Email campaigns can play an important role in your marketing plan. They help you share important information, updates about your business or promote special products or events. More importantly, email newsletters help build a stronger relationship with your subscribers and build brand loyalty. 

In a world where our inboxes are inundated with email, how can you stand out to get your message across? Here are some useful tips to consider when planning your next email marketing campaign. 

An email campaign should include the following: 

Headline – This is your first impression to grab your audience’s attention. The headline should be catchy, concise and invoke curiosity. Limit your subject line to 30 characters.

Preheader – This is the text that appears below or to the right of the subject line and gives your audience a better idea of what the email is about. This is a great way to entice your subscribers to open the email.

Body – Your email campaign should be simple, to the point, and easy to read. Limit the amount of copy you include to prevent losing your subscribers’ attention. You want your email campaign to provide value to your subscribers and encourage them to act.

Visuals – Images and videos are a great way to break up text, but avoid using too many so you don’t overload the email. Make sure the file sizes aren’t too large and take over the email or too small that you need to zoom in.

Links – At the end of your message, include your call to action with links to what you are requesting of your subscribers. For example: asking for donations, purchasing a product, or RSVPing to an event.

 

Optimize your emails for mobile devices

After you have drafted your email campaign, preview it on desktop and mobile to see how it will appear on each screen. According to Campaign Monitor, 60% of email campaigns are opened on mobile devices. A best practice is to send test emails to check how the images and text appear on different devices before sending it out. 

 

Analyze and Adjust 

Bravo! You’ve created and sent an amazing newsletter, but the work isn’t done. Allow a week to give your subscribers a chance to view your email. Then analyze the email campaign’s performance to learn what worked well and where you can improve using these key performance indicators (KPIs):

Open Rate – Email open rate is the percentage of subscribers who open a specific email divided by your total number of subscribers. According to Mailchimp, the average for all industries is 21.3%. Monitoring your open rates will help you understand if your subject lines are effective or if your content is interesting.  

Bounce Rate – The bounce rate is the percentage of email addresses that your campaign could not deliver. This could be due to incorrect email addresses or mail being flagged as spam. You want to aim for 2% or lower. High bounce rates can impact your ability to send email campaigns. Consider cleaning your subscriber lists every 6 months to maintain your reputation with email service providers.  

Unsubscribe Rate – The unsubscribe rate is the percentage of the number of subscribers who opt-out by the number of emails delivered. Ideally you want this number to be as low as possible (less than 1%). If your rate is higher, this could imply that your emails are not effective, poorly designed, or sent too frequently (spamming).

 

If you are ready to incorporate email campaigns into your marketing strategy, give us a call at 316.262.6022 or email jbranning@cohlmiamarketing.com to get started.