How to Get Unmatched Email Marketing Results – Part 2

This article continues from part 1 with even more recommendations for maximizing the results you get from your email marketing.

Recommendation #2 – Send Emails Regularly

You may have heard this tip before. Consistency is so, so important. A lot of business owners follow it imperfectly and it hurts them. When we recommend sending emails regularly, we don’t send an email out a week whenever you get to it now worrying too much about the timing.

What we recommend is you create an email schedule and send out email messages on the same days, and at the same times, every week. Our calendar says we send out email messages at 1:30pm Eastern every Tuesday and every Thursday.  It goes out VERY consistently.

That makes it so your subscribers know they’ll be hearing from you at a specific time and they come to expect. We are all creatures of habit – so let people know what to expect by sticking to a strict schedule.

Stay tuned to part 2 of this article where I cover an additional 7 recommendations to help you get your email marketing right.

Recommendation #3 – Reward Loyal Subscribers

If you do things right, you have some subscribers who open every email you send.  If they are doing that, should they be rewarded for that!

Every once in a while, we recommend sending out a special discount code or coupon that would only be seen by people who open your emails regularly. You don’t want to hype this in the subject line – just the opposite. The casual email opener may see it too, but your regulars will see it and feel special that you offered them something that’s pretty exclusive.

Recommendation #4 – Give Subscribers Control Over What They Receive

Even people who love your emails probably get some messages that don’t really apply to them. You can give them something they are surely wanting by allowing them to self-segment and choose what type of messages they want from you. You can reward them making them feel like they’re in control.

Segmentation can be handled easily with a robust marketing email solution. You can send a survey that allows people to opt into various topics or types of emails, or you can allow them to opt out by including a link to your segmentation survey at the bottom of every email.

Recommendation #5 – Don’t Sweat Unsubscribers

Speaking of putting users in control, a lot of business owners worry too much about people unsubscribing from their lists. We don’t spend much time worrying about that.  That’s because we know that hanging onto a bunch of uninterested subscribers doesn’t help them or us.

When people don’t open your emails, they’re more likely to get flagged as spam as we mention in recommendation #1. Ultimately, you want your emails to be going to the people who are eager to get them.  Those are the ones that are most likely to buy your products or sign up for your services. When someone unsubscribes, let them go. They weren’t helping you anyway.

Recommendation #6 – Use Alt Text

This is a pet peeve of mine. It drives me crazy when we get a marketing email and the images don’t load. This is worse when there’s no alt text to tell me what we are missing.

Don’t make that mistake.

Every image you include in a marketing email should have alt text attached that describes what’s in the image. That way, users with a slow internet connection see the alt text. This also helps vision-impaired people who may be using a reader. Their reader can understand alt text, but it can’t understand images. This is an easy fix that ensures every recipient will be able to understand your content. 

Recommendation #7 – Use Link Tracking

If you include links in your marketing emails, you’ll need to track them to find out how many of your readers click the link. Good email marketing automation platforms include a link tracking option.

Tracking links can help you fine-tune your email marketing campaigns and include links that are relevant to your readers. Without tracking, you won’t be sure whether your links are getting any traction at all – and that’s a mistake. 

Recommendation #8 – Make Your Emails Mobile Friendly

More people read their emails on mobile devices than on computers, and that means that every marketing email you send must be optimized for mobile users. That means:

• Single column content that can be easily scrolled
• Buttons that are large enough to be tapped by a finger
• Subject lines of no more than 25-30 characters
• Pre-header text that shows readers what’s in the email
• Call to Actions that are easy to find

You should use responsive email templates that adapt to any mobile device. That way, a user can access your email on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone and get the same experience each time. 

Recommendation #9 – Keep Files Small

Are you attaching photos or files to your emails? Big mistake.  If you must, keep the file size small. This is even more important for mobile users. If they’re using data to read your emails, you don’t want them waiting forever for some image, that may not be all that important, to download.

You should always look at the total file size of the email and adjust it accordingly.

As a business owner, you need to make the most of your marketing budget. These email marketing tips from the pros will help you do that – and increase your ROI and profits.