Email marketing is oftentimes a prospect’s preferred way of interacting with a brand. A strong email marketing presence can result in driving prospects to higher click-through rates and better engagement. But it’s easy to get lost in a sea of uncertainty. Using these best practices for emails can help you make sure your organization comes out on top.
Test, Gather Data, Set Benchmarks
In the process of creating an email marketing strategy that excels, the very first thing you should be doing is planning. But in order to plan, you’ll want to know your email environment like the backside of your hand. You can learn about your email audience by testing on an email send you have coming up or reviewing the data you already have.
And odds are you have a lot of data. Account Engagement (Pardot) makes data acquisition super simple to find through email reports. Use that data to determine what’s working and what's not with your prospects.
From there you’ll want to sit down with your team and plan the content you want to put out using a marketing calendar. This step of organization helps immensely in the long run, but don’t be afraid to reevaluate and adjust the plan as you go according to what’s working. Set growth goals to encourage the success you’re looking to foster.
Involve Multiple Marketing Channels
When you’re creating emails to be high click-through with strong conversion every time, it’s easy to be short-sighted. Don’t be afraid to involve different marketing channels and teams in your strategy as well. After all, any win in marketing is a win for everyone. Create campaigns that utilize additional channels like social media, customer service, paid ads, and anyone else that you can team up with to create marketing success.
Check Your Objectives and Reassess
At the end of your marketing calendar make sure to look into what worked, if you met your goals, and where you need to improve. Maybe you determine that prospects don’t click as often on longer subject lines, maybe certain campaigns went above your expectations. Pay attention to that data, as it’s the key to your next iteration, and exponential success.
Quality Over Quantity
It’s easy to grasp every single email prospect ever so tightly. But at the end of the day, it’s not the quantity that matters but the quality. If a prospect hasn’t engaged with any emails in the past 90 days, put them on a win-back campaign and out of your default content send lists. Win-back campaigns can be a great second opportunity to regain some of those unengaged prospects.
Design Like Your Life Depends on It
Your email designs are incredibly important; they must not only be beautiful but also highly engaging. This means making your imagery have a purpose, making your CTAs stand out, and not dumping too much copy into an email. It also means that all of your designs should look consistent with your brand. A prospect should be able to easily recognize your organization's communications by their design while also having each one be unique.
Pro-Tip: Don’t Forget about mobile on your emails. This is ever so important as more and more emails are being opened on mobile. Don’t forget to test your emails for mobile users.
