchange messages between people across the globe without out the distance barriers. Emails are used to send and receive digital messages from one client to another. This form of communication is used widely across the world. Several email service providers are giving free and premium services to users across the globe. There are over 4.3 billion email accounts running and it is expected to increase.
Email can also be used as a method of marketing. Email open rate is one of the major criteria for marketing. The more the email is opened and read, the more exposure can be achieved for the product. Email open rate is defined as the number of times the email is opened and read.
In Order to get the best possible response rates some marketing strategies should be followed. Unlike the normal marketing strategies, email marketing or digital marketing is very tricky and needs a lot of research and follow ups to have a successful digital campaign.
Some of the various marketing emails that can be sent are
- New marketing emails
- Forum Submission emails
- Product marketing emails
- Newsletters
- Updates
- Emails which help in leads
- Event invitation emails
- Social media updates
- Build an email campaign template
- Utilizing a workflow email
While planning for email marketing it is important to keep in mind certain to attract the clients to read the email. They are
- What is the objective of the email campaign?
- Customer’s point of view.
- Is this the first email campaign or a follow up campaign?
- At what time will the email be sent and received ?
Some of the best practices that can be followed so as to have an effective email based campaign are
- Have a checklist of all requirements
- Quality assurances you provide
- Multiple formats for desktop, smartphone and tablet based views
- Formats for HTML, Plain text and Alt-Images
- Creative subject lines
- Sales enabled follow ups
- Knowledge of best days to send the email to clients
- Embedded videos supporting various formats
- Format for mobile i.e mobile optimized content
Some of the best practices to get a good response for the email marketing campaign are
- Great headers and introduction for the emails
- Clear call to actions
- Proper communication information
- Appropriate postscript content
- Including a post click tracking system
- Coordination of social media channels like facebook, youtube, twitter etc.
The following are some of the major aspects that an email marketer should never forget in order to get the best response rate
Short title
- Always use a shorter title than a long one which will he difficult to read.
- Use the appropriate title i.e. Whenever using a title it should be appropriate to the services or product which is being marketed.
- Many times when the title is long the email open rate is lesser.
Personalise
- Any email that is generic and is not personalised is not effective enough to catch the attention of a possible customer.
- Achieving attention is the first step in getting a better email open rate.
Incentives
- One other method in gaining a better email open rate and in turn in an increased sales rate.
- Offering incentives helps a lot, but it should also be used sparingly.
Spam words
- When an email is sent, some spam words trigger spam filters and the mail is sent into spam folder.
- Content in the spam folders are not opened and hence reduces the email open rate.
- So care should be taken while drafting so as not to include any spam words in the mail.
Appropriate titles
- A mail received from a sales Team with an email address of some other name other than sales doesn’t create a good impression and does not give a good email open rate.
- Using appropriate name and domain name of a company gives a better chance in open rate.
Appropriate timing
- When an email is sent to a prospective customer when he or she is busy, the chance of the client opening the email is next to zero.
- Timing the email is also necessary to get a good email open rate.
Frequency of emails
- If a campaign is sent too many times, the customer it client may feel irritated and the email may not even be looked at.
- If one email is sent, then some time should be given before sending another email of the same content.
Content quality
- The quality of the content should be maintained at high standards.
- The better the quality of the content and services, more will be the open rate
Things to avoid while email marketing
There are many things that should not be done which will affect the email marketing a lot. These simple and small mistakes will have a major impact on marketing.
Some of the main mistakes that are to be avoided are as follows.
- Hiding optional products
- Design specific to desktop computers
- Lesser appealing advertisements
- Not including social media
Hiding optional products
- This is one of the most damaging aspects of any campaign.
- The actual content should never have any hidden costs.
- Initially some campaigns may be successful but going on it may affect in the long run.
Design specific to desktop
- In this age of tablets and smartphones emails should be structured to support smartphone content also.
- Most of the emails are read on smartphones so when a desktop specific content is given it affects the email open rate.
Less appealing campaigns
- The campaigns should be appealing to attract the customers
- Less appealing campaigns also reduces the email open rate.
Social media
- Campaigns should include a little of social media campaigning.
- Care should be taken and appropriate content should be given.
By following these, a major portion of the emails sent may be opened and helps in gaining a better email open rate.
