Email marketing is a great way to reach out and keep your customers informed about your brand.
By Kevin George
If you run a business, you are more likely to use strategies on search engine optimization or link building than email marketing. Although these strategies are extremely important in generating business and growing your online presence, these strategies are not much effective when it comes to leads nurturing and keeping your customers engaged.
A study from Marketing Land states that 77% of the users preferred to receive permission-based marketing messages via Email. If you have a business, then you should consider running email marketing campaigns and make the most of your marketing strategy.
Here are the best practices that every small business email marketers must follow while designing emails.
Build Mobile-friendly Emails
According to a study by ReturnPath, nearly 55% of emails are opened on mobile devices. So, no matter how big or small your business is, make sure the emails you create are mobile optimized and function well across a range of screen sizes, resolutions, and email clients. When the emails are readable and rendered easily across devices, there are chances of getting better conversions out of them.
Write Persuasive Subject Lines
The subject line is the face of your email. It needs to be compelling and attractive enough for the users to open the email. Make it persuasive but keep it concise – containing 30 characters or less. Add relevant personalization in your email subject lines to boost engagement and open rates.
Include Crisp and Relevant Content
Creating relevant content is the most important part of your email design process. The copy of your email needs to be crisp and to-the-point and personalized to each subscribers’ interests and needs. Spend extra time on the copy of your email and try to make it enticing enough as it is a reflection of your brand identity.
Use Interactivity in your Emails
The design elements of your emails are what keeps your users engaged in your emails. Add interactive email elements such as animated GIFs, cinemagraphs, sliders, menus, countdown timers, etc. to grab your subscribers’ attention and make your emails look lively. Use gamification or interactivity to highlight the main areas of your email copy and make them STAND OUT in the entire email.
Add a Single, Prominent CTA
As far as your email conversions are concerned, the CTA is the most important part of your email. Make sure the CTA is prominent and placed on the first fold of your email so that it doesn’t go unnoticed. Use actionable words such as “Shop Now”, “Know More”, “Get a Demo”, “Go for It”, etc. to entice the users to click-through to make a transaction.
Include Social Media Links
Add links to your social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, etc. to give your subscribers a chance to engage with your brand on other channels too. Integrate live feeds for Twitter and Instagram and promote trending #hashtags to boost engagement. Your subscribers sharing your emails on their social media will help you in improving your overall brand visibility.
Give Easy Unsubscribe Options
It is mandatory to include an unsubscribe link in every email you send. Give your subscribers an option to opt out of your email list any time they wish to. Make sure you ask for their feedback or ask the reason for opting out.
Wrap Up
A well-designed email can work wonders in gaining the attention of your subscribers and stay on top of their inbox. Follow these best practices the next time you build emails for your business and you are sure to create a winning email.
Kevin George, the Head of Marketing at EmailMonks – one of the fastest growing Email design and coding companies, specializes in crafting email newsletter design templates, PSD to HTML email conversion and provides free responsive html email templates. He loves gadgets, bikes, jazz, and breathes ‘email marketing’. He enjoys sharing his insights and thoughts on email marketing best practices at his EmailMonks blog.
Email marketing stock photo by Myimagine/Shutterstock
