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Many companies don’t bother with email marketing. After all, emails are so easily deleted from the Inbox – so why bother? However, fail to have a solid email marketing plan in place, and you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to reach out to your customers.

If you find it difficult to create appealing marketing emails, here’s a quick guide to help you.

Creating Great Emails for Your Campaign

1. Use a familiar name. Wherever possible, personalise your email. Use the customer name in the subject bar, open the email using their name, and wherever you can, tailor the content to suit their unique preferences. Blanket terms such as ‘dear customer’ are less likely to generate results.

2. Keep it short. Emails are designed to be a fast-paced form of communication. Work out what your main message is, and keep your content focused solely around it. This is particularly the case with your subject line. 40% of emails are opened using mobile devices, which means it needs to be 50 characters or less.

3. Make it about them. Your customer only wants to hear about the benefits you can offer them – so make sure the email is tailored with this in mind. Address it directly to them (using plenty of ‘you’s and not so many ‘I’ and ‘we’s’) and highlight how your email offers them something new, different and completely irresistible!

4. Hint at what’s inside. Use your subject line as a tantalising taster, hinting at what’s inside the email. However, if you make it too ambiguous, you’ll just leave your customer feeling confused, and far less likely to bother opening the email as a result.

5. Get the timing right. With email campaigns, timing is everything. In the evenings, people are generally more relaxed and more likely to make impulse purchases, for example. Likewise, business owners seeking website designers will be more likely to open the email during work hours.

6. Don’t waffle. If you can say it in 10 words rather than 100 – do it! Surplus wording won’t impress your audience – it’s actually more likely to irritate them.

7. Make an offer they can’t refuse. The most successful types of email promise the reader something they simply cannot refuse – such as an exclusive sale or promotional offer. Always bear in mind what’s attractive to customers and what’s not. For example; a sale with up to 75% off sounds a lot more appealing than a 30% off sale (yet your ‘up to 75%’ sale could easily have items in it that are only 30% reduced!).

8. Give it personality. Obviously, don’t go overboard – but there’s nothing wrong with injecting a little bit of originality or humour into your email. It’s a great way to get attention.

9. Don’t use caps. Using the CAPS lock only looks as though you’re SHOUTING AT YOUR CUSTOMERS (see?) and looks unprofessional. Avoid at all costs.

10. See what competitors are doing. Still not quite sure how to go about it? Subscribe to a competitor’s email list for some valuable clues. Of course, copying is not advisable – but using the material to gain inspiration is certainly helpful.

Marketing Services in County Durham

If you’re looking for a team to help with your online marketing, talk to Shark Bait Studios today. We’re a team of web design, development and marketing experts, and we’ll help bring your email campaign to life – and achieve great results in the process. To find out more, simply call us on 01748 900321.