How to Make Your Email Campaign (Almost) Perfect

 

No one will argue with the fact that letters sell. The only thing you can argue with is the numbers about how well they do it – because not everyone will agree that the ROI of newsletters is 42:1.  But before the first lead arrives from that email campaign, you can pretty much burn out your base, lose half of your subscribers or get your account blocked. Here’s how to get around this and write from the heart when planning your email campaign.

How Perfect Emailing Works (In Theory)

The basics are simple: you have a base that gets splashed with your awesome email campaign, 146% of them are opened by your users, they read every line of what you wrote in your letter, they go straight to your site, they make a purchase.

Of all this, only these stages are true:

• Building the mailing base
• Sending letters
• Opening of the letters
• Reading (or not reading)
• Visiting the site (or not)
• Commission of the target action (order services, registration for the event, click on the link to the article, etc.)

This is how it should work in a perfect world and this is what you should strive for. In fact, there are important points that ruin this fairy tale: the open rate depends on the size of the base, the regularity of dispatches. And the open rate and click rate affect the conversion, so your success depends on them. But these are metrics. What affects them? Content. All of the above, including the rate of commission of the target action, depends on it.

A good letter is a well-written letter

There is no “recipe” or “secret”. There is no “perfect letter.” But there is structure and an understanding of what things affect what. The quality of the letter is just about what the newsletter says, how interesting it is to the users it goes to and how it’s designed.

And yes, we’re focused on click rate – it’s important that people come to events and that the product is bought and used. Otherwise, the newsletter is meaningless – unless you’re a charity/non-profit organization and your aim is to inform your subscribers of something interesting. In that case high open and email campaign completion rates would be enough for you.

But most of us use newsletters for business, web development, or for IT development companies. So, let’s return to the click rate and how to increase it. Here’s what we do for that.

The best situation is when your content is an entire ecosystem, where everything is connected to everything and not a single piece is lying idle on the table. Of course, it takes a very long time to get to that point. But it is worth it.

Mailing lists

If your business is just starting to use mailing lists, and you don’t have the resources to hire a separate team (or at least a person) on staff, then consider using a custom writing service. According to digital software solutions statistics on this topic, the results show that most of the time at first, such outsourcing may be sufficient. But start thinking about how to get this task on staff right away – otherwise creating a content ecosystem will remain just a dream.

Moreover, you have to try to give each reader something that is interesting for them. In other words, diversify the types of newsletters you send. Each segment of your audience has its own interests, which may or may not overlap with other segments. If you give each segment what they want instead of pushing the same thing to everyone, your performance is likely to increase significantly.

On the other hand, you have to assess your strengths and capabilities properly. If you simply don’t have the resource for more than one type of newsletter, it’s better to have one good one than several bad ones.

Also, in no case can we forget about the adaptation of content for mobile devices. To some it seems obvious, some think that “so, they will read it on the computer later”. And the second camp is much bigger – nearly 80% of companies don’t adapt their newsletters for mobile phones. At the same time, 81% of users open emails on their phones. It is probably not necessary to explain why it is better to be among the 20% that adapt content for mobile devices.

How to create a good digest

 

Subject line matters very much

Come up with a new subject line for each letter. Of course, you can not bother and just write “Digest of 01.08.2021” – a minimum of effort. But you can imagine the performance of such a letter. Take away the boring word “digest” and “selection,” add intrigue. Use current news breaks and viral memes, show that you are on the same page as the reader, and want to share something interesting and funny, and to make money by the way. Also, keep in mind that the length of the subject line matters too. The best option would be a subject between 6 and 10 words – such subject lines have the highest median open rate (21%).

The content of the letter

It is always related to the title. Always. Even if the title is veiled, the letter should reveal its meaning. It sounds trivial, but you have to admit that it’s not uncommon to come across a loud headline with no explanation. Don’t write something memetic or weird in the subject line if the email campaign has a boring selection of discounts inside it. Users may be disappointed or even feel cheated because the email didn’t meet their expectations. And the next time they’ll be much less likely to open an email with an unusual subject line from you – if they don’t unsubscribe at all.

Change to a more informal tone

You need to communicate with your client with respect, but that doesn’t prohibit joking around and using a slightly memetic tone of communication. That way you can increase the likelihood that your recipients will not only look at what they’re interested in but just read the whole letter – because they’ll be interested and have fun. A small thing, but as an editor, it feels good.

Experiment

Don’t use templates and try different variations in each letter. Try all sorts: inverse, about dragons, with metaphors, shorter and longer, more detail and intrigue. Try it and see how it resonates with your audience. After all, despite some common trends, the audience of many companies may be fundamentally different.

Moreover, some little thing can become your chip or a feature that will distinguish you from all competitors. But in order to find that chip, it’s not enough just to change the words in the template – you need to try new things and test the waters. However, as with everything, you need to experiment in moderation, without going to extremes.

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