The average open rate for email marketing blasts is between 10% to 15%. Depending on how good you are at email marketing, you may even be able to get higher open rates.
One of the ways to increase your results with email marketing is to understand email marketing trends and how to position yourself properly in the current conditions.
Continue reading this article to learn the best practices for email marketing, so your business can boost its email marketing results.
1. Developing a Deeper Connection
Gone are the days when we rush to our inbox because we got an email notification. Instead of being excited, we are often annoyed by emails flowing into our inbox.
Email can be a truly time-sucking life hog, so how do we fight against this feeling as marketers?
We can fight against this feeling by developing a deeper connection with our audience.
One of the best ways to build your connection with your audience is to listen to what they want and then to give them what they want.
Sounds simple, right?
That’s because it is simple, and it just takes a little research and planning on your part.
Monitor social media channels to see what your audience is interested in right now. Send out surveys and actually use that information to change up your email marketing strategy.
2. Avoid Low-Quality Email Marketing Tools
Even if you’re doing your research and learning about your audience, if the tools and plugins you’re using aren’t up to the best standards, you’re shooting your strategy in the foot.
While some plugins and tools might cost more than others, many times, that is because they are worth it. Do your research and show how much you care about showing up as a professional.
3. Customize Email Blasts
When sending out email blasts, you can send one email to your thousands of subscribers — or you can do something that actually works.
Customizing your email blasts with content that speaks directly to the person receiving the email makes it more likely they will open it, and more likely they will take action.
Every year, marketers are seeing the increased importance of customizing their email blasts. Using segmentation through your autoresponder will make it easier for you to send customized emails to the people on your list.
4. Avoid Sloppy Mistakes
It’s understandable if you have a typo here and there, but people are tired of getting emails, and getting emails with typos, and incorrect information is the bane of email readers everywhere.
Before sending emails to your list, you should go through a checklist to make sure you’ve included the right links, didn’t make typos, and that you’re sending the right emails to the right people.
5. Wisely Choose Metrics to Track
How do you know that your email marketing campaign is successful? If you aren’t tracking metrics, you have no way of knowing if you’re moving in the right direction or if you’re missing the target.
There are a lot of metrics to track, and it can get overwhelming, but you don’t need to track them all.
To figure out which metrics you should check, figure out what you’re trying to achieve with the email. Your goal has a lot to do with which metrics are important to you.
If you’re trying to get more eyes on the inside of your emails, then you want to track open rates. If you’re trying to get people to make a purchase from the email, you should look at the conversion rate from each email blast.
6. Get Good at Subject Lines
You want to increase open rates, but you also want the right people to open your emails.
Getting good at subject lines is the best way to achieve higher open rates and to get the right people to open your emails.
There are copywriting courses you can take, lists of best practices for writing subject lines, and more that can help you with this skill. Invest some time, and you’ll start seeing the results quicker than you might think.
7. Split Testing Is Your Friend
More now than ever, you need to split test your emails to see what is working. What might have been getting you major results in years gone by might not work anymore.
The only way you’re going to know what is working best for you is by split testing and looking at the cold hard facts.
8. Must Be Mobile-Friendly
If Google thinks it is important, you should think it is important. Many people are accessing your emails on their mobile devices. If they see the desktop version of your email, it’s not going to show up right on their phone or tablet, which means you’re going to miss out on an opportunity to communicate.
9. Say No to Spam
We thought people hated spam in the past, but they hate it even more now. At all costs, you should avoid spamming.
If you didn’t get express permission to email these people, don’t email them just because you have their email address in their contact file.
10. Use Clear Call-to-Actions
When sending emails, never assume that people know what you want them to do.
Clear calls-to-action should be used at least once but multiple times throughout the content if it is a long-form email.
Using Email Marketing Trends
Now that you know more about email marketing trends, you can use them to your advantage instead of feeling like you’re navigating a minefield.
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