How many unread emails do you have right now? Are we talking hundreds or thousands? Don’t be embarrassed. At some point, it all became unmanageable, so we mostly grew numb to the waves of email marketing.
It’s hard enough to keep up with the flood of emails from people and publications we actually know, let alone the others that just won’t, well, leave us alone.
Between the notifications you don’t know how to switch off, the promos you forgot to unsubscribe from, the ones you thought you already unsubscribed from, and the actual messages of importance, there’s no way to keep up.
Granted, that doesn’t sound like great news for email marketing. But it’s also what frames the opportunity. We know how much junk is out there, and what cues make us disengage. We’re all consumers, so we have a lot of first-hand experience from an audience perspective. We’re all acutely aware of the relentless and irritating rhythm of unwanted emails. So it should be clear how to cut through the noise. Or, at the very least, how not to.
Email marketing is underrated. Here are some key tips on creating impactful marketing campaigns that actually get clicks.
CONTENTS
What should be your goal with email marketing?
What are the main types of email campaigns?
Common mistakes in email marketing
Is it really all about the subject line?
7 steps to create email campaigns that convert
As with any marketing activity, the goal of your email campaigns will be some combination of building awareness, nurturing consideration, or incentivising conversion/loyalty. It’s ultimately just another catchment to funnel prospects towards a desired action.
The exact nature of that action can vary. It could be enticing new leads to your website with introductory offers. It could be nudging near-conversions back to their abandoned shopping cart. It could be upselling or simply reinforcing your value to existing customers.
Awareness tends to be less effective in email marketing. As our inboxes overflow with more emails than anyone could reasonably be expected to read, consumers will only open what adds value for them. No one’s going to open a marketing email for the sake of it. If a new lead has recently signed up to your mailing list, of course you can welcome them with an overview of the goods and services you provide. But without a tangible incentive — e.g. discount codes, free shipping on their first order, priority access, downloadable assets, or some other exclusive offer — you’re not giving anyone enough reason to click.
Email marketing benchmarks
Once you’re clear on your goal, you can build comms around incentivising specific actions. Another important — and often overlooked — step in setting up your email campaigns is to set realistic goals for success.
At first glance, even solid benchmark numbers can look unimpressive. Remember, it’s called a marketing funnel for a reason. Regardless of how good your comms are, the funnel will narrow. Not only does it narrow, but there are holes in it, because consumers can ultimately do what they want. Not everyone who receives your email will see it. Not everyone who sees it will open it. Not everyone who opens it will click. And not everyone who clicks will buy.
Your job is simply to make that funnel as compelling and value-centric as possible, all the way through. This will minimise the drop-off at each step.
Need help with marketing campaign management?
There are several types of email campaigns that serve marketing purposes. These mostly tend to urge leads towards some kind of conversion, but are also important to reassure customers and validate actions, such as purchase or booking confirmations and reminders.
❌ Ignoring audience familiarity & intent
❌ Clickbait, or bait-and-switch offers
❌ Filling space for the sake of it
❌ Overly formal tone
❌ Not providing any clear value
❌ Spam / sending too frequently
❌ Lack of segmentation
❌ Poor UX
That’s by no means an exhaustive list, but a good checklist to start from. For an email to be of value to its audience, it needs to give them something beneficial. This means saving time, money, or providing entertainment. So don’t waste their time. Offer them something they want. And present the easiest path for them to get it.
Well, yes and no. But mostly yes. Of course, the contents of your email needs to back up the promise or hook of the subject line. But no one’s going to enter the shop if they don’t like the shop window.
With every brand email scrambling for that all-important click just to get you in the door, clickbait is rife. A common tactic is ‘limited time’ offers and promos to create a sense of urgency, but for offers that don’t actually expire. It’s the equivalent of a rug store or furniture outlet that always claims to be having a closing down sale. It might work at first, but with diminishing returns, and at the risk of undermining brand trust. It’s a boy who cried wolf scenario.
This is a big part of why audiences are so numb to email marketing. Aside from the sheer volume of messaging, we’re conditioned to have our guard up because we know brands just want our money and will try anything to get it. Exclamation marks? Don’t trust it. All caps? Too desperate.
Your best bet is calling out a tangible value proposition and time-frame without over-egging it — e.g. “SAVE 25% on our entire range. Only until Friday”. Or you can pose a teaser that speaks to an audience need, which can be answered by opening the email — e.g. “Here’s what email experts say is the KEY to conversion 📈”.
It’s not always an exact science. Email triggers and trends continue to evolve. So consider A/B testing different subject line variations to see what resonates with your audience.
There are 4 basic traits of effective subject lines:
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