If you run a business, promotional emails are a part of life. Whether you love them or hate them, email is an integral piece of cyber communication and thus a critical piece of your efforts to reach your customers and establish new loyalties. More than 200 million emails are sent every single minute of the day. This means that your promo email will be up against stiff competition in every inbox, fighting for attention amid dozens of other subject lines. All is not hopeless, though, because there are specific techniques that will help you enjoy a better open rate on your emails.
Remember the True Purpose of Email Marketing
Email marketing exists to provide willing audience members with insightful and relevant content. This means that you can’t spam their inbox with 16 emails a day or only pop up once a month, but instead you need to maintain a steady yet unobtrusive place to offer content that will prove meaningful. Major sales, how-to guides, and new research information, for example, are likely to contribute to higher-interest emails.
Define Your Audience
When asking users to sign up for your email, try to collect any demographic information possible. City of residence and birthday, for instance, can help you specify which emails might be of most interest to certain groups of people. Canned and irrelevant material will quickly turn your recipients off, so be sure to collect that critical information up front and align every email accordingly.
Don’t Bombard Them
We are all probably guilty of unsubscribing from emails sent by a business we genuinely liked. Why? Because the emails came 10 times a day. Most consumers need a bit of space, enough to make them want the emails when they come rather than feel overwhelmed by them. That “just right” frequency can be tricky to find, so don’t be discouraged if it takes some trial and error. Once you find a good schedule, stick to it.