Email marketing tips: 10 easy to follow rules

Email’s old isn’t it? Social media marketing will give me better results won’t it? Well, no. Email is the most effective marketing channel behind having a website, and should be an essential part of your marketing strategy.

• Emails reach most of the people they’re intended for, far more than social media where you usually reach only a small portion of your followers.

• Email is the dominant communication tool for professionals, with 95% of them using it - it’s great for business to business contact.

• Email marketing has a great ROI, outperforming both social media and direct mail.

• Social media platforms come and go (think MySpace and Vine), but email endures.

The downside is, people send 74 trillion emails every year and that number is increasing, so it can be hard to get noticed. Follow these email marketing tips to make your messages stand out and help grow your business.

1. Build your subscriber list

Always keep adding to your list of clients and prospects. One simple way to do this is to include a signup feature somewhere prominent on your website.

2. Make it personal

Give your email a personal touch and include the recipient’s name. Most email tools allow you to enter short codes that will do this when the email is sent out.

3. Avoid ending up in the spam folder

First of all, make sure your recipients have opted into your emails so you don’t breach data protection regulations. Avoid using all caps, too many exclamation marks, and hyperbolic phrases (“ACT NOW BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT!!!!”). For more details on how spam filters work and how to avoid them, see this guide by MailChimp.

4. Include a call to action

The aim of most marketing emails is to increase traffic to your site. Without an obvious and inviting link on your email, you won’t get click throughs and your leads will disappear.

5. Make it easy to unsubscribe

It might seem counter-intuitive, but you need to make it easy to opt out. If your email recipients can’t do this they’ll distrust you and probably flag your emails as spam.

6. Be mobile friendly

Most of your emails will be opened on a phone or tablet, so make sure your emails are optimised for viewing on these devices.

7. Test before you send

Never send an email without making sure it works properly on a variety of email platforms. You can use tools such as Litmus to see screenshots of your email in different email tools.

8. Track your data

Check how many email addresses were undeliverable or what time of day people opened your message. The data will tell you if you need to make changes to your emails.

9. Encourage readers to reply

Unlike direct mail, email marketing allows for conversation with real people interested in your business, which can lead to sales. Include a reason for the reader to get in touch with you.

10. Provide value!

Great email marketing comes down to giving the recipient something they need or want. Always keep in mind what they want and say clearly how you can help them.

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