Email

Tips for writing effective emails to improve open rate

Do you find yourself struggling to come up with interesting content for your email marketing campaign? Are you concerned that your open rates are lower than they could be? If so, the following tips will help you write more effective emails that will grab your readers’ attention and improve your campaign results.

1. Keep it short and sweet

When it comes to email marketing, less is always more. No one wants to open an email to find a novel-length message waiting for them. Keep your emails short and to the point, and you’ll be more likely to keep your readers engaged.

2. Use a catchy subject line

Your subject line is your reader’s first impression of your email, so make sure it’s a good one! Write something that will pique their interest and make them want to open your email. Your subject line should be attention-grabbing. Avoid using generic phrases like “newsletter” or “monthly update” as your subject line, as these are likely to be ignored by recipients.

3. Get to the point

Your subscribers are busy people, and they don’t have time to wade through a bunch of fluff to get to the meat of your message. Get to the point quickly, and you’ll keep their attention.

4. Personalise your messages

No one likes feeling like they’re just another faceless name on a list. Take the time to personalise your messages, and you’ll be rewarded with better engagement from your readers. Platforms such as Hubspot allow you to personalise subject lines of emails which can also really help with the open rate.

5. Make it visually appealing

Include images or videos in your email to break up the text and make it more visually appealing. This will help grab your reader’s attention and keep them engaged. However, it’s important not to use too many images so that you keep your email uncluttered and allows the recipient to easily find the information they’re looking for. If you do use images, make sure they’re relevant and add value to your email content.

6. Call to action

Include a call to action at the end of your email, such as “Click here to learn more” or “Sign up now.” This will encourage your reader to take action, which is the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign.

7. Segment your list

Sending targeted emails to specific segments of your list can be more effective than sending a generic email to everyone on your list. By segmenting, you can ensure that each email is relevant to the interests of the people receiving it, which can lead to higher engagement rates.

8. Test, test, test!

The only way to know for sure what works best for your target audience is to test different things and see what gets the best results. Try different subject lines, different lengths, different calls to action…and then see what gets the best response from your readers.

By following these simple tips, you can create emails that are both informative and engaging. And when your readers find your content irresistible, they’ll be more likely to open future messages from you – resulting in better campaign performance overall. Have you tried any of these techniques? What other methods have worked well for you?

Email Marketing

5 Ways to Boost Web Traffic with Email Marketing

There’s a myriad of marketing tactics to reach your audience all with their own levels of speciality, and the list is ever evolving. However, one of the more traditional digital marketing methods, email marketing, is quite often forgotten, yet it offers an effective way of increasing your website traffic.

With around 4 billion email marketing users daily, it still offers a great way to reach your target audience and encourage links back to your website which is ideal for your long-term search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy.

We’ve created an infographic containing five great ways email marketing can help to boost traffic to your website.

Boost Traffic With Email Marketing

Our tips for your next email marketing campaign

Targeting your emails towards people that have already shown interest in your business drives quality leads to your website. Quality leads also mean that this can help to reduce your bounce rate – the percentage of visitors that leave your site without taking action – because they are already interested in your products and services.

Visitors spending more time browsing your website signals to Google that your site is relevant and helps increase your search engine ranking.

However, you do need to make sure that your website landing page is clear, easy to navigate and relevant to the information you had in your email, otherwise you may lose this quality contact.

Personalisation

Personalised subject lines improve email open rates by 26%.

Segmenting your target audience can help ensure that your content is personalised for the appropriate audience.

This strategy increases the chances of driving traffic to your website.

Social media

Add “Share” tags to your emails so that your email recipients can cross-promote your website content. This method can work to improve both website traffic and customer relationships.
It also helps if you add incentives e.g., “Follow us on Twitter to be in with a chance of winning…”

Reviews

Reviews help legitimise your business. Email post-purchase requesting reviews while your product/service is still fresh in their mind. Add a link to the review site to make things easier.

These positive reviews will help your SEO strategy to improve your results in search engine rankings.

Call to action

Your website is the centre of your digital world, everything you do should lead back to it. So, it’s important that you always include a bold Call To Action (CTA) that encourages people to visit your website.

Not only does this help improve website optimisation, it also increases the chances of a sale or enquiry.

Email Marketing Agency

If you feel you need support in getting your email marketing campaign started, get in touch with Smart Cow Marketing to discuss how we can support you.

Email Marketing

Improving email open rates

There’s over 306 billion business and consumer emails sent and received each day and that’s likely to rise to over 376 billion per day by the end of 2025.

So, with constant stream of emails to an inbox, how can your email about your products and services cut through the noise?

Whilst there’s no quick fix, it’s worth remembering that the subject line is the first thing that your recipient will see. So, what would make you open an email?

Whilst the content of your email needs to shine and be relevant to the recipient for further engagement, spend time on the subject line of your email as you have to get your adudience interested in the first place.

Here’s a round up of some great email subject lines that you can tailor and try in your next email marketing campaign.

Offers and promotions

Be big and bold and indicate the great offer or promotion so people can immediately see what they will miss out on otherwise.

  • NOW ON: UP to 20% Off
  • LAST DAY to Get 25% Off
  • FLASH SALE!
  • Sign up for just £10 per month

But you can also try intrigue.

  • Are you taking advantage of this?

Ready for the big reveal?

How can you solve challenges?

Think about your target audience and how your products and services can solve their challenges. Then create a subject line that shows that you understand their issues and you are ready to take care of the problem.

  • How to improve leads for your business
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  • Struggling with generating fresh content? Download our cheat sheet
  • New Guide: How to create a blog post
  • Want to be found in search engines? 10 tips to improve Google rankings

Advocates

Case studies and testimonials you receive are priceless. Use them in your marketing from email campaigns through to social media and on your website to really showcase how you have helped customers and clients. When distributing an email, use statements in your subject line to help entice open rates.

  • See what our clients are saying
  • We’ve been named leader in customer services
  • Our top reviewed products from customers like you

Testing your email campaigns

What’s key is testing your email campaigns to see what works best for your audience. You can try an AvB test which sends a percentage of emails split between two subject lines. After a certain period the email platform will determine which subject line had the best open rate and will send to the remainder of the list.

Email campaign creation

Whilst the subject is a key element of your email campaign, there’s a lot of elements to piece together to create a successful campaign.

From building a list through to personalising content and avoiding spam filters, we’ve created tips for setting up your email campaign in an earlier blog.

Email marketing agency Croydon

Smart Cow Marketing can create effective email marketing campaigns for your business, get in touch, and find out how Smart Cow Digital Marketing can transform your business.

Email Marketing

12 Email marketing tips for small businesses

Everyone wants to make their business stand out from the rest, but it takes more than a creative marketing strategy. The success of your small business depends on mastering all aspects of the marketing mix or the “4 P’s”- product, price, place, and promotion.

Email marketing is part of that equation because it can reach your audience directly, wherever they are – on their desktops, laptops, tablets or cell phones, when it’s convenient for them and through their preferred channel. Not to mention that email marketing costs less than some other marketing tactics and you can use the same message for multiple campaigns.

Keep reading for 12 tips to help boost your small business’s email marketing campaign strategies.

1. Build an Email List

Building an email list of potential customers is likely one of the first things you think about when considering email marketing campaigns. In fact, email marketing is all about building that list and keeping those potential clients interested in your small business.

If you already have a list of clients’ names, great! If not, don’t worry. There are a lot of ways to build a quality email list without spamming contacts. Here are a few ways to collect email addresses:

  • Offer a freebie or special discount in exchange for an email address
  • Use social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to promote sign-up forms
  • Encourage customers to sign up when they check out from an online store or place an order
  • Promote an email sign-up link on your website
  • Set up auto responders, which automatically send follow-up emails to anyone who subscribes or contacts you through your website. This way you can stay in touch with potential customers without the time commitment of writing personal emails.

2. Identify Your Target Audience

Before you begin strategising marketing campaigns, you must identify your target audience and their preferences. By creating different email campaigns based on the interests and needs of each group, businesses can reach out to new customers while keeping loyal fans engaged.

For example, if your business sells natural skincare products, you might want to send a campaign geared toward those interested in eco-friendly habits, including green or yoga living.

On the other hand, if your company offers business advice and professional services, potential clients may be interested in learning about new Tax advice or incentives for hiring employees.

3. Be Informative

One of the best ways to utilise email campaigns is to inform your customers about new products, sales, or updates. Customers are always looking for deals and bargains; email marketing can help you get in front of the right people at the right time.

Not only should your emails inform customers, but they should also give them what they want – fast!

4. Be Personal

Email marketing is one of the few internet marketing tools available to you that enables you to be personal in your company’s interactions with customers. You can, and should, let your voice come through when you write emails to customers.

When sending out emails from your small business, think about personalising your email campaigns to help build trust and credibility with your customers by showing them that you’re real – not some automated bot.

5. Test Your Campaigns

Before you set up your first email campaign, remember that there are no rules for this type of marketing strategy. By testing different messages, subject lines and frequency of emails, you can send out campaigns to small groups in order to optimise the content before launching a large-scale email marketing campaign.

Your business should test new ideas and strategies with a small group of clients or customers before sending them to the entire list. Consider asking for feedback from these early subscribers about which emails were most useful, interesting, etc., in order to make your future campaigns even more successful.

In addition, you can schedule different types of email campaigns to make the most of your marketing efforts. For example, you could offer a free product or service in exchange for an email address and send out newsletters weekly which include sales and up-and-coming products.

As with any marketing campaign, goals and objectives should drive the frequency and type of emails that are sent. If your small business has a limited budget, consider sending out informative emails monthly rather than bi-weekly.

6. Include Links/Buttons

Email marketing campaigns are most effective when they include links to company websites with additional information about new products and services. You can also include your contact information to encourage new business and enquiries.

Including links or buttons within the body of an email is an effective way of communicating with customers without having to worry about spam filters blocking out links that direct visitors off your site.

7. Take Advantage Of Mobile Devices

Ensure that your emails are compatible with all types of mobile devices and offer a web version if necessary.

8. Include A Call To Action

When writing emails to customers, remember to include a call-to-action within the body of the email to generate interest in your product or service. Adding a call-to-action button within the body of your emails will encourage customers to do business with you right away instead of visiting another website.

9. Remember Your Purpose

If your company is sending out emails for marketing purposes, keep your goals in mind when writing and setting up your campaigns. Your emails should be informative, easy to read and accessible to anyone who receives it.

10. Avoid Spam Filters

Spam filters are designed with the intention of keeping email marketers out of users’ inboxes, which means that important emails might end up in junk folders instead. To avoid this problem, make sure you avoid spammy words or phrases, use clean HTML and include opt-out options within the email.

11. Use A Professional Email Address

When sending out emails from your small business, be sure to create a separate account with an easy-to-remember address for your company instead of using the same one that you use for personal correspondence. This will help to avoid confusion and keep your professional email from being flagged as spam.

12. Track Your Results

Once you’ve launched and finished a successful email marketing campaign, track the results of your efforts by monitoring open rates and click-through rates. This type of tracking will allow you to discover which campaigns were the most effective at reaching your target audience.

Even after you’ve launched a campaign, keep an eye on the results to ensure that everything is running smoothly and efficiently. If certain elements are not working correctly or generating interest, make any necessary changes to improve your email marketing process. While it might take some time to perfect a campaign, the time spent is worth it in the end.

Email marketing agency Croydon

Smart Cow Marketing can create effective email marketing campaigns for your business, get in touch, and find out how Smart Cow Digital Marketing can transform your business.