How to write a marketing email that gets a 50% open rate
You might hear some business owners claim that email marketing is dead. But, we’d like to prove them wrong by approaching the subject of how to write a marketing email that actually gets read.
What’s dead are old-school email marketing methods from the early days of the internet, that overwhelm your audience with lots of content that aren’t relevant to your customers’ needs or interests.
If you’re having trouble finding success with email marketing, don’t worry. We’ll set you up with some tips and rules for email marketing that can get your back on track, and increase your open rate to 50% or more.
First, the basics: why email marketing?
Email marketing can be an incredibly effective way to nurture leads through your email marketing funnel. Email marketing costs are very low, especially if you learn how to create effective email campaigns yourself.
The Radicati Group, a marketing research firm, reported that over half of the world’s population uses email, and the number of email users is expected to rise from 4 billion (2020) to 4.4 billion by the end of 2024. In 2021, Hubspot reported that 99% of email users checked their email daily, with some checking up to 20 times per day. This means there’s a huge pool of consumers, who have already given you their contact information, that are open to correspondence from your business.
Email marketing KPIs (key performance indicators) are easy to track and compare and can be very useful when applied to AB testing your email campaigns. Platforms like Mailchimp and often the email marketing tools in your web builder will help you easily and accurately measure your emails’ performance and open rates.
B2B email marketing is one of the top three channels that B2B marketers used in 2021, with 64% reporting effective results from email marketing campaigns. B2B emails that announce a new product or service were reported to have the highest click-through rates.
How to write a marketing email in 5 easy steps
Email marketing doesn’t have to be intimidating. There are 5 simple steps to creating an effective marketing email:
- Know your audience, and choose who to include. Not everyone on your email list should be included in every promotion, announcement, or product reveal. Organize your email list according to customer type or demographic, and think about which clients or prospective clients this email will be most appealing to.
- Get the timing right. Be mindful of upcoming holidays and opportunities to reach your audience with information that will appeal to them. Be sure to choose a window for your campaign that gives the reader enough time to consider the offer, browse the site, or take advantage of the promotion you’re running.
- Choose a catchy subject and preview line. Many people scroll through emails and decide based on what they read in the subject and preview lines whether they’ll read or delete an email. You have about 10 seconds and 40 characters to catch the attention of your audience, so be clear, concise and catchy in your subject line (think about the emails that you open, and why). Create subject lines that are friendly, with natural language, that entice curiosity and include numbers when possible. Finally, make sure your email preview supplements the subject line. It should not be redundant and should add to the appeal of the subject line.
- Deliver a strong email body. Remember that the attention span of the average online browser is fickle and fleeting, so delivering your point in concise, compelling text is important.If you’re not confident in your writing skills, you can supplement your email text with strong images or video content. You can also use tools like Grammarly to help refine your voice and tone for more effective emails.
- Include a call to action. Let your audience clearly know what your expectation is. Whether the request is to “visit our website” or “check out our new product line today,” be sure to prompt your audience to act on the information you’re delivering. Then, close the email with a cordial sign off and your name or business name.
Once you’ve written your email, be sure to review and test it before sending it to your audience. Send a test email to yourself and view it both on mobile and desktop. Optimizing for mobile is important, because more than half of email viewers are doing so from their phones. Don’t make the embarrassing mistake of sending an email campaign that doesn’t work with mobile devices.
Targeted email marketing: find your audience
Personalized email marketing is much more effective than blanket marketing emails. Use an automated service to incorporate your clients’ names into the email greeting.
But don’t stop there. Remember that not every email is appropriate for every member on your email list. Get to know your audience based on their interactions with the brand, using tools like Google analytics. Then, target your audience based on whether they are in the marketing funnel, what products or services they’re most interested in, and promotions and events that appeal to their respective groups.
Email marketing metrics & email marketing benchmarks
Email marketing analytics can help you determine trends in email marketing attempts and whether or not you need to adjust your efforts. Email marketing reports can help you understand whether your emails are being opened and how your audience interacts with them.
Email marketing reporting like your open and click through rates are great ways to collect feedback and refine future marketing efforts. Your email marketing benchmarks can reveal what’s working and what isn’t, especially when combined with AB testing.
A/B testing in email marketing
Your email marketing analysis is incomplete without data to compare it to. A/B testing your email campaigns are a great way to compare and contrast what’s working, and what isn’t.
Think about A/B testing like having a control group in an experiment. A/B testing involves creating two versions of an email that delivers similar information. Comparing email marketing trends between the two, like open rate and levels of interaction, can help you better understand your audience.
If you have an email structure that seems to have worked well for you in the past, it’s a good idea to use this format as part of the “control group” for your A/B testing. Send half of your audience this version, and create a second version that employs new tactics to compare results. This might mean changing your call to action, the creative design elements of the email, or the format of the content you’re delivering (like adding video content, which offers a much larger ROI).
When is the best time to send marketing emails?
Did you know there are some days and times that are better for delivering email campaigns than others? Sending your emails out when clients are most likely to interact with them is important.
58% of people who use email check their emails at the beginning of the day. Most emails get opened between 8 and 10am, but emails opened at 10am had low interaction rates in 2021. Emails opened at 4pm had the highest interaction rate, with increased likelihood of making a sale.
The best days for email marketing vary depending on what exactly you mean by “best”. Tuesdays have the highest open and click through rates, but Saturdays statistically have the best rates of conversion.
That’s why the best day to send marketing emails really depends on your audience and intent. If your email is meant to promote brand awareness and help your audience get familiar with your brand voice, Tuesdays might be the way to go. For new promotions that you hope to convert to quick sales, Saturdays may be better. Overall, most consumers who engage with email marketing prefer to see branded emails about once per week.
Another thing to consider is holiday email marketing, which may change the way your audience interacts with your campaign. It’s always a good idea to build a content calendar once per year to help you foresee upcoming holidays and potentially leverage those holidays to create catchy subject lines and customized offers for your audience.
Email marketing ideas that work
Successful email marketing comes down to three things:
- Knowing your audience
- Being consistent and on-brand
- Offering material that appeals to your audience
Marketing emails don’t have to be boring, either. There are a lot of great ways to appeal to your audience’s needs, including by offering free tools, education and content that makes them feel good.
Lead magnets aren’t just for collecting leads; they can also drive traffic to your site and help you gain interaction from your audience. Resources like ebooks, business templates, or industry-related tools that only an expert (you) can offer are especially valuable for b2b marketing emails and for helping your audience build trust and value in your brand. Check out our recent article on lead magnets to explore more options.
Directing your audience toward your educational or entertaining content on your social media channels is also a great way to build brand loyalty and help your audience know you better. Don’t spend your time sending only direct sales emails to your clients; you’ll lose subscriptions and interest fast.
Small business email marketing services and more
Email marketing doesn’t have to be difficult, and there are several great services that offer free promotional periods for email marketing templates. Some of these include Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, and Sendinblue. Like any business tool, you might want to try a few before you settle on the one you’re most comfortable with.
If you’d rather outsource your marketing efforts, consider Splurge Media as your marketing partner. Our email marketing experts can get your email campaigns off the ground quickly, and help you achieve higher opening and response rates. Get in touch with us today for questions about email marketing and other digital marketing efforts that can help your business succeed.