One of the most dangerous marketing mindsets has always been: “Because that’s the way we’ve done things.” This is particularly true for email marketing. Many marketers are now driving deeper engagement and higher conversion rates by challenging the status quo of how their messages should be constructed. Here are some elements to consider when taking a hard look at the structure and performance of your own.
Craft a headline that can stop the reader.
Traditional email campaign strategy has often focused on simply driving recipients to the home page of a website. Today it’s all about creating messages that satisfy the recipient’s true intent. Apply some classic ad-headline thinking to stop readers dead in their tracks. Also make sure any call-to-action links will take them deeper into the decision/purchase funnel with additional pertinent information that aligns with their interests.
Don’t derail the reader from the main message.
Marketers sometimes fall into the fear-driven trap of giving readers too many engagement options. What you need to do is capture as many intent-driven clicks as possible, while enabling readers to continue the conversations they have chosen to pursue.
One logistical maneuver is to move navigation and recovery links to the footer of your email template. This frees up the body of the email to build a strong, focused and uninterrupted message. Every element of your email should also be designed to maximize the benefits of today’s highly responsive templates — whether recipients are accessing your email on a desktop or mobile device.
Leverage the power of a strong subject line.
The subject line of your email literally determines whether it will even get opened. The idea is to create subject lines that are descriptive, concise and compelling. A related element to strengthen is the preheader text block, which appears after the subject line in the typical Inbox listing — to provide the recipient with additional motivation to open your email.
Re-examine on a regular basis.
As with any marketing vehicle, it’s wise to regularly re-evaluate the structure and performance of your email campaign messages. There are always ways to refine their efficiency and effectiveness to better align with the evolving realities of the email marketing landscape. What’s more, these improvements can lead to double-digit increases in conversion rates.