Are You Sending Mixed Message? 8 Tips for a Better Email Campaign…

It has happened to all of us, right?  We’ve opened an email and wondered, “What the heck was this company thinking?  I just don’t get why they’d waste my time.”
That type of email experience is a real turn-off for recipients and leads to disinterest in future emails and higher unsubscribe rates.  Let’s be honest – it’s also potentially embarrassing for your brand image and loyalty.  You only have, quite literally, seconds to convey your email message so you’d better be really certain your audience understands your value proposition quickly and easily – and your email hits the right notes visually.
In thinking about this challenge, we’ve compiled a quick checklist that you should have top-of-mind each and every time you get ready to press, “Send.”

1. Outline your objective. Before you hit the drawing board, spend some time thinking about what you’re really trying to accomplish.  If it’s a newsletter, make sure it contains newsworthy items, as opposed to a sales pitch.  If your goal is to sell items, think about some sort of incentive or special offer.
2. Make it professional. While many email service providers offer perfectly acceptable free templates for email design, it may make sense to speak with design professionals (like us – hint, hint) as well.  Think about it this way – if your email is your company’s first impression, you want to look as good as possible.
3. Say what you mean. Compelling content really matters and stating it in a plain-speak fashion works well when you’re trying to get your message across quickly.  There’s a budding English major inside all of us, but save the fancy words for Scrabble.
4. Short is sweet. Very few people have time to read a gigantic email with tons and tons of copy.  Take a first pass at the content, review it and challenge yourself to cut it down to the bare minimum.  Use headings, sub-headings and bullets to break up longer chunks of text.
5. What’s spellcheck? There are few errors that are as embarrassing and amateurish as typos, but we see them every day.  In addition to triple-checking your content, check the subject line and sender line.  And, don’t forget that spellcheck won’t catch grammatical oopsies, either.
6. Location, location, location. Give your most important points and calls-to-action the best chance to be seen by placing them close to the top of the email.  If you bury the call-to-action at the bottom of the email, you’re likely to lose potential conversions.
7. Image matters. Most email clients suppress images, but we still see plenty of emails that land in our inboxes as one giant red “x” with a zero copy.  Use images instead to liven up your email and help illustrate important points.
8. Subject line savvy. Email subject lines should ideally be around 50 characters so writing a good one can feel a lot like a game of “wordsmith Jenga.”  Experiment by writing a bunch of different ones that are really aligned with what your email contains.  Consider A/B testing different ones to see which ones resonate with your audience.

With these ideas in mind, you’ll be sending smarter, better focused emails that help your company project the professional image it should…and that can help you reach your email marketing goals.