Throughout the centuries written communication has taken various forms. From caveman paintings to carrier pigeons to letters delivered on horseback to the telegraph to the eventual creation of emails, the ease with which we can communicate has rapidly evolved. Today, more than half of the global population leverages the power of emails to communicate; as such, it is no secret that email is a popular form of written communication. However, the challenge for many small businesses is discovering how to create an effective email blast. Whether you are looking to begin your email marketing efforts or want to reinvent your marketing messages, it is time that you created a smarter email blast to increase email blast engagement.
10 Rules To Increase Email Blast Engagement
Sending an email blast is a great marketing tactic, provided, of course, that your communications are engaging and action-inspiring. To help you create those inspiring emails, here are 10 rules to live by.
#1. A Great List Is Better Than A Big List.
All too often marketers fall into the trap that “bigger is better;” however, this is not the case for email blasts. In fact, it is far more effective for you to hae a clean business list than it is for you to have a big list that is filled with errors. Smart email marketing dictates that your audience will be more engaged if they have a working relationship with you or your company. In other words, don’t let the name fool you. An email blast doesn’t have to be large, but it does have to be targeted, which means that you should have a list of quality email addresses for contacts who will be interested in the content of your email.
#2. Before You Can Ask Your Customers To Commit, You Must Be Willing To Do The Same.
Marketers often hear the following all too common phrase from C-level executives, “I want to see responses before I agree to a second email marketing campaign.” Email marketing is effective, but it is not magic. If you ran a television spot once you wouldn’t expect a great return. In this vein, if you send one email marketing blast, then you properly won’t get the engagement levels that your C-level executive is hoping to see. Instead, you need to commit to your email marketing strategy. Give it the time that it needs to mature, so that you can measure the appropriate data to further tailor your efforts.
#3. Consistency Is Key.
If you want to design a smarter email blast, then you need to be consistent in your efforts. In other words, your email blasts shouldn’t “take your recipients by surprise.” They should come to expect your emails on a regular basis. Whether you choose to send a quarterly, monthly, or bi-weekly email blast, you will have better results if your recipients are eagerly anticipating your next communication.
#4. Practice Balance.
As much as we love written communications, all text email blasts can be a bit boring. Conversely all image email blasts tend to be a bit “spammy” (come to think of it, image-only communications are best left to social media platforms). The point being, a smart email blast will have a healthy combination of text and images.
#5. Use Your Time Wisely.
One of the reasons that email marketing is so effective, is that there are numerous tools that can help you to efficiently compose your email blasts. While you should carefully consider what you want to send, you shouldn’t spend too much of your time creating email blasts. Keep in mind that an email blast is just one of the communication touch-points that you use to build and maintain relationships with your customers (or business contacts).
#6. Keep It Short.
66 percent of emails are read on a mobile or tablet device. Nobody wants to read a long email on their smartphone. So, like this tip, keep your email blast engaging by keeping it short.
#7. Create An Above The Fold CTA
An email blast can have more than one CTA. Don’t believe us? Here are the three places that you need a CTA:
- In the subject line (this CTA is designed to encourage recipients to immediately open your email);
- Above the fold (this CTA is designed for recipients who want to quickly scan the content and don’t want to continuously scroll); and
- At the end of the email (this CTA is designed to encourage recipients to immediately take action, now that they’ve viewed the entire email).
#8. Track It.
Designing a smarter email blast will require you to take the guesswork out of sending emails. Instead, you should track the following types of information:
- Who opened the email?
- How many times was the email (and subsequent attachments or media files) viewed?
- What actions did each recipient take after they read the email?
#9. Send Yourself A Test.
Avoid the embarrassment of an email that doesn’t load properly on certain devices. Make sure that you test your email blast before you hit send. In fact, you should carefully test the following components:
- The load time for the email, as well as an media that you have attached or included.
- The format of the email (does it load properly across devices).
- Do all of the embedded links work?
- If you were one of the recipients, would you read / engage with the email?
#10. Don’t Forget About Your Contact Information.
It’s easy to forget to include your contact information within an email blast. Instead of making it hard for your recipients to reach out to you directly, you should instead include your information in a prominent manner. Don’t forget to make your email and phone number clickable links.
Well there you have it; 10 tips that will help you to design a smarter email blast for your awaiting audience. Finally, remember that email blasts should only be one component of your entire email marketing campaign. By creating emails that are delivered in a multitude of fashions, you can more easily increase email blast engagement with your audience via action-inspiring written communications.
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