Almost every business now recognizes the importance of making email campaigns part of their marketing plan. But just because you launch an email campaign doesn’t necessarily mean it will get the desired results. As with every other aspect of marketing and advertising, there are best practices for email content that are designed to get your email open, read and acted upon. We haven’t forgotten about that all-important landing page, either! Here are the essential components for creating compelling content and a landing page that will prompt visitors to follow through.
Subject Line and Email Content:
- Use a familiar name in the “FROM:” field
- Keep the subject line short, straightforward and simple – avoid excessive or exaggerated terms; they have been exhausted by spammers
- If you can personalize at any level, do so
- Use branded products or services before the company name whenever possible – people are more likely to have a “personal” relationship with a specific product than a brand
- Keep the links coming – the more links within an email, the more chances for the consumer to click through
- Remember the 3-5-7 rule: write so that recipients spend only 3 seconds reading the subject line; 5 seconds reading the “hot zone” and 7 seconds reading the featured content
- Also remember the “24 rule” – it is generally recommended that, consumers should not be communicated to more than 24 times per year
Email Landing Pages:
- Start the email planning process with landing pages – focusing on the goal of the campaign will lead to consistency and emails that achieve the intended response
- Consider the landing page to be a part of the email, and vice versa; there should be continuity between the e-mail and the landing page – conversions are higher when landing pages are tied to a specific email and there is continuity between e-mail and landing pages
- Landing pages should do nothing else – resist the urge to mention multiple offers
- If your system can differentiate among those who have clicked/taken action before, use it to customize their landing page by personalization or pre-populating the page
- Keep the pages “live” longer. Even though 90% of people respond within 72 hours, it can take weeks for the last 10% to follow through
- Make sure that when the offer/product is no longer available, the landing page is taken off-line
By now, you probably realize that running an effective email marketing campaign involves many elements to make sure your email messages generate the response you want. If you need a partner who can help you, our entire E-Direct team is ready to plan, design, develop and launch a campaign that will exceed expectations. Learn more about our capabilities here, and contact us today!
