You probably know that if you don’t email your email subscribers on a regular basis, they’ll lose interest quickly and your efforts will be for nothing.
Even if you are good about scheduling emails to go out to your list, you may not be putting in the effort required to actually get results with your email marketing.
Results?
Results you should be expecting include:
- Clicks back to your website (getting people to your website often is always the goal)
- Engagement (via replying back to your email, commenting on your website, or continuing the conversation on your social media pages)
- And even sales!
If you’re NOT getting great results, here are…
5 key ideas to get way better results with your email marketing
- Subject lines.
- Aim for 5 words or less
- Make your email subject lines compelling (make sure there’s an irresistible hook in the subject so people are inspired to open the email)
- Never use the same subject line (especially something like “News from _____”)
- Make it a personal goal to always come up with the next best, juiciest, fun subject line your creative mind can produce
- Formatting.
- Keep paragraphs short (1-2, maaaybe 3 sentences max)
- Bold top keyword phrases to pull the eye in (but don’t overuse this power or it’ll feel like overkill)
- Add imagery to break up your text and further drive home your main points in the content (suggested: about one image every screen length as you scroll down the email).
- Examples of the above tips:
- Use headlines or sub-headlines to break up ideas (and make points) in your content so it’s not one never-ending string of text.
- Add action links that take people back to your website in key areas throughout your ezine. Play with the text you turn into a link to see what can get you a higher click-through rate.
- For example:
“This video teaches you the 3 ways to reduce stress. Click here to watch it.”
“This video teaches you the 3 ways to reduce stress.”
“This video teaches you the 3 ways to reduce stress.”
(See which link converts the best by testing over your next several email campaigns)
- For example:
- Tone.
- Always, always write in a personal, conversational tone. I write how I speak and that creates a stronger connection with the reader.
- Always write to ONE person – not an audience. When you write to one person you’ll get far better results. No one wants to feel as insignificant as just another person in a crowd. Example:
- Get to the point.
- Always ask yourself, “where am I leading the reader?” Your email should keep building value, showcasing your expertise and loyalty to the reader, and telling a greater story. Think of it as having one main theme to your email, and your supporting content tells a story and helps your audience overcome that struggle.
- Be as concise as you can. Try not to go on and on and on about a point.
- If you focus on packing your emails full of valuable content and NOT wasting the reader’s time, you will quickly climb your way to the top of their “must read” Inbox list (and you knoooow how competitive that space is!)
- Call to action.
- As mentioned in the intro to this post, always focus on getting people to click back to your website, increasing engagement, and getting sales.
- Get people back to your website – An example would be teasing about a new blog post, but then making people click back to your website to read the full post.
- Example:
- Increase engagement – How can you get people to reply to your email with answers to a question, or post a photo on your Facebook wall based on something you taught them in this email, or how can you get people to make specific comments on a blog post on your website, etc. Example:
- Get more sales – Each email should feature new creative ways people can work with you or buy from you. For example, don’t post the same image and description of your book and think maybe this time people will buy. Post new excerpts of your book each time you send an email with a new compelling call to action to buy. The sales don’t have to come from your own products and services either – consider affiliate marketing as another way to monetize. (Read: Affiliate Marketing 101) Example:
- Each email should offer creative calls to action that are never the same and always focus on inspiring action.
- As mentioned in the intro to this post, always focus on getting people to click back to your website, increasing engagement, and getting sales.
Look, this may feel like more work than you wanted but I have two things to say about that:
One, this gets far easier (and faster) with practice.
Two, why would you not immediately start implementing these suggestions? You DO want to improve your results, don’t you..?
I know running an online business is hard work in the beginning, but stick with me and I’ll always show you the full truth about how to get results without tricks or gimmicks. Implement these 5 key email marketing ideas and watch as you achieve higher open rates, click-through rates, sales, and engagement.
