Email marketing is a highly effective and increasingly popular way to reach new clients and maintain relationships with existing ones. It is inexpensive, 100% customizable, fast...and results are completely measurable! Email can also be very easy: with services like ADBASE Emailer, you don't even have to know HTML in order to create powerful promotional emails. In this article, we cover all you need to know about email marketing. Read on, for 'best practices' that will help you increase your email success, and also ensure that you're observing all the rules.
Testing, Testing...
Testing is key to successful email campaigns because it's here that you learn more about what resonates with your clients and prospects. By applying best testing practices, you will ensure that your email looks perfect when opened by your recipients as well as finding out which subject lines, images or calls to action inspire the highest response rate.
In order to ensure your emails are rendering correctly and represent your brand in a professional manner, you should be testing a few key elements before you send out your email.
- First: make sure that your format works properly with the most popular email software. Different email programs will read and display (render) the HTML in different ways, so what looks good in your email may not look the same in another.
- Because you are mailing to businesses, it is unlikely that your recipients will be using web-based email clients like Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail. However, we do recommend that you test in Outlook, Mac Mail, and Entourage: these are more than likely the email products the people in your list will be using.
- Once you have tested how your email actually looks to other eyes, take the extra step of making sure that all your links are working properly. It's crucial to make sure you are driving traffic to the relevant area of your website or online portfolio.
Now, Get Heard!
Once you've tested to make sure your email looks great and works properly, you're ready to do another simple test to determine which content really resonates with your list. You can do this using a very simple technique many marketers use called an 'A/B test'. To effectively use an A/B test, you must choose one, and only one, element to test. If you choose multiple elements, you will not be able to determine what the motivating factor was.
To start, choose the aspect of your campaign you want to test. This could be your subject line, image selection, call to action, etc.
- Separate out 20% of your list and then split that in half again, giving you two lists to work with.
- Put the other 80% aside for now.
- Send each of your 10% lists the version you want to test. (Remember: test only one element!)
- Once your campaigns have been sent, wait at least 48 hours for the bulk of the responses to come in, and take a look at the results. Which subject line generated the most opens? Which images were clicked on the most? Which call to action drove the most traffic to your website?
- Send the best performing campaign to the remaining 80% of your list...and watch your response rates soar.
Dress (Your Email) For Success
What about the visual component of your email promotion? You're in a creative field, so you'll want to get it right. Here are the current best practices to bear in mind:
HTML vs. Plain Text
Because you are promoting imagery, the best way to grab the attention of your clients
and prospects is to ensure you are selecting the best examples of your work (for
more on this, see
Email Marketing: Standing Out from the Crowd).
Perhaps you're already using HTML-based email for a better visual impact? Even so, you could be missing some opportunities if you are not providing an alternate, plain-text version for your readers who can't (or won't) receive HTML emails. ADBASE Emailer, and other ESPs, often provide the functionality to automatically send plain-text emails when HTML versions are undeliverable. Make sure this is available from whichever platform you use to send your email. That way, you can be sure the buyers you have targeted are going to receive your promotions.
What works in your HTML version isn't necessarily going to be effective when it comes to simple plain-text, as you won't have embedded images to pique your recipient's interest. Therefore your challenge is to introduce yourself to your prospective clients, but without any help from your images. For HTML-free emails, use different copy. Keep it short, snappy and memorable; be sure to include your company name and a brief description of what you specialize in. Because you want buyers to check out the work on your website or online portfolio, make sure you have that link clearly in the body of your plain-text, and include an imaginative call to action to really get people clicking.
Keep It Above the Fold
The 'fold' is what the recipient can see in their preview pane without having to
scroll down at all. You want to have all your key links, calls to action, and images
in this area so that you earn your recipient's attention right away.
Designing for Images-Off
Now, more than ever, email programs are removing the ability to see images within
HTML emails. Because your emails undoubtedly contain images, you will want to adapt
your design accordingly. One of the best ways to deal with this is to use ALT tags
in your image source. Use a descriptive sentence describing the key elements of
your image so you can still capture your audience. If you create your own HTML,
you can find some useful tips on working with ALT tags here:
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/image-alt-text.shtml
Keep Your Campaigns Fresh
Don't recycle the same design more than a couple of times. People will become used
to seeing it and it'll start to feel like old news. Change your email design every
quarter or so to keep your audience interested and engaged. Your open rates will
thank you for it.
The Subject of...Subject Lines
Your subject line is the key to achieving the best open rate: the better your copy, the higher your open rates will be. Creating a good subject line can seem a bit daunting at first, but here are some key components that every subject line should have:
- Make sure your entire subject line displays in your recipient's email client. This means restricting your characters (including spaces) to a maximum of 50, with an ideal of 35
- Always include your company name, every time. This will allow you to build recognition with your recipients, making them more likely to open your email
- Communicate the benefit of opening in the email: what is inside that your prospect will want to see? Have you just starting shooting digital? Finished shooting a new campaign? Been published in a magazine? By including a benefit, you will get more people to open your email
An example of many subject lines we see is "New Work from John Smith Illustration". While it's great that the company name is included, you are not really telling your potential client what they can expect to see should they open the email. Take it further: try "New Puma Campaign from John Smith Photography" or "Color Explosion from Jane Doe Illustrations".
Even a 'From' Line Can Be Creative
The 'From' line is the sender's name and it appears in any email. It is essential that you be consistent with this name, so those on your email list will recognize and trust email from you. It is recommended that you include your brand in your "From" name, and that once you have decided on one, to stick with it.
Enough? Not Enough? Too Much?
When it comes to sending email to your lists, how often is enough and how can you tell if you are sending too frequently? The keyword here is 'Relevance' - as in: 'Be Relevant!' because the more relevant you stay, the more frequently you can justify sending your promotional emails (within reason - see below!).
The key to relevancy is targeting. We talked about this in October's Insight (read it here), but it bears repeating: Research your prospects fully to determine if your services are appropriate. You could send email every month, but if the busy people on your list don't have a need for your services, you are wasting both time and money. The ADBASE Research Centre provides all the details you need to target your lists properly, including work specialty, brand accounts, awards, and personal promotional preferences. We also include the company's website, which you should use to further determine if your style matches with theirs.
Once you have a list of true prospects, you should determine how often to promote to them. You need to find the optimal balance for your list; send too often and people will grow tired of your email (however creatively spot-on). Send too infrequently and you won't build the brand recognition you need to drive open rates. Current best practices dictate that you should mail your list up to once per month, and if you are sending email campaigns less than once per quarter, you should consider reviewing your promotional plan. If you don't already have a promotional plan, learn how to create one here.
Your opt-out rates are a key indicator as to whether you are sending too much email. If you start mailing more than you have in the past and you get a marked increase in opt-outs, you could be sending your communications too frequently.
Don't Fight the Law
Most ESPs, including ADBASE Emailer, are designed to include all the components necessary to make your emails compliant with CAN-SPAM regulations - the laws governing email marketing in the United States. For those of you who are creating and sending your own emails, make sure you include the following items:
- A visible and functioning opt-out clause
- An accurate 'From' line
- A relevant subject line that accurately describes the contents of the email
- A legitimate physical address - no PO boxes allowed!
Final Word
These best practices have been proven to work by marketers everywhere, and they can help you get the response rates you are looking for in your email marketing. But they're useful only if you use them. To help you be more successful, we have compiled these practices into a checklist, which you can download as a special bonus! Make sure you have hit each point before sending it out! You can always add additional items to your list (spellcheck, branding, etc) to make sure your email campaigns accurately reflect the value and quality of your brand. Remember that every communication you send says something about yourself, so make sure you are sending the right message: that you are a visual communicator and you know how to make an impact.