Success can be broken down into components. It's the little things that pile up into fulfilling rewards eventually. Like ingredients to a wonderful delicacy, success is cooked up by introducing the right mix of components.
Success in email marketing is no different. It can be broken down to three distinct and critical factors that will ultimately make or break any campaign centered on such. All three factors should be complied with, as the non-performance of one can cripple the entire system.
What are these factors? How can you ensure that they will be at their peak?
Factor 1: Attraction
Your emails should be attractive in order for the recipients to open the same. A bland email will just be left untouched, even if it finds its way to the recipient's inbox. The first thing that the recipient will see, is of course, the subject title of the email. Hence, much care should be exercised in crafting the subject title so that it may capture the attention of the recipient and prompt them to click on the same and read your email.
There is a challenge here. You cannot just add any subject title you wish, least you violate the Can Spam Act which mandates that the said subject title should be relevant to the content of the email. You can't say "Congratulations, You Just Won," when the recipient never won anything. The title may be catchy, but it is deceiving, as it is illegal.
The trick is in developing a subject title that is witty, one that will capture the interest of your audience without breaking away from the spirit of the content. Hence, "A Personal Message" and "I've Got Great News For You," though vague, have been considered as great attention grabbers.
Factor 2: Readability
Would you read an email containing purely technical jargons you could not understand? How about an email that is so poorly written it's almost unintelligible? Or a comedic one when you’re expecting something serious?
Poorly prepared messages affect readability. And your recipients should read your content to be able to get your business message. The only way you can get them to read your mails is by grabbing their attention and never letting go, through compelling content that is pretty much difficult to resist.
The way your mail is written plays a big part in all of this. A poorly written email will just turn off your readers. Worse, it may brand you negatively.
Take time to formulate an email that you can be proud of, and your read rate is sure to increase.
Factor 3: Response
So, your recipients actually receive your emails, and they actually read the same. But do they respond in the manner you want them to respond? Do your emails help you reach your business goals?
If not, then your email marketing campaign is suffering from a low response rate.
To increase the response rate, you must have some effective calls to action in place. Calls to action are the mechanisms you implement to compel the subjects to do what you want them to do. In marketing, this may be in the form of special offers, urgency offers, and gratuitous offers. Mastering these mechanisms will greatly help your online business. Including them in your eZine will be the coup de grace, as you'd be able to reach a lot of people with just one message.
Study successful sales pages. Ask yourself this question: why did such a sales page make me want to buy what was being offered? Chances are, it's because of the potent call to action that was put in place. Copy these calls to action and make some adjustments to include them in your campaigns, and you will enjoy a higher response rate.
