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Three Ways To Deploy The Magic Of Email Marketing
Only too often we come across B2B products that promise to multiply our business by 10X. For the most part, it’s hype. Sometimes the promoter may even sweeten the offer by posting a bold headline about how one small tweak can create big results.
However, there is one thing that you can do that does have a touch of magic to it. That is to use email marketing as your favorite marketing strategy.
This simple form of marketing is one of the best ways to boost your business quickly. “Email is a powerful and cost-effective marketing approach that makes it easy to get your message across to large numbers of customers FAST,” say Horizon email advertising, which specializes in helping business owners launch robust email marketing campaigns.
While there is no doubt about the speed and efficacy of email marketing over almost every other form of promotion, what you may not know is how to improve email open rate and tactics to increase click through rates.
Here, then, are 3 proven strategies to boost your email marketing click-through rates:
1. Entice your readers with numbered lists.
People love lists of all kinds because a list breaks down complex information. Without lists, people have to mentally organize the value of the information and this often results in poor comprehension.
Lists create order and they break things down into meaningful chunks. Sometimes, they may even offer a step-by-step approach on how to do things.
By mentioning a number in your subject line, you are instantly communicating that you are about to share a list.
When people know that you are not going to overwhelm them with your brilliance, they are more likely to open your emails.
- A top ten list will tell people what is important in any subject.
- A tips list will give them pointers to pick and choose from to improve something they are doing.
- A list of steps will tell them what to do and in what order to do things. Each step sets a foundation for the next step.
People like lists because they promise predictability. You are promising to avoid abstractions and to discuss concrete things. You are also promising to make it easy to skim through the content.
2. Engage readers with questions.
When you meet someone, how do you engage them? Statements will get their attention, but questions engage them. This is because a statement does not ask for a response. Questions, on the other hand, demand a response.
What works in real life conversations also works for the implied conversation in an email. Although you can’t get a direct response, you can still create the illusion of a dialogue with the reader.
Naturally, the questions you ask make all the difference. If you ask open-ended questions, you will engage readers less than if you ask close-ended questions. And if you ask bland, offensive, or manipulating questions, you will frighten them away.
Asking for a reader’s opinion is an engaging question.
Asking if they want to make $1000 in the next five minutes hints at a scam. It’s too much of a stretch of the imagination. People suspect that there’s a scam sales letter waiting for them when they click the link.
One engages; the other sets off a silent alarm in their brain.
The best questions are based on researching your target audience’s needs, wants, and desires. If you ask the right question to the right person, you will arouse immediate curiosity.
If you ask a weight loss audience about a particular problem they may be having with losing weight, they will want to find out about your proposed solution. If you ask that same question to people focused on making money online, it will fall flat.
So the question has to audience-specific. They have to read the reader’s mind.
The best places to ask questions are in your subject line and in the first sentence of your email.
3. Get really good at writing subject lines.
Your reader is inundated with emails every day. Their first reaction when they open their inbox is to sift and sort. They want to figure out, as quickly as possible, what to read and what to delete. Most inbox layouts make it possible to clean out hundreds of emails with just a few clicks. For your email to stand out from this merciless purge, it has to catch their attention instantly.
While it’s possible that your readers love to receive your emails because you are just incredibly likable and always write witty, informative, and relevant emails, don’t rely on it. Improve your chances of catching their attention with a good subject line.
Choosing good subject lines is a science in itself. Like good headlines, you might occasionally stumble upon the right words, but your chances of success increase exponentially if you study the works of master copywriters, create a swipe file, and create templates that you can use for your particular audience.
It’s An Art Form
While the mechanisms for sending out emails are easy enough to grasp, the real skill is learning how to write emails that win reader’s trust.
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