When you wake up in the morning, how many emails are in your inbox? Five? Ten? Thirty? …Even more? But how many of them do you actually care about?
We’re all sufferers of email subscriptions. Subscriptions where maybe you’re not quite sure how you got on their list, or perhaps you remember signing up for the newsletter but only 1 out of every 10 emails actually applies to you. Some of us might even have “junk” email accounts for the sole purpose of receiving online coupons. (guilty)
As marketers, we need to look at emails a bit differently. We need to be aware of what our customers want out of their inbox, how they’re interacting with our content, and how to best communicate our message to them.
Email marketing is a cost-savvy way to reach your customer base, promote new products and offerings, and keep your brand top-of-mind. But how do you know if you’re doing it effectively?
A good marketing email should be 3 things: Important, Valuable and Actionable.
- Important: Subscribers are more likely to open and interact with emails that they find to be personally relevant, and they hate to be bothered with information that isn’t pertinent to them. List segmentation is key. Personalize your emails as much as possible based on your knowledge of your customers. If a contact has only recently signed up for your newsletter, send them a welcome email that introduces more facets of your company. If they’ve purchased something from you in the past, build upon that knowledge to recommend additional products they might enjoy. Use what you know to make their email newsletter experience as personalized as possible.
- Valuable: Will the recipient value the information you’re sending them? Whenever possible, provide your subscribers with content that is exciting – whether it be a promotion, a new product unveiling, or useful information that will help them make informed decisions. Give them something to look forward to in their inbox.
- Actionable: A prospect has received your email – so now what? Make sure your subscribers have a clear next step when they’re done reading your email. A call-to-action could be anything from filling out a survey, connecting with your brand via social media, or reaching out to a sales rep for more information. Keep your subscribers engaged and they’ll keep coming back.
As prospects become more and more dependent on web and email marketing, it’s crucial that we evolve to their habits for gathering information. Give them the content they want, when they want it, and lead them to their next step easily and simply. That way, when your customers wake up to your email, they’ll give it a second look.