Email marketing is a great way to stay in contact with your audience, increase engagement, and make more money. But there are thousands of emails floating around the internet at any given moment. You want your email to stand out from the crowd! In this article, we’ll share 13 email hacks that will help you do just that.
We’ll show you how to engage your readers from the very first line and get them excited about what you have to say. By the end of this article, you’ll be able to craft creative emails that will boost business for both you and your customers.
| Takeaways |
|---|
| Craft attention-grabbing subject lines |
| Segment your email list for personalized content |
| Create compelling and concise email copy |
| Utilize visuals to enhance engagement |
| Incorporate clear and prominent CTAs |
| A/B test various elements for optimization |
| Optimize emails for mobile responsiveness |
| Personalize emails for better connection |
| Implement scarcity and urgency techniques |
| Leverage social proof to build credibility |
| Experiment with interactive elements |
| Analyze and iterate based on campaign data |
1. Use A Personal Email Address
[your first name]@[brand].com when it comes to email marketing, the most important thing is to stand out in the inbox. When you’re sending a campaign from your company’s “info@” account, you’re blending into everyone else with just another piece of generic digital mail. But by using a personal address, you can start to break the ice and get your reader acquainted with your brand on an intimate level. This hack only applies if you use Mailchimp’s Pro or Premium accounts, which unlock our advanced merge fields feature.
Enhance your email marketing campaigns with these 12 creative strategies to stand out from the competition. Learn about effective subject lines, engaging content, and more in our article on 12 Email Marketing Hacks to Help You Stand Out.
2. Write An Attention-Grabbing Subject Line
Keep it short and sweet: Studies show that shorter subject lines tend to be more effective. Avoid using too many words, and make a point of leaving out unnecessary words.
Use an emoji: The use of emojis in email subject lines is on the rise, with 56% of brands using them in their emails. Don’t go overboard though most studies say one or two are best.
Use the recipient’s name: Personalize your emails as much as possible, including making use of the recipient’s first name if you have it. For example, if your email was about a new marketing tool developed by your team, you might try “Customized marketing tools for [first name]”.
Use numbers instead of words: As in “10 ways to…” instead of “Ten ways to…” or “Lots of ways to…”
Use a question: Like this very article title has done! Questions can instantly draw people in and make them want to know more. Just remember again not to overdo it—if every single one of your subject lines is a question, eventually people will start ignoring them altogether. Opt for just one or two per campaign instead.
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3. Skip The “Hi, My Name Is…” Intro
Once you have your subject line, it’s time to move on to the rest of your email.
Don’t start by introducing yourself and telling people who you are. It’s a waste of space because there’s a good chance most of your recipients will immediately click onto the next email as soon as they see that part.
Instead, open with something bold, maybe even a little shocking or controversial. You want to grab their attention and make them so curious about what you have to say that they keep reading. Start with an intriguing proposition or question; the goal is to knock the ball out of the park from word one And don’t lead off with anything generic like “Dear Sir or Madam.”
4. Write Short, Scannable Paragraphs
Keep paragraphs short. And on that note, don’t write a huge block of text in your emails, no matter how interesting the topic is. According to a study of online reading behavior by Jakob Nielsen, people tend to read Web content in an F-pattern: they read horizontally across the top of the page and then skim vertically down one side. The F-pattern has been observed in studies of email reading behavior as well, so it’s important to organize your email content in a way that maximizes this reading pattern.
Use subheadings. Subheadings help readers skim through your email for useful information and also make it easier for them to decide whether or not they have time to read it all at the moment. If you have multiple sections with useful information in each section, breaking up each section into its own paragraph can help readers identify which sections are most relevant to their current needs without having to sift through everything.
Use images rather than words when possible. Visual elements like photos and graphics are more engaging than text alone, so they can help grab readers’ attention before they get bored and move on. You can also use images to communicate complex ideas more effectively than you could by writing out long explanations especially if those explanations would be complicated or boring any way.
This technique makes sense because humans respond better visually rather than intellectually; since we process visual data 60,000 times faster than written text (and only 20% as fast), this makes perfect sense.
5. Be Clear About What You Want Them To Do Next
In addition to telling your readers what you want them to do, it’s also important that you tell them why they should take action. For example, “sign up for our newsletter” doesn’t have a reason behind the ask and therefore there’s no incentive to complete the action. However, if you say something like “Sign up for our newsletter and receive our top 15 hacks for email marketing,” then you offer value in exchange for their contact information.
Another way to make it easy for your readers to take action is by giving them options. If you are trying to get a sale or appointment, allow your reader several ways of completing that task. For example Call (enter number), Email (enter email address), and Sign up online (enter web address).
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6. Make Your Emails Easily Shareable
The right share button can do the work of a team of marketers, but only if it’s placed in a prominent position and makes your reader feel like they’d be doing a good deed by sharing. Here are some tips for making sure you have the right share functionality:
Make sure your share button is prominent, easy to see, and doesn’t look like an ad.
Make sure you only add one share button. One is enough to get your content seen.
Make sure that when someone shares your email, they’re linked to content that’s relevant to the topic of their original email.
Use a simple call-to-action, such as “Share” or “Retweet” rather than “Spread the Word” or “Forward.” You want people to understand what you want them to do immediately, no questions asked.
Use branded buttons so readers can recognize them immediately; this will help increase engagement with both new and existing readers alike it’s how people associate emails with companies and helps build brand awareness around your company’s name.
7. Make Your Offer Enticing And Exclusive
The first thing to do is make sure your offer is enticing.
To make an offer enticing, it should be exclusive, time-limited, and/or a trial or discount. This makes the offer very different from when you’re in-store as customers can’t get this deal anywhere else.
The reason this works so well is that people respond to the fear of missing out (FOMO). By making your offer limited in some way will encourage your prospects to take action before they lose the opportunity.
8. Get To The Point Quickly
In marketing, you want to get your point across as quickly and clearly as possible.
One way to do this is by making your message short and sweet. Short messages are great because: They take less time to read and They’re easier to understand.
You’re not overwhelming your reader with too much information. If you want to make your email message even shorter, try splitting it into two or three smaller emails (which we’ll talk about more in the next section).
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9. Use A Simple Layout And Design
When possible, use a single-column template with a clearly-hierarchized layout. This will help increase readability and make your readers more likely to scan the email for its important elements with ease. An easy-to-read font like Helvetica or Arial is always a good choice, sized at least 14px or larger.
A responsive design is key as well. Your message should scale down well when your reader views it on mobile devices (which are used by 88% of people who check email on the go). So keep it simple! Don’t rely too much on images a few strategically placed images can provide some visual interest, but don’t let them overwhelm the text of your message in terms of size, placement, and color contrast.
When choosing colors to complement your brand identity/logo/etc., stick to two or three colors max any more than that can be overwhelming and confusing for the reader, especially if you have links within your content itself (they need to stand out from other elements in the body of your email). Choose contrasting colors for text links that pop out against their surrounding color scheme so they’ll be easy for the reader to follow right away without having to do a lot of looking around first.
10. Test Different Variables
A/B testing is a great way to structure your email marketing strategy. What is A/B testing? It’s when you test two different versions of an email to see which one garners the most success.
For example, let’s say that you’ve been sending out a monthly newsletter to your subscribers. In December, you’re trying to promote holiday sales and specials, so you send out a festive version of your newsletter. With A/B testing, though, you would also send out a more restrained version that doesn’t include any holiday decorations or language (the “control” model).
You can then use the data from both newsletters to determine which one was more successful with consumers. If the holiday version outperformed the control model, then maybe it would be worth sending out a similarly-themed newsletter for other holidays throughout the year (i.e., Easter). If it didn’t perform as well as expected, though, then it may not be worth adding additional holidays into your email marketing campaigns.
It’s important that an A/B test only look at one variable at a time: if both versions of an email include different subject lines and different content within them and generate significantly different outreach results, how do you know what caused those differences? If you want your data to be useful for future campaigns rather than just this single instance, keep things simple and only change one thing per test!
The key here is thinking about how best YOU can reach YOUR audience in meaningful ways without necessarily having them feel like they’re being marketed to 24/7 because if they do…you’ve lost their trust!
11. Use Video, If It’s Relevant To Your Business
Video is a great way to grab attention, and because people can get a lot of information in a short amount of time from video, it’s becoming increasingly popular. Video can be used for tutorials and how-tos, or just to be entertaining. I prefer watching videos over reading text, don’t you? The point is that the use of video should be relevant to your business (and not too long).
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12. Don’t Send Too Many Emails To The Same Person In A Short Period.
You should have a cadence of emails (more on this soon), but don’t bombard your audience with too many messages within a short period. A few days’ worths of messaging are more than enough for most people and businesses. If you send around 10-12 emails in that time frame, that’s probably the limit for most companies (though there will always be exceptions).
There is such a thing as over-messaging, and if you do it, you risk annoying your recipients to the point where they unsubscribe from or ignore your messages or label them as spam and you never want those things to happen!
You can set up automation in most email marketing platforms to send out preset emails at certain times; just make sure they’re spaced out enough so that you’re not overwhelming your subscribers with too much information all at once.
The number of emails per week/month depends on what type of business you run: if it’s eCommerce, then 2-3/week might make sense; if it’s B2B SaaS, 1 email every two weeks might make sense. You’ll have to experiment and see what works best for the type of business you have!
Final Thoughts
While a lot of companies rely on email marketing to communicate with their existing customers, many of them don’t use email marketing to its full potential. With these tips and tricks, you can start using your own emails as an effective marketing tool. Don’t forget that the content you send out is only one part of the equation. The other part is making sure that you have a segmented list to deliver targeted messages to the right people.
Further Reading
Here are some additional resources for further reading on email marketing hacks:
Email Marketing Hacks: 15 Practical Ideas to Enhance Your Campaigns Short Description: Explore 15 practical email marketing ideas to enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns and engage your audience.
10 Email Marketing Hacks to Skyrocket Your Sales Short Description: Discover 10 actionable email marketing hacks that can help you boost your sales and achieve better results.
6 Email Marketing Hacks That Will Help You Stand Out from Your Competition Short Description: Learn six innovative email marketing hacks that can set your campaigns apart from your competitors and attract more attention.
People Also Ask
What Is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message to a group of people using email. In its broadest sense, every email you send out to a current or prospective customer could be considered email marketing.
What Are The Best Email Marketing Strategies?
The best email marketing strategy is to put your audience first, not your business. Ask yourself questions like “Who will this email be most relevant for?” and “What do I need to say to be helpful?”.
This sort of mindset shift is important because it helps you think about how you can be useful. If your emails focus on providing value to the reader, they will be much more effective than if they’re just a sales pitch.
How Do You Write An Email To A Company?
It’s important to keep your tone professional, but that doesn’t mean it should be boring! Check out our article on How To Write An Email To A Company for more guidance on this topic.
How Do You Write A Professional Email?
Writing a professional email requires taking many considerations into account, including who your audience is and what information they want from your message. For more advice on this, read our article on The Dos and Don’ts of Writing a Professional Email.
What’s The Best Way To Establish Credibility In An Email?
It’s important to establish yourself as a credible source right off the bat. One way to do this is by using your subject line to provide proof of your expertise.
For example, if you’re sending an email about how to get more customers on social media, you could say something like “Want To Get More Customers On Social Media? Here’s How!” This will let readers know that you have an answer for them and that they can trust what comes next because it comes from someone who knows what they’re talking about.
How Do I Know If My List Is Good Enough?
The first step to building a great email list is to make sure you’re collecting data from people who want to hear from you. This means getting them to opt-in on a form, where they can enter their name, email address, and other contact info.
The key here is to make the form easy and quick for people to fill out. If they have to spend more than a few seconds thinking about it, they’ll probably just close the page without entering anything. Once you’ve collected all this info, check it against the following criteria:
– At least 15% of your list should have opted indirectly (meaning they filled out your form). If they didn’t, they’re probably not ready to hear from you yet.
– About half of the people on your list should also have opted in through some other channel like a giveaway or contest or at least be familiar with your brand already (from following you on social media or seeing one of your ads). If not many people on your list fit these descriptions, it’s time to start doing some outreach.
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