Follow these best practices when developing email communications.
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways you can communicate with current and potential customers and clients. On average, email marketing has a return on investment (ROI) of $42 for every $1 spent and has immense power to drive sales. Fail to follow proven strategies and best practices, however, and you could wind up annoying or alienating those same audiences.
Below, learn nine email communication tips and things to include in your messages that apply to businesses of all sizes and in any industry:
- No “no-reply email” addresses
- Catchy subject line
- Thoughtful messaging (not spam!)
- Personalization and segmentation
- Promotions and giveaways
- Clear contact information
- Call to action
- Design for mobile
- Measure performance
Keep reading to learn more about these effective business email communication tips!
No “no-reply email” addresses
Ditch that no-reply address — it’s outdated and, in our opinion, a waste of an email.
Many businesses continue to use an address like noreply@ourwebsite.com in email marketing, thinking they may be preventing a flood of out-of-office messages or spam responses. But there are solid, well-proven reasons not to use a no-reply email address.
First, it’s terrible customer service — people get frustrated when they can’t quickly respond with legitimate questions. Second, you miss out on valuable communication opportunities! Third, it can also lead to your emails being marked as spam, which negatively affects your email delivery rate.
Catchy subject line
It’s well worth spending extra thought on your subject line! Your first hurdle is to convince someone who’s scrolling through hundreds (literally) of messages each day and determining which ones to read and the others to mark as spam or unsubscribe. Make it engaging and keep it short and sweet. A good subject line is between 30 and 50 characters including spaces. (For more, check out these 19 tips to write catchy email subject lines.)
Thoughtful messaging (not spam!)
A well-crafted email message can make a real impact on sales, customer service, and reputation. Make sure your email messages fit with your overall marketing strategy. Write and design in a way that speaks to your target audience and mix up your messages: don’t just send ads. Create and share valuable content — such as helpful “how-to” guides or industry news — that will strengthen your relationships. Experiment with adding images and videos to your emails as well — even a 30-second video update or announcement can add value to your message.
Personalization and segmentation
Personalized emails can increase open rates by 26%. The simplest way to personalize is to use the customer’s name in your email greeting, but it’s worth your time to go even deeper: write new copy, test different images, or even provide custom discounts for client segments based on interests, purchase history, or browsing behavior.
Promotions and giveaways
Everyone likes a promotion! Incentivize customers to open your emails by providing exclusive sales, discounts, or early access to new products. Mention the promotion in your subject line to boost open rates, but be careful of triggering spam filters.
Clear contact information
To address the issues caused by a no-reply email address, swap in a real address that’s set up specifically to collect online customer communication. Assign someone to monitor this inbox, implement auto-replies, or set up email forwarding. In the body of the email, or at least in the email footer, always include a variety of ways customers can reach out with questions, whether by email, a form or live chat on your website, or by phone.
Call to action
Make it obvious what you want your customers to do next and make it easy for them to do it. Create a graphic button or use font colors and effects to call out your call to action (CTA). It’s okay to repeat your CTA a few times; just be sure to mix it up so it doesn’t become repetitive.
Design for mobile
In 2019, 60% of email opens came from mobile devices and that number will likely keep growing. As you design your marketing emails, use a responsive email template and be sure to preview and test on multiple devices (desktop, tablet, and smartphone). Here are more ideas on how to optimize your email for mobile devices.
Measure performance
Just as you would with other marketing tactics, it’s important to monitor email metrics and use that data to inform future communications. Thankfully, email can provide a wealth of key performance indicators, like the best time of day to hit “send” or content that’s growing clicks (or increasing unsubscribes). With email, it’s also incredibly easy to test the performance of everything from subject lines and CTAs to color schemes. For more help, check out this guide to A/B testing with email.
Interested in new ideas about how to connect with your customers? Keep reading our EZ Office Products blog! And for all the supplies you need to conduct your business, shop our online catalog or connect with our local customer concierge team to create a business account today at (608) 310-4300.