How well do your emails convert?

Compared to social media and content marketing, email is a mature channel for engaging online consumers. Its longevity is a testament to its ability to convert leads into buyers and buyers into repeat customers. However, in the age of mobile marketing, customers are viewing emails on smartphones, tablet PCs, and standard laptop/desktop devices. Your email campaigns need to take this into account in order to ensure that you’re reaching everyone effectively. Whatever you are trying to accomplish with your emails; whether to increase sales, get more traffic to your website, or establishing trust between you and your customers,   it is imperative that you do your homework ahead of time.
Keep it simple to avoid information overload. We have all received those emails that cover way too much information, have too much content, or are just plain boring. Maintain the focus of your emails by limiting the amount of test. Write a brief description of the content in your email newsletter, and then include a link to read more on your website. Smaller emails take less time to digest, take less time to open and read, and are more likely to convert. Many users may only glance at an email while on the go; if you don’t capture their attention within the first few lines, they may delete and move on. Shorter messages help you stay on point while creating an atmosphere of respect between you and your customers – you respect their time, so you get to the point. Not only is this easier to consume, but it also drives visitors to your website, provides opportunities for reconversion, and gets you more indexable pages filled with great content to improve your SEO!
Learn the art of the subject line to increase the percentage of people who actually read your emails. There is conflicting advice coming from every corner of the internet, so what should you do? Keep your subject line straightforward, avoid using promotional phrases, or things that look or sound spammy, and know your audience and what will interest them. There’s nothing easier to test (or more important to test) than email subject lines. It’s incredibly easy to break your email list into two parts and simply send a separate email subject line to each and see which one gets a high open rate. Of course, make sure that all other variables such as the time of the send, the size of the list, and the breakdown of email service providers on the list are basically the same. Because email subject line performance can vary so much based on industry segment, it’s important that you test a variety of keywords, calls-to-action, lengths, personalization, and other factors and then make your own list of what is most effective at generating opens of your emails. Starting with the above best practices can help ensure that you don’t have an email subject line that is designed to fail. Ultimately what’s best for your email campaign program will need to be determined over time.
Be useful. Is what you’re sharing relevant, applicable and useful? Give people something they can use and you’ll not only develop thought leadership, but you’ll be seen as a friendly force in people’s lives. People like doing business with someone who helps them.

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