July 15, 2016

Could your email marketing be more effective?

According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing’s return on investment is said to be 4,300 percent. That’s a phenomenal opportunity for a small business to get the attention of buying loyal customers.

It certainly pays to be buttoned up on your outbound mailings so you get the maximum attention from the low-cost tactic. There are several critical components of an effective emailing. Which would you give yourself high marks on?

  • From
  • Subject Line
  • Topics
  • Calls to Action
  • Mobile Friendliness

Email is a tough medium to master. About 91 percent of consumers check their email at least once a day, but 84 percent of emails are either marked as spam or deleted instantly. How to keep yours alive and well and appreciated is the question.

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WomenGive, a program of United Way of Larimer County, was started in Larimer County in 2006 as an opportunity for women in our community to come together to help other women.

It starts with the “from” on the envelope. Is yours from a nameless entity or from a true person? Why not use the best of both worlds, leaving no room for confusion? My “from”  might say: “Laurie Macomber at Blue Skies Marketing.” Open rates are better this way since I’ve clarified the email’s source.

Next, your subject line. It’s a big lever in getting people to actually open your email. Believe it or not, it’s not how creative yours is — it’s how informative it is! So don’t worry about being a wordsmith. Just carefully consider what this particular edition of your newsletter has to offer your reader. Tell him/her that. Keep to 40 characters or less.

Now, what are you talking about this month? Having a theme for each edition of your newsletter, keeps it focused and also lively and engaging. Don’t go astray in your topics and confuse readers by being all over the map. Instead, stick to a theme for the month. Maybe it’s “working out” when your retail business sells health and wellness products.

With this month’s common thread of “working out,” you can touch on various related topics. They might be on nearby gyms and their hours, what to do when the weather’s bad, playlists for energetic workouts, and the best gym bags (including the ones your store sells).

Make your overall theme and your related topics as relevant to the reader as possible. Whatever you talk about, be sure to make the first two sentences killers! People don’t read — they scan. Get the valuable information out early, even if it means recipients don’t click through to read the whole article on your website. That’s OK; over time they’ll come to trust you as a fountain of knowledge, and come back (and click) often.

Now, regarding your Call To Action. Have just one — the big sendoff. What offer can you make that fits perfectly with the established theme and is of true value, saving the reader dollars, not pennies? Make that offer. Readers will look forward to your next emailing, knowing you make significant and focused offers — and only one per issue. Keeping your CTA to just one discount puts a time stamp on the offer, too; it expires when your next newsletter comes out, or for 30 days — whichever comes first!

Just a word on mobile-friendliness. It’s a must because, according to Experian, 65 percent of unique email opens in the fourth quarter of 2015 occurred on a smartphone or tablet. Wow! Here’s a tip: Build your e-newsletter to be read on a smartphone first.

Laurie Macomber, owner of Fort Collins-based Blue Skies Marketing, can be reached at 970-689-3000.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing’s return on investment is said to be 4,300 percent. That’s a phenomenal opportunity for a small business to get the attention of buying loyal customers.

It certainly pays to be buttoned up on your outbound mailings so you get the maximum attention from the low-cost tactic. There are several critical components of an effective emailing. Which would you give yourself high marks on?

  • From
  • Subject Line
  • Topics
  • Calls to Action
  • Mobile Friendliness

Email is a tough medium to master. About 91 percent of consumers check their email at least once a…

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