I remember the good ol’ days of email marketing.
I would send out an email and 75% of my prospects would open it. (Can you imagine?)
Then, along came the spammers, the CAN-SPAM laws, the smartphones and the competition. And suddenly, email marketing was a whole different animal.
In today’s noisy and cutthroat email environment, research suggests that only about 11.4% of our emails are even opened. (Ouch!)
But, let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water. Email is still a powerful and low-cost ways to effectively communicate with your prospects.
Here are 10 steps to writing emails that get results:
1. Decide on ONE call to action.
Every time that you send out an email, you should ask your prospect to do something: visit a website, watch a video, read a blog post or make a purchase.
However, make sure that you are only asking them to do one thing. Including multiple calls to action just leads to confusion.
2. Create an intriguing subject line.
If you want a higher percentage of your emails opened, then your subject line must be either exciting, interesting or arouse curiosity. In addition, the subject line should speak directly to your particular prospects’ needs, interests or problems and contain less than 50 characters or spaces.
3. Get personal.
Studies show that using your prospect’s first name in the message of your email can change your click-through rate from 0.8% all the way to 3%. So, get personal!
4. Hook them in.
Once your prospect has opened up your email, your job isn’t finished. Spend time writing a captivating first paragraph that hooks them in and keeps them reading.
5. Keep it short.
Your prospects have short attention spans, so don’t drone on and on. Keep your emails short, sweet and to the point.
6. Insert a clickable link.
Ask your prospects to click on a link that entices them to take action. (Make sure to include the http:// before the link since some email service providers don’t automatically create hyperlinks.)
7. Add a P.S. to your emails.
The P.S. portion of your email is the 2nd most read section. So, use a P.S. to reinstate why it’s important for your prospects to take immediate action.
8. Send out more emails.
Many small business owners don’t want to overwhelm their list with too many emails. Emails sent out every day register a bounce rate of only 0.4 %. But, emails sent out only once a month generate a bounce rate of 5.1%
So, don’t be afraid to communicate with your prospects frequently.
9. Send out emails in the morning.
Most emails are opened between 7:00 and 10:00 am. After noon, the open rate begins to decline.
So, get your emails out as early as possible!
10. Send your emails on Sunday.
Data shows that 12.2% of emails sent out on Sunday are opened. The lowest open rates are on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Who knew?
Make sure to use these 10 powerful tips to help your small business emails generate a higher email open and click-through rate.
*The data for this article is based on a study from MailerMailer of 977 million email messages sent to their customers.
About Jessica Swanson
Jessica, I am so impressed with your clear stream-lined style. I suppose it is also important to speak in the language of your ideal client. You are certainly speaking in mine. You give great practical and affordable advice in a market that is staturated with hype, and expensive promises.
Thank-you, I am looking forward to learning more.
You are very welcome Heather! And, you are SO right. You really do need to talk in the language of your prospects. That’s probably the best way for them to make a connection with you.
Thanks Jessica. Good points. Too much spam, too many pitches, too many call to action – there isn’t enough hours in the day. Concise, precise, personal – my favorites.
happy to read the article. is it possible to add an example of email on above post.
Good question! I’ll make sure to write a post about how to compose emails. Thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks Jessica, I am going to try this.
Let me know how it goes for you!
You are becoming the Queen of clean – Princess of Precise – Maven of “make it easy”.
Thanks as always.
Well, there’s nothing better than clean and easy
I love this article, but you forgot one thing….create a relationships…the more your prospects know and trust you the more likly they are to listen to what you have to say…I love AWAI keep it up!
You couldn’t be more right Alberto! At the end of the day, it’s ALL about creating relationships with your prospects, customers and clients. What else matters?
You are so right in what you are saying. Thanks for restating it in simple and straight forward language. I just wish others in my organization would get this point!
I am with you on that one! It would be nice if organizations realized that it’s usually more simple and straight-forward then they make it out to be!
Thanks Jessica
I like the part about sending out between 7-10am. What is your take on how blog posts and when people read them, I set mine up ahead of time. Have a great day.
I do the same thing with my blog posts Wanda. I set them up before-hand to publish at 6:00 EST in the morning (or before). I do think that people are more apt to read emails and blog posts in the morning hours.
Thank You Jessica, answer that’s straight to the point.
You are very welcome LaFaith…glad that you enjoyed the post!