From Bootstrapping Ecommerce:
Investing in email marketing makes perfect sense. It has a significant and growing audience — there are 3.7 billion users, and it’s expected to reach more than 4.2 billion by 2022. It also delivers a high return on investment – for every $1 you spend, you can earn $44, and better click-through rates. To achieve the same results, you don’t have to necessarily need to try every email marketing strategy you read on the internet. We’re not saying they are wrong or ineffective, but sometimes marketing challenges like high bounce rates and low click-through rates can be easily resolved by applying email marketing fundamentals. Let’s take a closer look at how going back to the email marketing basics can overcome marketing challenges:
Email Marketing Fundamentals #1: Send a Test Email Before Sending a Campaign
You just sent the latest product promo to your subscribers, only to find out you’ve linked the wrong product — or worse — it’s a dead link. What can you do? Since the campaign is already sent, there’s nothing left to do but ensure the next emails are free from errors.
The best way to prevent email mishaps is by previewing your email and sending a test email. You don’t need a special tool to do this. Majority of email marketing campaign services have a preview option and test email features integrated into their system. You need to use them to your advantage. We understand it’s a tedious and mundane task, but somebody needs to do it — you don’t want to miss out on a sale opportunity.
All you need to do is send yourself the email — that simple! Sending a test email allows you to check and ensure everything is how it should look and working as you intended it to be. You should verify if:
- The subject line and preview text coincides with the email’s message
- It is free from typos and grammatical errors
- Images are loading and alt text has been added
- Desktop and mobile are formatted and optimized
- Links are correct and working
- HTML and plain-text versions display properly
. . . .
Email Marketing Fundamentals #3: Create Thought-Provoking & Actionable CTAs
A good call-to-action (CTA) is more than a bold and bright button or a witty text — it directs email recipients to complete an action. It is important to remember that other elements like design and copy can influence a subscriber’s decision. Remember that your CTA acts as the transition between the various stages in the marketing funnel. They help your customer make a purchase, or click the subscribe button. Whatever you want the customer to do, you need to put it in a well-thought-out CTA button.
Think of it this way; an email is like a book. You have the recipient as the protagonist, subject line as the title, design, and content as the first chapters, and CTA as the climax. If the storyline is well-thought-out, compelling and cohesive, it can influence the protagonist to finish the story, in this case, click the CTA. Here are some ways you can optimize your CTAs:
- Use contrasting colors to make the CTA stand-out
- Ensure the size of the CTA is mobile-friendly
- Keep the text simple yet catchy
- Keep the CTA above the fold, so recipients don’t need to scroll all the way down
Link to the rest at Bootstrapping Ecommerce
Everybody wants to buy. Nobody wants to be sold.
“Everybody wants to buy. Nobody wants to be sold.”
This reminds me of, “Everyone wants to have written, no one wants to write.”
Was that Dr. A? Can’t remember.
Dan
Sounds like it could have come from my late friend Jerry Pournelle, but I cannot say for certain.
Ah, spam and other ways to get anything you send to others marked as ‘junk’.
And advertisers can’t understand why they are so hated by the rest of us. It’s the lies they tell …
I used to be a friendly chap, but now a days I assume anyone walking up (or calling me) is trying to ‘start a conversation’ to try to sell me something they already know I don’t want/need or I’d already have it. And they hate it when I break their script and ask what they’re selling. Most then claim they aren’t selling anything ‘honest’. Their honesty fails when they start trying to push whatever it is …
If you are going to play email, I’d suggest you have a way for readers to tell you they’d ‘like’ to be told when your next book is out (and another option/checkbox if they want to hear of your other mutterings … 😉 )
MYMV – and don’t annoy your readers! 😛
“I used to be a friendly chap, but now a days I assume anyone walking up (or calling me) is trying to ‘start a conversation’ to try to sell me something they already know I don’t want/need or I’d already have it.”
This seems more like a problem with the targeting than the actual pitch. Good marketers, especially internet marketers, would consider it a failure simply to pitch something to you you don’t actually want or need.
And, realistically, there’s no way for any person to have heard about everything (or even half the things) they may want or need prior to someone marketing it to them.
No one knew they wanted an iPhone before Apple started running ads for them, after all.
Successful email marketing almost always happens when someone has signed up for emails from a particular organization.
Yep, and they’ve signed up for the list because of a call to action they find compelling enough to cough up their email. Usually because the targeting was accurate.
I’m talking about you being about your business and someone trying to get you to listen to their spiel …
Like the Direct TV and house solar guys/gals attacking people at Sams – if I had any interest I’d step up to your big sign.
Or the clowns on the phone (or to the door) wanting to tell me about that great offer they have.
And of course we can’t forget all those great offers they only trot out when you tell them you’re canceling their service – maybe we would have hung around if that was your normal offerings to your loyal customers …
(Getting all sorts of spectrum ads/calls since we dropped them to try out google, funniest part is they just can’t get it through their little heads that we aren’t interested in their TV service – so constant yapping about their bundles is a deal breaker. 😉 )
And I still don’t want an iphone, so wasted time/money on that. 😛
MYMV and may the scammers/spammers lose your info this holiday season.