Make Your Email Marketing More Effective

5 Tips to Improve Your Email Marketing

You may have heard all sorts of disparate predictions about the demise of email marketing, but what the evidence shows is that it’s still an integral component of your online marketing mix, both now and in the near future…As reported by Sign-Up.to’s 2013 UK Email Marketing Benchmark Report, there’s been a solid increase in average email open rates, rising from 18.35 percent to 21.47 percent within the past year. Also, (and more exciting) the average return on your email marketing investment is a mind-numbing $44.25 for each dollar spent. (iContact)

So how can you take advantage of this in your small business?

Here are 5 easy tips to get your email marketing efforts heading in the right direction!

1. Write killer subject lines – Your subject lines actually do matter, as your open rates will attest if you gloss over this part. Be sure to do the necessary work to fashion a subject line that makes people open your email! This could be a combination of curiosity, emotion, relevance and urgency. Make sure to check for spam compliancy as well.
2. Write amazing content – After your subject line, nothing will get your emails opened and read more often than delivering jaw-dropping content. Content that people can’t wait to open and read. I’m subscribed to several lists like that, where I open and read every word without delay. Aim to be one of those!
3. Incorporate social media – This is a simple way to spread your emails around, particularly those with terrific content. Implement social sharing buttons in your emails, and encourage your users to use them. This can result in easy new opt-ins.
4. Send mobile-friendly emails – Now that 64 percent of decision makers read their email on their mobile device,(TopRankBlog) and also the average person checks their smartphone some 34 times a day, do you need any more convincing to make your emails mobile friendly?
5. Send email more often – This is one we frequently balk at. Nobody wants to keep pissing off people who don’t want to read your messages. Sure, if you’re selling some shiny new object every email. Definitely make sure you keep sending terrific content that people simply can’t wait to read. Copyblogger reports that very often your unsubscribes actually decrease if you mail more frequently.