Tips to Rock your Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is a fairly inexpensive investment with a lucrative return. When it comes to purchases made as a result of receiving a marketing message, email has the highest conversion rate (66%), when compared to social, direct mail and more (DMA). Here are the top tips to help you rock your email marketing campaigns.

A/B Testing 

A/B testing is an easy way to send the most compelling email to your subscribers. You can test subject lines, body content, and different promotions and see which option performs best, the winning campaign is sent out to the remaining subscribers. By performing an a/b test, you have a better chance of achieving a desired subscriber behavior – whether it be an increased open or click through rate or conversion.

Preheader 

Utilizing a preheader is an excellent way to convey more information to your audience and encourage an open. Preheaders can act as an extension of your subject line. In addition,  Adestra  shared in their 2015 Email Subject Line Analysis Report, that “whether or not your email gets opened, people see your subject line. What this means is that a subject line builds your brand in your customer’s inbox.” Even if a subscriber just glances at your email without opening, you can leave a lasting impression that can impact future purchasing decisions.

Character Limits  

Keep your preheader text to between 40-50 characters and subject line counts no more than 50 characters. This will ensure that you messages are displayed properly across all email providers on all devices.

Testing 

As a best practice, you should thoroughly test each email campaign before deploying. Send a test email to several different email accounts and be sure to view on both mobile and desktop. Tools such as Litmus and Email on Acid can take your tests to the next level. These platforms give you the ability to view emails on virtually every provider and device so you can make sure there are no bugs or glitches that would compromise the visual design. Once you verify your email is rendering correctly, you should check to ensure your URLs are linking properly. Each content block should direct to the appropriate URL to ensure the best user experience.

Be sure to proofread your email to avoid any typos (both in the body text and in URLs). Share test emails with your colleagues too, it never hurts to have a few extra sets of eyes to review.

Text and Image Balance 

With differing privacy settings, it is important to keep in mind that email images will not automatically download upon opening. Be sure to include descriptive text in your content boxes that will display should the images not download. Also, be sure to develop a plain text email as an alternate version to your HTML campaign. This will allow your email message to get across to subscribers who have disabled HTML capabilities.

Tracking URLs 

Last, but certainly not least, append your URLs with tracking. By incorporating Google Analytics tracking codes to your email links you can track email performance outside of the services provided by your email marketing platform. With ecommerce tracking enabled within google analytics, you can view the conversion rate and sales attributed to each campaign. If you need assistance with link building, visit https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/.

Email marketing is a proven, effective way to engage with your customers and prospects. By following the above tips and tricks, you can deliver campaigns that will guarantee the best ROI.