Posted by An email blast is still an incredibly popular marketing approach, regardless of the fact that many innovative techniques have gained traction lately. There’s a reason why email campaigns are so sought after.
Campaign Monitor statistics suggest that marketers are six times more likely to get a click through from an email than from a tweet. What’s even more impressive, 81 percent of people who have gotten a newsletter based on previous shopping habits are likely to make a purchase due to such a targeted campaign.
But enough about the numbers, let’s talk specifics. An email blast may be effective but it’s certainly not easy to carry out.
If you want to see results, you have to focus on personalization, usefulness and content that your specific audience will appreciate. Here’s how to accomplish those goals.
Improve Your Mailing List
What’s an email blast without a good mailing list, right? After all, it’s not about the number of emails that you send, it’s all about the quality of the audience.
Many marketers commit a serious mistake – they believe that email blasts will be effective solely when sent to thousands of recipients. This isn’t necessarily the case.
Creating the right email list is an art and a science that you have to master. A strong list may consist of people who have opted in voluntarily (because of a campaign you carried out), former customers or business partners. A common characteristic will make it much easier for you to develop an email blast that will deliver results. Thus, focus on the specific features of the audience that you want rather than on the number of entries in the database.
Your Subject Line is Your Only Chance
Do you know which aspect of carrying out an email blast is the most difficult one? No, it’s not convincing people to sign up. It’s writing the perfect subject line.
Hubspot statistics suggest that 33 percent of people determine whether to read an email on the basis of the subject line alone. Emails that feature personalized subject lines are 22.2 percent more likely to be opened than the ones that don’t.
The best subject lines tell the recipient what the email is about without attempting to sell. Clarity and a little bit of originality will always deliver better results than something abstract, something that people simply are not going to dedicate enough time to understanding.
When writing a subject line for an email blast, consider the following:
- A call to action is always a good idea
- Short subject lines are ideal, especially for an audience seeing the email on a smartphone screen
- Attempt to provoke an immediate positive emotion
- Use words that create a sense of urgency (these have a 22 percent higher open rate)
- Avoid clichés and generic words that are typical for newsletter and that can send the message to the junk mail folder
Be Consistent
If you carry email blasts frequently, you have to focus on consistency.
Come up with a schedule and commit to it. Are you sending emails every other week? That’s good! Stick to the schedule. Avoid mailing your audience too often because you’ll simply get people annoyed.
The same applies to content quality. Put some effort in making it original, engaging and useful for the audience. If you’re offering something exclusive, you’ll be giving people an incentive to sign up.
The Importance of Following Up
You can’t just send people an email, get them interest and forget all about it. Seducing your audience without the prospects of a second date will simply get people annoyed.
The first email establishes some expectations. A good call to action will potentially provoke some engagement on behalf of the readers. Once people undertake the action that you’re expecting from them, you may send a follow up email to thank them.
Also, if you promise to send updates regularly or about an upcoming event (a sale, the launch of a new product), you better follow up. Otherwise, you’ll simply be shooting yourself in the foot.
Keep it Short
You don’t need to write a Shakespearean play in order to get results. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
Keep it short and sweet. Tell the audience what you want to say and end it there. A good mix of text and pictures will be sufficient to get the point across and provoke the type of engagement you’re looking forward to.
These are some of the recipes for cooking up a successful email blast. Take some time to understand your audience, think about the mailing schedule and focus on good content. If these components are present, you’ll get the results that you want.