As a businessperson, it’s likely you send and receive a lot of emails. The average office worker, in fact, receives about 120 email messages per day.
It’s probably not surprising to know then that 93 percent of B2B marketers use email to distribute content, and 83 percent of B2B companies rely on e-newsletters as part of their overall content marketing program. But with so much competition in the inbox, is email marketing still a viable strategy? Absolutely, when you follow a few simple rules.
Email marketers have to find ways to address oversaturated inboxes to ensure their messages are opened and read. Helping your audience to avoid email fatigue—what happens when too many messages provide too little value and their recipients just stop caring—is vital to your ongoing marketing effectiveness.
The Golden Rule
With all the competition for subscribers’ time and attention, it’s important for email marketers to remember the person on the other side of the screen. Above all, take a personal approach to email, which is about treating your subscribers with respect—not just filling their inboxes with countless messages they don’t want or need.
Here are six email best practices that can ensure your messages get the attention you want:
1. Engage your subscribers. Write in a conversational tone and don’t use four paragraphs to say what could be said in a couple of lines. With the average person’s attention span at eight seconds (down from 12 seconds in the year 2000), it’s vital to be concise. Also, use highly targeted/segmented lists with personalized content to capture attention.
2. Only send valuable content. Only send emails that are relevant, compelling, personalized, and of real use to your audience. Ask yourself: Does this content provide true value? Would I open this email if it were sent to me? If you can’t say yes to those questions, don’t hit that “send” button!
3. Optimize your website for email. Use non-intrusive email captures and preference centers to collect subscriber information that supports highly segmented campaigns. Also, email is checked heavily on tablets and mobile devices these days, so make sure your website is optimized for screens of all sizes.
4. Say no to buying lists. It can be tempting to buy a list, since they give you names and addresses to which you can send content. But people on that list don’t know you and you may be perceived as spam. If there are enough complaints or unsubscribes, your email service provider can also place you in the “penalty box.” Not to mention, since these folks didn’t give consent to receive your emails, you’ll be in violation of GDPR rules. Instead, try adding tools to your website or social pages that can help you acquire new email addresses from people more likely to engage with your brand.
5. Say yes to marketing automation. Campaigns that are automated, such as welcome series or abandoned shopping cart reminders, require minimal ongoing effort once they’re put into place. However, they typically receive high open rates and all-important ROI generation.
6. Test, test, and retest! Test it all—your subject lines, layout, imagery, and the days and times you send. Then make changes based on your results and findings until you identify your highest performance.
If you follow these tips and combine them with an eye-catching subject line, good design and images, and a clear call to action, you’ll be well on your way to standing out from the barrage of emails businesspeople receive each day.
When done properly, email marketing is still very effective. Email, in fact, generates on average $38 for every $1 spent, which is a remarkable ROI.
Do you need help with your email marketing campaigns? Find out what we can do to maximize your email effectiveness.