On average, only 17.8% of retail marketing emails are opened. And only 3.54% of those subscribers click through from the email to the website or promotion.
Don’t panic – these numbers are normal. So how can you improve your clicks?
Phoebe Gazal opened Papier d’Amour in Double Bay and online eight years ago, selling bespoke, monogrammed and personalised stationery. Over the years, Gazal’s team has driven constant improvement in their email marketing.
“We send out an email about once a week. But we don’t send an email if we haven’t got anything to say. Otherwise, our unsubscribe rate goes right up,” Gazal notes.
Create an attention-seeking subject line
Your email is competing for attention in a packed inbox. Whether your email is opened or not comes down to the subject line. Instead of simply announcing your March Newsletter, tell us why we should interrupt whatever we’re doing to read it.
Be specific, too. Special offers are not special when we have inboxes full of them. How much can I save? How will I benefit? What can I learn?
“Any time our emails mention Kate Spade or any popular designer brand, it boosts our results by 10-20%,” says Gazal. “But always put your best keywords at the beginning of the subject line, or they go unnoticed.”
Write your subject lines as if the customer is asking ‘what’s in it for me?’
Give good content
Most people read online text differently to a print brochure or magazine. We scan for images, headings and keywords before deciding whether to read deeper or follow a link. The more time and effort your email demands of the reader, the more likely it will be skipped.
“If you have 100 emails in your inbox, are you going to read all that text unless you really have to? But a picture says a thousand words,” reminds Gazal. Papier d’Amour’s emails use product photos and graphic design with very little text. “If they like the picture, they’ll read the caption and hopefully click through to find out more.”
Some retailers shoot their own product photos, adding their brand style, but be sure the person behind the camera can produce professional images. A blurry, poorly-lit photo could be worse than no image at all.
The landing page
Email marketing doesn’t stop at the inbox. If readers click through to your website, make sure the page they land on delivers on the promise in the email.
“You’ve got to follow through,” advises Gazal. “Even if the point of the email is a wider promotion like a sale, if the images showcase certain products, the landing page should display the same items. Or at least make it easy to find them.”
If you already have a webpage devoted to the specific product or promotion, link directly. Never link to the homepage and expect visitors to find their own way.
“Don’t make customers click around to find what they’re looking for,” concludes Gazal.
Building mailing lists
A successful mailing list is about quality, not quantity. People are more likely to open and interact with emails they consciously requested and not merely because they bought something from you three years ago.
Promote your email list wherever you can with a call to action that explains how they will benefit. Exclusive deals, insider news or handy hints, for example.
However, take care how you acquire and administer your email lists. The Spam Act 2003 is extremely strict and a single mistake can lead to complaints and fines.
More information can be found in “The Spam Act 2003 – A Practical Guide for Business”, available for download from acma.gov.au.
Original article posted by AGHA Blog.