1-888-353-5012Are your emails being ignored? Garnering less than stellar results? Email marketing is a valuable tool to have in your arsenal… but ONLY when you use it correctly. Anyone can send out an email these days, but how do you leverage this tool, maximize your results and stand out in the crowd? Here are 8 secrets to get your members to open AND read your emails.
Know Your Why
The ability to email your members is a GIFT. A gift that can very easily be ignored, or worse, be taken away with the simple ‘click’ of an unsubscribe button. So if you’re planning to send an email, start by thinking through your ‘WHY’. Why am I sending this email? What am I delivering that is of VALUE? Is what I am sharing relevant? Is it interesting? Is it timely?
Identify Your Who
Now that you’re clear on your why, WHO is the information relevant for? Avoid the compulsion to blast every email to everyone in your database. Instead, consider your WHY. What type of customer will value the information you’re sharing? What type of member are you trying to connect with? If you’re including an offer, what type of offer will they value most?
Remember, your emails can target specific groups of members based on spending, visits & frequency (i.e., a weekday offer is best sent only to members who visit on weekdays!), and interest groups (i.e. seniors, students, etc.). Your Coach can help with targeting.
Grab Attention With A Compelling Headline
Once an email has arrived in your member’s inbox, the next tool at hand is your Subject Line. Imagine it as a fire alarm on paper. It should attract the member’s attention, spark their curiosity, and COMPEL them to open the email. Here’s some ideas to help craft a compelling subject line:
• Solve a problem your customer is having.
• Answer the question “what’s in it for me?”.
• Attract attention by being funny, ironic, or even controversial.
• State your offer.
• Use their name.
Remember, your emails can target specific groups of members based on spending, visits & frequency (i.e., a weekday offer is best sent only to members who visit on weekdays!), and interest groups (i.e. seniors, students, etc.). Your Coach can help with targeting.
Did You Know…
…On average, consumers receive over 100 emails everyday
…They are bombarded with between 4,000 – 10,000 marketing messages every day
…They make 35,000 (albeit some small) decisions EVERY DAY
What does this mean? People have a LOT going on. And it’s OUR JOB, as marketers, to cut through all that noise, to get their attention and motivate them to choose OUR business over the other options available to them. Are you up for the task? Your Royalty Rewards® Coach can help you.
Tell A Compelling Story
Once we’ve overcome the hurdle of getting an email opened, we must ensure they keep reading. We should very quickly answer their question “why are you sending me this?”. Next, keep them engaged. Email copy should create a bond, use sympathy and show empathy and understanding of the issues they are dealing with. And now is NOT the time for sales speak, or even proper grammar… rather, write casually like you would talk to a friend. If you can, include social proof or testimonials to show that you mean what you say. And then connect your story to your offer.
An Offer
If we’ve done our job, the email has been opened and read. Now, it’s time to repay our member and make it all worth their while… with an offer they can’t refuse. And we better make it good. As marketers, it’s our job to get our customers to take action. To inspire them to leave their homes, get in their car, and drive to our businesses, continuing all the way to choose us over the other options available to them. Make it good.
• A good offer: Has a high perceived value – one way to do this is to bundle items.
• Is specific – don’t be vague, that only opens the door for skepticism.
• Is so irresistible they will think “why WOULDN’T I do this?”.
• Is creative – If you are always offering the same thing, you’ll become predictable and boring.
Tell Your Customers EXACTLY What To Do
If we’ve done our job, the email has been opened and read. Now, it’s time to repay our member and make it all worth their while… with an offer they can’t refuse. And we better make it good. As marketers, it’s our job to get our customers to take action. To inspire them to leave their homes, get in their car, and drive to our businesses, continuing all the way to choose us over the other options available to them. Make it good.
• A good offer: Has a high perceived value – one way to do this is to bundle items.
• Is specific – don’t be vague, that only opens the door for skepticism.
• Is so irresistible they will think “why WOULDN’T I do this?”.
• Is creative – If you are always offering the same thing, you’ll become predictable and boring.
Are you reading this? We thought so. We’d like the honor of introducing you to the power of imagery and captions.
Add Visual Interest
Use visuals to draw the readers eye where you want it to go. Use color, font size and bold formatting to highlight your headline and sub heads. Incorporate images, captions, and callouts (these are all great opportunities for humor). In choosing images, ensure they are relevant and support your main message. Make sure they are clear (not fuzzy or low res) and ALWAYS include a caption to draw the reader in.
Review, Test, Measure
This is one of the most important steps. Don’t just send your email off into the abyss and hope for the best! Monitor the results and learn what works and what doesn’t. Use those results to continually improve your subject lines, your stories, and your offers.