Five simple hacks to transform your email campaigns

Email marketing is one of the best ways to get customers to convert.

It’s cost-effective, you’re targeting people who want to know more about your products and services, and you can send highly targeted and personalised messages.

And yet, so many businesses struggle to get their emails right.

If you want to get started with email marketing or boost your existing campaign’s click-through rates, I’ve put together five easy ways to get prospective customers on side.

1. Start with your subject line

Your subject line acts as the equivalent of a shop window for your email campaigns. If your subject line is clean, relevant, and enticing, prospective customers are more likely to come and check you out.

In fact, 64% of people decide whether to open an email based on what the subject line is about.

I’ll be brutally honest: writing good subject lines is hard. Often at Xigen, we’ll create five to ten potential subject lines and decide which one to use once the email copy is signed off.

Take your audience into consideration when choosing a subject line. They may like an abstract subject line that tempts them into clicking.

Alternatively, they may prefer a subject line that neatly sums up what the email is about.

There are many email subject line testers available, like this one from Omnisend. Enter the subject line you want to use, and they’ll recommend how you improve it.

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2. Segment your lists from the start

Segmenting your main email marketing list into smaller, more targeted ones means you can send the right messages to the right people. According to HubSpot, segmented email campaigns lead to 30% more opens and 50% more clicks.

Segmentation is one of those rare marketing concepts that sounds a lot trickier than it is.

Let’s say you sell men’s and women’s clothes online. It might be that some of your subscribers might be more interested in dresses than ties, and vice versa.

By splitting your marketing list into two and sending different emails to both, you increase the chances of people buying and reduce the odds of them hitting the unsubscribe button.

The best way to segment your lists is to capture the relevant information when customers sign up.

Here’s a great example from Schuh. When customers join the mailing list, they can specify if they want emails about women’s, men’s, or kid’s shoes – or even all three.

That way, prospective customers only get content they’re legitimately interested in.

3. Use personalisation

American writer Dale Carnegie once famously said, “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

And it’s true – when people say your name, you feel valued, you feel special. Using a person’s name in a subject line has a 19% higher open rate than a non-personalised subject line.

Personalising your emails is a great way to get someone’s attention and encourage them to keep reading. And while using a person’s name is the easiest way to do this, there are other ways you can make your emails feel more unique.

For example, if you ask for someone’s birthday, you can send them a gift or a discount code on their special day.

Birthday emails have a staggering 481% higher transaction rate than standard emails – now that’s worth celebrating!

4. Think about your design

A plain text email is accessible and functional, but boy, is it boring.

Your email design plays a significant role in whether customers act on your message or not. Given that the average person gets about 120 emails a day, you need to do all you can to stand out.

Here are some of my top tips for making your design appealing while keeping your message readable.

• Think mobile first. 42% of messages are opened on mobile devices, so make sure your emails look good, load quickly, and important information isn’t cut off
• Ensure your emails are consistent with the rest of your branding. While the email from Dunelm above uses a summery yellow colour scheme, it still includes the recognisable logo and splashes of the familiar green
• Minimise the amount of images used as text, and include descriptive alt text for all images
• Use visuals to break up your emails and make them easier to read. Videos and GIFs are great for getting readers to scroll to the end
• Don’t forget your fonts! Choose fonts that work well together, have good colour contrast, and perform on all browsers and devices. Arial, Helvetica, Georgia, and Verdana are all safe bets

5. Keep your email list tidy

Good hygiene isn’t restricted to washing your hands and scrubbing behind your ears – it applies to email lists too.

Email hygiene is all about frequently removing incorrect and inactive addresses from your email lists alongside subscribers who don’t read your messages. This ensures maximum engagement, keeps you compliant with regulations like GDPR, and reduces the risk of your emails getting marked as spam.

If you’re one of those people who panics when someone unsubscribes from your emails – stop right now. If a person isn’t engaging with your content, it’s best to let them go.

A great way to keep your email list neat and tidy is to implement a sunset flow.

A sunset flow is a series of automated emails you send to customers after they’ve not opened your emails for a set amount of time, like 90 or 180 days. The aim is to reengage your customers or encourage them to unsubscribe so you can clean your list.

Get ready to see your click-through rate grow!

Email marketing has one of the highest returns on investments of all marketing channels, but it’s vital to put the effort in.

By reviewing your email campaigns and adopting best practices, you’re well on the way to increased clicks, traffic, and sales.

One final piece of advice – take advantage of A/B testing if you’re running email campaigns. This is a fantastic way to see which images, links, and calls to action lead to the most clicks and conversions.

Most email marketing platforms offer A/B testing functionality, making it super easy to tweak your campaigns.

Want more help with your email marketing? Drop me a DM, and let’s get your next email campaign primed and ready!