12 Nov Email Marketing Isn’t Outdated

Email marketing may not seem as hip as the next “latest and greatest” social toy, but it is still a reliable way to generate leads and convert prospects for your business. But you have to do it right.

Ask yourself these questions before you launch your next email campaign to make sure you’re harnessing the tried and true power of email marketing.

Are you using incentives? Incentives, especially when used in your subject line, you can increase open rates by as much as 50%. You have to be careful not to use words that may be marked as spam, so be creative and specific with your incentive.

Is your call to action above the fold? With inboxes as cluttered as they are these days, people are less likely to scroll through your message. If your main call-to-action falls below the fold, then as many as 70% of recipients won’t see it.

How wide? By that same token, people absolutely won’t scroll horizontally to read your message.  If you go wider than 650 pixels, you’re asking for people to delete before reading.

Does your subject line create a sense of urgency? If people think they can file away your information for a more convenient time, your message may never get read. Create a compelling subject line with a time-sensitive message for best open rates.

Are you staying top-of-mind? Be prepared for your readers to forget they opted in. Set up an auto-responder to be sent out 1 day, 5 days, and 10 days after the person registers, offering with each email additional content or bonus material to reward the reader for opting in.

Are you tracking? A landing page is one of the best ways to track your email traffic, though many email marketing providers offer their own tracking tools. Keep tweaking until you know what subject lines, content and landing pages perform the best.

How about you? Are you still using email marketing? How does it perform for you?