Not really, but now that I have your attention, here’s a quick and easy guide for creating winning marketing emails.
What’s the frequency, Kenneth? Major U.S. retailers send an average of 132 emails per year, with a typical range of 2-3 per week, up to 5 per week around the holiday seasons. If your site isn’t set up for ecommerce, then you may be able to get by with an email every two weeks. Avoid extremes. Daily emails will lead to unsubscribes unless you’re offering a daily, Woot-like special or very useful information. Once a month or less is a sure way to be at the very back of your customers’ minds.
Location, location, location. Keep your critical information above the fold (500 pixels or less from the top.) Also, respect the restrictions of mobile devices and all email clients with a maximum width of 600 pixels. Your logo is important to you, but not so much to email readers. It just needs to be large enough to be read at a glance. The larger you go, the more your info falls below the fold. Keep your header as compact as possible and consider a pre-header with html text in case your header image doesn’t show up in an email client.
Who? What? Why? The three basic questions every email should answer. Your logo and tagline should explain who you are. Your headline should spell out the topic and relevancy of your email. And your body copy should communicate why your email matters to the reader. Don’t forget a compelling link to drive them to your site – and make it prominent.
A little help. Are you using helpful user links beyond “unsubcribe?” Don’t forget to add “Forward to a friend,” “Having trouble viewing? Click here.” And don’t forget links to your most active social media sites, my friend.
Ask me about my grandchildren. We all have our favorite topics, but remember to stay focused, relevant and to-the-point with your message, as your viewers may not be scrolling down (about half do) — they will probably just read your headline and skim your text at the very most. Make your call-to-action prominent and crystal clear, and make sure your logo is clickable (some folks still forget this.) Use bullet points for your copy and make sure the first one is the one you don’t want to be missed.
Luncheon Meat. Don’t forget to craft a great subject line – one that is SPAM filter-friendly. There are many online resources for this, and you can always do some A/B testing to find out which subject line performs better.
Keep it real – and fun. Remember to keep your reader’s POV at the fore; they snooze, you lose.