Latest digital marketing data shows the number of people around the world opening, sending and receiving emails equates to 3.9 billion. It’s been estimated this figure will grow to 4.3 billion people by 2023. Every 0.81p a business spends on email marketing receives approximately £33.85 in return too. With a guaranteed audience and a good return on investment, no wonder email nurture campaigns are the fastest growing marketing technique businesses are using to drive sales!
Here are our top tips for making sure your nurture emails are opened and not being sent to the deleted items folder.
1) Introduce yourself – and make it human
You’ve managed to get a customer to subscribe to your email database. Great! What next? Research suggests the next essential move is to send a “welcome email”. The very first email received by a customer has the highest open rate of all emails you’ll send – an open rate of 82% to be exact. Use this email to introduce your business and your products. Keep it short, keep it simple, but most of all, keep it human.
2) Choose whether to educate, entertain or sell
Many businesses make the common mistake of cramming too many messages into one email. A tip for making sure this doesn’t happen is to choose whether an email in your campaign will educate, entertain or sell. Only choose one category per email. It’s ok to sell in your emails, but you need to have a balance between educating and entertaining your customers too.
3) Timing is key
Research shows 23% of emails are opened within the first hour of receiving them. After this, the open rate falls to just 1%. Many businesses send emails targeting typical ‘breaks’ in a workers day. However, a third of employees confirmed they open emails when they’re not working. Avoid competition and send emails outside working hours – that includes weekends too.
4) Keep emails short
Even though billions of emails are read every single day, not all content within those emails is consumed. Why? People simply don’t have enough time. Your customers will love your emails more if you keep them short and they’re easy to read. Highlight key information in bold, use bullet points and only include one call to action.
5) Make emails interesting using video and imagery
Make your emails stand out from the crowd with eye-catching imagery and interesting videos your customers will want to share. Provide memorable visuals and your customers’ will be more likely to remember you when it comes to purchasing decisions.
6) Give things away for free
Everyone loves a freebie – especially a valuable freebie. Think about what your customers would benefit from and give it away for free. It could be research, templates, discounts or insightful knowledge. Make sure you highlight the ‘free’ part in your subject header to encourage a high open-rate.
7) Mobile-friendly emails are a must
Finally, it’s vital every email you produce is mobile-friendly. Almost half of emails are opened on a mobile device. If your email is opened on a smartphone and your customer can’t see it clearly it’ll head straight for the ‘deleted items’ folder. Mobile-friendly emails often have short subject lines, are created on a single-column template and use a good size font.
If you need support in creating impactful email campaigns, from concept designs and customised branded templates, through to platform set up, tracking and reporting, then get in contact with us today on hello@onebite.co.uk.
