Email marketing has changed drastically over the years. From the number of email users to the available platforms, it’s a constantly evolving channel that’s improving year after year. Despite all of its changes and improvements, one thing has remained constant: Email marketing is still one of the most effective tools for online marketing.
But why?
Well, you’ve probably seen a statistic floating around that every $1 spent on email marketing generates a $36 ROI. And that’s amazing!
However, as of 2023, every $1 spent on email marketing actually generates a $42 ROI… which is even better, especially when compared to other forms of marketing.
| Email Marketing | CRO Tools | SEO | Google Ads | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Spent |
$1 |
$1 |
$1 |
$1 |
|
Returned |
$42 |
$22.30 |
$22.24 |
$2 |
|
ROI |
4200% |
2230% |
2224% |
200% |
In addition to having one of the highest ROIs of all marketing forms, here are some other reasons we always choose email:
■ Oberlo predicts that 347.3 billion emails will be sent and received daily in 2024 (and that’s a massive user base).
■ Smartphone users prefer email marketing over other forms of communication.
■ Email marketing revenue is anticipated to reach $11B by the end of the year.
■ 41.5% of brands say that email marketing is an integral part of their success.
Email marketing is a go-to choice for marketers everywhere for good, data-driven reasons. With that in mind, it’s time to get started on your own strategy with our top 5 tips for successful email marketing campaigns.
Our Top 5 Email Marketing Tips
Our top 5 tips for crafting better email marketing campaigns don’t include wild graphics, crazy in-email animations, or ridiculous 95% off discounts.
In fact, our top tips are actually quite simple… but they work.
Let’s dive into our top 5 tried-and-true tips to make your email marketing campaigns work better for you and your business.
Tip #1: Personalize, personalize, personalize!
The first tip for better email marketing campaigns is to personalize, personalize, personalize!
Many email marketers personalize their emails by changing “Hi valued customer” to “Hi, [customer name]” and calling it a day. Although a personal greeting is great, it’s not enough!
Successful personalization is so much more than using your customer’s name once at the beginning of your email.
For better personalization in your email marketing campaigns, try:
■ Upgrading your email opt-in form to get more personalized information like what products or topics someone is interested in, or where they’re from.
■ Making product suggestions based on your customer’s purchase or browsing history, instead of just generic suggestions.
■ Adding the recipient’s name somewhere unexpected, like the middle of the email or even the subject line.
■ Keeping content relevant to the recipient, because not every person needs every email (more on this in Tip #2).
■ Sending emails from a real person’s email versus a generic company email. This gives your emails a sense of human connection that feels more personal.
Personalization is a simple yet effective way to make your subscribers feel like more than subscribers. After all, who doesn’t like to get something made especially for them?
Tip #2: Segment your subscriber list.
The second tip to improve your email marketing is segmentation.
Segmenting your subscribers simply means breaking down your email list into smaller groups with similar qualities or characteristics.
■ Purchase amount
At this point, we can all agree that there are almost endless ways to segment your audience.
■ Demographics (i.e. Age, gender, etc.)
■ Purchase history
■ Geographic area/location/time zones
Possible segmentation strategies include (but aren’t limited to)
■ Behavior (i.e. people who visited the same page on your site)
■ Personal interests (can be identified through an opt-in survey or an email preference page)
But why is it necessary for successful email marketing? Here’s an example.
Consider a clothing brand that sells both summer and winter clothing, and is trying to advertise a bathing suit sale.
They send out a mass email to all of their subscribers advertising 50% off bathing suits but are met with a huge unsubscribe rate. Why?
They failed to account for the fact that only 25% of their subscriber base is located somewhere with beach weather! The other 75% are in the middle of winter and their purchase history only shows mittens and hats.
Had this brand segmented its audience based on geographic location or purchase history, it may have had a much larger success rate (and also showed its customers they actually pay attention to who they are and what they like).
Segmented campaigns generate 14% more opens and 101% more clicks than non-segmented campaigns, so it’s high time to start segmenting!
Tip #3: Optimize your emails for mobile.
It’s no secret that mobile devices are taking over customer engagement. In fact, 38% of all North American internet traffic — email marketing and otherwise — comes from a mobile device!
With statistics like that, it’s no surprise that people’s preference for mobile devices translates to email marketing, too, with 41% of email views coming from mobile devices.
That’s where tip number three comes in – make sure your emails are optimized for mobile.
Mobile optimization is a non-negotiable part of any email marketing strategy, but there are still a number of “Dos” and “Don’ts” to consider.
■ DO use Responsive Email Design (RED) in your email creation. RED ensures your content flows smoothly across any screen size, big or small.
■ DO keep your subject line & preview text short and sweet. Mobile inboxes show fewer subject line/preview text characters than desktop inboxes; don’t waste precious space with vague, boring, or confusing text!
■ DO keep CTAs front-and-center. Add your CTA close to the top of your email in a larger size so it’s quick and easy to spot (and hopefully click!).
■ DON’T only rely on images. Some mobile ESPs won’t display your images, so your email campaign needs to make sense without them!
■ DON’T crowd your design. Let your design have some breathing room, especially around buttons and CTAs.
■ DON’T forget to test and check! Mistakes happen, but do your best to avoid critical issues through editing and test sends across multiple devices.
What’s nice about mobile optimization is that usually, your emails end up becoming better overall — short subject lines and clear CTAs make for a strong campaign on every device!
Tip #4. Test and edit your emails.
Tip number four is arguably the easiest way to craft strong email campaigns… but is also the easiest to overlook or neglect.
There are two ways that you should be testing your emails.
1. Internal Testing
This kind of testing should be done after your email is in tip-top shape, and is ready to send. A/B testing involves creating two slightly different versions of what is otherwise the exact same email, perhaps with different subject lines or design elements. By sending both versions to different sections of your audience, you can evaluate which one performs better, try to figure out why, and implement successful tactics in future campaigns.
2. A/B Testing
This kind of testing should be done first and includes things like verifying links, optimizing content across devices, proofreading for spelling errors, and other general edits. Internal testing is your first line of defense for quality assurance and is extremely important for one simple reason: you don’t want your customers to be the ones identifying your issues!
Testing is important not only for quality assurance but also for improvement. Don’t dismiss the importance of proofreading or A/B testing — they can make or break your business!
Tip #5. Automate your emails.
Our 5th and final tip — to automate your emails — is actually useful for two reasons: performance and ease of implementation.
In terms of performance, automating your campaigns and emails can actually lead to superior results. According to Epsilon, triggered emails outperform what they call “Business As Usual” (BAU) emails. They found that triggered emails not only have an open rate 76% higher than BAU emails but the click-through rate is often doubled, too.
When considering ease of implementation, triggered email campaigns can take some extra effort off of your team’s plate. It’s true that there is some legwork required at the beginning of your triggered campaign journey to set up aspects of your email including copy, design, discount/offer, and segmentation. However, once you’ve done the work upfront… that’s it! You can sit back, relax, and let the customer’s behavior and your triggered campaigns do the rest.
With automation, there’s not much to consider: wouldn’t you want to take advantage of a way to improve your email marketing?!
Wrap Up
Email marketing is a top choice for marketers across the globe for good, data-driven reasons. However, if you’re not crafting an intentional, data-driven strategy to go along with your email marketing efforts, you’re losing out on simple fixes to improve your rates and – hopefully! – improve your revenue generation.
If you’d like some expert insight into your current email marketing strategy, schedule a free email audit with our team!